"If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success."

The dogs all got to stay home today, and instead I judged the hunt test. What a great time it was! A bonus was that I got to judge from horseback. I honestly can't think of when the last time I rode...right when Cadence was injured, I guess. I miss it so much, like I lot a limb or a significant part of me. Riding was very different here, but it still felt great.

It's always interesting to se how the dogs (and handlers) react under pressure. This was one of the first hunt tests of the season, so many dogs were a bit wild, understandably. I got to see a friend of mine have to run of her life with her dog who turned on and was almost perfect! I get so excited when I see things happen and everything work out like clockwork. Adding an enthusastic dog to the mix is even better. Judging is extra fun because I get to see every single brace. It's fascinating watching how differently the dogs hunt, and how they handle pressure.

Today = not a good day. I started off by taking Noodle to the vet this morning because her toe is actually worse. My regular vet is still on vacation, so I saw the other vet. She was pretty thorough, did some scrapes of the toe to send in for testing to see what kind of bacteria we are dealing with since the antibiotics are NOT working. We decided to change antibiotics (Clindamycin), and to also start applying a silver sulfadiazine cream 2x a day. It's so frustrating, because overnight it looks like it is doing better, but the minute she takes a couple steps it breaks open and bleeds and oozes.

I am especially stressed, because I have Noodle intered in something BIG the first weekend of November. The Westminster Kennel Club is sponsoring the first ever Master Hunter Excellent test. It is open to only current master hunters, and they only accept 20 dogs. It is a two-day test where they are judging your dog's pointing and hunting style. I SO badly want to do this. The test opened at 10am today, and guess when my appointment was? Yep, 10am. Luckily, they left me in the office for a bit while they ran tests, and I was able to enter on my phone at 10:40am. Now I wait to see if I got in, and then I pray that Noodle is healed by then so she can run. What an awesome opportunity this would be!

After this appointment, I went home and dropped her off and picked up Pretzel, and we headed to the opposite side of town to MedVet for his cancer surgery consult. I met with the surgeon, and they are going to remove a section of his lip and also a bunch of lymph nodes on his neck. This will buy him some time (hopefully). I know there is now cure for this, but I am not ready to just let him go completely without trying something! Surgery is scheduled for Friday. I hope this surgery does not have a hard recovery. I questioned the surgeon about this and he assured me that dogs generally recover quite easily from this. That's the ONLY reason I agreed to do this. My goal is to cause Pretzel no pain, just happiness, for whatever time he has left.

Noodle's toe today was still pretty raw this morning, and still a little bloody discharge when she walked. It seemed maybe a tiny bit better than last night (when it actually gushed thick blood)? Maybe I am just trying hard to see improvement so I will feel better? I dunno.

I took Dolphin field training. My friend was there to gun for us. We worked on retrieving (he did...OK), steadying (was great at the flush, and shot, but broke on the shot when he saw the bird fall), whoa to flush (happened by accident and he was awesome...stopped and stood!), and honoring (yeah, a work in progress but overall not too bad). It was really hot today - mid-80's. Tomorrow looks to be the last really hot day of the season, temperatures drop big time this weekend. Great for hunting, not so great for my summer-loving mindset.

Today is Sieben's 15th birthday! Just a few weeks ago we were rushing home from Florida, afraid we wouldn't make it in time to see him go...but he rallied and is doing well (for a 15 year old)!

Pretzel had his cancer surgery today. They removed a decent sized section of his lip, and several lymph nodes under his chin. This surgery was a lot more invasive than I was led to believe. Tonight I watched him, miserable and groggy from the anesthesia, and I completely regretted the decsion to put him through this surgery. Why did I do this? Just for me, so I can have him around a little longer? Was it fair to him? I thought I was doing the best thing for him, but tonight I am not so sure.

On the Noodle front - more bad news. Her toe is completely unchanged. When she sleeps and is totally inactive, it gets a nice scab and looks really good and dry. The minute she gets up and walks, we have blood that pops out of the top of the scab, and the next thing you know the whole wound is oozing. To top it all off, I got her blood test results and her albumin levels are only at 2.1. They have gone up from 1.9 in August, but I was SO convinced that they would be back to normal. Her poop looks pretty solid (for her!), she seems to be eating well and acting good...I really thought this diet change and new drug would be a miracle cure. I guess we will test in 3 months and really know...everyone keeps telling me to be patient and that it will take longer to see results, but I feel like I have been waiting for an eternity. Just one thing after another.

