Miller update

So i took Miller to the chiropractor yesterday. He watched him walk alot and said he looked alot more lame than the last two times (he seems better to me) he saw him. Worked on him for a while and of course adjusted different things which is good, not the same adjustment every time. The other vet Dr. S did some chinese medicine with him and some acupuncture on his knee. Not sure why they think it is in his knee as they don't think it is ligament or joint but they don't know what it is. I called my vet last night and we talked for a long time and he is going to call some vets up at KSU today and see what they can figure out that we need to do diagnostic wise. He was throwing around words like MRI or CT-Scan and I was about to pass out! Those cost a ton of money to do! At this point, nationals is not in the picture at all and we might be taking at least 2 months off, if not more. Dr. J, my vet, also knows someone that has a nice clinic in Mission KS that could do some work on him as well. It would be great if I could get him in at KSU and do some physical therapy there. If it is a soft tissue injury, we need to be doing PT right now. I can attest to how much soft tissue injuries suck and am still battling mine! I will do everything in my power to fix him and get him better so this may be a very long and interesting journey.

Wanted to update everyone on Miller's back. I talked about it on my puppy blog but needed to update things here. I took Miller back to the chiropractor after week off. He seemed okay and did a course fine so we were very hopeful he would be ready for the KCGRC show (this weekend). We had class like normal and he started out great. Unfortunately, 4 or so runs into class, he came off of the line silent and was favoring his hind end again. I decided to not run him anymore and cool him out. He was really off and I knew in my heart this weekend's show was a no go. I tried to call Dr. Perkins who is a miracle worker, but she was out till next tuesday. I tried to call Dr. G, the chiropractor I have been using since he is local but he wasn't in. I have an appointment on Monday but also want to see if we can do acupuncture and maybe some chinese medicine too while I am there. I will call first thing monday morning as well to make sure I can get everything I want for him to get. I also called an animal communictor. I had heard that they were good about telling you where the hurt is so I thought, what would it hurt? Even if it is all false, at least it would be entertaining!

The lady I contacted is in Manhattan and came highly recommended. She first had us do some deep breathing and then she started. She did ask how old he was and what breed and his name and then she told me he was red. Okay, lucky guess? Even if she knew aussies came in red, they also come in red tri, blue merle, red merle, and black tri with blue merles and black tris being way more popular. Anyway, I did tell her that he was off but we didn't know where and she told me that he had arthritis in his hips and wanted an x-ray to show me. Okay, he probably has some arthritis, he is 10 so this could just be a generalization. She also told me he had something that we could diagnose with a blood test and it comes and goes and can be treated by antibiotics. Interesting for sure! She also told me something was wrong with her throat and at that time, he choked on his rawhide he was chewing on. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. She also told me he thought of himself as star, as Michael Jackson. Okay, I would prefer Michael Jordan but whatever. She did ask the ages of the other dogs and said berry was a female and was the rock of the family (true), and that harley was called a female alot (true, was called a female today). She also said the puppy is so excited to be doing agility (could have figured that out from the fact that all of our dogs do or have done agility). She also asked if I dressed the dogs up and I usually do for halloween and she said the puppy really wanted his own costume the is year (wasn't planning on doing that this year). All in all, very intriguing and maybe right, who knows. Cried a couple of times (she says he has been telling me he was in pain), told him that I loved him and didn't care what we did that he has given me everything and more and all I want for him is to be healthy and happy, even if he never does agility again.

The next step for miller is going to be another chiropractic assessment on monday with hopefully some acupuncture. I am going to rest him till probably the week before nationals and then try to work him and see how he does. I am not driving all the way to AZ for him to come up lame so want to be dead sure he is okay before we get in that car. Maybe do a few runs at the local NADAC trial the weekend of halloween to see how he is. I really, really want to go to nationals this year since I think this will probably be his last. I am keeping my finger's crossed, doing some healing prayers, and taking him to every available vet I can to get him better. I will do whatever it takes to get him back good, even if that means missing nationals and taking a few months off from agility. I will sorely miss it but we are still teaching and you never know when there might be someone there that needs me to run their dog.

