One Wild Ride

My life has always seemed to be one wild ride after another, but this week takes the cake. From birth to death and from marriage to divorce I've seen it all these past 7 days. There were some moments when I didn't think life could get any better, then others when I thought life couldn't get any worse. On top of all the craziness, I got sick. And not just a little sick, but really sick. The kind where you have to talk yourself into getting out of bed, and then find any reason you can to lie back down again.

And the dogs. . . where to begin with those little buggers???

For most of the week, I thought that I had the worlds best dogs. They were forced to stay by themselves for a few days and, can you believe this, nothing was destroyed??? Nothing was eaten, nothing (inappropriate) was peed on. I received no barking complaints from the neighbors. All signs points to good dogs. Then we had to go back to work. Wouldn't you know, barking, chewing, whining, etc. Bad dogs. Then my car broke down. . . and my dogs were amazing through out it all. Quietly sitting in the car until the battery guy came. Then quietly sitting for longer until the tow truck guy came. Then not freaking out as the car was loaded onto the tow truck. Then, and this is the best part, they sat perfectly contentedly on my lap during that crazy, long, traffic-y, bumpy, ride home. They were not just good dogs, they were great dogs.

Then the rain started. . . and I got sick. . . Not only did the dogs refuse to go potty outside in the rain, they also took up the entire bed and left me no where to sleep. Don't believe that three little dogs weighing less than 30 pounds total can take up an entire bed?



Everyone seems to have a spot except me. And here we are. . . back to having bad dogs again. But as the sickness got worse and I was forced to self-medicate, the dogs were once again, good dogs. They let me sleep and didn't ask to go out too often (thank doG for the rain) and didn't ask to eat too early in the morning. But this morning, I woke up to this:



yeah. . .my dog licked a hole in his arm. This is the first time in 7 years that he has done this. Anxiety has been an on-going issue throughout our lives together, but it seems to be getting worse and worse. My initial reaction was to get frustrated and call him a bad dog, but he is my baby, and I know that the only thing he ever wants in this world is to make me happy; hell, they all do. . .even pocket. So, despite everything they did or didn't do this week, I know that I really do have some very good dogs.

Rally Trial: Score 203

Its taken me a long time to get to this; partly because things have been so hectic and partly because it took me a long time to process all of it.

On paper, things look great. Abby got a score of 203 out of a possible 200 w/ 10 pt bonus. That is pretty amazing. Abby also tied for 4th place!!! We had a run off because you can't actually tie, and Abby ended up with 5th place. Not too shabby for our first trial - and we really haven't been doing this for very long. Abby did better then some of the pure bred, perfectly bred, bought dogs!

Right after the event, I was feeling really bad about the trial. I was thrilled with our score, but I was really upset because Abby wasn't her self. She was stressed out for so many reasons and I was angry at myself for putting her through it. I tried to get there late so that she didn't have to be crated for very long, but that didn't work out. We still got there too early so I drove around and found a park and took her for a long walk. But she still ended up being crated for longer than either of us wanted. Then, we ended up with a different judge then I had planned. The judge was still very nice, but she was different and Abby doesn't really like different. THEN, as we were walking in, the judge kept going on and on about Abby being an Iggy and how much she wanted an Iggy. So not only was there a strange person in the ring, but that strange person was talking to us. The run off was the hardest because it was the very last thing that happened and everyone was in the room with their dogs, watching, and waiting for the ribbons. It was very loud and very stressful. I felt like a lousy owner asking Abby to work with me in a situation that was obviously very difficult for her.

I felt like a bad parent for almost an entire week. Everyone told me that Abby did great, but I could see the stress. I kept beating myself up about it. I always said that we weren't doing this for the ribbons or the titles, that we were doing it for fun and it didn't matter what our score was. But seeing Abby stressed made me feel like we were doing this for the wrong reasons. And hearing everyone cheer about Abby's score only made me feel worse.

But a week after the trial, we had regular class, and Abby did great. Most of the people in our class are new to level 2 - and that makes us the "experienced" pair! Who would have thought! Abby showed off and strutted around. She went back to her old self. I started to feel better about the last week because it was obvious that there were no lingering effects. But then I started thinking about it in a whole new way, I started looking back on everything that we had gone through to get to the trial, and how I routinely put her in stressful situations to get there. And how that putting her in low-level stressful situations over a period of time has actually been beneficial in the long run because it has opened up her world. I can't imagine where Abby would be if I only kept her confined to her safe space. Sure she wouldn't ever have stress, but she wouldn't ever really have fun either. And Abby has a TON of FUN doing rally.

After thinking through all this, I took another look back at the trial. I realized exactly how well Abby really did. Sure she was stressed, everyone is stressed at a trial, but Abby continued to work with me the entire time. She never shut down, and she did everything I asked of her. I remember a time when Abby would shut down completely when stressed, and we are so far past that now. I started feeling better about my role in this whole thing too. I did ask her to work through her stress and through the trial, but when it came time for the run off, I pulled her (well, sort of). I asked her to try, but when it was obvious that she really didn't want to do it, I asked her to sit, gave her a bunch of cookies, and walked off. When push came to shove, I did what was right for my dog, regardless of the ribbon.

