Hmmm. September 21st was the last update. That’s over three months ago now. There’s an awful lot of news to update on. My brain hurts just thinking about it all. I’d love to just give a dot point list but I just know that my particular brand of OCD runs to actually writing way more than I have to once I get started. So bear with me.
Next event up after September 21st was probably the Royal which took place from the 27th through to the 6th of October. Unfortunately there was a touch of bad news in between the Sept 21st update and the Royal. Thursday the 25th of September. Lying on my bed reading a book and Raven jumps up for a brief pat (Raven never likes too much physical attention so the pats are always brief or you receive that disdainful look of ‘I am only tolerating this now because you somehow manage to feed me everyday’) and as usual, my automatic response is to check for her nodes. My stomach dropped immediately when I felt two pea sized nodes that were not there previously. An hour later I’m with her at Murdoch and seeing Dr Amy Lane with what I am sure is a rather depressingly pissed off expression on my face telling her that I think her nodes are up. Amy can feel them too and asks if I want to leave it for a week or two and see if it’s just an infection. At this point I think a blithely fatalistic attitude comes over me and I shake my head, tell her that she should take a fine needle aspirate now and I’d like to stay for the results. So off Raven goes and within a half hour or so Amy comes back to confirm what I already knew really but still had that silly tiny persistent hope that maybe it was something else. The lymphoma was back the bone marrow transplant had not worked and now there really was no hope for a cure at all. Raven was a little confused in the car on the way home, on the one hand she hadn’t been left there for treatment but on the other her human was making some weird noises with some salty wet stuff running down her face, she gave me one of her rare displays of affection with a lick on the cheek that made me smile even whilst I raged at the unfairness of it all.
I had an appointment with Ken the following week, Amy had made it clear that nothing needed to be done urgently and to go home and start thinking about what we were going to do next.
In the meantime the Royal arrived and we competed as per usual. Cypher had a good Royal this year, the team he was in winning both the Agility and the Jumping teams events (Hurrahs all round for Karen and Riot, Kriszty with Jess and Terra!) and putting in a nice run in Masters Agility ending up in 4th place. Raven had her usual blast with the spectators and put in some nice runs with just one or two faults in each. I wasn’t fussed I just wanted to see her have a good time because of course being so close on the heels of the return of the lymphoma I had all these morbid thoughts that it could quite well be her last Royal show ever. So shoving that aside she managed to have a lot of fun, especially on the course with two dog walks and helped keep the spectators entertained. Spryte? Well Spryte had her first Royal and thoroughly enjoyed herself albeit with some very baby dog mistakes on courses. She did a ripper Novice Jumping run but knocked two bars, Novice Agility she missed the weaver entry and in the Open runs I think she had issues with some contacts and maybe the distance challenges. She wasn’t fazed by the atmosphere at all though and continued to show me that she does still have a few more gears to go through in terms of speed. She also got to have her first go in the show ring on the Wednesday and handled it all very well even without any show clothes on since the bath the night before was apparently her cue to drop all of her coat. She’s on the small side as it is, having no coat certainly didn’t help her chances! But she moved very nicely and was solid as a rock with the judge going over her so no complaints from me.
After the Royal we moved into the last couple months of the trialling season. In terms of Raven I met with Ken in the second week of the school holidays and he examined her and basically said that we should leave her be for now, she is still a well and healthy dog, the nodes, whilst up were still small (pea sized really) and that we should try and delay treatment for when she is really starting to feel the effects of the lymphoma. Me, being slightly paranoid about it all, was concerned that I’d delay too long and one morning wake up with a sick dog on my hands. Ken felt fairly safe in assuring me that due to her previous history whereby I tend to notice other signs prior to her feeling really unwell that it would be the right move to carry on the way we were and to just monitor her for any changes which thanks to the fact that she does agility I would more than likely pick up on due to her behaviour there. Raven is feeling unwell when she slows down on course, holds her start lines and contacts and keeps all her bars up oddly enough. Ken also said the longer she goes without the chemo (since the last dose) the more likely the chemo treatment will be effective. So we tried to last as long as possible and I checked her nodes everyday.
