EATING MY WORDS!

I have always said I would never travel far for an AKC agility trial. Well I am eating my words. Marley and I are venturing to Monroe, LA this weekend for 2 days of AKC agility. Just want to play and see what she does.

I have decided that Marley will no longer do agility in a class setting. It's detrimental to her psychologically. She's a very sensitive dog and she deserves a mom that will stand up for her! So I am. We will do privates and will work with KK at the same time. Marley was so happy on the field today. A totally different dog than last Tuesday!

KK is trying to bark when Marley is running agility at private lessons. You can bet that will be short lived. I will not tolerate barking. She can be alert and watching but she better be quiet.

RETIREMENT

I have been contemplating retiring Marley from agility for the past several months. She's a gamer. Doesn't do well in practice but usually does pretty good in trials. We may have our bobbles but Marley always has fun.

I hate that I am even considering retiring her at age 4. She's running in Masters in USDAA and Excellent in AKC. She has her CD and RA and RN in AKC. Plus her CGC.

The reason I'm even at this point is that we have encountered the most aggressive, out of control dogs I have ever seen in the past few months. At one trial, a dog was lunging and snapping at every dog it passed. The handler drug the dog still snapping onto the course and preceeded to run the dog.. IN PAIRS, no less. I could not believe the judge didn't excuse it. The handler acted like nothing was out of the ordinary.

Marley is a super sensitive dog. She completely shuts down when she's around barking and lunging dogs. I deliberately crate her off in a corner at trials where it's quieter. I take her out frequently and let her explore without other dogs around. If someone crates their barking dog near me and doesn't cover the crate, I will do it for them. How in the world people can sit and let their dog bark constantly is beyond me! I may let my dogs have lots of freedom in the house but I DO NOT ALLOW BARKING. My dog should bark to alert me if something is amiss, not just bark for the hell of it.

My dog shouldn't have to suffer because other people have out of control dogs. People have made some very derogatory remarks about Marley over the past years. I have decided I will return the favor. So if you have an out of control dog, I will point it out to you.

All that being said, I haven't decided to retire Marley officially, but I am seriously considering it.

REMEMBER EVERY RUN!

As everyone knows, agility is a great hobby of mine. No, I don't have aspirations of earning a ADCH, MACH or being on a world team. Don't get me wrong, an ADCH has crossed my mind, but that's not why we do agility. We do agility because we enjoy it and it is an excellent outlet for Marley's energy.

My greatest joy is knowing that the dog I run came from a kill shelter and I saved her life the day I went down her kennel row. Yes, she has had some problems but those issues are a distant memory. I no longer worry that she might get 'snarky' with another dog. I don't have to grab her at the finish line and drag her by another dogs because she has issues. I don't have to completely cover her crate to block her view of other dogs because she is reactive. I see that all the time at trials and I actually feel sorry for the dog being put into a situation where it feels it has to react. I wish more owners would recognize the fact that their dog has issues and work on those issues.

Yes, I run a dog that has bilateral HD and painful feet at times. But rest assure, Marley is under the best veterinary care possible. I monitor her daily and minimize her training and trialing. Based upon her diagnoses, her career will likely be short. But I will remember every run I have with her! Good or bad. Just the fact that I get to run with such a fantastic dog is amazing! I may get upset with her performance at times, but I am enjoying every run. She may not Q or place, but Marley doens't know that. She just knows I am happy with her at the end of our run and that's why she does it. FOR ME!

Recently I decided to get another performance dog. Going to a breeder crossed my mind, but rescue is where my heart is. Once again, the dog I adopted came from a kill shelter. I love that my dogs are so different looking from every other breed running agility. The gate steward always knows Marley's name after the second run. Who can forget a blue eyed, blonde??

We have already started Kalea-Kate's training at 16 weeks old. She ran a full size dog walk with a hit contact her first night. She will be a fast learner and I am excited to have a puppy to train. I will continue to train Marley as long as she wants to continue to run.

Ribbons and placements are fun but running with your dog is the real reward! I will REMEMBER EVERY RUN I have with Marley!

MARLEY IS 4 TODAY!!

Happy Birthday to my baby Marley Ann! Sweet, blue eyes is 4 today! Her present was a new baby sister, Kalea-Kate. She loves her baby sister so much. The 2 of them play constantly. Tug and chase are their favorites. Marley is so good with Kalea-Kate. She knows KK is smaller and will patiently be the tug post and then every so often she has to have a turn tugging and will drag KK across the room!! I'm so proud that Marley is doing so well with KK and her previous dog issues are now just a distant memory. Marley has turned into a wonderful, happy, well behaved dog and I love her so much. My mom loved her MarMar too and would have loved to see her play with KK.