This is Noodle's toe today (as of this morning). Of course, by evening it was bloodier as she was on and off her feet all day. I am truly at a loss, we changed her antibiotic, I am using the silver sulfadiazine cream several times a day, and I feel like I am seeing zero improvement. She is climbing the walls, so I am having to keep her slightly sedated with Trazodone, and even that is starting to fail as she gets more and more frustrated being cooped up. Can't say I blame her, I find myself having little mental breakdowns all day long over everything that is going on.

On a more positive front, Pretzel woke up this morning bright-eyed and happy, wagging his tail and seemingly unaware that his mouth is all stitched up. Seeing him so happy makes me feel a LOT better about my decision to have the surgery.

I have been consumed with everything here the past few days and it's really getting to me, so today I was able to take a break in the afternoon and head to do some field training with a couple good friends. We had a wonderful time! I only took Dolphin, and he was great. We didn't do any retrieving, but he was nice and steady on the birds (even with a lot of pressure from a close-honoring dog, and real gunfire), and did a decent honor or two. Best of all, he ran and hunted like a million bucks - he was running hard and ranging pretty far out. It makes me think that maybe field trials might be a possibility for his future! The weather was cool - mid-50's and sunny with a breeze, perfect training weather. We have a hunt test next weekend and I hope to finish his senior hunter title. We only need one more pass.

I came back home and was SO mentally refreshed! I didn't realize how badly I needed that break with my friends. It was hard to come back home and see everything was as I left it (I am always hoping for some sort of miracle to arrive home to). Noodle's toe is the same. Pretzel, however, looked even better! Watching him nook on his toy (the vet said it was OK for him to nook even with the stitches) bright my heart so much joy. He is one happy boy, and as long as he is happy I will move heaven and earth to keep him that way.

I haven't mentioned Pizza in a while. I feel horrible that I am kind of neglecting her this week, with everything else that is going on. She is coming out of season, so Dolphin's brain is starting to return. Since it looks like Noodle will NOT be able to do the hunt test next weekend, I will substitue Pizza. She is bound to fail, she hasn't been seriously on birds in 6 months, and hasn't done any retrieving in probably 9 months. Oh well, call it a donation to the club. She deserves some fun time out in the field.

I'm telling you, last night I had a serious mental breakdown. Serious. It's like everything piled up inside my skull and exploded. It's a very strange feeling when it seems like every corner of your life is out of control and you feel helpless. I never usually feel helpless, it's not my style. I take charge. Last night I melted down. Today I woke up a little better. My brain was so overwhelmed that I overslept...and that is a great thing considering I haven't been sleeping in weeks!

Noodle's toe is the same. No better, no worse. I called to make another vet appointment for later in the week. About 15 minutes later I received an e-mail that the lab results were finally in from the culture they did on her toe last week. It ends up that there is a very nasty resistant bug in this wound. The two antibiotics we used were useless as this type of infection was resistant to them. We decided to change to an antibiotic that the test showed would work. FACTS. I just love FACTS! It feels amazing to have an answer, finally! If you are a medical geek, here are the results from her culture:

Isolate 1: E. coli - 4+

	Isolate 1	MIC
Cefotaxime	I
Amoxicillin	R	>=32
Amoxicillin-Clavulanic Acid	R
Cephalexin	R	>=64
Cefpodoxime	R	>=8
Cefovecin	R	>=8
Ceftazidime	I	8
Ceftiofur	R	>=8
Imipenem / Carbapenem	S	<=0.25
Amikacin	S	<=2
Gentamicin	S	<=1
Ciprofloxacin	S	<=0.06
Enrofloxacin	S	<=0.12
Marbofloxacin	S	<=0.5
Doxycycline	R	1
Chloramphenicol	I	16
Trimethoprim/Sulfamethoxazole	S	<=20

**INTERPRETATION KEY for Antibiotic Susceptibility Results (when performed)**
S = Sensitive. Organism is inhibited by usual recommended dose.
I = Intermediate. Organism is inhibited only by the maximum recommended dose.
R = Resistant. Organism is resistant to the maximum recommended dose.

We had started with Amoxicillin, and when that didn't work we switched to Cephalexin. Today we switched to Ciprofloxacin. She get her first dose at dinner tonight, and I resisted the temptation to look for instant healing. What can I say? I am desperate for results!

