SUMMER BLUES

My older girls, Molly and Missy are doing well. They enjoy going out everyday and exploring. Molly wants to stay out for hours but her age is catching up with her and she has to come in the house frequently to cool off. Missy will go out for just a few minutes and then she wants back in. Missy has never been an outside dog, however she has decided that at age 14, she loves to get on the agility equipment.

Marley is having a left hip replacement on August 5 so I have been letting her play outside everyday. Just letting her run and play and be Marley because she will be on crate rest for at least 8 weeks and I want her to have freedom now.

Kalea-Kate has been sick for over a month now. She was diagnosed with Campylobacter infection shortly after the Monroe AKC agility trial. She was still puny and had additional labs drawn and then got a tentative diagnosis of Addison's Disease and then she tested positive for ehrlichiosis. After a week on steroids and 4 days of doxycycline, she still isn't better. She is going back in for more lab work. I'm so worried about her and just want her to get better. I am so thankful that my good friend has been able to take her to her vet appointments since I just started my new job and can't get time off.

 

 

I'm very happy in my new job but drama from the old job seems to follow me. Trying my best to keep my head up and let the drama roll off my back, but it's hard. I just want to be left alone to live my life, the way I want to live it.

 

 

On a happy note, a friend and I went and got tattoos a few weeks ago. It's my first tattoo and I love it!!

 



 



LIFE CHANGES

The last month has been full of changes for me. On the professional level, an opportunity to teach at a college presented itself. It was the perfect timing for me. I was ready for a professional change and I took the job. Only my closest friends knew how unhappy I was where I was working. And only they knew what were the precipitating factors in my decision to leave. When going to work causes you to cry, it's time for a change. I'm so thankful the right job came along when it did and I absolutely love being in the collegiate world. I have already learned so much in my first 2 weeks and am very excited to be where I am. Who knows, maybe I'll pursue my PhD??

 

I also learned the hard way these last few weeks who you can trust and who your real friends are. I have been hurt so bad by people who were 'friends'. Once I left my job, people came out of the woodworks claiming to be 'concerned' for me. These same people never had the time of day for me before. One girl (who claims to be a devoted Christian) had the audacity to start a nasty, vicious rumor about me that I quickly addressed with that person. It was completely made up and why a grown woman would sink to that level is beyond me. I have had to resort to blocking former colleagues from my Facebook to just end the drama. Even with blocking people on Facebook, the rumors still seem to get back to me. I don't know why people can't leave me alone. I have been gone over a month from my previous job, so why I still seem to be the topic of conversation I just don't understand. It's time to move on folks!!

The only person who can change your life, is you! And I chose to change mine!

 

A BABY DOG IN A SEA OF MACHS

We went to West Monroe, LA over July 4th weekend for a 4 day AKC agility trial. We noticed on the way down that KK wasn't her usual wild self. I chalked it up to her toe and the antibiotics she was on. She had a great trial. She did the table everyday! She jumped off once but I got too close to her while she was on the table and she doesn't like that.

She ended up with 4 Q's: 2 T2B, 1 Master FAST and 1 Master JWW. The rest of her runs were just 1 thing from Q-ing. Mostly errors on my part. KK did have one run where she had a 2 y/o moment and she just randomly took obstacles. I had to scratch her from one run because she just wasn't herself. All weekend she was a little slow and her weaving was very slow for her. She even popped out once which she has never done in a trial before.

After we got home, I took her to the vet and she has a GI infection. So she's back on antibiotics and I hope she bounces back soon. She's still sleeping a lot and not playing. She has a NADAC trial next weekend, so I hope she feels better soon.

KK Master JWW

My friend and I were watching all the 20in dogs run and got to wondering how many of those dogs had MACH's and how many years they had been competing. There were 30 20in dogs entered in Masters. 13 of those dogs had at least 1 MACH (43% of the dogs). 17 or 59% of the dogs had been competing for 5 or more years. One dog had been competing for 9 years. 10 or 34% of the dogs had been competing at least 3 years but less than 5 years. 2 dogs or 7% had been competing 2-3 years.

My sweet baby KK, who is just 2 1/2, has been competing for 16 months off and on and she's holding her own in all Masters. She's just a baby dog in a sea of MACHS!!