Miller's back

Thought I would update my faithful readers on miller's situation. Basically, he needed a big adjustment in his back and pelvis. I am hoping this is all that is wrong, but he was not ouchy on any muscle or any joint so we ruled out alot, just didn't rule in any one thing in. We were there for over an hour adjusting so I know he feels better. My normal vet also gave me some deramaxx just in case and told me to give him one a day for a few days. I decided not to walk the past couple of days but may take him out this afternoon if he feels like it. It is so hard because he doesn't show any obvious signs of being hurt till he actually starts running a course. My fear is we are going to do all of this waiting and then sunday when we get to do a course, he is going to come up lame again and we are going to be back to square one. I don't know why I can't be happy with the diagnosis other than I just hate not knowing exactly what is going on. Lori had a good point and I am trying to remember it. She said that when they get to miller's age, the little things start bothering them alot more. I am hoping she is right and this is just a little thing. I am not ready to retire him for sure!

Here is the video of his last run:

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.

Triune weekend Part 2

Well, I have to say this has been the best NQ weekend I have ever had. Had an NQ in both standard and jumpers on sunday. Very happy with the standard run though. Had an awesome dog walk contact, got the pull to the opposite end of the tunnel, and he got his tough weave pole entrance. I also did a very fun blind cross off of the a-frame which was a great challenge accomplished! I did have one very sloppy front cross that brought the bar down but very happy with the run overall! I really like it when I can keep the mindset of screw the Q, feel good about the handling and the run. Like i said before the only Q I got this weekend was a crappy run! I feel way better about two of my NQ runs!

Tony did good this weekend but harley is still not running very well. I think Tony has realized that he needs to practice more which is good. I can tell him something 100 times and it doesn't sink it but if he figures it out on his own, it has way more value! Hmmm, kind of like dogs, if you lure and shape and help them figure something out versus them figuring it out on their own, it doesn't stick as well. Harley also stresses so tony has to be creative on warming him up yet keeping his brain focused and not putting too much stress on him. I could tell when they were warming up for standard that he was stressing as I could see across the arena that he had his nose on the ground and was sniffing and eating dirt and not paying tony any attention. Tony does not use treats to warm harley up which i disagree with but Harley is now only his show dog and not mine so I am keeping any comments to myself. I did suggest to tony instead of pulling on him with the leash which stresses him, to have him touch his hand with his nose or do a specific behavior. Harley ended up totally stressed to the max and jumping off of the teeter. Tony forgot that he couldn't re-attempt the contact once the dog had four paws on it so he had to be whistled off. He was really upset and of course all of us women where throwing suggestions to him when all he wanted to do was stew by himself. Managed to get them all to leave him alone long enough that the could blow off some steam and calm down. They did have a much better jumpers run so I am glad that harley bounced back. I did see tony warming harley up for jumpers and he was using touch to get him to get his nose off of the ground. Not sure why harley is still so mental but am thinking this is the way it is always going to be:( Just hoping tony can overcome and not get discouraged and quit.

My jumpers run was not good and had poor handling that caused miller to run around not one but two jumps. I didn't support a jump on a nice long distance arc that i needed him to take so I could get a front cross in so he came in and took the next jump. Once I watched the video, I saw that my hand dropped and he just followed it. The second jump was my fault again but I wasn't really handling well so it was my fault. Hate ending the weekend on a bad note but miller got lots of cookies for at least following what I told him to do! Other than one run with a blown dog walk contact and one run with popped weaves, he had great contacts and great weaves so am very proud of the miller man! Here's to no more safe runs!!!!!

Here are my two favorite runs of the weekend. Tony's jumpers run on saturday and my standard run on sunday!

Triune weekend Part 1

Drinking, unwinding and blogging. What a weird weekend for me. I have been for the most part very happy about my runs this weekend yet not alot of q's and the one course I did Q on, I didn't like the run! SO WEIRD. I was really worried because I had let miller get away with some really crappy dog walks at USDAA regionals, all in the name of speed. When ever I really push Miller, he jumps the dog walk contact and he needs to get over this. I need to be able to push him at times and he has to keep his head. I really love USDAA because there is no such thing as safe runs so I am trying to keep that thought while I run AKC. The first run we had on friday was standard and I decided to try and really push him for all I could. Well, we got through some really tough stuff and I was really running for the dog walk contact and he baled. I had just gotten a very tough weave pole entry that was way off-set and the judge had a tunnel that was very close to the dog walk. I think had I layered the tunnel, he probably would not have baled but I think because I was pushing so hard and I was so close to the bottom that he reverted to old behaviors. I did continue to run, which I shouldn't have but human nature took over and I just wanted to finish the course. Many people commented that our time was really awesome, I have no clue what it was but I do know we were running really hard. In jumpers, I had a pretty good run going and had to go deeper into a pocket that I had anticipated which put me out of position for a crucial front cross. When i realized that i couldn't get there, I had no plan b other than run like hell and push the line. It worked, wasn't pretty but he was 12 seconds under course time which is very awesome for a 10 year old dog! He was 5th or 6th in placing which doesn't matter. I was not happy with not getting my cross in but I think that if I had tried to get it in, I would have been late and caused a bar to come down.