After the Royal was a couple of trials one held by Perth and a double header held by Rockingham. Perth was some expensive training runs for us I think. Cy had bar issues as did Raven and Spryte had multiple issues of which I, being the diligent trainer I am of late *lol*, of course made a list of to remember to work on. However we did have a good Rockingham trial – Raven actually won a very tricky Masters course which felt all very excellent except I finished the course with her with this vague sense of her actually having done most of it without me, she was that far in front of me it was as though she was reading numbers by herself! Spryte also pulled off an Excellent Agility win and I got to run Kriszty’s Terra in Open Agility for a win as well. So it was a successful day all round with Cypher also picking up a couple of cards and placements. ACWA’s trial was also in the month of October but we didn’t have any joy there and was notable for me for one reason only – it is the one and only time I have ever gone home from a trial early and scratched from runs because I was just too damn tired. Of course it now being Jan 2009 I cannot remember why I was sooo tired but only that I left a trial early. The GSDA trial also was held in October and I distinctly remember that trial being purely training for young Spryte. Here let me list her issues (all trainer related of course):
1) Startlines. She has this thing whereby she will come in on lead, sit in position, I go to clip the lead off and/or hand it to the steward she stands up. I say ‘Sit’ and she apparently has no idea what that means. This happens in trials only. And I won’t walk off on her unless she sits and it has started becoming a habit of which I am not fond of.
2) Contacts. Yes yes not enough reinforcement or consistent sticking to criteria here by me I know this. So I’ve started being tougher on them in trials. If I know at training that previous week she has done a 150 two on two off perfect contacts and she doesn’t give me the behaviour in the ring, I stop , say ‘Too bad’ ask her one more time for ‘Contact’ if she offers it I say ‘Good girl’ and leave the ring. If she runs through, I stop, ask for ‘Contact’, get the behaviour off her and leave the ring. It’s completely fixable. But it is simply time, effort and repetition and consistency. Which sounds simple when I type it like that but I must be slow when it comes to this one!
3) Bars. I am now stopping her for dropped bars. This dog jumps 600 with not too much effort, I always train on 500 and warm her up on 500 and she does that height with ease. There is absolutely no reason she should drop 400 bars even if I do say stuff over the bar, give her crappy angles onto them, surprise her with them or whatever. Again training issue. And see I know this is not a line of popular thought but to me a trial is a training session. Or it should be. People say train like you trial. I’d rather trial like I train. There will be frowns saying ‘Well that’s just taking all the fun out of it, or its disrespectful of the judge, or you are making your dog unhappy’. To me trialling/training should be the same. And I am lousy as making it that way. So that is what I am working on. If we stop in training for dropped bars we are gonna stop in trialling for dropped bars. Spryte knows (like all my other dogs know) when we leave a course without running for the usual amount of time that something went wrong. Doesn’t mean I don’t go straight up for my next run and we start with a clean slate again. She doesn’t get any less enthusiastic to run because I pulled her out of a ring less than five minutes ago. It’s fun running agility, it’s even more fun to go clear and you know what the most fun is? Going clear CONSISTENTLY. Sadly consistently is NOT a word that could ever apply in my case and that’s a goal I want to work on.
So yes those are my three main issues with her. Things that will always be worked on over time are the tightening up of turns, her acceptance and adaptability to spur of the moment, no doubt last second decisions front crosses. Never my forte but I insist on doing them sometimes (how else does one improve?) and yes dogs I am going to be doing them in some crappy places at crappy times and really I don’t need a bark or growl of abuse because I got in your way! Sheesh. I don’t know how it is for other breeds but all three of my Border Collies feel the need to vocalise their disagreement with my decision to perform a front cross right there when clearly all I am doing is slowing them down. Which, typically if front cross is performed poorly, I am doing but sometimes you know I’d just like a little more flexibility. On their part not mine.
Where was I? October....yes tick that month as done. November and this is the month where I decided enough was enough with Raven and took her back in to see Ken at their new facilities in Osborne Park. Ken had moved from Murdoch due to his expanding clientele and lack of space at Murdoch. So brand new facilities in Selby Street along with a specialist surgeon and two radiographers. Raven christened the Consultation room by being the first consult in there, along with about 8 vet students. She is currently on the front page of their promo pamphlet as well doing her agility thing. That’s a little bittersweet – I’d much rather she’d never have to have anything to do with Oncology at all but then again I like the fact that she’s seen as a fighter and so far successful cancer patient. Raven told me she was tired at Judges practical exam (which by the way WA has three brand new agility judges from Woohoo!!!) when running some simple courses and at a couple of trials in November. She resumed chemo on November 14th without any complications. The same protocol as the first time – 16 treatments in all using three types of drugs. The only thing that changed was the use of the hardest hitting drug Doxorubicin. She had met her limit for that drug as she was at risk of heart failure should she continue using that one so they changed it to Epirubicin which has the same effects in terms of potency without the heart muscle damage but is harsher on the gut.
