Poodie Moves on from Spleen Surgery

Well, Carbon got lucky during a routine ultrasound; we were looking for a cause for her pancreatitis and other digestive issues. The doc found a tumor on her spleen, even though the spleen was not on our worry list -- but there it was, a nice big tumor, lurking there. So two weeks ago she underwent a splenectomy as well as 5 intestinal biopsies. She did fine with the exception of a couple of scary pain and bleeding incidents....and I did fine once the 'feed tiny bits every hour 8am-8pm' schedule, and the 'wake up to give the dog pills at midnight and then take her for a walk in your bathrobe' regime lightened up a bit. . Today she goes in to have her belly staples removed (see her showing them off in the photo above), and we can begin to resume normal activity, and eventually, agility (maybe 2-3 months, I am guessing). Whew!! another crisis averted.

California Pood

Well, the Curly One is back in California, having flown in from Singapore with us and her dog, Cody a couple of weeks ago. There's a spring in her step, thanks to the cool weather, and she's been at the dog park every day, stretching her looooonnng legs and trying to get back into shape after many weeks of inactivity. Between her being sick, and with our travel, it's been about 4 or 5 weeks of idleness....time to get back to work, back to our Susan Garrett Recall training, and finding some agility folks to train with!

For some reason, I just suddenly had to share this picture of Carbon at 6 months, in her puppy coat. She was sooooooo cute. She's still cute now, but in a different way....

Jeanne and Carbon Embark on a New Training Adventure!

Carbon and I have signed up for Susan Garrett's online Recallers Course. I'm hoping that we can harness some little tiny itty bitty piece of the excitement and focus Carbon has for other dogs, and maybe some of the incredible warp speed she shows when running loose, and translate it into speed on the agility course. She is SOOOO FAST it is unreal, but you would never know it on the agility field!

Carbon Jumps Her Way to a Singapore Title!

OK, I know, I know -- it's been too long since I posted anything. This blog has become a blob. Now that we've gotten that out of the way...

This past Saturday Carbon finished her Singapore Kennel Club Jumper title. I had decided to only enter Jumpers classes this time because our contacts are still so unreliable. It was a good decision -- I had more fun and I think she did too -- much less stress. Besides, in this heat she can only do 2 runs before she falls apart. As it turned out, we were lucky; Saturday was not too hot and there was a good breeze well into the afternoon.

There were really 2 trials that day -- one in the morning and one in the afternoon. In her morning class she really did fine but knocked a bar, which she rarely does. Oh, well, a lovely run otherwise.

In the afternoon class she ran clean and with good speed, easily qualifying and earning her final Q for her Novice title. The bonus was that she also placed second out of 17, behind my trainer Lucas Bong and his really talented young BC, Roxie. So, a good day and a nice thing to finally finish a Singapore title.

Carbon Defies Gravity to Win SKC Jumpers!!

Well, this Pood just wowed me with her efforts this past weekend!!! SKC (Singapore Kennel Club) had two trials in one day -- one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Her first Jumpers run was SO fast and fun and precise -- she was on fire!!! -- but I ran the wrong course (totally missed a tunnel) so we did not Q. This loss made me sad as Carbon was awesome, really wonderful, and the mistake was totally my fault -- she did exactly what I asked her to do, but I asked for the wrong thing! A humbling reminder to relax and PAY ATTENTION at all times on the course.

Our team members Darren and Sparkie won it, though, so I had some consolation as they REALLY did have a wonderful run and deserved their win.

Our Agility run in the morning was correct -- slow but steady, and still within SCT so we did Q (but no official placing - we actually came in 5th by points).

Our Agility run in the afternoon was...well, it had gotten quite hot, and I took Carbon out too early...I knew it too. She was very hot, and after the first 3 obstacles tried to run into the shade to lie down! I called her back and she finished but the 'refusal' cost us time and earned us faults, so no Q.

I walked her for a few minutes so she could cool off a bit, took her back to our tent, iced her down, and put her back in her pen to rest. I kept her quiet till it was time to run again.

It rained just a little as they were setting up the course for Jumpers....hmmmm...Carbon the Princess doesn't like being wet!!! so I took her out JUST before her run, hoping she would not notice the rain....we went in, ran, and she was super! Not quite as 'on fire' as in the morning, but great, and solid, and no errors -- and she won the class of 12. Won a B.A.T. (big-assed trophy) too. Darren and I are sharing it since he won it in the morning and I won it in the afternoon! So when I have it I will take her photo with it and post it here.

It was a very satisfying day!! GO POOD.

So, next is USDAA in mid-September. We will limit our runs to Starters Standard, Jumpers and Relay on Saturday, and P2 Standard and Jumpers on Sunday. We really want those P2 Q's.

More to come after USDAA.

The Next Weekend....

So after the bloodbath that was the USDAA trial I decided that I had ignored my instincts (and her signals) and had pushed Carbon too hard and asked too much of her during a two-day trial on a VERY hot Singapore weekend. The SKC trial on the following weekend was a chance to recover our dignity and we both tried hard to do just that.

SKC offers just two runs -- Agility and Jumpers. In Agility she did a good job but had a flyoff from the A-frame, so no Q and no placing but otherwise a respectable run. Jumpers run was fine -- a very simple and straightforward course, and she did very well, placing third and Q.

Here's what judge Cheryl Bedggood said -- "A lovely steady approach to the course with some excellent handling is what it takes and this team showed us that today. With a clear round in the time of 22.27, this team attained a well deserved 3rd place in the class and were a pleasure to judge. Well done and congratulations on this excellent effort!"

See how much happier she looks?



Then just last weekend another SKC trial -- more on that in the next post....

A Very Tired Poodle

Carbon had a USDAA agility trial back in April. It was a hot weekend, and the first day ran late, which meant that she had two runs on Saturday and then two more pushed forward to Sunday. So on Sunday she had the two 'leftover' runs, plus the two that were originally scheduled for Sunday, plus a Grand Prix run (please don't laugh).

The two runs she got in on Saturday were Starters Jumpers and Gambler. She was jumping 26" with miles to spare, but had a couple of mistakes. And in Gamblers, I just really got screwed up and while she did complete the Gamble we did not have enough points to Q.

But she is such a pretty jumper!! Looky here.

Sunday she had Starters Standard and Snooker. Not impressive. Poor contacts, and slow as molasses in the weaves. Then P2 Jumpers. Yuck. P2 Standard. Yuck again. Grand Prix was last. We were pathetic.

The last two pictures here capture the tone of the day beautifully.

I realized I had gotten caught up in the competitive spirit and overworked my dog. I vowed to be more conscious of her comfort and ability for the next trial, an SKC (Singapore Kennel Club) event the following weekend. See my next post for details on that.

All these photos are taken by, and used with permission of,