Great Training Day!

On Monday, Pat and Tap and I drove to Dunstable, MA to meet up with US World Trial competitor Maria Amodei and fellow open handler Christopher Bowen to run dogs in the big hay field Maria gets access to immediately after it's been cut. The field is gorgeous - I wish I brought my camera! (I promise I will actually TAKE pictures in Wales!!!) And after a rough measurement using Maria's van's odometer and the access road, it was determined that corner to corner outruns measure roughly 600 yards. We did some big outruns and then set up some Double lifts (hey - it never hurts to be prepared!). Maria's Cato looked like he'd been doing Double Lifts all his life. Tap had initial problems, but then was great. The hardest part is setting them up for that great big swallow tail "Look Back". Both Tap and Pat enjoyed the training and were brilliant - back in top form.

Pat had her treatment at the osteopath - one I wanted to get done weeks ago but couldn't get scheduled. As suspected, her neck and front legs needed some tune up. I think she had a big tumble early in the season on one of her outruns, she has been off and on lame for the last few months and I wasn't sure what was causing her to be sore.

I am getting my Third Country Veterinary Certificate in order. The Canada Food Inspection Agency veterinarian (who must endorse the paperwork) is off until next week - so I have to wait yet again! Only a few weeks to go!

The Trial Fields

Pics are up on the World Trial site of the 3 trial fields on which qualifying runs will take place over the first 2 days.

Tap's number is 203, which means she runs 3rd (YIKES!) on the first day in field 2. Here is the picture taken from the World Trial site of field 2. The outrun will be approximately 400 yards in qualifying runs.

Pat is number 361, which means she runs approximately 21st on day 2 in field 3. Here is the picture of field 3.

Both the girls are finishing up their 1 month of Doxycycline for their Anaplasmosis (a nasty tick borne disease). I hope they are feeling better soon - both girls liver values are sky high (as are poor Blaze's, who has Lyme) and really are not working well right now. Tap is also uncharacteristically spooky and reactive, and her work has become less confident. She is really not feeling too great. So, with less than 6 weeks to prepare - I am crossing my fingers...What a time to get sick!

Fundraising efforts continue!

The T-shirts (pictures in the previous post) are selling like Hotcakes. Only XLs left. However, note that the XLs run a bit small - they are more like a regular Large, it seems. Anyways - they still make great nightshirts for us short people too!

Also - anyone that is looking for a nice, all round Doggy magazine that caters to all "sports" and training including agility, rally, herding and more - DOGSPORT is the magazine you need to subscribe to! AND if you subscribe through me - they give me a portion of each subscription I sign up! To learn more about the magazine, visit their website and then email me with your request! I'll sign you up, you send me a check, written out to Dog Sport Magazine and then you get your subscription! And unlike many of the other dog sport publications, they pay for photos and articles, so you can be sure there will be a nice story relaying our Wales adventure in one of their winter issues!