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[wyrddogs]

I ended up going to the race meet to help out, because what else was I going to do, be bored at home? The boys came with to hang out, though Zaku was bitter that he didn't get to run.

I was immediately conscripted into lure operating for the third program, and I acquired an assistant. A competitor's five-year-old child spent the weekend wandering around and helping (supervising) box loading, judging, and the like. She came and hung out with me for about thirty minutes on Saturday.

She told me cool facts about the mythology book she's reading, showed off her epic somersault moves, and demonstrated some stretches her grandmother had showed her. She wanted to help out, so she assigned herself the task of telling me when to bump the lure. When the box operator waved his flag, she'd give me the thumbs up (usually accompanied by a leap into the air) and that was my signal to go. A most excellent assistant.

Her family owns sighthounds and she told me normal dogs look "like cartoons" to her. When the Ibizans ran their race she turned to me and said, "Now that's a DOG."

It was everything I could do to not burst out laughing.

[wyrddogs]

I talked with a friend of mine whose dog had Zaku's exact injury, but much worse, early in its sports career. She showed me the stretches and massage that her rehab vet taught her, and suggested regular chiropractor visits. Her dog went on to do flyball at high level competition for another ten years, and at twelve years old is still in great physical health.

So that made me feel a lot better. Zaku is not Ruined Forever. And I have some new tools in my tool box to keep the Child in good shape.

Zaku wasn't a huge fan of the full body massage, but he's also been on exercise restriction the last two days, so we can forgive him for his excited wiggles. (Why lay quietly for massage when we could be RUNNING! AFTER!! MY FRIENDS!!!) He also has a chiropractor appointment tomorrow.

[wyrddogs]

Josh, mix (2 y/o), 31st & Broadway, New York, NY • “I was visiting family in Kentucky, and he was a neighborhood stray. He was very playful, and my niece was like, he’s so cute, and I said he was joshin’ around. He sighs a lot, like a person. He has tons of energy – we’re on a five mile walk now, we got two miles this morning, and he’s getting two miles tonight. He’s very caring – the moment you walk in, if you had a long day, he’ll come and see if you’re okay and stay with you.”

[wyrddogs]

Update: It is not nausea. It is pain.

Yesterday he threw himself after a squirrel with reckless abandon and landed badly. His entire back is hot and his muscles are twitchy. I was so scared of GI issues I kept checking the wrong parts of him until like 4am (guess who didn't sleep last night?).

So obviously I have scratched him from the race meet. Gave him some gabapentin, a massage, and some time with my heat pack. The massage and heat perked him up and when I let him out to potty he started trotting around and looking for squirrels. I called him an idiot and brought him back in.

I'll take him for a short walk to limber up his muscles and apply some ice in a bit.

Stupid dog making me stupid worried:

Bubby abruptly started feeling super nauseous around 6pm. He was his usual cheerful and energetic self all day until then. He's not showing any signs of bloat, and doesn't seem to have anything in his stomach when palpated, and he isn't vomiting or having diarrhea, so I'm just keeping an eye on him at the moment. It is not Friday-night-emergency-vet-worthy, and hopefully stays that way.

A friend's dog had a pretty bad GI upset from what appeared to be a virus for about 48 hours last week, so I'm hoping it's just that. I have Zaku entered in the race meet this weekend but unless he's perky tomorrow morning we'll be staying home.

He's so vivacious and happy that seeing him so miserable is breaking my heart.

[wyrddogs]

Bubby abruptly started feeling super nauseous around 6pm. He was his usual cheerful and energetic self all day until then. He's not showing any signs of bloat, and doesn't seem to have anything in his stomach when palpated, and he isn't vomiting or having diarrhea, so I'm just keeping an eye on him at the moment. It is not Friday-night-emergency-vet-worthy, and hopefully stays that way.

A friend's dog had a pretty bad GI upset from what appeared to be a virus for about 48 hours last week, so I'm hoping it's just that. I have Zaku entered in the race meet this weekend but unless he's perky tomorrow morning we'll be staying home.

He's so vivacious and happy that seeing him so miserable is breaking my heart.

[wyrddogs]

Apparently I choose hard names for my dogs. Here is what people have heard:

BINDI: Lindy, Mindy, Cindy, Windy, Mimi, DeeDee, Bibi, Putnam.

ZAKU: Sako, Sokka, Joshua. I'm shocked I haven't had Zuko yet.

KERMIT: Sherman.

[wyrddogs]

Today is Bindi's birthday. I miss her so much.

[wyrddogs]

Please stop reading in bed and play with me.

[wyrddogs]

Okay Kermit's agility issues were because he was hot. We're in the part of the year where the weather is wacky and we can jump twenty degrees in one week before dropping again.

It was much cooler this week and he was running and having a great time. He went right into the weaves (from an extremely difficult entry, no less!) then remembered he's having Weave Pole Issues and stopped. I clapped and told him what a great entry that was. He stared at me for a second then went through the weaves flawlessly and quickly. I fed him an entire meatball as a reward... which took him like two minutes to eat. XD

I was all apologizing for how slow my dog eats and my trainer and classmates were like no no he deserves that jackpot.

Zaku was introduced to his first off-course tunnels tonight and fucking rocked it. We were fully prepared to break the sequence down piece by piece but he called off the tunnel each time without issues. And when I did send him through he put on his afterburners. Super proud of him.

We did each sequence a couple of times and my trainer pointed out that our second attempts always went much smoother because I was confident we could do it. When I'm handling with confidence my dog is faster and follows me effortlessly. Definitely a learning curve because Zaku is much faster and takes much wider turns than Bindi or Kermit.

Also I remembered to front cross him rather than automatically doing blinds. Victory! XD

[wyrddogs]

I was weeding when the boys indicated on our pile of concrete blocks. I pulled off a bunch of blocks and a rat flew out. Neither caught it, unfortunately, but I was very pleased with how Zaku was right in there with his brother.

[wyrddogs]

Bikejoring dogblr-- I acquired a road bike. It is quite light. Is that safe to hook an enthusiastic and fast young malinois to or should I have gotten a mountain bike?

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“Cattle dogs are just mals that smoke unfiltered cigarettes and drink cheap whiskey”

Wrong! American bred cattle dogs are outliers and should not be counted. Real Australian cattle dogs drink bundy rum and coke, and smoke whatever they can pinch off a mate at any given point in time.

[wyrddogs]

I can’t tell you how much I love this artwork from ancient Egypt (the Middle Kingdom). People have been raising cattle and practicing animal husbandry for so long, that there is something almost inherently human about this scene.

Everyone in the field of veterinary medicine or agriculture knows the feeling of staying up late with a laboring animal trying to make sure both mom and baby are okay. Delivering a calf is often physically and emotionally exhausting work that takes enormous patience and learned skill. It requires a unique balance of physical strength and gentleness to do correctly. There is no feeling quite like getting that baby out and everyone is okay. I’m certain ancient people must have felt the same way, and I wonder if the artist knew this feeling firsthand. I wonder if those humans depicted were people the artist knew, if the cow and calf maybe were as well.

[wyrddogs]

This is how my bedroom sound at 3 am

[wyrddogs]

my favourite part is the one where a dog breeder complains that health screening stock is expensive but you know they spend most of the year driving up and down the country every weekend showing the same 3-4 dogs that have no titles to gain from it

[wyrddogs]

August 19, 1960 – Soviet space dogs Belka and Strelka became the first canines to fly in space and return safely to Earth. (via)

[wyrddogs]

The tailors at Colonial Williamsburg made a suit for their cat