Poor Pretzel has a LOT of swelling underneath his jaw. I am not sure if it is from the mouth stitches, or the place where they removed the lymph nodes. He doesn't seem to be the least bit uncomfortable, so that is a plus. It just looks awful, poor guy. He has the most beautiful head, and it hurts me to see it so disfigured.

I neglected to mention last week that I started a rally class with Dolphin. It's a fun, casual class where we work on basic skills. Let's just say we have a LONG way to go before he is ready to trial!

I was able to get away from the Weimaraner Hospital for a few hours to do some agility anf field work. I started off the morning with Pizza in agility class. I went traight from class with Pizza and Dolphin in tow, and headed to do some field training. It was a very short session. Dolphin did ONE retrieve (but did it well!), that's it. Pizza was able to point one bird, and did a ton of honoring. That's it. Hopefully they will both be ready for Saturday. Pizza is taking Noodle's place in Master Hunter since Noodle is still out of commission. Pizza hasn't been to an event since the beginning of April, and hasn't done any retrieving in probably 8-9 months. Let's just say she is in it for the fun and nothing else!

Noodle's toe looks OK, not great. I guess after 2 days of the new antibiotics I wanted to see a miracle cure happen. Silly, I know...ever hopeful me! It is definitely drier. It looks great after she has been laying down all night, but as soon as I get her outside to potty and she walks on it, it looks bad again.

Pretzel has a ton of swelling today. If it doesn't go down a bit by tomorrow I will send some pictures to his surgeon to see if he thinks this is normal. It just looks HUGE today, and it is so odd that it is now swelling so much and it didn't right after surgery. Surgery was 5 days ago. So far he is eating and drinking and acting fine, but I can't help but worry.

I got word that a good friend passed away unexpectedly this morning. I am in shock, and am worried sick about his wife - a good friend of mine. I look at Mark and I think about how my world would really feel like it ended if I lost him like that. Life is so fragile, and we all take each other for granted so much. Now I sit here and I am worried - no - terrified for everyone in my life.

Noodle had a vet appointment with my regular vet this morning. The toe is definitely doing better. He recommended we switch antibiotcs again, this time to Enrofluxacin. Apparently, some dogs do not absorb the Ciprofloxacin very well (and with Noodle's protein absorbtion issues, I wouldn't be surprised). The Enrofluxacin is a LOT more expensive, but it can be absorbed by any dog, regardless of their issues. Heck, who cares about the cost, I want her healed! We scheduled a re-check appointment in a week and a half. I need to make sure she is sound enough for the Master Excellent hunt test event the first weekend of November. I think we might be on the right track to be ready. Ready without training...that's a whole 'nother story!

Pretzel's swelling is still large, but he seems unaffected by it. I sent photos to the surgeon yesterday and he replied that this was completely normal, and everything looked OK. I hope he is right!

What a jam-packed day! It POURED rain overnight and into the morning, but by the time the hunt test started, it had cleared up.

I'll start off with Dolphin's news. He was in the first brace of Senior Hunter. He hunted wonderfully, had a magnificent point and held steady through the flush, broke on the shot but did an "ok" retrieve. I can use the excuse that the bird was shot pretty hard by both gunners, and it was, but it was one of Dolphin's sloppy retrieves where he mouthed the bird and put it down several times, but eventually brought it to hand. *sigh* - a work in progress. He had a decent honor, and had an amazingly beautiful stop to flush a good distance from me. He received wonderful scores (including a "10" for pointing!) to earn a nice pass and his new Senior hunter title!

He next had his Shooting Dog ratings test, and he passed that beautifully, even had a nice honor that wasn't required. He is breaking on the shot, but I feel like I can correct that with more training...the retrieve on his SD ratings test was worse than his SH retrieve. I really need to make that a training priority this winter.

Pizza was entered in Master Hunter just for funzies. Originally I had entered Noodle, but since she is still out of commission I decided to enter Pizza to keep the braces even. She hasn't competed in anything field-related since the field trial at the beginning of April. I shouldn't have worried, she was wonderful!She went on point a good 20+ feet away from the bird, I had to relocate her since I couldn't find it, and she stopped again about 5 feet from the bird. I flushed it, the gunners shot it, and she was steady as a rock and waited for the tap on the head for the retrieve. I sent her for the retrieve, and as she was casting back and forth trying to pinpoint the downed bird, another planted bird (that was very close to where the downed bird had landed) flew up and she leaped in the air and went after it. I called her off, and the judges made me pick her up. I questioned him, but I didn't make a fuss since she already has her Master Hunter. I did talk to the judges afterwards and they admitted that making me pick her up was a mistake as I had sent her for the retrieve and she had no way of knowing that the bird that popped up wasn't the bird she was sent after. So in essence, she should have been left down to complete her go. Oh well, we all make mistakes, and I appreciate judges who understand when they made a wrong decision and are willing to listen with an open mind.

