Kim vs. the Wall

While thinking about all of the horse falls I've had over the years, I was reminded of one in particular. This one happened back in college when I was on the Purdue equestrian team. When you show in intercollegiate, you never ride your own horse(s) - before your event, you draw a horse's name and that's the one you ride. It really was all about the luck of the draw...sometimes you ended up with a great pick, and other times, not so much.

This particular video was taken at a Ball State show (in 1998, I think) - I had never ridden this horse before, and it was obviously not one of my better rides. A rather dumb error on my part landed me into the wall - followed by a trip to the ER. Fortunately I ended up with just a concussion - I don't remember much after the fall although I do recall telling the guys in the ambulance not to cut my boots off - kinda silly at the time, but hey they were good boots!

So here's a fun little video which I call "Kim vs. the wall". I think the wall won. :)

Back Bummer!

I've had back pain for years...some days are better than others, but not a day goes by that I don't have some degree of pain. And then I have weeks like the last two where the pain is almost unbearable. I've been seeing a chiropractor (and fellow dog nut) for the last few months and after several discussions with her, I finally decided to have an MRI done.

Soooo, I got the results back today and I have 3 (three!) herniated disks in the middle of my back. Big bummer. On one hand, I'm glad to finally know that the pain isn't in my head (which some doctors have implied), but on the other, it doesn't sound like there are many good options for treatment.

I guess I should have grown up working with dogs instead of horses. As challenging as agility training can be, I can honestly say that the spotties have yet to throw me into the ground, or a jump, or a wall...or any of the other painful falls that I endured in the almost 20 years I spent in the horse world. :)

In honor of my back woes, here's a picture of Indy looking sympathetic. Okay maybe not, but it's a cute look nonetheless.

Bored Spotties

Well, it was a rather boring weekend for the spotties. My back has been giving me fits, so we pretty much stayed around the house and didn't do a whole lot.

Peyton wasn't too happy about that...



While Indy really didn't seem to mind.



Pleeeeeease play with me!



Fine, I'll just pick on Indy...



Indy doesn't want to play either...



So I guess I'll steal mom's shoe!



Indy says, does he ever give up?



Nope!



Even the Olympics are bor-ing.



*Sigh* maybe if I just lie here and look super cute, someone will pay attention to me.



And this last shot was an "oops", but turned out pretty cool. This was Indy and Peyton's version of the Canine Olympics - featuring the couch-to-couch long jump. (Peyton won) :)

Three Little Piggies

Breakfast and dinner time are the two most important times of the day for the piggies - er spotties.

Peyton is happy!



Pongo is blowing bubbles. . .

And Indy is waiting patiently

For about two seconds

And then she gets rather demanding.

Time for a little taste testing. . .

Yuuuuumy!







Crazy tongues!



Indy says enough already - time to eat!



In case you're wondering, the green goop is Honest Kitchen's dehydrated food Thrive. The spotties give it 2 paws up! :)

Wild Spotty!

Just some fun shots of my wild child and that crazy tongue of his! Oh how he makes me smile... :)

NADAC Trial Video!

Here are a few short clips from our runs last weekend. Due to some technical issues, I didn't get our first regular, chances, and jumpers runs on video, which is too bad since they were our better runs. But anyway, first up on the video is open regular (our only non-Q), next is elite tunnelers, and the final run is novice touch n go.

Our last touch n go run was a little pokey, but in our defense it was 2:30 am...so we'll just call it sleep jogging. And speaking of jogging, I really need to learn to run a course without looking like such a big geek (I really can't blame that one on the time factor). :)

A super big thanks to my videographer (mom) who joined us! She toughed out a really late night at the trial and an even later night - er morning - at the hotel (courtesy of the spotty boy who wouldn't sleep). What a trooper!

3 New Titles!

We had a great trial this weekend - 5 out of 6 Q's and three new titles! Indy earned her open regular and chances titles and her elite tunnelers title. She also picked up a leg in both elite jumpers and novice touch n go. Soooo, she is now Indy OAC, OJC, OCC, TN-E, WVN!

I couldn't be more proud! She was so excited to run this weekend, and I'm really starting to see a shift in her focus...not her typical I-don't-need-no-stinkin'-handler runs. :) She was awesome!

Peyton came along as a cheerleader and he was really good too. I was really surprised at how focused he was when I worked with him in between Indy's runs. I still think we're a long way from trialing, but the fact that he was able to pay attention to me with so many other exciting things going on around him was a great sign!

We we're also excited to see our friends Jill and LuJack there - and they did awesome too! Lu qualified in all four of his novice runs and they both looked great. I'm so proud of them!

It was a really late night - I think we ran our final touch n go run around 2:30 in the morning - yikes! By the time we got back to the hotel, took showers, and fed the dogs, we were finally ready for bed around 4 am - and by that time Peyton was W-I-L-D. We finally got him settled down, but he spent the next 4 hours grumbling at every little noise he heard. I think I might have slept a 1/2 hour before we finally gave up and headed home.

Overall, it was a great time - The Baldwins really do put on a nice trial and even though they are late nights, Indy seems to do really well running after dark. I'm not sure that *I* do, but we seem to manage okay.

