10-21,22-06

It was an extremely humid weekend for our most recent agility trial in Palmetto, FL... so much so that my video camera malfunctioned.

10-21-06 (no video)

Woo Hoo... Max earned his 1st leg in OPEN JWW with a 2nd place finish!

Caleb had a clean run on this course until he knocked down the LAST jump.

In EXCELLENT STD, Max knocked down a couple of jumps and then refused the next one. I wondered if he had an injury or if it was just too darn hot for him but Max recovered quickly and the rest of the run was clean. He had a similar run to this a few weeks ago.

Caleb had a clean run on this course but was 16 seconds over Standard Course Time!

10-22-06 (see video link below)

In OPEN JWW, Caleb ran (?) clean except for knocking down the triple bar jump. Max performed nicely on this course other than getting two refusals (ran past the startline and early exit on the weaves) and moving slower than normal.

Caleb is unbelievably consistent with another clean run in EXCELLENT STD and 16 seconds over Standard Course Time again. He actually came to a dead stop on the Dog Walk and then remained sitting after I released him from the Pause Table, Arrrrrggh! Well, at least, I have Max to look forward to running next. He absolutely loves agility and always amazes the crowd with his abilities.

Max clears the first 3 jumps, knocks the triple, clears two more jumps and then starts favoring his left front paw. At this point, I pulled him out. I'm not sure what the problem is yet but it seemed to have started this past summer. Initially, I contributed it to our wet and muddy yard in FL since Max's feet seemed inflamed and he often licked and chewed on his pads. I've read about pastern dermatitis occurring in horses due to constant moisture (rainy conditions like we had over the summer) with symptoms of inflammation and limping. I also thought that maybe he bruised it on a stone (our yard in NJ is full of them) or had an embedded object or laceration that I was unable to detect. Now, I'm starting to wonder if Max has an injury in his joint?

He limped a little bit after the trial but he seems okay today although still licking his pad on occasion. We are entered in another agility trial this coming Sunday so will see what happens but I'm canceling the following show and giving Max a break. I think that I train them too much anyway. Maybe, I'll work on getting Caleb and Eliza's obedience titles and Max's therapy dog certification now.

Here's the video link: http://www.alwaysfaithfulamstaffs.net/id83.html I included a couple of my friend's AmStaffs and some fellow club members' dogs. The page will be viewable for a week or two... or until my next project.