Pizza had a ton of fun as she got to run as a bye dog for Senior Hunter, and also a bye dog for Shooting Dog Excellent ratings. She was magnificent and had some incredible honoring and hunting. Man, I love watching her work. She is just pure beauty when she runs and hunts. I am getting really excited about breeding her this winter. I'd love another one just like her, plus a few extra improvements. Hey, we can dream, right?

I had a wonderful day of judging at the hunt test. I love judging and being able to watch dogs hunt all day. It's definitely the highlight of my week! However, when I got home I found that Pretzel's face and neck have swollen to almost double, and the swelling is really hard. I had called MedVet and talked to the surgery department last night and they seem opretty unconcerned. I e-mailed photos today and I will be calling the surgeon tomorrow. I am afraid the swelling will pull out the stitches.

Noodle's toe looks maybe a little better? Of course it always looks good until she walks on it. I decided to try out the EMT gel on her tow - it's a lot like liquid skin. I am hoping that it will coat the skin enough to let it start healing while protecting it when she walks and runs around. My vet said she can start getting back to work a little bit this week, so I plan on starting by letting her out in the front yard tomorrow, and if that doesn't seem to hurt her toe I will let her out on the whole property on Tuesday. I really need to get ready for the MHX test in 3 weeks, this is priority #1!

I did some field training with friend of mine today. Dolphin and Pizza got to play. Dolphin was first - we worked a bit on honoring, and staying steady at the flush and blank shot. I had a freshly killed chukkar that I planted, and he did break when I picked it up and threw it (he broke when he saw it fall). This was a good training opportunity. He went out to retrieve it, and started mouthing it, putting it down, picking up, etc. I vibrated him and commanded him to come, and he picked it up and bright it to hand. We tried this two more times, making sure he stayed steady when I threw the bird and he retrieved to hand cleanly and quickly...progress! I can't get hard on him as he is so soft, but the vibration helped wake him up and remind him of what his job was.

Pizza got to do a ton of honoring. I noticed that the more she honored, the more she honored...she had severa nice honors when the other dog went on point, but then she started getting paranoid and trying to honor every time the other dog slowed down or stopped for whatever reason. I had to pull her to the other end of the field and out of sight of her bracemate to get her to go back to hunting for herself. This is good info for me - honoring too often is not a good thing for her.

I decided to do a couple retrieves with Dolphin's chukkar, just for the heck of it. On the first retrieve, Pizza did her usual thing where she brought it half way and then put it down. I vibrated her just like I did with Dolphin, and she picked it up and brought it right to hand! I tried it one more time and this time it was a direct retrieve. Big training win! I think I will continue to do a little of this each week, and make it fun. I'd love to get her retrieving consistently again. Her pointing and steadiness is amazing, probably the best of all of my dogs.

Pretzel had his appointment with the MedVet surgeon today to take a look at his swelling. He looked at him, and even drew some fluid from the swelling to analyze it. It is nothing to be concerned about - no infection. Apparently no one bothered to tell me that having extreme swelling 5-6 days after lymph node removal is pretty normal, and can last up to three weeks. I mean, really? It would have been nice to let me know of this last week so I wouldn't have been stressing and panicking for days and days. Irritating, but so thankful nothing bad is happening and I can let him enjoy life without me obsessing every 5 minutes. Now I can save my obsessing for Noodle, whose toe is slightly healing, but still raw after she moves around on it.

Noodle's toe continues to look good, even after free exercise on the property. We are not out of the woods yet as every time I stop watching her, she licks it and it becomes raw again. She lives in a donut and a cone when I am not with her, and she is NOT happy about that! I see light at the end of the tunnel, and I am feeling cautiously optimistc about the next few weeks leading up to the Westminster Master Excellent hunt test. Fingers crossed...