I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few of LuJack and one of the spotted "hotels-aren't-for-sleeping" monster. :)

My Hero

For as long as I can remember, Pongo has never been much of a barker. Sure, an alert bark here and there, but never the shrill, eardrum piercing I-want-it-and-I-want-it-now! bark that Peyton has or the woo-woo-woo-feed-me-now-you-human! bark that Indy is famous for.

But early one morning seven years ago today, I woke up to Pongo barking in my face - very loudly. And then I heard the screams, and the frantic pounding on my door. As I scrambled to get up, I smelled the smoke, and when I opened the door, I could see the flames in the apartment across the hall. I grabbed Pongo and ran outside - somehow I had the sense to close my (fire-resistant) door behind me...otherwise I would have lost everything.

I don't remember much about that morning - it was all such a blur...lot's of screaming, crying, and waiting for what seemed to be an eternity for the fire trucks to come. But I do remember just how wonderful my spotty boy was. In a sea of panic, he was the picture of calm. He just sat in the front seat of my truck watching the chaos happen around him.

Several long hours later, I found out just how lucky I was. Out of the four apartments in my building, I ended up with just bad smoke and water damage - the others lost almost everything.

Knowing I was temporarily homeless, a good friend of mine took Pongo home with her for a few weeks until I found us a new place to live. I missed him like crazy, but knew that he was in good hands. And when I picked him up and he looked like a stuffed spotty sausage with little legs, I knew he definitely didn't miss a meal. And since Pongo is the master of making everyone think he's starving, he apparently had my friend's kids wrapped around his little paw. :)

Anyway, we survived the whole ordeal just fine, but I have to say that Pongo was an absolute rock throughout a very difficult time for me. He was my shoulder to cry on through many sleepless nights, and always had this quiet way of reassuring me that we'd be okay. What can I say...he's a fire dog after all.

Just a little story about my special spotty boy. Next time you find yourself slightly annoyed at your dog's barking, just remember that someday (hopefully not) you might really, really come to appreciate it.

Dogwalk Vibes Needed

Indy & I have a NADAC trial in Ocala this Friday night and are in need of some *please Indy, do the dogwalk* vibes! :)

For some reason, Indy hasn't been extremely fond of the dogwalk at this particular trial location. I'm guessing this is partly because it is a dark dogwalk - black with very dark yellow contacts - and we all know how much Indy likes things that are different - not. The problem with this theory, however, is that there is another place we trial in Ocala that uses the exact same dogwalk and she's never had a problem with it there. Funny girl.

I'm pretty optimistic since at the last Ocala trial she finally decided, after many prior attempts, that this particular dogwalk in this particular location, could be trusted. Hopefully she'll remember.

Anyway, please feel free to send some dogwalk vibes our way! And if you have any to spare, *stay on course* vibes are always appreciated. :)

My Spotty Bat

(And if you happened to read the title wrong, "my spotty brat" is also applicable)



Ok so maybe not, but I think she looks very bat-like in this picture. :) And just for fun, one of my spotty girl looking especially cute...

When to Call it a Day

Peyton & I had our obedience class this morning, and I could tell that he was a little stressed out. Toward the end of class we did some recalls, and while we still struggle with them occasionally, for the most part he's been doing really well. Not so much this morning. I call him - he comes - and then does a little zoomie around me and starts sniffing. Boo. Ok next try...I call him - he comes my way - and then heads toward the exit. Ok, I can take a hint.

But the thing is, I should have known that he mentally done before we did the recalls. I could have spared us both a little frustration, but nooooo...I kept going.

I see this quite often when training - even from some of the best of trainers. I think it must be human nature...if we're having a good day, we tend to want to keep training because hey, look at how good we're doing. And if we're having a not so good day, well maybe if we keep trying it will get better. The key is knowing when to quit, even if you're not ahead.

At home, I've learned this...we generally train in short, fun sessions and I always try to end with him wanting more.

In agility class, I've (pretty much) learned this...and not only when to quit, but when we're ready to start, and when to take mental breaks when we need them.

In obedience class, not so much. I guess it's partly because I don't see it as mentally challenging for us as agility. Most of the work is done on-leash, we're indoors, not as many distractions, etc. I think today reminded me that I need to listen to my dogs when they tell me they've had enough. Besides, there's always tomorrow to work on recalls. :)

Adventures in Flash

I'm not a huge fan of flash photography. Actually, that's not completely true; I don't mind flash, as long as it doesn't look too flashy...if that makes sense. It's been a long time since I really played around with a mounted flash - probably back when I was taking photography classes in college.

So this morning, since it was storming and I had zero motivation to do anything I needed to be doing (i.e. cleaning, cooking, trimming dog nails...the list goes on) - I pulled out my flash and decided to play around with it. Among the first shots I took, I got something like this:

Rather than say "oops" and hit the delete button, I took a good look and decided I liked the ghost of Peyton look and continued shooting. Once I loaded all my shots on my computer, I decided to have a little fun and ended up with these fun and funky shots of the spotties...just something a little colorful and different on a rainy day.