March 25, 2001
AKC New Brunswick KC
The Adventures of Dramatic Lassie Beanhead
Howdy Ho People of Email Land,
It is that time to get an email from me. Well, not a real email, just the Beanhead one.
I had a fantastic weekend. Mike and I went and saw a house yesterday
(and NO, we will NOT be putting in an offer) and Elaine and I headed out for a one day agility trial today.
When it rains around here, it pours. In the mist of all of these decisions Mike and I
have to make about our little future, early last Saturday morning I had a huge dose of reality hit me.
I woke up at 5am and Crumpie was on the floor. Mike was just getting into bed
after being online all night. When Crumpie tried to jump up on the bed, he let out this yelp that
I had never heard before. I could not tell you where he was �hurt�, but he would let you move legs,
move his head, push on his back, rub his hips�..anything. Just do not let him back up or
jump up on anything. After sitting on the floor with the little guy in my lap,
I realized that Crumpie was not suffering from a slipped disk (which was HIGH on my mind)
or from his shoulders/hips, Crumpie had slept on his neck funky.
Yes, everyone, dogs really get kinks in their necks.
With the help of massages from his human parents, Doggie Ben-Gay from Mommy Betsy,
and the Aspirin Cheese Balls from Mr. Fridge, Crumpie was recovering very quickly.
I figured that if there was no sign of improvement by Monday night, off to the Vet we would go.
I had also made the decision on Saturday morning within seconds of hearing Crumpie yipe,
that I was going to pull him from today�s competition. We would still go, as this is the show where
Crumpie gets to go on a serious shopping spree.
While Crumpie was improving in leaps and bounds, I suddenly realized that if
this were something that was really serious, he would never run another agility course again.
I was crushed. Crumpet really takes his agility job seriously and to have to pull him out now would kill him.
He would be stuck to doing Doggie Obedience. Yuck. And oooooh, maybe some Tracking. : )
Some how, I just could not see this floating his little doggie boat.
I came home from work on Monday and Crumpie was back to his little normal self and
acting like nothing ever happened. I limited his activity to short walks and avoided
having him use the stairs. By Friday, he was empting out his toy basket.
After talking to a few people, I decided to let Crumpie tell me if he wanted to run on Sunday.
We were going to go anyway so if we started running the Excellent Standard course and he was not happy,
then we would exit the ring in Happy Dog Style.
In the meantime, I had to give him a bath because neither Mike nor I could handle the Eucalyptus
smell emanating from our youngest, bed-sharing son. This is really not good because Crumpet then feels
�good about himself� and this dog already has attitude. Well, I was not expecting to run him ever again,
so if we NQ because Crumpie is being a dork, then that is what I will take. : )
Excellent A Standard
Crumpet
This was the type of course that looks horrible on the �course design� map,
looks horrible while watching other people run it, but actually makes sense when you walk it and then run it.
There were two segments to the course that I thought we would have serious problems with. The first
was a U shaped tunnel with the Table in the middle of the �U�. What made this difficult was that
it was a tunnel, jump, table, DW segment. You basically put the dog into the tunnel,
stepped to the left three paces and as the dog come out of the other side you called him back
to you over the jump. You then turned around and did the Table. The last time we had this type of sequence,
Crumpie did not get that Table and Tunnel were two DIFFERENT things.
The other part that I thought was going to be difficult was a jump, jump, step to the left,
call a right, over, chute. It was the �step to the left, call a right� that was going to get me.
I also decided to do a two jump led-out. Not only did the opening call for this with a Crumpie fast dog,
but because I could watch him take the first two jumps without worrying about knocking into something.
I knew that if Crumpie was not willing to do this, he would let me know by the third jump that it was a no-go.
Then I would just watch the DW and Frame to makes sure he was ok.
We go.
I leave Crumpie on the Line and walk out. I have been nervous about this all morning because
I do not know what I am going to get. Debbie and Elaine are watching Crumpie from outside of the
ring in case I miss something in Crumpie�s movement. Thanks Elaine and Debbie. :)
I can see that look in his little beady eyes. Crumpet is annoyed that he is sitting there.
Ut oh. I call �over� and Crumpie come screaming off the line (fast that is) and promptly drops the bar,
but he is still hauling.
Some people give up at this point, but last Saturday�s event really hit me as I watched him haul
over the second jump. This is Crumpie�s love knocked bar or not and I was happy to see that he was into it more then ever.
The weave pole entry also caused a problem and we got a refusal, but the rest of the course
is done to perfection. Crumpie and I were totally in the zone, like that Jumpers run at February�s USDAA Trial.
We handled that Tunnel/Table part perfectly, GOT the DW contact, and finished the bizarre jump/chute with precision.
The coolest part is that when Crumpie ran out of the ring, which was matted, he �hit� the slippery
concrete part. He did his Kitchen Linoleum floor Slide which he was prepared for.
He was still sliding as he skidded around. The look on his little face was enough to start the tears welling.
I suddenly realized that the crowd was cheering for the little guy. Maybe the cheering seemed louder to me, but
I can honestly say that everyone standing there had no idea what that noise meant to me.
Lots and lots of little doggie snacks. : )
NQ
A million and one hour wait�..
Excellent A Jumpers with Weaves
Crumpet
Ok, this email is getting really long so I think I will cut it down.
Crumpie was still in the zone and we hauled around this course of bizarre angled jumps and tunnel traps.
Crumpie missed the weave entry, which is a refusal. No refusals allowed in Excellent Jumpers.
NQ, but the remaining crowd still cheered.
This was an awesome run for me because I tried two new handling techniques out and they worked.
Like I said, I had a fantastic weekend. : )
For those who know��.
Elaine and Nan Qed with a first place in their Open Standard run, but NQed in the Jumpers run.
Dolores with Harry and Treffie NQed in their runs.
Cindy/Rita with BG NQed too.
Hope you all had a great weekend. You know that Mike & I did, and then Crumpie & I too.
Joyce, the only one of us that can type. Crumpie has inherited his mother�s spelling.
|
Last Updated on April 21, 2007
|