Good Day Gone Bad

We have been working Ruby through the summer to prepare her for the busy fall agility schedule. When it gets cooler we tend to have more trials in this part of Texas. Yesterday we were back in College Station for a NADAC trial. Ruby and I are competing in Elite for some events now. What I am finding is Ruby is ready and I need to elevate my game.

Elite Jumpers

What you will notice about this run is how focused Ruby is on me (after she breaks her stay...) for the rest of the run she is brilliant, right up to me mis-queueing her over the wrong jump. All in all a great run for her...not so much for me.

Chasing the dog…

And Then Things Got Worse

After the run MJ was rubbing Ruby's belly and noticed some red blotches on her belly, thighs and near her tail. She flagged me down and after looking her over we decided it looked worse than we were comfortable with (she had crusty blood on her tail and it just looked scary), so we packed her up and headed to the on-call vet. The folks at Kingdom Vet Hospital were really great about taking us right in. (Quick note to anyone traveling with a dog, scan your rabies and vaccination certificates and save them "to the cloud" so you always have them ready. In my case I keep them on SkyDrive and just sent a link to the vet. This made it a lot easier to get right in.)

Following a brief examination the vet told us it could be a number of scary things but wasn't a simple allergic reaction. A quick blood test revealed that Ruby had no platelets. There are a couple reasons why this could be the case, none of them good. Generally, it's either a tick borne disease (TBD) or autoimmune reaction. Ticks carry all kinds of horrible diseases and they are very bad for dogs. Autoimmune issues are caused by the body going after itself for any number of reasons. It could may be a tumor or for some unexplained reason. The thing is, we may never know. The vet knew that the help we needed was over at Texas A & M University Vet School. They arranged a referral and we headed right over and admitted Ruby. They confirmed the diagnosis and the gravity of the situation.

What We Do Know

We know that Ruby has no idea that she is sick, and that's a good thing. We also know that if you are going to have a veterinary emergency it’s great to have instant access to a Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital like TAMU. The medical staff is in love with her. Many times this disease goes on so long the dogs is VERY sick and cannot fight the battle. We caught it very early. Early tests are negative for TBD and the X-rays of her chest and abdomen are clear, so no gross tumors. The treatment at this point is to get her platelets back up, so that means steroids to suppress her immune system. Tomorrow they will perform an ultrasound to ensure there is no cancer and they'll take blood for a more definitive TBD test.

The worst part yesterday was driving back to Austin without Ruby, then spending the night without her on the bed, then waking up without hearing her wagging tail pounding on the mattress. The house is very different without her. Please keep Ruby in your thoughts and prayers. We'll post updates as we learn more.

Focus, Focus, Focus

Back At It

After a bit of a hiatus, Mary Jane, Ruby and I are back at it. We headed to College Station, TX yesterday for the first of 3 trials. MJ and I have been training Ruby at a new level since she will be competing under tougher times and harder courses. One of the things I have really been focusing on is Ruby’s motivation, mostly her motivation to stay with me in the ring and not “run’d oft”. There are a ton of little things that go into a “clean run”, but her attention on me, and my ability to keep her on course are the basic necessities. This time around, I think she showed amazing improvement.

The other focus for us is FUN. We don’t want to stress her out by being agility freaks, though by some accounts we are still a little freaky, it was nice to see how relaxed Ruby was at this event. When we were not competing she would either sleep or sit and watch the other dogs in the arena, no panting, no scratching, just chilling out.

One of the things I love about this sport is it can be played two ways (or both ways at once). You can compete against the other dogs in your class (and be awarded 1st-4th place ribbons) and you can compete against the course. Most courses have a Standard Course Time, SCT, and if you “run clean”, with no faults like dropped bars, and you finish under SCT, you are awarded a Qualifying run (a Q) and points toward your title. 30 points per class awards a title. So for example, we entered this event with two previous qualifying runs in Novice Tunnelers, so Ruby had 20 points toward her title. All she needed was one more qualifying run in Novice Tunnelers to get her Novice Tunnelers title and move up to Open. After 30 Open points she’ll move up to Elite. This explains how a dog can be Novice in one challenge, like Tunnelers, and elite in another, like Jumpers.

Elite Jumpers

Ruby loves Jumpers and she’s very good at it. This was our first time competing at the Elite level. The course had 21 obstacles, the most I have ever faced in competition. Mercifully, the course really flowed. Ruby took two departures from the course, both my fault. You will see me encroach on her and push her off the jump. After getting her back on course she finishes strong. We had no course faults, but were 2.4 seconds over time. not bad for our first Elite run!

Watch her clear the last jump, a huge leap!

Novice Tunnelers

Tunnelers is just plain fun! Ruby is still a novice because I only just started entering her. This was a great run and she completed it in Elite time. This was her third Q and earned her a Novice Tunnelers title.

Run Matt, Run!

Open Weavers

Ruby and I have been working on weaves. I finally invested in a set of real weave poles and will add 6 more this week. In practice she is fast through the weaves, in competition she slows way down. So it’s time for me to figure out what I am doing differently. She also lost focus for a second as she comes out of the tunnel, watch her chase a dirt clod that she kicked. She did Q on the run though.

