The next round of competition agility class..

The next round of competition agility class started on Tuesday. I was a little reluctant about attending because I didn't know how my shoulder would handle the running of the courses. Competition agility class is a seminar style class where we take turns running courses and discuss how to handle each move and obstacle to match each dog. There are 4 dogs, and 3 owners in the class. Sheila has Rudy in the class and we have a new person with 2 outstanding boarder collies.

Clover did very well during the runs, especially for as little as she has been worked the last month or so. We ran 2 runs, a novice run, that was basically a warm up. The second run was from a workshop that Michele attended. It had about 6 wraps along with a good serpentine. It had some difficult moves in, ones I don't think you would actually see in competition. I did have to start the weave poles a couple of times, but it was a very difficult entry with a long wrap prior to entry.

I did OK on the runs. I ran them a little slower, but Clover did very well. There are 2 USDAA trials coming up, one this weekend at PBH in chapel hill and one in a couple of week at Teamworks. I didn't enter these because of the broken collar bone.
It is a good thing too, because at the end of the night my shoulder was very achy, not sore, just achy and tired.

Sheila is filling in for me at course of the week until my collar bone is healed. (I am still not suppose to lift anything) We didn't have COW last night anyway because of thunderstorms. It looks like we wont be doing much outside at all the next couple of days because Tropical Storm Ernesto is headed this way

The proof...

Ok, just to prove that I am injured, I have included a copy of my X-ray. I have to show this peridoically to Clover to explain why we havn't been as active.

Hey, It's healing...

After my appointment with the orthopedic Dpctor yesterday, I am feeling pretty good. They took another X-ray of my collarbone and said that it looked like it was lined up and healing well. The good news is that I can slowly start getting back to life. He said I can try riding bike in a week or so and could start taking my harness off. They are making me wear a harness that pulls my shoulders back so that my collar bone lines up so it can heal. It isn't that bad if I don't have it too tight, but it does get to be a nuisance at night. The doctor said I didn't have to come back for 3 weeks.

Since I can start riding bike, I am sure that I can start doing agility. The time is perfect too, because tonight is the start of the next session of Competition agility at teamworks. I will still hold off on doing course of the week for a few weeks since, I probably shouldn't lift anything.

Then madness sets in...

Since I broke my collarbone, I have been going crazy. I want to get up and do things, but I don't last to long. Last Monday I went to see an orthopedist and he said that I didn't need surgery, I just had to wear a brace that holds my shoulders back and the bone will align itself. I have been going into work about every other day and working from the rest of the time.

Needless to say, the Terv is going mad. I did make it out to course of the week on Wednesday though. I didn't run any of the course though. I just worked on specific obstacles. Specifically, tunnel A-frame discrimination. Clover doesn't do to well on that and I can stand in one place and work her.

Considering I have a broken bone. I have been getting around pretty good.

...and everything comes to a screeching halt!

On August 3 rd, we packed the family in the Escape and headed for a week in Wisconsin to visit the family. Vacations are not always easy because we always take the dogs with us and Kira is especially difficult because she has eating issues, various medications and stresses out.

On Thursday we drove to Sandusky, Ohio and went to Cedar Point amusement park. We were able to go because they have an on site Kennel where we could keep Clover and Kira during our Cedar point adventure. It was about a 600 mile drive to Sandusky and we stayed at a Laquita Inn. They allow dogs. Kira does pretty well in hotels, but Clover likes to make a fuss when ever someone walks by. The way we usually deal with this is by crating her in the bathroom with the fan on to cover the noise.

We made it to Wisconsin on Saturday night and met my new sister, Missy...a sheltie. She is a small sheltie and she got along with Clover very well. Missy is the perfect companion for my mother.

I did a lot of bicycle riding on this trip. I love bike riding and Wisconsin is a beautiful area to ride. I wanted to get 150-200 miles in during the week. I had about 130 miles in when I had a major bicycling accident and broke my collar bone. We were riding from Sparta to Norwalk on the Elroy Sparta bike trail, just on the Norwalk side of the tunnel, when I tried passing my wife and nephew. Who knows what happened from there. I think I surprised my nephew and he turned into me. We both went flying. Luckily, he landed on the grass. I didn't. I have road rash up my left side. My helmet was severely damaged also. Believe it or not, I road bike the 3 miles back to my mothers and took a shower when I decided I needed to go to the doctor. The Left collar bone had a clean break and I had 3 stitches put in my head. The Doctor in Sparta thought I may need surgery but said that I would be OK, until we made it back home.

We cut our vacation a day short and headed home. The ride home was gruling. My wife drove the entire 1200 miles back. When we visited the doctor on Monday, he said I wouldn't need surgery, but that I should not do any physical activity for 6-8 weeks! Clover is going to kill me! He said I can go to work but for only half days for 3 weeks. I have to wear a splint that pulls my shoulders back and is suppose to help the bone set itself.

I have a lot of trials coming up and haven't decided how I am going to deal with those yet. I have had people volunteer to run clover for trials, but we will see. Well, that's it for now, for some reason, my should is sore...