Saturday came way too early, but Tony was entered Saturday so at least I had someone to drive with. He was running behind as usual but we had separate walk throughs and it was small to tall so didn't have to be there really early. I ran first in standard and had a great dog walk. He drove to the bottom and popped down into position and I released him quickly but then it all fell apart. He was weaving and for what ever reason skipped two poles. I decided to start him over as he has been doing stuff like this lately and it might be a rule soon and then my plan was blown. We had a jump and then a sharp turn to the a-frame and I was going to do a front cross but again was out of position, sent him over the off course jump and around the a-frame. I picked him up at the table which was the next obstacle, caught my breath and my brain and finished out the course with a nice front cross and a blind cross out of a tunnel. Even though a had a minor train wreck, I felt like we got it back together and finished nicely. Tony also had a good run but harley did not hold his dog walk contact and took an off course tunnel in his haste to go. He also missed the a-frame so will have to tell harley to stop watching miller! Tony did go back and get the a-frame and did make harley hold his a-frame contact and he got a sit on the table YEAH! Sometime when tony makes harley hold a contact, he will start to stress on the table so I was very happy to see him be able to get a sit.

Next was jumpers with a nice free-flowing running course. I had decided to try a rear cross on the end line to just practice since that is our weakness. I figured I would get ahead of him and could have problems as it was a straight line and then a turn but I wanted to do it anyway. I also decided to work some distance so I could get my front crosses in smoothly. I posted the video of the run as I am very proud of it! We did get a spin when I asked for the rear cross, not what I expected and did get a call for a refusal but had a great run regardless. Tony also had a very awesome run with Harley, just had one little bobble and also a refusal. They are really gelling as a team and I am doing a better job at keeping my mouth shut when he runs. I am videoing all of his runs and then we download them and watch them together. He usually figures out what he did wrong as it is alot easier to see on a big screen so I am not having to say anything. We shall see what tomorrow brings! I really like Lavonda's courses and always enjoy showing under her!

MACH Miller

Wow, so much has happened this weekend that I don't think my feet have hit the floor! We had the Truine show in Lawrence this weekend, which is kind of our home turf. Went into the weekend needing two QQS for my MACH. Had been in this position the past three shows and hadn't been successful yet. Started out the weekend with a great day on friday. Got QQ number 19 which was also my 6th QQ I needed for AKC nationals. I was pretty relieved because I had gone three shows without a QQ and I was beginning to get frustrated. It really helped that my trainer was also there to keep my head screwed on straight. It is so funny, she can say things that totally calm me down and really put things into perspective. Saturday had a very technical first standard course, but Miller got through it no problem. Got in jumpers and he popped the poles but boy was I nervous. I am sure I was holding my breath or micro managing the poles and he felt pressured. Everyone was hugging me telling me not to worry but I wasn't because I knew we could do it eventually.

Day three came with standard being first and yet another very technical course. Miller qualified and the pressure was on. I think I was more nervous the day before because I thought the jumpers course was easier on saturday. Sunday's jumpers course had alot of front crosses with the weave poles being near the end of the course. If my timing is off on my crosses, he brings bars down so I knew I had to be very smooth and very quick. I had also asked my husband to come to the show and bring our other aussie just in case we were to get our MACH that day. I was hoping he was going to be our good luck charm. I went into the ring and took a big deep breath and took off. I think this was probably one of my best runs in my life! Very smooth, very flowing and very fast for a ten year old dog. I think I stopped breathing in the poles but made sure i was laterally away from him so I didn't crowd him. Two jumps and I was done and the crowd went wild! They had put the bar in the ring and i ran over and got it and went out to shake the judges hand. Well, I guess Miller thought I was going to hit him with the bar and he was very confused as to why we were still in the ring, so I had to cut my victory lap short to leash him up. With AKC's new rules about dogs being off leash, I was terrified that I would loose my Q if he left the ring. Someone yelled, "run around", so i ran in a tight circle and got out of there! Of course all of my friends were there giving me hugs and lots of them were crying. You know it is so funny, you think, "oh when i get my MACH, I am going to this and this" but I was just so in shock that I couldn't do anything! Someone grabbed miller and took him to get cookies and I finally got to hug my husband tony who I think was also in shock! I cannot believe we finally got to this point! I have been dreaming about this day for so long and am still not sure if I am awake yet or not!