November was also the month I decided to take up Softball. What the hell? I can hear all the agility readers yelling from here. Yes well it’s always been a sport I’ve been interested in. Last played it very loosely in Primary school I believe. Anyway there is something incredibly satisfying about the sound of a bat hitting a ball and whacking the thing as far as possible. And I’ve always liked throwing stuff. J So I started training on Tuesday nights which is actually ACWA Club training night but I figured I could still train on Wednesday nights for Agility and even Thursday if I felt really hard up training wise. The games though are at a perfect time. It’s evening trials in Agility from the end of October onwards and all Softball games at either at 2 or 4pm and only go for an hour and a half. The season goes until the end of Feb. So the games NEVER clash with trials. Softball is a much more complicated sport than you think. And it’s a very different way of thinking with so many different permutations of what could and can happen and what kind of things you need to remember depending on A. Your position B. Whether there are 1, 2 or 3 players on bases, C. The weather! I’m enjoying it anyway and I don’t think it’s going to detract from my agility too much. It’s also another social circle really – new people, new friends and so vastly different from the agility world. Of course my agility friends all think I’m completely mad I’m sure but I think you can make room in your life enough if you really want to enough. And quite frankly watching those A Grade games? The skills involved and the level required – easily as difficult and awesome to watch as top level agility. I am still trying to get my head around how fast an underarm ball can actually be pitched – accurately!!! And the training won’t conflict with agility – short bursts of running and the ability to think quick and remember plays. Cypher’s affinity for incredibly strenuous tug games cannot harm the old throwing arm either. Eh whatever keeps you young I say!
So then December (and yes you can deduce form the lack of info regarding trial results that November wasn’t a successful month wins wise!) Hang on a sec. Raven did have another win in November! That’s right the Southern River trial she won 1st place in 500. I remember because it was the day after a chemo treatment! And I think she picked up a second in Masters Jumping somewhere in November as well!
Only a couple trials left in December and nothing too exciting happened there although I was a little side lined (okay a lot sidelined) by an old calf muscle injury which twinged slightly on training night at softball and then one week later tore properly since clearly I wasn’t allowed to get away with just a minor setback! This calf muscle was torn initially back in 2004 in Sydney in the middle of a BC Speciality trial. That was the weekend Robyn had to take over running Raven for me last second – still in her show clothes and everything. So yeah an old injury that unfortunately once done is always weakened and this was my second visit back to the physio for it since 2004. She said 6 weeks for this one but I have been doing my stretching and exercises religiously (and I am hardly, if ever, religious so that shows you how seriously I am taking this) and I have purchased new calf muscle supports and stuff. I really don’t want to stuff this up again since the plane tickets and accommodation are all booked for March and the Border Collie National in Canberra. So yes was somewhat restricted by that and entirely pissed off when it happened. ‘Oh dear’ was understating the issue massively and some fairly vulgar words were used that I would no doubt tell my students off severely for using. Sometimes obscenities are really the only satisfying way of dealing with these sorts of things. So Karen got to run my dogs at the last trial of the year and I have to say with little *snort* try ‘no’* training she managed to get them round their courses quite well with no more than one tiny fault on each run and some lovely handling. And so the agility season for 2008 came to an end and I have to say that of my list of highlights for the entire year several could be found in my achievements with the dogs in the trialling rings. The 2008 National and the States will always be memorable and some of the sweeter runs with Raven will be cherished.
So now here we are in January 2009. Spryte is currently in season right now and Cypher is doing his level best to convince me that he is the man for her. Sadly for Cypher he is not going to get a belated Christmas present. Part of the reason for attending the BC Nationals this year is to have a look around at the males there. Robyn will probably be breeding from her this year (maybe in June) and a suitable husband for her must be found. So she will likely be having her first litter of puppies this year. After that who knows? I have yet to decide if I will sterilise her or keep her entire. I think it will depend on her first litter and how that goes. She still needs to have her hips scored but all other health tests are passed, mostly clear by parentage. There has certainly been enough interest in puppies from her. Most non agility (and some agility) people who meet her seem to like her small size and want one just like her – she is, temperament wise, a fairly placid and incredibly gentle Border Collie who suckers people in with her dark liquid brown eyes, her small stature and her affinity for cuddles. She is the first cuddly female BC I have come across. It’s all a ruse though. If sheep or agility or other dogs racing around are involved it unleashes her inner demon very quickly and you wonder if that is a Border Collie or some kind of deranged meerkat hopped up on sugar on the end of the lead. She’s bossy with those dogs she thinks she can get away with being bossy with and sneakily grovelling with those she can’t. She knows exactly what buttons to push on Cypher to get what she wants and could quite easily steal a bone from his mouth if she wanted to.
