Pixel had her assesment with Dr.Devall today and it went great!!! Veronica was impressed by her condition, her core, and her overall structure. She did one minor chiropractic adjustment on her lower back but said that almost every dog she sees needs at least one adjustment. I am happy with that- she hasn’t shown any issues but I want to keep it like that!

Pixel was nearly perfect at scenthurdle today too. She only made one mistake and was pretty focused and fast.  She is getting faster as she gets more confident, and our team is really coming along. We have a bunch of new dogs just starting and I am just amazed at how fast they are catching on!!!! Our first official race is coming up soon!

I am lion hear me roar, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

Robbie is the most vocal cat I’ve ever met. It was cute when he was little, not so cute now. The water bottle is a permanent fixture in the house now…
He seriously chatters away all day and is the first to complain about an empty food bowl, or if he is upset by something.

Speaking of upset- I am SO SICK OF WINTER!!! It has seemed to drag on, and on, and on. I remember winters when it was so mild we were able to get out and do some outdoor agility once in a while. For the past few years that has not been able to happen. It seems like this year especially we’ve had to cancel more classes, and more events.

Our Building Drive seminar was cancelled today- the wind was blowing so bad that it was esssentially a white out. Sucky to cancel, but better safe than sorry.

I hope Winter ends soon. I need some sun, and some warmth, and for this wind to go away! Or maybe I need to move somewhere warmer….

From the Ankle 8/52, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

This is my 52 weeks submission for the week. I love it although it is not super flasy, or artsy. it’s just simple and peaceful like.

I have a busy weekend ahead although I am hoping to be able to sneak in some naps sometime. I am so tired.

Tomorrow I am attending a motivation and drive seminar- should be lots of fun. I am taking Pixel and am hoping to come away with some good tips on how to get consistent pumped up Pixel. It is being taught by a Schutzhund person and this particular person has a super hyped up Bouvier. She is like no other Bouvier I’ve ever met (well, except for her previous dogs).

Tomorrow night we have a class to teach- Sarah and I are trying to get in a few winter classes for a newer bunch of agility dogs. Mostly we are working on foundation stuff. So it should be pretty fun, and it should go by fast.

Sunday I work mid day, and then have my make up appointment with Dr.Devall. She is a vet who specialises in rehabilitation, pain management and non traditional treatments- chiro, massage, accupuncture, etc. I am taking Pixel just to get an evaluation. This was actually scheduled a month ago but was cancelled due to the weather.

Which still sucks by the way. It is -44 C this morning with the windchill. That’s well below comfortable, or bearable. I am ready for winter to be over now!

This morning I told my mom today that it’s okay to be sad for a little while, but to celebrate their lives, not mourn for them. It will be three years (in april) since my Grandma died, combined with Kate’s death a week ago (yesterday). She is having a hard time and I was trying to make her feel better. I am really good at supporting people, and knowing just what to say to make things a bit better. Too bad I don’t follow my own advice.

I’ve got the celebrate their lives down pat, but it’s the “okay to be sad” part I have troubles with. I have not really allowed myself to cry. I tell myself every morning to move on, get over it, smile or else, stop dwelling on it, do something else, whatever it takes to get my mind focusing on stuff and not on sadness. I need to take my own advice or I may never heal.

Sam died almost three years ago.
And I still am sad about it.
Kate died a week ago.
And I am still sad about it.
My Grama died three years ago
And I am still sad about it.

Each of them was so important to me- My grandma was the best grandma ever (I know everyone says that) but really. She was everyone’s Grama. The whole town loved her. Her house was like Tim Hortons. Always full of people drinking coffee. She had the best sense of humour and was always there for me if I needed her. I miss her so much. Sometimes I can feel the tightness in my chest when I smell lavender, or hear someone that sounds like her, or hear a wind chime. It seems crazy to miss someone so much when they have been gone for three years.

Sam was my heart. And he died young. He was such an amazing dog. Every moment that I spent with him was great- living with him was always fun, training him was exciting, and having him snuggle in my bed was even better. He had so many qualities that I love- he was the best snuggler and would lay beside me all night long. He had a fantastic work ethic. He would work forever- for a ball, or a cookie, or a piece of pocket lint. It didn’t matter. He worked for the pure enjoyment of doing stuff. He was so smart about some stuff, and not so smart about others (it took him more than a few tries to learn the tire….) He was just a very good boy who died before I was ready. It is sucky.

And Kate is still so fresh. She and I had some pretty incredible moments and I am sad that I wasn’t around more to enjoy her senior years. She was a dog with major issues and taught me so much about dogs and training. I don’t think I would be where I am now had I not picked out the shy, scared little puppy. I am content with her life though and don’t feel the same sadness I do for the other two losses. She had a great life, a long life, and almost right to the end was the same old Kate. The light in her eye never left, nor did the bond we shared.

You want to know the one thing that ties all three of these losses together? Guilt. I never got the chance to say goodbye to my Grandma. I didn’t spend enough time with her the last year of her life. It never occured to me that she would die. I chose to end Sam’s life because I didn’t catch his injury soon enough and by the time it was diagnosed it was too expensive, and too risky to attempt. And I recently blogged about my guilt where Kate was concerned. Not enough time spent with an old dog. She lived at my parents a few minutes away and at most I saw her three times a week. It doesn’t seem enough.

