New Lonya photos

Here are a few new photos of Lonya doing agility (of course).  They were taken by Pix N Pages.

Here she is checking out the camera as she goes over a jump (or probably actually watching me!).

Here's another jump shot...

And one of her going over the A-frame.  I like how she was set off against the sky here.

The Places We've Been

 I was thinking the other day, when I couldn't sleep, about the places Kal-El took me...

Kal took me into the conformation ring(UKC) for the first time.  I was terrified, and I'm sure it showed.  The judge was very nice and helped me present my dog better.  He complimented Kal (not me so much though!).  And, I later found out, caused a stir among some people when he put up a long coated WHITE shepherd over the standard colored GSD in group...the judge was Fred Lanting (Mr. GSD), and some GSD people weren't happy a white dog placed higher.

He took me into the obedience ring for the first time.  I didn't care for it very much...and neither did he.  He didn't like that I couldn't talk to him.  And the stays...!  Really, who could expect him to stay that far away from his momma!  We got our UCD by the skin of our teeth (the judge had to actually look up the rules to see if Kal NQd on the stay!).

                  (I know, this is rally, but I don't have any obedience photos)

He took me into the herding ring for the first time.  He took the instinct test, and it was magical to see him know what to do without any training at all.  And, he did it without me!  I was on the outside of the ring, watching.  He got to "play" with sheep several more times, but we never did any formal herding.

He took me onto the flyball lanes for the first time.  He LOVED flyball, and made me love it too.  He usually ran anchor, mainly because the other dogs didn't want to pass him.  He was big for a flyball dog...and if the pass was off, he was going to go anyway!  He ran down for the ball...and even faster back to me, cause he was so far away when he was at the box  LOL

And the physical places he took me.  We trialed all over Florida in various sports: Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tampa, Lakeland, Zephyrhills, Davie, Montecello, Daytona, Palm Bay, Ocala, Williston, Kissimmee, Palmetto, and I'm sure I'm missing places.

We drove to Abilene Kansas twice for white shepherd specialties.  We went to Perry Georgia for agility.  We went to the GSDCA Nationals in St. Louis and followed that up with a trial in Lawrence Kansas.  We went to Kalamazoo Michigan for the UKC Premier to show in Agility AllStars.  We drove to Beaver Falls Pennsylvania for white shepherd Nationals.   I'm not sure if I'm missing "out of state" trips..but that gives you an idea.

I know I'll continue to travel with the girls...and that they'll take me to new places.  But, it's not quite the same without Kal riding in the crate behind my seat...

Time passes....

Yes, time passes...but I don't think I've even begun to heal.  It's been one month since my heart was shattered...and I don't think it's put itself back together very well yet.  I still have moments where I feel like I've been punched in the gut...and the tears will still suddenly spring up out of nowhere.

Reading about an online friend who suddenly lost her agility GSD (to torsion) brought back all the raw emotion.  I think having only hours to come to terms with the fact that your best friend couldn't be saved makes it all the more difficult to heal...

I'm trying, the girls need me to.  And, they try.  Sparrow is good at licking away tears, and Lonya will try to get me to laugh.  Spar will bring me her ball or her bones...she gives me her treasures to try to help me feel better.

I feel the most normal at trials....and I miss him the most when I'm at home.  When I'm out, or working, I can put aside my thoughts and memories and put up a pretty good front.  But, at home, it really stands out that he's gone...he had such a presence in the house.

There's a saying (in songs and I'm sure in other places), that life's not about the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away.  Kal took my breath away all the time...sometimes just looking at him was enough.  He was such a beautiful dog...

Day 3 of IPOC

I only showed Lonya today, in Open Standard and Open JWW.

We ran JWW first.  It was kind of a tough course...lots of "stuff" out there with some twisty parts.  But, the weave entry was set up perfectly just for Lonya!  I heard some people complaining about it, but not us!  It was a "c" shaped tunnel right into the weaves....which is what I've had set up in my backyard for ages!  She ran it pretty well, some wide turning that made her really have to work for some of the jumps.  I felt a bit frantic at times, since she's faster than what I'm used to and I couldn't get where I wanted a couple of times.  You can see a place in the video where I bail on trying to get a front cross at the last minute!  But, she was clean and got her first open Q!



(You can hear she has a bit of  a  fan club LOL)

Her Standard run was VERY nice also...just a couple of minor bobbles.  She got a weave entry that a lot of dogs missed (again, including excellent dogs, similar if not the exact same entry).  I told her "good girl" too early, at pole 11 and she didn't take #12.  She did them fine when I asked her to redo them though.  Then, she hesitated at getting on the table for a second refusal, so NQ.  But, the rest was pretty darn good.  She's SO close to Qing in Standard, it's only a matter of time!

Lonya got all her contacts this weekend, and got most of her weaves on the first try.  Only knocked one bar.  And, even after 3 days, she was still happy and bouncy!

I got a compliment from a total stranger too, which is always nice.  She said that she'd been at the trial all weekend and she just wanted to tell me that it was good to see how I was always happy with my dogs after a run, even if they messed up.  I do try to do that, they usually are trying hard to do it right...and if they have a bad day or a bad run, it just shows that they're not robots!

And, here is Sparrow's JWW run from Friday.  I hope to get Lonya's from that day too, but it's not on my camera....

Day 2 of IPOC

Another fun day at the trial...only teared up once (again, talking to another GSD person...).   The dogs did well, even though we only got 1 Q.

Sparrow was a wild child in JWW.  She did the puppy play bowing and galloping around...and in doing so, took out one bar!  But, she did have fun...!  Standard was later, but it was still cool.  She ran very well, happy!  She did have to stop to scratch an itch before weaves, but since it was Novice, it didn't even count as a refusal!  She Qd with a first place!

Lonya didn't Q, but man, she sure had some nice parts of her runs.  She was a little spooked going into the JWW run, so I altered how I started.  I hadn't walked it that way, but I didn't think I was going to be able to get my leadout, so I didn't want to let her practice breaking it.  I ended up pushing her past a jump, which she then backjumped.  She needed to redo her weaves once also.  But, man, she was running fast!  I'm a little frantic with her out there, at least it feels like it!  I didn't actually check her times today, I need to do that tomorrow....

She was a little flaky in Standard, but not as bad as yesterday.  And, she walked into the ring on her own four feet!  I have been carrying her in, since she seems less stressed that way.  But, for Standard today, she didn't ask to be picked up at all.  I was very pleased!  She hit a tough weave entry the first time, and really had to try to curve enough to get into the second pole without skipping one.  When I saw how fast she hit the entry, I figured she's miss the second pole and hit the third...but she got it!  It was a very similar (if not the exact same) weave entry the excellent dogs had, and many of them missed the entry or missed the second pole.

Lonya's really coming along...she's quite the up and coming agility star!

On a different note...the emergency clinic that I took Kal to 3 weeks ago, sent me a sympathy card.  While that is nice enough in and of itself...I was very touched that not only did the entire staff (or most of it) sign it, but the attending vet and vet tech that night wrote personal notes to me about Kal.  It made me cry again, both commented on how sweet of a boy Kal was.  Even when he was so sick, they could see how good he was...

Day 1 of IPOC

We had agility today.  The weather was beautiful and the trial site was nice.  My friends had staked out a really good spot, and I didn't even need to set up my tent, since we had shade all day!

Lonya was entered in Novice JWW and Open Std.  Her JWW run was very nice. And FAST!!  Holy crap!  She had a little bit of a lapse in the middle (I think she missed a rear cross?) but once I got her back (and after I managed to keep her from going off course!) she worked the end nice.  Great weaves!  And Q #3 for her NAJ! On to Open JWW tomorrow!

The Open Std course was nice, pretty doable (and not what I expected from this judge!).  Lonya had some major puppy brain moments though, and we struggled through it.  But, I was glad to see that she would retry the things she missed without apparent stress.  And she did 12 weaves the second time through (she missed pole 2 the first time...which happens if she doesn't slow up when she enters).  She got all her contacts too.

Sparrow ran in Novice Std and Novice JWW, preferred so 20" jumps.  Her JWW run was very nice, she liked that it was so open.  One refusal, but that was it.  She Qd!

Novice Std, she was a bit mopey.  I had got her out WAY too early!!  I think by the time she ran, she thought we were just hanging out.  Once I got her going, she ran well, but it was a bit of a struggle at first.  But, she ended up Qing there too!

I only have a little video from today, I'll upload them later, probably not until Sunday night...  Lonya's JWW run is on a friend's camera, so hopefully I'll get that in not too long.

There were a few more people today that I hadn't seen in the last three weeks...but I only teared up a couple of times.  I really get choked up around other shepherd people for some reason.  I guess it's because I know they know how special a shepherd is...

Totally unrelated, I bought Sparrow a new food bowl...and Lonya is able to retrieve this one.  I know Kal is watching and is happy she's taken this over.  It's a silly little thing, but I like it.

Logic versus emtion

It was 3 weeks ago today that I lost Kal...how can that be??

Today started out much like that day...

I got up "early" to run some errands and to start changing my sleep schedule over to being awake during the day, before 3 days of agility...exactly like that Thursday.  I was even going to pretty much the same places.

I was set to leave at about the same time even...and was going to do what I did then.  Give the dogs some treats and feed them their normal meal when I got home, which would be closer to their "normal" time.

But, part of me was scared that I'd come home to a sick dog again...I KNOW that giving Kal cookies before his meal didn't make him sick...it didn't give him hemangiosarcoma...it didn't cause his spleen to rupture.  But, I couldn't leave without feeding the dogs...even though it means I'll have to feed them again before I go to bed so they don't go too long between meals.  There's no logic with doing that...none at all.  But, the thought of leaving the house without feeding them turned my stomach.  Silly isn't it??

I also "almost" used my Wii Fit for the first time since I lost Kal...but then I realized that I need to decide what I want to do with Kal's "Mii"s on it.  Kal is a dog on it, and also a person (it was easier to weigh him as a person, since I didn't have to pick him up that way).  Both Kal the dog and Kal the person show up all the time in the games...I don't know if that'll be a comfort or a dagger...  I'm thinking to probably delete the person and keep the dog???  Then he'll still get to run with me...but I can't deal with that now...so I didn't use the Fit.  Good thing I have other exercise games!

The United White Shepherd Club put a full page memorial to Kal-El in their latest newsletter.  That was unexpected and a surprise.  It was very nice of them to do.

3 days of agility this weekend, AKC style.  I'm running Sparrow in Novice Preferred Std and JWW for 2 days and Lonya in Open Standard and Novice JWW all 3 days.  The weather is supposed to be beautiful, it's raining now but that's supposed to stop overnight.  Hoping for a Q or 2!