As from next week we embark on a swimming regime to build up the dogs (and mine) condition to get them ready for the start of the agility season. As usual my fitness can also do with much improvement and I will be endeavouring to get up really early and take them walking (in this heat with the snakes around it’s crazy to be walking any later than 8am or before 7pm at night) and getting a routine going with training in the back yard and at club. So far I have booked three dogs on the plane for the BC Nats and will be entering all three. Only Raven can tell me if she will be coming or not closer to the time. I am under no allusions that this is probably her last Eastern States trip if she does go. She won both Masters Jumping and Open Agility at the last one, it would be great to see one more BC National with her but we take each day as it comes.
Spryte will be competing in the Excellent class, the showing and maybe some herding with Robyn. Cy will come for the agility. Raven has five more Masters Jumping wins to achieve for her Agility Champion and who knows? She may just make it. Stranger things have happened. This year saw two of our veterans achieve the title – Kriszty’s Jess (just turned 10) and Nicole Ford’s Corgi – Beauty who is also ten years old. So that was a great way to finish the year for the WA Agility crowd and absolutely spectacular achievements in light of the tough competition here in WA. Goals for this year? Spryte gets up into the Masters Classes and gets some games titles under her belt along with her ET. Raven stays in remission (really every other goal for her kind of pales into insignificance next to that one) and Cypher finishes off some games titles and I work towards making him as competitive as he can be and maybe finish off his CCD title. Raven is 9 in March, Spryte is 3 in July and Cypher is 5 in October. Three odd numbers must add up to a good year I hope.
In terms of my own personal goals – saving towards a huge holiday in 2011 when long service leave is due, surviving another year as a teacher in a hard to staff school, getting fitter and healthier and trying to stay a little bit more in front and less to the side or utterly behind of the general busyness that is my life. In other words try to overcome my chronic need to procrastinate about just about everything! My final goal is to come to terms and accept the fact that whilst I may be in my 35th year I am still, literally, quite a child at heart. Perhaps accept is not the right term, more like ‘ignore the guilt’. I shall not feel guilty if I want to spend a few hours playing Wii console games with friends, watch trashy popcorn television whilst defending it’s worth to all and sundry or perfect my score on various facebook word games. Also batting cages are good! The place where you can go to hit the crap out of a ball for a good hour has got to be cathartic in some form or another and it is perfectly alright for me to want a brand new softball bat.
In other non agility related news – have seen three movies recently that I enjoyed. Twilight (saw that twice and I’d say it’s because my sister dragged me to see it but in all honesty I was quite happy to watch it again) The Day the Earth Stood Still and Australia. None of them were out of this world oh my god twelve Oscars right there kind of quality but good enough to feel not ripped off by the $16.50 ticket charge these days. Also I am a Twilight addict. Have read all four books several times and shall not apologise for doing so. No they are not the literary equivalent of Bronte, Austen, Dickens or Tolstoy however they are as addictive as trashy television so hence the fascination. Also I have fondness for any kind of supernatural sci fi fantasy genre.
I’m afraid I have no images to make this entry pretty with and I really must fix that oversight as soon as possible. So for the rest of the holidays I shall do my level best to take some photos of blogworthiness quality. The rest of my holidays (which are going way too fast I might add) are filled with social lunches, dinners and drinks, softball and agility training, batting cages, movie going (plan to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button because...well I am curious), tv watching, wii playing, word game playing, reading (the line of books waiting to be read on my shelf right now is rather daunting) and just enjoying the company of Tim, my dogs and family.
First trial back is Jan 17th and is a fun teams event plus Gamblers so looking forward to that plus playing softball on Saturdays from January 10th and also have entered Spryte in a few shows to see if she can pick up some challenges. Lots to do and only so many hours in the day to do it so I find myself obsessively making TO DO lists for each day and trying to make sure I tick off at least two things each day lest I should feel unproductive. Though frankly I think the word holidays really should equal unproductive minus the guilt. Where did this idea come from that on holidays one must be productive? It's highly overrated and yet I feel suckered into ensuring it remain so, even just a little. This is why people go away for holidays - somehow not being in your own house on a holiday means that you can get away with doing absolutely nothing all day long and feel exactly zero in the guilt department! Solution? Be rich enough to go away for every holiday period. Ahhh such simple solutions to pertinent problems. If only. :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment