What I've learned in the past 3 weeks...... :-/

Without going into too much detail of my crazy, crazy, craZY past three weeks I figured I would make a list of all the things I've learned.......

1 - When shit hits the fan, you really find out how much your friends mean to you.

2 - When Val eats an orange highlighter, it makes a BIG mess.  Also when Punk eats mascara.... he gets bonus ticking on his coat.

3 - When one of your best friends dogs passes, you feel the loss as if it is your own.

4 - LOVE your friends for you never know what tomorrow brings.

5 - When traveling with your dogs, DONT CHANGE THEIR FOOD.......  

6 - Do NOT run 3 P16 dogs YOURSELF at a USDAA Regional.

7 - No matter how much you look forward to Cynosports, SOMETHING will be totally f'd up.

8 - When your car makes funny noises and it just "goes away", the problem is STILL THERE!

9 - When you're over 30 you cannot stay up for over 24 hours or you'll get the shakes

10 - When your dog poops all over your car (and one of your other dogs), it's REAL smelly

11 - When you leave your husband in a clean house with a "to do" list over the weekend, it will be a MESS when you return and the "to do's" are NOT done.

12 - Camping can be fun with good company.

13 - You never realize how much you love agility with your dog until you contemplate retirement.

14 - I need to train my broad jumps.

15 - Do NOT feed a dog that does not do well with chicken, chicken.  (Yea, I'm a dumbass)

16 - The labrador national premium is OVER FIFTY PAGES!!!  OMG!!  Anyone know where to start with that??

17 - I need to do research on how to get your dog NOT TO BREAK weave poles.

18 - I have WAY to much shit I haul to a dog show.

19 - Beer is still good

20 - Contact equipment is heavy.

21 - I love my Sister In Law and am sad she is moving.

22 - One can never have enough Border Collies.

23 - Don't quit my day job.....  this agility shit is expensive!

24 - The sound of a dog about to barf will wake the dead.

25 - The air conditioner in the camper will make you need a parka if not set properly.

26 - I can truly be happy for friends who do amazing even when my performance is SHIT.  (I'm quite proud I feel this way.....  Honestly, I didn't think I could be.  But yet, these past two weekends, I was ecstatic for friends kicking some serious booty.)

27 - I will ALWAYS have a dog to train as long as Temper is alive.  lmao!

28 - When you figure out your dogs heat cycles, they will come in 2 weeks early.

29 - I need to spay my dog.

30 - Indoor soccer arenas are HELL on my allergies.

31 - I love my dogs, friends, and family.  All this other crap is just bonus.  No matter how bad I bomb at a show, or how bad of a day I have otherwise, I am just happy we are all together.  I am lucky my dogs are healthy, alive and ABLE to play this game with me.  I am also lucky my dogs, friends and family put up with me.  

What????  I'm a good boy!  :o

Super Moon, Earthquakes, Tsunamis, El Nino and Life

What a week...................

So, last Thursday (after my first blog about Maggie the super dog) my little Miss Mags fell ill with a UTI that traveled to her kidneys, and heart.  Wednesday night she was so ill, I thought for sure I was going to lose her.  She was shaking with every exhale of breath, couldn't stand, and was delirious.  I dug up my puppy medical bag, and pulled out every natural pain killer I owned.  After popping numerous natural pain remedies down her throat she finally was able to find a peaceful rest, and I ever so non patiently waited for my vets to become available.  

The next day, I was a complete WRECK.  For the first time in FIFTEEN years, she didn't eat her breakfast.  I traveled from vet to vet with my little lady (whom could not even stand on her own) trying to get someone to "save" her.  And many hours and hundreds of dollars later, we found that she is perfectly healthy besides a huge urinary tract infection she was fighting.  Now that I knew what sha and I was fighting, I went from a "worried sick mommy" to a "hard ass canine rehab" lady.  For I knew that every day she was "down" (not walking), my chances of getting her back went South.

As I was crying and hand feeding my paralyzed little old girl Friday morning, I was watching the news........  O.M.G.   There apparently was an earthquake off the coast of Japan causing a tsunami believed to kill thousands of people.  Then they showed the picture..............  the picture that will forever be burned into my retinas for the rest of my life..............  the only picture there with the one of my dear passed mother.............  

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you.....  That is an agility course in front of a 30+ foot tsunami.

My life all of a sudden seemed so much better.  Those poor, poor people.....  OMG!!!!  Agility Japan!!!  How are my friends from USDAA Cynosports from Japan???  Were they there?  Practicing? OMG!!  Agility Japan!!

I immediately went to my computer and logged on to Facebook.  As of now, all of the people I know from Agility Japan are OK....  INCLUDING the people who owned and ran the agility field (thanks to a facebook page that has been in contact with them.)  Wow....  God was with them.  

While I am glad about my friends from Agility Japan being ok....  All those poor people who fell victim to this horrible natural disaster.  My heart just breaks for all those good people, and animals.  :(  

As they went on ever too quickly to the nuclear emergency that resulted after this devastation, I realized that I needed to "suck it up, buttercup" and just get to work rehabbing my dog.  My life could be SO MUCH worse!!!  Like my poor dog agility friends in Japan. 

