GlOC weekend

I guess I should have known this might not be a good weekend. I should have known when we were having 40 mph wind gusts that things might not be good. Ended up leaving super early as I was really worried about the wind and of course the big grain trucks on two lane highways since it is harvest time. Got to the site super early and got unloaded and set up. I think I was the third person in there to set up as the place was pretty much empty when I got there. Went to the hotel and got checked in, no problems and headed back to the show site. Our first run of the day was standard and the course was pretty much straight forward. The judge was kind of odd, never had him before so didn't know what to expect. His briefings were very long and detailed and he made a point to let us know that he kind of thought we were backwards since we didn't have electronic timing. He mentioned several times that he ran fast border collies, so many times that i think I gagged a couple of times. To make a point here, we do have electronic timing in our area and the man that invented it is from our area. This club just can't/doesn't want to purchase electronic timers which isn't out fault. Anyway, ran harley first since Tony was at work and boy did we muck it up. Tony is still undecided about what he wants in the way of contacts (i prefer 2 on 2 off) so he told me to let harley do whatever. Well, that is exactly what harley did! In fact he did his best superman impression on a couple of contacts and even jumped off of the teeter again (this is becoming a habit for him). I was told to let him so through gritted teeth, I continued to run. Harley and I are out of sync so it was a "hot mess" as sara pointed out to me. I had to run Miller next so got him out and warmed him up like normal. Got on the line and started out and Miller took off silently. Weird, I thought, but whatever, he has been running silently in class too. About four obstacles in, I heard him make a yelping noise and as I sent him up the a-frame, I noticed he was three legged lame. I had him come down and stopped the run. Of course the judge said he thought he injured his neck and the timer said she saw him stub his toe, and someone else thought it was his back. He walked back to the crate fine and I walked him out and had several people look at him. Nothing was very obvious, he wasn't ouchy in any areas so I put him up and decided maybe it was a cramp or he had stepped on a rock, as there were lots of rocks in the dirt. Got him out before jumpers and put him over the practice jump and it was very clear that something was not right. He wasn't driving to the jump and was either stuttering or refusing to jump it. I decided that it wasn't worth it so put him up and ran harley. Harley had a better run, only taking a bar down and having one wrong course. I took Miller back to the hotel and really went over him with a fine tooth comb and could find nothing wrong. Decided that maybe he would just benefit from a rest.

Saturday, I got Miller out and warmed him up as usual. He seemed to be okay, was barking at me and carrying on as usual and jumping normally. Decided to run him and see how things went. He started out slow but okay, barking his head off. Got about half way through the course and I noticed his bark changed. He refused a jump so I quit. I didn't want to run him if he was hurt. The pain seemed to be in his back leg and it was evident by the video, but he wasn't sore on touch or manipulation and didn't have heat in the leg that he seemed to be favoring. There was a masseuse there so I took him to her, but she did "sports massages" which he loved but i don't think really could have pointed out soreness. He didn't seem ouchy on anything she went over and really seemed to enjoy her touch which is very weird for him. He is usually very weird about strangers touching him. Scratched him from jumpers and decided to scratch him for the rest of the weekend. This morning he seemed a little stiff and didn't really want to jump in the crate in the car. Other than that, seems fine which is so weird.

Am so worried about him and not sure what to do. Am going to make an appointment for as soon as possible to see what is going on. Will probably go to my topeka chiro first since he is close. If he can't find anything, will head to Dr. Perkins in KC. We have less than a month before USDAA nationals so need him to be okay by then. Have two trials coming up before that but will pull him if I need to. Can't get my money back for the one in two weeks but could probably get my money back for the one at the end of the month. I don't want to prematurely pull him though so may just have to loose my money on that one too. He is a very stoic dog and a very laid back dog so crate rest is no problem for him. He would rather be in a crate than be out. I can also sleep downstairs so he doesn't have to climb stairs. I guess the chiro will probably help me make decisions. No more walking in the am or pm, and i know that will really confuse him. I just hope this isn't something that is career ending. He is 10 so any type of major surgery is going to be hard decision. Hope he is just off in his back as he does have a part of his back that needs to be adjusted alot. I will do whatever it takes to get him back. I am not ready to retire him and have so many plans for us as a team.

As for the weekend, Harley had great jumpers runs, with one bar or one mistake each run but both runs very controlled and very nice. Tony and Harley are really getting so close to getting back to qualifying. Standard is a disaster. Until there is some consistency in contacts, they are just going to get worse and worse.