MISS INDEPENDENT

Molly is my independent girl. She loves to be outside, preferably by herself. If I let all the girls out together, she will hang back and then go the opposite direction. I often catch her just siting in the front yard watching her kingdom.

Even now as a 12 y/o, she can still spend hours outside. She doesn't explore near as much as she used to but she wants to be outside. How she managed to be a city dog for 7 years, I don't know.

She has been by my side for 11 1/2 years and I have loved every second of it. Every Sunday we go to Petco. Somehow she knows when its Sunday. She gets so excited bouncing and barking just waiting for me to snap on her leash. She just loves walking around Petco. Some days we just walk and walk. She's a totally different dog when it's just the two of us. She just loves going with me. She likes going to Lowes too. But sometimes doesn't understand why it doesn't have the great smells like Petco.

 

 



WHERE YOU BELONG, MARLEY

I passed a truck on my way to work the other day advertising the garage where Marley was picked up as an 8 week old puppy. I couldn't help but wonder if that was the idiot that abused her and left her with permanent psychological damage. A defenseless puppy left in a ditch with a wound to her head. What kind of sicko abuses a puppy or any animal?

I came across this lyrics from the ABC Family show 'The Fosters'. I think it suits Marley.

It’s not where you come from,

 its where you belong,

nothing I would trade,

 I wouldn’t have it any other way,

you’re surrounded by love and you are wanted,

so never feel alone,

you are home with me right where you belong

(Kari Kimmel)

Marley needs me like none of my other dogs do. And I need her. My mom loved her Marley and I think about my mom a lot when it's just me and Marley. Makes me feel close to my mom. I remember things my mom used to say about Marley and it brings a smile to my face even as tears roll down my cheeks. Marley is where she belongs.

FUN IN SHREVEPORT

We went to Shreveport the weekend of March 14-16 for AKC Agility. Miss Kalea-Kate had a good weekend. She earned her Excellent FAST Title and Excellent JWW and T2B legs. I cost us 2 Q's by sending her to the wrong end of the tunnel. Have no idea why I did it but it is very clear on video that it was my fault. One of her JWW runs, she apparently read the course map ahead of me but she read it incorrectly and went off course.   :)


The table continues to be a pain in my butt. KK has it in her head that she doesn't have to do it in a trial and it is slowly killing me. She comes to a complete stop at the table and either runs around it or stands there and barks at me. I can get her on the table, but by then we have incurred so many refusals that we NQ. Sunday she actually got on it right away and then......hopped off. OMG! The TABLE is going to kill me!!


Saturday we had some beautiful runs that earned us much needed Q's. She was absolutely precious at the start line of JWW when she couldn't get off the start line because she was watching a cowboy on the side. Once I got her attention, she ran a beautiful run.

It was a great trial for us. It was in a new venue with shredded rubber over sand. It was a difficult surface to run on as a handler, but KK handled it well and 'burned rubber' all weekend!!

We have 2 more trials coming up, one each in AKC and USDAA and then we are on a break until summer.

MONROE IN MARCH

We went to Monroe, LA last weekend for some AKC agility. It was our first trial that we went to that Marley was retired. She went as KK's best buddy and my older girls, Molly and Missy went too.

KK ran 3 days in Excellent. She earned a T2B Q and an Excellent FAST leg. She had some almosts in JWW. 2 days she dropped a bar but her distance work was outstanding. I'm enjoying not having to run the entire course! She is just getting faster. Her average JWW time was a little over 5.4 yps. Not bad for a young team still finding their way together. Standard was... proof that she's young. For some reason she is balking the table in every standard run and costing us Q's....a lot. Only happens in trials. Does great at practice and at home. Hopefully just a kink that we will get worked out soon. If you measure success in ribbons, then we weren't successful. But I measure our success in how well we run and what positives there were in each run. And there were a lot of positives. So we were very successful!!!

I received tons of compliments on KK and her potential. Made me very proud. :) Makes me want to keep working hard and see how far we can go!!

RETIRED

I made the heartbreaking decision to retire Marley from competitive agility on Saturday. She ran a Standard run in USDAA Saturday and made it through but was slow and when I re-watched her video, it is apparent her body is failing. She is not the same Marley from last year when she was QQ'ing and having stellar trials. After many tears on Saturday, I made that fateful decision.

I decided to let her run on Sunday and I let her do the obstacles she loves and let her leave the ring happy. She was her usual happy Marley self!

I have known since she was 14 months old, that I would have to make this decision. It didn't make it any easier. As sad as it makes me to know that we won't run together again, I have to smile when I think of what we have achieved together. Some people wrote Marley off a long time ago but they actually did me a favor. Their opinions of Marley and her ability actually drove me to prove them wrong. And prove them wrong we did. She earned 3 obedience titles (CD, RN and RA) and 17 agility titles in 3 venues. She also has the distinct honor of being the #1 All American Dog in Arkansas. No other All American dog in Arkansas will ever top her. She's in the AKC history books forever!

She will retire just a few Q's short of 6 more titles. But it's not fair to her to try to keep pushing her when her body is saying 'no'. I could probably pull her along in AKC to finish some titles but I can't push her body to the high standards of USDAA. I don't want to pull her along, I want her to be healthy to run and enjoy herself. So my pretty blue eyed girl is retired. I will let her play some backyard agility and when we go to a NADAC trial, I will let her run Tunnelers.