The good news, Maggie has made an INCREDIBLE turn around, and looks to be turning the corner to recovery.  Yay!!  :)  

They have also created a chip in account where people can donate to the agility club who was annihilated by the tsunami.  If you want to "chip in" the link is below.....

http://japanagility.chipin.com/mypages/view/id/fe08f4b1ca7102e5

With all the "wierdness" going on in the world today, the lesson learned this week is:  "In the grand scheme of things, it's not who you are, or what YOUR problems are.  It's how you choose to handle your problems, and compassion you show others."  

SuperMoons, Earthquakes, Tsunami's and El Nino.....  What will you bring next???  Hopefully something good........................  :)

 

The Beginning

Okay, my first ever post on my first ever blog.  Why am I doing this??  Where will I find time to keep up with it??  Who the hell knows, but here we go.....  :)

For those of you who live in a bunker underground, I am very involved with dog sports and have numerous border collies here on my farm.  The leader of the pack is Maggie, a 15 year old border collie who doesn't take any crap from anyone....  human... canine... inanimate... her reflection in a mirror...  ANYTHING!!  She was my very first border collie.  My mother bought her for me when I was 15.  Before this, I had boxer dogs......  BIG DIFFERENCE!  The life lessons Maggie has taught me have been numerous, humbling, and sometimes painful.  I have learned so much from this spunky little hellion.

Picture from Alissa Behn  www.pet-personalities.com

Back in her day, Maggie and I trained and ran dog agility.   My job was to run, and be sure to tell her where to go.  Her job....  was to run, and tell ME where to go... hell.  Either way, I had a BLAST playing with that little dog.  She would sometimes jump from the top of the a-frame, skid across the pause table, or just completely miss the obstacle and bite me in the leg.  I would laugh so hard my eyes would water (of this my mother was not to amused.)  

Now she is retired.  Being the rough old age of 15 she doesn't get around very well, and has lost most of her hearing.  As a matter of fact her eyesight isn't that great either.  She has a heart murmur, liver enzyme issues, and kidney issues.  Her heart medicines make her consistently thirsty.  She is barely continent.  BUT she is STILL feisty and NAUGHTY!!

So while we take the younger generation to the agility trials, I have come to the habit of leaving her in the care of my father in our absence.  My father LOVES her and she has him wrapped around her little arthritic paw.....  which brings us to this weekends story. 

Ok, I'm sitting....  What do you want???  Hrmpf!

So, this weekend while we were about an hour down the road at an agility trial, Maggie was looking pathetic in her crate and my dad took the bait (as usual).  He told me upon returning from the show on Friday evening, that he let Maggie out of her crate to roam the house on her own (which happens frequently) and that he thought it was better for her.  I reminded him that she is not just a good old well behaved dog.  That she is INDEED quite NAUGHTY and needs to be watched for naughtiness.  He told me that I was crazy.  "Maggie is not capable of such naughtiness due to her advanced age."  Yeah, right.  I have had this dog for FIFTEEN YEARS....  I think I know a thing or two about her antics.

The very next day, Tim (my husband) and I are off to the agility trial again.  Today it seems that Maggie found a pathetic enough face to encourage dad to let her out and roam the house again.  My dad of course thinks that she can do no wrong (how quick he forgets her pulling TWO pork roasts off his stove and devouring them), and of course....  What's Maggie going to do???  She's FIFTEEN!  So he lets her out of the crate, and promptly returns to his apartment in the downstairs of our duplexed house.  

Upon our return home, I find out that Maggie CLIMBED UP ON TOP OF A 3 FOOT TALL CRATE and ate a POUND of Plato Organic Chicken treats AND drank the gallon of water in the big dog bowl in the kitchen.  (Real smart, Dad.)  

Who???  Me???  Naw!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 pound of treats + 1 gallon of water = Well, lets just say the next morning was very "crappy".

After her SECOND bath of the morning (keep in mind we are supposed to return to the dog show again this day and we are ALREADY late), I decided that some chemical (drug) help is needed to improve her icky belly.  I grabbed a metronidazole pill out of my doggie medicine bag, and put it in some cheese.  She promptly caught on to my tactic and ate the cheese while spitting out the pill.  I tried this approach THREE more times with different cheeses and ways of burying the pill.  No success....  she spit it out.  

UGH!!!  I'm late, I'm frustrated, my patience left me 2 cheeseballs ago.  So, my decision was to pill her (shove it down her throat) which I do all the time, but do not really like to do because it is not a positive experience for the dog.  But SHE should of thought of that THREE cheeseballs ago......

I take the pill, open her mouth, and she morphs from this cute old border collie into a clicking teeth Cujo!  She bit so fast she looked like one of those wind up tooth toys that hop around and clack.  OMG!!  With hands bleeding, and time ticking I realize that this method is my only option without giving up and leaving my DAD of all people with a walking four legged poop machine.  

Ok......  REAL QUICK.   Get it over with fast.....  OUCH!!!!  ARGH!!!  Let go of my thumb!!!!  SUCCESS!!

So as Tim quickly finished putting our stuff into the van, I discussed with my dad the consequences of a loose, unmonitored Maggie.  He agreed that she is not to be out unless monitored.....  finally.  

Maggie is fine now....  in fact she is sleeping at my feet.  :)  

Lesson learned:  The older they get.....  the easier it is for them to outsmart you!!