I could very well be grieving forever if I don’t let it out. I just don’t know how. I’ve never been one to be overly emotional. I rarely cry, and certainly not in public if I can help it. That’s just the kind of person I am. I have always been the strong one, the person people come to with their problems. I am also a very good liar and can hide my emotions well from most people…(except for a few close friends who can see right through it)…

I do really well for a long time, and then something will remind me and catch me off guard and Bam! Overwhelming sadness that I instantly start punching back down to my gut where it belongs. It makes for interesting mood swings.

In any case the next I am sad I am going to tell myself it’s okay. And let the tears fall for as long as I need. And maybe the next time I am sad it will be smaller and easier to deal with. That’s my hope anyway. I won’t however let the sadness weigh me down. I think that there is a fine line between being sad, and being unhealthy.

And that’s where I am at. Mostly okay, but still a little sad sometimes.

I am not the type to wallow in my misery, and hate attention seekers that do that, my life is full of drama but I don’t spread it around or shout it from the rooftops. I am a private person. I hesitate to write this blog post as it seems so wimpy, and “poor me” which is not me. But this is my space to write what I want, and I have always felt better after expressing myself in the written word. That and I often pretend that no one but me reads the blog….

Watchful 2/12/Vito, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

I’ve been working with Pixel in Obedience a lot lately- doing little bits of stuff every day. Her attention has improved a ton, and so of course has her heeling.

i like my dog to heel with her head up looking at me. She needs to be paying attention the whole time. This takes a lot of training, but I like the way the dog understands exactly what their job is.

I started attention heeling with Pixel when she was a baby. First completely stationary rewarding for eye contact, and then adding steps. Now the finished product is pretty, comfortable for both of us, and most importantly automatic.

It does take a lot of time though and if you skip steps, or move too fast you will have holes in the behavior that will likely bite you in the ass later on. I’ve tried to be very careful to not have that happen with Pixel. She doesn’t like to be wrong ever, so if I train her right the first time we won’t have to worry about that.

Now that we have fine tuned our actual heeling we are working on adding duration (i.e a heeling pattern), and distraction (i.e a ring setting) I wish there were more funmatches in my area- I think that Pixel would really benefit from that.

We are still working on other things- fronts in general. I obviously am missing something as none of my dogs have great fronts. Pixel is no exception although does have a general idea of what she is supposed to do. Her drop on recall is going to be lovely I think, and her stays are great.

We’ve also been working on the dreaded left pivots. This has involved a lot of perch work and a clicker. But we are getting there- which is exciting as the idea was completely foreign to her just a few months ago…

I am feeling optimistic about my goal for May in Open. If only I can stay focused for that long.

Imagine my surprise when this was my number 7 photo….

Wendy and I were just talking about Sam the other day…..

Sam was one the best dogs ever. Always happy, ready to do whatever I asked, he was a very good boy. I remember that I fell in love with him the first time I met him. Wicca’s breeder had rescued him from the shelter where he was going to be euthanised because he failed their temperament test…She brought him into the store I was working at to buy him a collar. He came in tugging on a toy and kept the toy in his mouth the whole time. I took him home a week or so later.

This photo was taken at a friends family farm- it is such a beautiful place. I have loads of photos from this walk, although this was the best one. He was a dog who never sat still long so getting photos was a challenge. This is one my all time favorite photos of him. Such a happy guy. I lost him too early, but I have great memories of his life.

Opinionated 2/12/Pixel, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

I know I’ve posted photos of Pixel barking before. But this one made me laugh out loud. Look how big her mouth is!!! She is a small dog- but has the biggest bark…

p.s still loving my new camera….

Maureen/Crawford
Julia/True
Judy/Roxy
Kim/Bosley
Amanda/Pixel
Liz/Cava
Jolene/Kort
Shauna/Chase
Mel/Rosie
Donna/Swift

What we did:

The better question is, what didn’t we do!
The running dogs practiced with jumps ,without jumps, just racing to the box for the dumbbell, & restrained recalls for a faster run over the jumps.

The newer dogs worked on restrained recalls as well, first one jump, then back chaining until 4 were used. They worked on fetching first off, then on the box, as well as some scent discrimination.

It was great to see the newer dogs coming along so quickly, they will be racing in no time

Next practice will be Sunday Feb 27 @ the new time of 4 pm due to a busy day of other activities for some of the team.
See you then!

How to Torture a Wicca, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

A few of my favorite out-takes from my 52 weeks session this afternoon. Wicca cracks me up. lol

I dare you 7/52, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

Wicca takes her food very seriously and I don’t call her a bitch for nothing. Wicca is very fierce.

*Disclaimer- this was a fully staged photo. She is not normally allowed to resource guard. For the photo I put her in a sit stay with the food bowl in front of her, and scattered some kibble behind me for the other dogs. I got lots of really funny photos. She was really, really ticked off.