Rent a dog training facility for a doggie Halloween party for other dog lovers that would rather spend the evening with their four-legged friends.
Rankine and I attended a Front Range Agility Team seminar this past week with Jennifer Crank. I signed up for two sessions to work on stress related issues (i.e. Table sniffing) and improved contacts. I must admit I was a little disappointed in the morning session because it was heavily focused on motivation versus stress and if there is anything Rankine doesn’t need to work on it’s motivation. That aside, Jennifer made the following very eye opening and obvious statement:
“Those who work on Training tend to perform better in Standard classes versus those who work on Handling tend to perform better in Jumper classes”. To which I replied, “that explains why have a dog in USDAA Master Jumpers that only has 1 qualifying run in Starters Standard”. Needless to say that Jennifer and the seminar participates had a good laugh.
So what’s the difference you ask:
- Training focuses on a specific skill (i.e. you go into the agility ring with one goal such as completing 12 weave poles or training the A-frame down contact). Note – Online Dog Coach lessons are training focused.
- Handling focuses on sequencing (i.e. you setup and work a full course)
In my case, I am fortunate to have a 100′ x 80′ agility training ring in my backyard with a compliment of agility equipment. Consequently, I have a tendency to handle full courses because they are readily available. Prior to moving to this house, my wife and I had a limited amount of space which made us train basic skills versus handle full courses. Surprise, surprise our older dog, TJ, has beautiful contacts and agility basics.
My goal? Go back to training basic agility skills for the near term.
In early December 2010, we noticed that Shiner was becoming more lethargic and withdrawn. This wasn’t totally out of the ordinary as Shiner is 11 years old and a very independent Carolina Dog. Plus he had suffered from back pain so we thought maybe it was time for another acupuncture session.
On Wednesday December 8th, I came home from work and noticed that Shiner’s belly was extremely bloated. We immediately took him to the vet only to discover that Shiner was bleeding internally. Unfortunately, x-rays are not terribly informative when the abdominal cavity is full of blood but our veterinarian was fairly certain we were dealing with a ruptured spleen caused by a tumor. Our veterinarian provided the statistics of surviving a splenectomy at his age (20%) with a 50% chance that the tumor would be benign.
After some discussion we decided to go for the surgery. Shiner recovered from the surgery beautifully and returned home on Friday December 10th. After the surgery, he was more energetic and playful than he had been in months. Likely, Shiner had been suffering from minor bleeds as the tumor was growing which was causing him to be lethargic.
Results from the biopsy came back the following week and we were devastated to hear that Shiner has Hemangiosarcoma. Hemangiosarcoma is a rapidly growing, highly invasive blood born cancer. Hermangiosarcoma attempts to build its own blood vessel network making blood blister like formations that disrupt normal organ function.
Needless to say, Shiner is only expected to be with us for another 2 to 4 months. Chemotherapy was offered as a treatment option but it is expensive and not very effective in battling Hermangiosarcoma; however, our veterinarian prescribed a Chinese herb to help slow the growth called Yunnan Baiyao. Yunnan Baiyao is a hemostatic powdered medicine famous for being carried by the Vietcong to stop bleeding during the Vietnam War. It is used to normalize blood flow, enhance poor circulation and heal internal bleeding.
My first reaction was “yeah right, this is going to help, but what can we lose”. So we were faithfully giving Shiner the capsules every morning and night until about two weeks ago when we ran out for 4 days waiting for a shipment from Amazon.com ($6 per box versus $10 per box at the vet). By the 4th day, Shiner’s condition had deteriorated from energetic to lethargic and unwilling to eat. One evening I went to bed praying that he would still be with us in the morning. The next day, the Yunnan Baiyao shipment arrived and I was busy enticing Shiner to eat a piece of peanut butter bread with Yunnan Baiyao. Within 3-days, his appetite recovered and his energy started to return. While I am certainly not an expert nor do I have scientific evidence, I think we will continue treating Shiner with Yunnan Baiyao and hope for the best outcome.
Shiner is a founding member of Online Dog Coach. He is featured in the Buja Board lesson. Shiner’s favorite thing about agility was the view from the A-Frame.
This past weekend was the Front Range Agility Club’s United States Dog Agility Association (USDAA) trial at the Budweiser Event Center in Loveland Colorado. Rankine and I have been working diligently on weaves to improve entry and speed. In early February we attended a weave seminar where I learned different methods for improving weave entrances including the two by two (2X2) method. Every night after work, I spend 5-10 minutes working on weave entries using the tennis ball as a reward. Our efforts paid off this weekend when Rankine made his weave pole entry on every course. Although we weren’t perfect this weekend, we did walk away with qualifiers in standard, pairs, and snooker.
Props also go to Rankine’s older brother, TJ, who qualified in pairs, snooker, and jumpers!
Rankine and I had a blast at the Colordo Kennel Club AKC trial over President’s Day weekend. We are finally starting to have fun, relaxing, and successful runs. Here’s a video of his standard agility run on Sunday – if you ignore the sniffing on the table, it was a great run!
