Can I Bring the Dog?

We arrived at my cousin Lisa’s in Vista, CA late Saturday evening after a long drive through the dark, over some pretty twisty roads (and I imagine, past some lovely views). It was just plain old time to get off the road for a couple days, so for now I’ll have to keep Anza Borrego on the list of places to see.

Lisa’s husband is an wildlife biologist for the US Fish and Wildlife Service. He’s spent the last 15 years populating their yard with plant species native to, if not this area, this climate. The yard resembles a botanical garden.

And in late winter, lots is blooming.

Including this giant (and hard to see in the shade) agave. The flower spike is taller than the house.

Here’s Chico at the base of that big flower stalk.

There’s the flower stalk of another agave in the foreground of this pic. Kinda reminds you of asparagus, doesn’t it?

Tangelos on the tree. (Hard to see.)

And after a day, Chico was brave enough to wander the yard by himself. A little.

Peter collects rain water, though all he waters is his fruit trees.

Chico though the water bar under the eaves was pretty cool.

Lisa has a little nook on the veranda that stays shaded almost all day and we spent a lot of Sunday there, talking, laughing, reading, knitting, eating, and drinking until evening chill drove us inside. It was so nice, we did it again on Monday, except we made run for Mexican food and kibble.

Carnitas burrito.

Carne asada taco.

Ceviche pizza – shrimp ceviche on top of sopas and melted cheese.

Chico and I did go for a walk around the neighborhood.

You can see the ocean.

We vowed that we would leave the house the following day.

Sunday morning, bright and early, we showed up at the Myers Park and Event Center in McKinney, Texas for measuring for a USDAA agility trial organized by Dallas Dog Sports.

A giant indoor arena, designed for horse and cow events.

Building the course, Texas style. Which looks a lot like building the course New Hampshire style.

We had entered three classes – standard, pairs relay, and jumpers. There was a wait between measuring and our first class, so I volunteered, assuring the volunteer coordinator “that’s how we do it in New Hampshire.” Besides, I wanted to be a good representative of New England agility.

There’s video of the runs, but I can’t get at it right now, so I’ll summarize. The first run was Standard, and as is often the case, I had a bit of a wild-child of a dog, who wasn’t doing me any favors for the first half of the course. When we left the ring, the leash runner said “Nice closing.” He was right. Once Chico did his full five second down on the table, we had the communication thing down and nailed the last five or six obstacles. He had two faults (10 points in USDAA), so no Q, but a red second place ribbon. In Pairs Relay, we were partnered with a German Shepherd named Breena. Breena’s owner/handler was as unconcerned about Q’s as I was. My goal was Chico letting me steer him, and him not getting involved with Breena. We met both goals.

The day before, at a rest stop walk, I had the sense that Chico had a sore paw, maybe he’d picked up a sticker. I explored and couldn’t really find anything, he licked at it for a bit, but then left it alone. After the Pairs run on Sunday, he was favoring his left front foot a bit. We went into the ring for Jumpers, started the course, and within just a couple obstacles, I realized that he was not having any fun at all, he was doing it because I had asked him to and because he loves agility. I pulled up, and told the judge, “I’m sorry, my dog’s paw hurts, I’m going to pull him out,” and the trial was over for us. It was the right thing to to do.

Wiped out at La Quinta.

I gave Chico a doggie aspirin and he took a nap. After a bit, I probed the sore paw. I got a snarl of sensitivity, but found no foreign object or wound.

In the morning I called a vet my Pairs partner had recommended. They could see Chico the next morning, so I decided to hang out for a day and see what was up. The paw seemed better, and I started to wonder if it was a soft tissue injury, and I called my vet back home. “I know you can’t see or touch this, but here’s what’s going on.” She suggested that I “might not need to go rushing off to  vet,” and I decided that a few days rest, with careful observation, was the best course of action.

So we took a short walk at White Rock Lake Park (the least urban place I could think of in Dallas).

So, on Tuesday, it’s on to Roswell, New Mexico.