Working my dogs is a whole new experience for me. For years, I have only had PET dogs, and I have always treated them as pets. But asking my dogs to do something only because I ask them to is still a strange concept. Sure they have a ton of fun, but it's still a bit strange. I mean, who really needs to walk a figure 8 around a bunch of cones? I've gone through a lot of emotions through out the various stages of training, and I've questioned the why a lot as well. I want to make sure that I am doing this for the right reason, and that reason is Abby's over all happiness. I think I get it wrong sometimes. Sometimes I make poor training decisions, and sometimes I get frustrated; but I think that more often than not, we get it right. And Abby has come so far from that feral dog I took in. She is able to work in a stressful situation with strange people, strange dogs, and loud noises. And now that all is said and done, I am finally proud of the score that we got. Because it really isn't about the number at all, it's about the work that we have put in since day one - for over two and half years. And it's about the relationship that has been built through out that time. It's about the love that I have for Abby and the trust that she has in me and that together we can accomplish incredible things.

Foto Friday: Way To Go Abby!!!!

Are YOU Tough Enough?

I know I am!

I am not sure where I get these crazy ideas to do things, but somehow they find their way into my head. . . and I usually rope a few good friends into doing the crazy things with me. Luckily my friends love me and forgive me.



I heard about this Tough Mudder Event through Facebook. They tout themselves as the toughest one day endurance event on the planet. I am not sure that I completely believe that, but it was the toughest thing that I have ever done in one day. It's a series of obstacles strategically placed over a 7 mile *hilly* course. The obstacles ranged from running through mud to climbing a wall. Nothing sounded too hard, it all seemed doable, so why no do it? Well, I talked 5 friends into doing it with me. . . and at different points throughout the event, I thought for sure I would have 5 less friends before the day was over.

We rented a cabin and spent the night up there the night before. We were all really glad that we did that because none of us wanted to get up at 4am, drive 3 hours, do an event like this, and drive another 3 hours home! The really nice thing about the cabin is that we rented it for the weekend - none of us were planning on staying all weekend, but it was nice that we were able to come back after the event, shower, change our clothes, have a sandwich and a beer.

The event itself was a ton of fun - even if we didn't always look like we were having fun! The course itself started at 6,600 ft and WE climbed up to 8,500 ft - THREE times! Who climbs a mountain three times in ONE day? We do. On top of the mountain climbing, there were 19 obstacles that we had to complete. You need to take a look at the course map to see exactly what we were up against. The course map isn't exact as some of the obstacles were in a different order, and the photos in the map are not our photos, but photos of previous event. But the TM facebook page is updating the photos from our actual event regularly. I haven't seen myself in any of the photos yet, but I did the mandatory forehead marking so hopefully I will find myself in one eventually.

The Tough Mudder event was a TON of fun, but it was also tough. The strange thing about this event was that the obstacles themselves weren't that hard at all - they were pretty easy, and anyone that is relatively fit could do them all without too much effort. What was the toughest was the mountain climbing in the altitude. I haven't been more than a few hundred feet above sea level in years. And I don't think that I have done anything in altitude in at least a decade. The mountain climbing was rough, but the altitude was though and made it that much more difficult. It was next to impossible for me to breathe at times, and to continue climbing while not being able to breathe took some will power. But there were never any points when I thought I just can't do this anymore. It never became a mind over matter thing, and for that I was grateful. My body was always willing and able to continue.

Besides the altitude and the mountain climbing, some of the obstacles were climbing a wall - SIXTEEN times; carrying a block of wood for 1/2 a mile - or, if you were like E, you carried an entire tree; climbing the "Berlin wall" (different from the other wall we climbed sixteen times); crawling under barbed wire; crawling through a pipe; etc. All of these were fun and easy. The hardest obstacle of all was the water one. The water obstacle was at the top of the mountain and was carried out in the pond that they use to make snow in. Seriously. The water was freezing, and we knew it, but we did it anyway . . . twice. The first time going into the water, you shocked your system and it became difficult to breathe, but you still had to swim in it. You were allowed to get out, but then you had to get right back in again. That was tough. Knowing exactly how cold it was and how freezing you were going to be, but still going in, took some will power. I remember standing at the top of the slide (yes, you had to slide down the second time) and debating whether or not I wanted to complete this obstacle. Because not only did you have to slide into the freezing cold water again, but you had to walk through it - chest deep - around the raft (the raft that is there to pull you out in case you die half-way through). Of course I did it, how could I not? But there was a moment after when I thought I would never be warm again. I think a lot of people felt that way because I heard a lot of the guys talking about their. . . er. . .um. . . balls. I heard the funniest thing on the wall climb after the wood carrying, after the water: One guy said to another while climbing the wall "dude, I can see your nuts" the second guy said "good, because I can't feel them anymore and I wasn't sure they were still there."

Now that the event is over, and I survived, and was still able to get out of bed the next day, I am really glad that we did this. This is something that you have to do with a group of friends. And they can't be just any friends, they have to be the right mix of people. The cool thing about our group was that not everyone was friends with everyone else before we started. I knew everyone, but they didn’t all know each other. Luckily, I have awesome friends, and everyone got along great, and everyone helped each other out, and looked out for each other. And everyone became friends through this event. And we are already talking about NEXT year. . .