Great weaves

Regular 1 & 2

Constant Readers will remember that Ruby has had issues flying off the contacts in competition. In practice she has not been doing it, but the ring is a whole different story. In her first run she executes perfect discriminations but flies off after my spastic and horrendous front cross at the A Frame. In the second run she runs clean for 1st place and a well deserved Q.

Beware of low flying dogs

Look at that contact!

What a day

The tally for the day was 5 Runs, 4 ribbons, 3 Qs, 1 new title! Ruby really seams to be enjoying the attention.

Happy Birthday Mary Jane!

This month we’re celebrating Mary Jane’s birthday in several special ways. We kicked it off by attending the Waco Agility Group Trail in McGregor, TX. Mary Jane was happy to make her birthday a “family day” with Ruby and Me. It was a great day. We got 4 runs in, saw my niece Rene (which caused Ruby to completely LOSE HER MIND!), we finished just after noon, and Ruby gave MJ two first place ribbons for the wall (and two purple Q ribbons too).

Ruby and I have been working extra hard on our agility skills and it really showed in this trial. In the past I have had a hard time with Ruby on the first run, she may run off or fly off a contact. Our training with Becky and the Megan Foster seminar has been particularly helpful with Ruby’s attention (and my ability to maintain it). I have also been running more so that I can keep up with Ruby when she runs. I prefer to run with her rather than handler her from a distance. For me, it’s more fun.

I try to never blame Ruby for my mistakes. My trainer Becky says that the handler is always at fault (though in most trails you will here handlers berating their dogs for “doing the wrong thing”). The video always shows the truth, there is always something you did to indicate to the dog the wrong action. She says, fundamentally, there are two major mistakes that handlers make, errors in handling and errors in training. You will see both in the following videos.

Novice Tunnelers

We should have CRUSHED this course. It was a fun course with several visual challenges. I got complacent in my handling and after the second tunnel I stopped giving Ruby good information about where to go next. As she exits the third tunnel I call her off the fourth. She did exactly what I asked, she came to me, breaking her direction of travel, handling failure. NQ

Novice Tunnelers

Open Regular

This was another course that we have trained for. If you saw Ruby’s run from the last time, you know we have had attention issues. This is a failure in training. I looked at the course and flashed back to the previous event. I decided to handle the start without a lead-out so she would start with me and then move away to the weaves (which we have been working on for the past two weeks). After that, the challenge is the obstacle discrimination at the dog walk, Ruby has to do the dog walk and not the tunnel. Watch Ruby kick up dirt when she rounds the corner after the tunnel and hoop, I call this level of effort from her “Dog on Fire”! When she’s in the zone, watch the dirt fly.

Perro de Fuego!

Novice Chances

Totally my fault, after Ruby clears the first two jumps on the Send I give her a tunnel command, and she does it. The problem is I should have done a better job and indicated which tunnel. Handling Failure, NQ.

Not that tunnel! THAT tunnel!

Open Jumpers

Last run of the day. We needed one more Open Jumpers Q to advance to Elite. I was REALLY nervous when I stepped up to the line. Ruby had been scratching at every start (training failure) and I did not want her to break her stay. The course flowed with two tricky spots. Ruby crushed it, hanging with me the whole time, even when I threw in an awkward blind cross between 11 and 12. First Place, Q10 and Open Jumpers Title!

Hustle and flow

Good Girl!

Ruby had a great day. I am so pleased that the training is really paying off. I am also looking forward to working the little kinks out of my handling and moving Ruby up in these events. I love spending the time with MJ and Ruby, I like the ribbons and Ruby likes the toys and we’re all having too much fun to stop.

Darkest before the Dawn

Today did not start well. OK, that’s an understatement. In hind sight MJ and I laugh to the point of tears watching Ruby’s run…and run…and run…while I stand there…watching.

Did this guy actually train that dog?

Open Jumpers

After our first run I was a bit concerned, though Ruby was amazing.

Is that the same dog?

Novice Tunnelers

Tunnelers is just fun. With a dog as fast as Ruby I had to run my butt off. (There are Border Collie handlers who just stand in the middle and have the dog orbit around them…someday.)

Run Forrest! Run!

Novice Regular

When MJ and I talked about our plans for the day I wanted Ruby to have fun and I wanted one good Regular run. Ruby only needed one more qualifying time to advance to Open class. The thing I like about NADAC is most trials offer 2 Regular runs a day, so Ruby had two chances to get it right. In the past she has struggled with the texture of the dog walk and A frame. You will hear the audience feel my pain as Ruby completes all of the obstacles except the last contact.

Nearly Perfect

So we had one last chance. Ruby rocked it and the part I love is the crowd reaction when she hits the last contact.

Good Dog!

Moment of Zen

Not a bad day. Ruby scored 3 qualifying times with 2 firsts and 1 second place finish. Lee Martin trains “Sam” a champion Norfolk Terrier in agility. We had a chance to help socialize 3 of his puppies at the event, when they napped I did too…

Puppies!