Medication madness

So nice to have some cool weather in Perth. Although it's a double edged sword really. At least when it's hot I can justify procrastinating inside in the air conditioning. Today I had no such excuse and spent the day planting lawn and gardening. More lawn is a good thing. It means additional space in which to use my awesome new fully adjustable dog walk (thanks Steve :)).

Last week was the week of the vet. Soda's blood results are showing high urea with no discernible reason. Cassie managed to get an ulcer under her third eyelid probably from a trauma to her eye (no surprises there). Then Kenny was having trouble in the water works department so I spent four hours at Murdoch with him last Monday night. My kitchen bench currently looks like a pharmacy and it takes me an extra ten minutes to get out the door in the morning as I medicate everyone with their drug of choice before I leave for work. Not to mention it's been costing me a fortune! Good news is that they are all OK. But I'm pretty sure Cassie would like me to go and stick the eye drops somewhere else.

Lots of dog training happening at home. I'm starting to think that Cassie will be about five before I've finished teaching her all the foundation skills I think she needs. I've just realised that I need to add verbal directional's to the already long list. Haven't taught those in a while, but if I want running contacts I'm going to need them. We've been doing lots of core strengthening work lately because Cassie has none. If I tried to get her to "sit pretty" she'd just fall over in a heap. So the fit ball has come out and she's starting to get much better. The last couple of weeks she's been a good girl (i.e. slightly more compliant than usual) which may mean we're about to have a bad fortnight. She does like to push me and seems to think that "It's Your Choice" is only for suck hole border collies. Let's face it, if your favourite toy or food is right in front of you why would you not just dive straight in? Her latest joy is jumping up and trying to grab my shorts with her teeth. Strangely enough Riot has become her favourite of my dogs. She will spend much of her time giving him kisses and trying to get him to play with her. He is remarkably patient with her I have to say.

The Western Classic is on this weekend. Three nights of trialling which will test my agility stamina no end. Sonic's training at the moment is pretty stripped down. I rarely do any sequences or courses with him at all. It's all about getting him to drive to reinforcement zone and simple grid work. Now I've got the dog walk at home I can get his contact work done whenever I get a chance. If my memory serves me correctly Sonic wasn't great at the Classic last year but that was after three months off following the paralysis tick incident. Hopefully this year will rather more successful!