Health Day - Spay and Xrays All Good!!

Today we brough Shasta in to have be spayed, have her stomach tacked and have xrays done on her hips and elbows.  Quite a day at the vet.  And they all turned out as well as we could hope.  Yes!

Hips and elbows both looked very good to Dr. Jim Winsor.  And growth plates are extremely close to closed.  Which means once she is done recovering from the spay we can start jumping and weaving!  There were certainly no indications of any troubles with her joints but it's a relief to get the official news (and Dr. Winsor is official for us). 

As for the spay and the stomach tack, she is home and in our care tonight.  Very groggy of course.  I am sure she is uncomfortable as well.  But she is resting well and has already managed to pee and poop. 

What a relief.

Her "First" Invitational and Beach

We just returned two days ago from our trip to the Florida panhandle coast and the agility Invitational in Orlando.  It started with three wonderful days in a beach house near Cape St. Joe with the Larsons.  It was very dog friendly and nearly private.  We took a lot of walks along the beach with the dogs, most of it off leash.  I couldn't get Shasta interested in the water.  I did many "test/reinforce" recalls and felt very comfortable having her off leash.  She really enjoyed playing and chasing with mostly Tori but with the rotties some too.  It was nice to have a young dog I could trust and we had a great time with all the beach walks.

Then there were the exhausting days at the invitational.  Long, long, long walks from the hotel to the show site and back.   She didn't get much attention but I did walk her around the rings a couple of times, doing my "acclimation walk".  She handled those walks around the ring really well.  She was focused doing her tricks and seemed happy and comfortable walking around in that environment with lots of energy, noise and stress. 

One thing I did notice was that Shasta seemed a little more independent in the shared beach house.  Not sure why but she didn't hang around me as close as she does at home.  I can't determine if that was a bad, good or neutral thing as far as performance goes but I didn't like it because I missed having her close by.

Then there was the spongy Florida grass, especially the grass at the hotel that was incredibly thick.  And spongy.  And Shasta wanted NOTHING to do with it.  She jumped straight up in the air the first time she walked on it, about two feet!  Pottying was an adventure all three days.  We hard many stories of other dogs having the same issue but it's hard to imagine many had the same level of hatred toward that grass!

Training - What's That Again?

Life.  It gets in the way.  There has sadly been very little of it.  Unless bringing her along to dog shows counts as training.  We did do another class or two, still skipping jumps, weaves and the dog walk.  And she continued to do awesome at it.  Still total focus, no sniffing in the dirt, no obstacles concerns.  Solid and very motivating to see.