My friends all had presents for me which was all so sweet! My All Star agility family had bought me an engraved picture frame with MACH Miller on it and then had put in inscription on the back "Congratulations from your All Star Agility Family. May you always RLH (RUN LIKE HELL). Some of the other ladies had a magnet made up for me that is purple and says MACH Miller. Joc gave me a new leash and I got a new shirt too. WOW, agility friends are the best. They are there to cheer you on, cheer you up, and hug you when you need it. They are also there to celebrate with you and commiserate with you. I can't believe after all of these years and all of the problems we have had with the dang dog walk that we finally did it. It makes all of those shows and all of the friends we have made so sweet!

Someone asked me, "so what now?" to which I replied "on to MACH 2". We still need points for AKC nationals (less than 100) and one more PNS Q for USDAA nationals. I am going to keep running him till he tells me he is done. He still pulls me to the ring when it is time and he still seems to love it. I will keep him in great shape and keep him going for as long as he wants to do it. Miller has been such a unique dog and has such a unique past.

Miller was a rescue, one that I didn't think I needed. I had a friend who worked at the local kill shelter and she called me to let me know that they had gotten a red aussie in. I currently had a red aussie, Strawberry, that I did agility with and I was a grad student, so I really couldn't afford another dog. Terri was insistent that I come and look at "bear" as they were calling him. I even made one of my fellow grad students go with me and told her under no circumstances was I to leave with this dog. Well, I took one look at this poor scraggly dog and realized I couldn't leave without him. Even though he was cowering under my friend's chair in the visitation room, I could see in his eyes that he needed me. I took him home the next day with permission from my husband, who was then just a boyfriend. He was going to move in with me from TN to help split costs and to be in KS instead of TN. I figured he would say no because he had a dog of his own and I had told him that we didn't need two dogs so he was giving his golden up to his brother and parents.

The first few days of having miller was very trying. He wouldn't eat and wouldn't come out of his crate. I had to drag him out every morning to get him to go potty. I tried every delicious food I could possibly think of to get him to eat. He was skin and bones, so skinny that the vet wouldn't even neuter him. I was teaching at the kennel club so I took him to classes with me and my kennel club friends helped me groom the mats out of him and tried to help socialize him. Terri thought he was around 2 but we weren't really sure. I also tried to start him in agility once he put on some weight and was neutered, but he absolutely hated it. He would do one jump and go and hide or run into the tunnel and not come out. I had really given up on him as far as agility because he seemed to not like it all. I had decided that I did want to continue in agility so we needed a dog that liked it so we found an aussie puppy from a great breeder in MO. About the time we started taking Harley to agility classes, Miller all the sudden decided that he wanted to do agility too. Tony took harley into the beginning class and I took Miller.

Miller was a very funny dog because he had alot of space issues. He didn't want anyone touching him and making him do anything, and at that time, two on two off with target training was all the rage so that was how we were training him. The problem was, at that time, if they missed the contact, you had to pick them up and put them back on, something he absolutely hated. He had alot of problems with the aframe because he saw no reason to stop. It was out of frustation that we examined his aframe and said "wow, he has natural running aframe!" His dog walk was another story. We battled constantly on it because he did not have a natural running dog walk! Teeter was easier for whatever reason but for years we did battle on the dog walk contact. I finally started taking him off if his dog walk contact was not perfect and I really think that is why he has such a great dog walk contact now. Wish I had done it sooner though and maybe this MACH journey could have been a little shorter! Miller also liked to bark on the course which is very un-nerving. We at first wanted him to run silently, but we found that reprimanding him for barking shut him down. So we decided that as long as he was running forward and going, he could bark, but if he stopped to bark, he had to stop and not get to play anymore. He is such a character now and is famous for barking and running! He is one of the most handler focused dogs I have ever met and loves to run in snooker because of the handler focus. I love him and hope he lives forever, but know that he won't. He has been an awesome agility dog and will continue to be for a few more years I hope. He has taken me to AKC nationals and USDAA nationals and has helped me meet some of the best friends in the world. Strawberry and my friend Barb got me into this mess but he has been my best agility partner for 5 years now and will continue to be until he can't run anymore. Love you MACH Miller!