Marley will continue to travel with us to trials as a buddy to both KK and me. She will be watched carefully and she will receive whatever veterinary care she needs. She needs me in a way none of my other dogs do and I need her.

A judge at her second ever agility trial once told me, "When she grows up, she's going to be a great agility dog". And a great agility dog she was.

2 USDAA WEEKENDS, 6 TITLES!!

We started our trialing season in McKinney for USDAA. I like the McKinney venue and we usually have good luck there. They have a nice picnic area out back and we take the girls out there on Saturday to let them blow off some steam before going back to the motel.

I entered Marley in 2 Advanced Standard runs. The first day she was awesome and clean until coming down the DW and I saw that little gleam in her eye. You know the little gleam that says 'I'm jumping over the contact zone'. And she did. She leapt right over that yellow with a big grin on her face. But there was so many positive things about her run that far overshadow one error. And she was under time!! We have struggled before in USDAA with not making time and both days she was under time. Sunday she had some Marley moments and had to take an off course tunnel, jump off the Aframe and she cheated on her weaves. One thing I've learned with Marley is regardless of whether she makes an error or not, we keep running. If I stop and try to correct her it frustrates her and we are just better off to just keep running.

Kalea-Kate continued to show she is a consistent little agility dog. She Q'd 5/8 runs. Her NQ's were both Standard runs where she was refusing to down on the table and she was taken off the course and put in her crate. The judge was super nice about it and even offered me some advice. She also NQ'd an Advanced Gamblers run. Got the gamble, but we were totally out of position when the buzzer went off and she ran out of time but she completed the gamble correctly. She finally got her Starters Relay Title, and her Starters Snooker Title. We went for the Q and not the win in Snooker because I wanted that title!!. She also earned her Advanced Jumpers Title (3 out of 4). Very proud of her!!

The next weekend we went to Holly Springs, MS. Marley didn't compete as the dirt there in previous years hasn't been the greatest and I didn't want to risk it with her. But this year the dirt was good.

KK started off with a Q/1 in Starters Standard with me doing a happy dance at the table. She immediately jumped on the table and went down. She was a little leery of the teeter and was crawling up it. Painfully slow. My teeter wasn't weighted down on Thursday and she got on it and was dumped off and then when I got her back on it, Marley barreled up behind her and threw her off. I did put her back on after that and thought she was ok but apparently she had that in the back of her head and was scared of it. The teeter cost us Q's in Snooker and Gamblers. She ran Steeplechase clean but didn't make the time cut off...perhaps when she stopped at the top of the Aframe and admired her kingdom, she lost too much time. In Masters Jumpers I forgot the course. OOPS!

I let someone get under my skin on Saturday and it really interfered with my mindset and game. After a pep talk by a great friend, I decided that I wasn't going to let another person ruin my game. I've let this person upset me for awhile and it's just not going to happen anymore. She's not worth it.

On Sunday, KK and I were unstoppable! She started off with a Q/1 and Title in Advanced Gamblers with a DW in the gamble. Over to Advanced Relay where we ran clean and got a Q/1. Starters Standard required a happy dance at the table and she did the teeter slowly but was upright and not crawling. Q/2 and Title and along with that she earned her Agility Dog Title. The judge was super nice and cheered for us and congratulated us on the table and teeter performance.

KK wanted to give the judge a kiss!!

 

Our last event was Master Jumpers. It was a serpentine all the way across the ring. I was a little worried that it might be over our head. But, KK ran it flawless and won the C22 division running it a little over 5.2 yps. So proud of my baby girl! We are getting it together and our confidence is growing every trial.

ANNUALS

I've gotten a little behind blogging so I've got a little catching up to do.


Because I'm nuts and it's easier for me, I take all 4 girls into the vet for their annuals on the same day. We take a late appointment and they are usually shutting down by the time we leave. They staff are always amazed at how under control all 4 of my dogs are. We get in the door calmly and everyone is usually chilled in the waiting room except for Marley who looks for a corner to hide.


Everyone is healthy and doing well. My two senior girls, Molly and Missy are doing well at almost 14 and 12 1/2 years old. They are getting some old girls bumps and Molly has some arthritis in her knee for which she is on daily meds for.


Kalea-Kate is in excellent health, just a little chubby. She doesn't have a waist, looks like a little sausage. This was her first vet appointment where she didn't do a blood curling scream during the blood draw and fecal. The vet 'noted' she's growing up. :)


Marley on the other had a mixed appointment. Her weight is good (getting ribby) and we discussed getting a few pounds off her for her hip health. Her hemangioma has not healed and we had to have it re-frozen. If it doesn't come off this time, she will have to have it surgically removed. Her wounds from the car accident have healed. The vet noted her hips are stiffer and he doesn't think it will be long before she's on daily pain meds. He looked at Molly and Missy and said ' Marley won't be like them at their age.' I really had to fight back the tears. I feel like we've been living under a dark cloud since her HD diagnosis and now that cloud is getting darker and closer.

I'm coming to terms that we aren't going to achieve her agility goals but I would give back every Q and every Title if it meant she wouldn't be in pain. I want so bad for her to know life without daily pain, but that's not going to happen. I can only love her and give her the best care possible.