Pretzel's oncologist called today to report that they got the test results back from his surgery and they managed to remove the entire tumor with clear margins. His lymph nodes that were removed were also cleared. Now we just watch his lunngs carefully, and hope for a nice long , happy remaining life.

Well, we went field training today. *sigh* there goes my positive feelings! Dolphin was nice and steady, but his first retrieve was terrible and didn't even make it all the way to hand. I whoa-ed him and tossed the bird again, and after putting it down only once he did bring it at a gallop straight to hand. I can't figure that boy out.

Pizza was stellar in her work, until it came to the retrieve. Back to the same old same old, got it to about 5 feet from me and that's as far as she went. I forgot to bring steak out to use as a reward, I find it hard to believe that steak made all the difference 2 days ago, but maybe it did? Who knows.

Anyways, enjoy a nice video of Pizza hunting, using the wind, and popping on point. She is pretty darn beautiful when she works.

Dolphin and I spent three days at a somewhat local agility trial (it's about 45 minutes east of here). Normally I don't do three days in a row locally, but we haven't done agility for a while so I figured what the heck?

Let's start off with the good stuff. My biggest positive take from this wekend is that Dolphin ran happy, enthusiastic, and fast ALL three days...11 runs total! I just loved his attitude. He was excited to work, and actually was getting amped up as we waited at the in gate. Even by Sunday afternoon he was still as enthusiastic and amped as he was Friday morning. That is a huge plus, because this is one of the most important things I want from Dolphin when we do this sport.

I am too tired from the weekend to give you a breakdown by class, but we ended up with two Q's in Master FAST (and a 1st and 4th place), and that's it. LOTS of near-misses. We lost two PERFECT jumpers runs when at one random moment in each one he decided to jump up at my arm instead of taking the jump, thus incurring a refusal. We had some knocked bars, a handful of other minor oops refusals, did a few fix n go's to work on contacts. On the plus side, he got his weaves every single run (including one where he sneezed right as he entered the first pole but still managed to keep weaving!). Best of all, he ran happy! He ended each run with a huge smile and a lot of jumping and wagging his tail. I love that. I thought I would be more disappointed as we once again had a big long weekend of failure. Having him run like this was so much fun, I got some good enjoyment out of the experience.

Man, it sure would be nice to get some decent Q's for a change. I have been sitting on 9 Master Jumpers Q's since early summer, waiting for that Q #10 to finish that title. I had such good runs this weekend and he would have easily gotten it if he had kept his brain together and not jumped up at my arm in two of my otherwise clean jumpers runs. We will try again another day, I guess.

Pretzel's swelling is way down! Noodle's toe looks great. The Weim hospital hopefully will be closing it's doors very soon.

I started off the day with Pizza in agility class. She did pretty good, was a little stressy at the start line but ran well. After class, I dropped her home and picked up Noodle and Dolphin and headed to field train with a friend. This would be Noodle's first time out away from home in over a month. Her toe looks pretty darn good! Still hairless and pink, but nice and dry. I am so happy that after we did our field training, the toe was still looking good. Finally!

Field training went so-so with Noodle. I am not sure if she is feeling well, she didn't run with her usual spark. The birds were really hard on us today - the quail were burrowing deep into the cover and they were impossible to find. Oh, Noodle found them just fine, but I literally had to walk away from two birds that I could not find no matter how far I dug into the cover. e did come back later and found one of the birds. She worked it pretty good, we did an OK retrieve, and I threw the bird for a second retrieve and she did great on that one. She had a couple honors - one kind of crappy and one pretty good one. I am not sure what to think at this point. We are entered in a double hunt test on Saturday to see where she is in her comeback training before the big Master Hunter Excellent test in another week.

Dolphin made a few mistakes today - the biggest one being he broke on his honor when the bird fell for his brace mate to retrieve, and he ran out to steal the retrieve. I was able to call him back right before he got to the bird. I have to admit this one's on me, I kind of forgot that he wasn't a master hunter like Noodle, and as I stood next to him during the honor I really wasn't watching him or was prepared to keep him from breaking. He is not quite steady enough to stand at the honor without me holding his collar. I will remember that next time!

He did do one retrieve, and it was not a great one. I really didn't intend on doing any retrieving today, but the opportunity presented itself. Mistake! I need to figure out a training plan and stick with it. My problem is that I am really not sure...I am the world's stinkiest retrieve trainer.

Pretzel gets his stitches out tomrrow...yay! Finally!

