A small glimmer of hope

Well after the rocky verdict after the last physio appointment a fortnight ago I wasn't sure what to expect this time. Things are looking up though with a lot of the soreness in her spine having resolved. Still some residual sore spots in her LHS from compensating for the shoulder but certainly nothing that should be now bothering her to any great extent. So another couple of days of taking it easy, no training this week and then we will see where we stand this time next week. Hopefully things are looking up and she starts to remain sound.

Trial of Sorts - DWD Trainee Judges Mock Trial

This morning we headed out to DogsSA to take part in the Dances with Dogs Trainee Judges Mock Trial. Two judges had come over from Victoria to help out with the Judges training in the state. Earlier in the week I had volunteered Kenz to perform an Intermediate Freestyle Routine.

I thought we had possibly bitten off more then we could chew - not sure of the standard and only having her starters title. I redid the music edit during the week and increased the length of her Step in Time routine to just over 2 min 30 seconds and figured we would give it a go so they could get the experience of judging a higher level routine.

Well blow me away but had it been a real trial Kenz would have walked away with her first Intermediate qualification with pretty convincing scores (51/60 and 54/60) to go with it. She lost a couple of marks for barking and it was suggested that if I wanted to score higher then I might need to take a little of the drive out and that she was a dog that certainly didn't need "amping" up.

So proud of my little girl - it doesn't matter what we are doing or where we are doing it she always gives me everything she has.

Nice work Kenz - looking forward to cruising to her Novice Title when we get the opportunity to attend a few more trials.

Little Miss Consistent but one very sore little girl

Well as far as the score card goes – she was on another 189 (third place, one point behind the winner) but she just wasn't on fire today. She wasn't the same dog I normally take into the ring so something was definitely up.

Her scores were good 35/40 for heel free; 29/30 for SFE, 37/40 for her best recall to date (her front was lovely and so was her finish) and 28/30 for the COP drop. She really wanted a tug game when we left the ring so was happy enough just wonder what level of pain she is in fact working through.



Lots I am not happy about she just didn't want to be there today – not surprised she went down in her sit she was really sitting very squiffy, overly nervy and just not happy. She lasted maybe 30 seconds if that in the sit and looked really really uncomfortable. But yeah she is sore and its sad and my heart is broken.

Should I have trialled her – probably not :(. She was going through the motions a little bit.

A couple of hours of rest at home and she has come up on three legs probably as lame as she has been in ages. Badly limping on her front right.

Might be her last trial and that is sad.

Not so good news....

Kenz had a physio appointment yesterday and the news wasn't so great. There was a lot going on - sore spots in her spine and neck, her LHS bicep was sore, her RHS shoulder was still showing signs of instability although no real sore spots to be found. Hmmm a bit of a mess all over really. At least the pattern of lameness is consistent with it being along the spine so Emma treated her and we wait and see. If things don't improve then the consideration is a full body scan to see what is going on.

Another Good Ring Performance

Kenz backed up her 196 yesterday with another solid individual performance at the SAODC trial. Good solid scores from the same judge she managed to scrape her first novice pass under.

She scored 35/40 for heelwork, 30/30 for stand for exam, 35/40 for recall and 29/30 for change of position. She was a little bit spooked during her round so I was proud she managed to stay working as nicely as she did.



The bad news was she again lay down in her sit stay. I had got her out of her crate a few times and everytime I got her out she was looking very proppy so I didn't think I had much hope in the stay and yep she went down in her sit stay. I considered withdrawing but she was also the equal top scoring dog in the class so decided the worst that would happen is she would lay down so we might as well just see.

Ah well will see what the physio makes of her on Thursday and hopefully its not serious damage and we can rebuild and retrain so we can get the time needed for Open.

196, First Place and a Novice Title!!!!

And you can't wipe the smile off my face tonight - so very very proud of my little WA bred girl.

What a brilliant way to polish off the remaining leg for Kenz's novice title but with a 196 and a round that oozed enthusiasm and attitude. I am so very proud of my little munchkin tonight - she did me well as she always does and the score was icing on the cake for an absolutely stunning performance.

The scores for the individual exercises were 37/40 for heel free, 30/30 for stand for exam, 39/40 for recall and 30/30 for change of position.

Always knew you had a special round in you somewhere and to finish off the title with a round like that it doesn't get much better.

Onwards and upwards :). Bring on 2012. The sky is the limit and she is only going to get better.