Noodle and I headed to Kentucky last night to do a double hunt test today. She was a completel pain in the butt at the hotel, did NOT let me sleep all night in typical Noodle fashion. I thought she would be as tired as I was in the morning, but nope!

We were in the first brace of Master in the morning. About 15-20 feet from the start line both dogs flushed up a giant pheasant! We managed to get our way through that one with no chasing. Noodle took off down the back field, and very quickly was out of sight. I was pretty sure she had already made her way to the bird field and was hunting, and sure enough when I got there she was hunting her little heart out. I did ask the gunners and they said she had been hunting the whole tie but had not busted any birds (thank goodness!).

Noodle very quickly went on point. I went to flush the bird and it only popped straight up about 2 feet, right by Noodle's head. She couldn't resist the temptation and grabbed it. Just like that, we were out. Ugh. The judges discovered that none of the birds were flying at all, so from that point on they were allowing the handlers to pick up the birds and throw them. Awesome, but a little too late for us. I was able to scold Noodle and let her know she had done a very bad thing, and then she had to stand on leash and wait for her bracemate to finish (and that was pure torture for her!).

We had a break, and soon it was time for our second test. Noodle took off like a bullet from the start, but this time I felt she was much more manageable in the back field. Before our second brace, I did practice some heeling with her and I think that it made her re-focus on me and not on her crazy drive to RUN and hunt.

This time we actually made it in to the bird field together, and she went on point in about 30 seconds. I managed to grab the bird and throw it, the gunners shot, and Noodle was steady as a rock and waited for me to release her for the retrieve. While searching, another bird flushed up. She did a decent stop but wanted to chase, and I called her off of it. This was VERY familiar as the exact same scenario happened with Pizza a few weeks ago. I did have to have a discussion with the judges about the situation (they don't seem to understand that when you send for a retrieve, the dog thinks it has to RETRIEVE and doesn't differentiate between the downed bird and another one that flushes up nearby). I brought her back to me and kept re-sending her for the retrieve, but she kept veering of to the left where the flushed bird had flown. At this point she had it in her mind that the flushed bird was the one I was sending her to retrieve, and she was getting more and more scrambled. Thankfully the judges told me to heel her off and move on to find another bird, which she did less than a minute later.

The second bird worked great for us - Noodle was steady as a rock and had a beautiful direct retrieve to hand (that scored us a '10'!). We quickly found a third bird, she was steady, and the gunners missed the shot on this one. Bird #4 came a bit later even though I was really trying to keep her hunting in a dead zone and not get into trouble...but if there is a bird, Noodle is going to find it. I went to pick up the bird and it ran about 2 feet into some very heavy, thick cover. I searched and searched but could not find it. Noodle held steady while I searched for at least 6-7 minutes, digging through the heavy brush and getting my hands cut up in the thorns. Time ran out while I was still searching, so the judges told me if I could heel her off the bird we would pass. Noodle heeled wonderfully, and there you go...Master Hunter Pass #20!!!! My goal for this year was realized - our twentieth pass! It was a nice one, with 10's in retrieving and trainability (imagine that!).

I feel like we have a bit of work to do before out Master Hunter Excellent test next weekend. I am SO glad we were able to attend this hunt test today and work out some bugs. Plus, her toe held up nicely, so that gives me a bit more confidence.

Another weird Tuesday agility trial, yay! I had pulled Noodle weeks ago to save her toe, so it was just Dolphin's day today.

We had a decent Q in FAST, even though someone had left the roll of tape in the send area and Dolphin stop to try and pick it up. Standard was be-yoo-tiful and clean UNTIL he decided to jump up at my arm again and missed a jump. What the heck??? He did the same thing in Time 2 Beat, but since there are no refusals in T2B I was able to get him back over the jump, and we finished with a decent Q. Jumpers was awesome, until he mised his weave entrance. I am figuring out that his issue when missing the weaves normally occurs after a lead change - he was on a tight curve to the right and then had to turn left to get into the weaves. This is something to work on. The run otherwise was good, until I did a very badly timed front cross while he was coming out of the tunnel and didn't quite get it done in time...then the wheels fell off a bit. We are STILL waiting on our 10th Master Jumpers Q to finish that dang title...been waiting since July!

I got home just in time to eat a bit, then Dolphin and I headed to scent work class. I feel like he is really doing better in alerting to the odor...reading his alert signals has been an issue because if I don't respond right away he tends to move on.