The lump

While bed-ridden with the bug that took me down at the Watercress Trial, I happened upon a teeny tiny lump while giving my snuggle-buddy Rae a belly rub. I cried. Round, firm, felt like a BB sitting within her right 5th mammary gland. The next day I called the head oncologist at Penn Vet (my alma mater) to discuss our options. My biggest question was whether I could (in good conscience)wait another 4 weeks until the end of the trial season to surgically remove it, or if it needed to be dealt with ASAP. Of course I didn't want to put Rae's health in jeopardy, but I did want to continue running her if it wouldn't be a concern. Dr. Sorenmo assured me that it would be fine to wait another month based on what we know about canine mammary tumors in that they are slow-growing and that size is an important prognostic indicator. Dr. Sorenmo stressed that I send the mass to Penn's Dr. Goldschmidt in pathology, since he is supposed to be the best there is at accurately describing and classifying mammary tumors. Though we could do the surgery at my own clinic, I decided that I'd go ahead and take Rae up to Penn for the procedure and have it done by professionals. Dr. Holt was my top-choice, and after touching base with him, I made Rae's appointment for the week after our last trial of the season.

It was a ridiculously long trip that ended up totalling 23 hours of drive time round-trip. When we arrived at VHUP, I was pleasantly surprised that the parking attendent remembered me as a student!! Now, this is something special considering I spent only the bare minimum amount of time in the small animal hospital, but I did see him on my way to morning classes my first 2 1/2 years. Anyway, he made me smile. Dr. Holt looked at the bloodwork and 3-view chest radiographs that I brought and then examined Rae. I told him he may think I'm crazy and that it's too small to even worry about, but I'd rather have him and the oncologists make that decision instead of me-of-no-experience. He decided that the mass was "real" and that we indeed should remove it. Rae was also examined by an oncologist who was described as "having the magic fingers" to be sure there were no other masses needing attention. The next day she underwent her mastectomy and removal of the local lymph node. The procedure was uneventful and I picked her up the following day.


Then came the waiting. Since her surgery was on a Thursday, I had to wait until Monday for the histopath results to become available. Dr. Holt phoned that afternoon to relay the EXCELLENT news that her tumor was a benign mammary adenoma and the local lymph node was clear! What a major relief, I'd been waiting to hear that good news for the last month!

It has been one week since the surgery and Rae has been S-P-O-I-L-E-D to no end. Her incision had considerable brusing for the first 5 days which I managed with icing, but otherwise she has shown no indication that she's even gone under the knife. I see her little face pop up in the bedroom window when I'm out moving sheep, and everytime I go to the back door she's hopeful that she'll be called to go along. Out of all my dogs, I thought it would be easy to keep her quiet, but the little stinker is acting like a puppy again! I'm just glad she feels so good.


I used the trip to the city for some Livy-socializing. She was the only other dog who got to go along, and she thrived with her one-on-one time. Now, Philly is the country's 5th largest city, and Livy's not really had many worldly excursions in her short life. Poor country-girl thought her brain would explode when she first stepped foot on the West Philly sidewalks. We checked out my old digs:

Hard to imagine that me and Ella lived there for 2 1/2 years. Whoa.

Then we walked down to the undergrad campus on one of my many Ella-walking-routes. Ella and I used to walk miles and miles everyday all around West Philly, and now I'm realizing what a special accomplishment that was for Ella to be able to deal with all of that city craziness.

Lastly we went down to the City of Brotherly Love statue by the library for a quick photo. I have one of baby Ella at this very same place, almost 5 years ago.

Rural Hill SDT

Only a week after-the-fact!

Last weekend was the big Rural Hill Trial and festival down in Huntersville, NC. Nearly 100 Open dogs, first day of running was Friday and I missed it all due to work. Saturday I got up at 4am to get there just in time to check the field, see that Julie was already out for the first run, Scott was on deck, and I was to be in the hole. Ran back to get Rae, saw part of a run, then headed to the post. It was very challenging to see the sheep, they blended in very well with the house in the distance behind them. I doubted myself whether or not they were set, I told Rae to look but she never really saw them. I finally decided to send her when I saw both horses in position, Rae ran out without her usual gusto and was a little tight. She got out and around them once she spotted the horses, I let her have the top to get control of them and then got into her head early. Really, I didn't need to, she was on her best behavior. Her driveaway was quite nice, she took her time every time I asked for it, flanked freely, stopped when asked. Good turn, and I kinda had to wing it for the cross-drive. The only run I saw was very low, so other than knowing NOT to be there, I didn't know where the line was. All I could see was frost and some rolling terrain. It was a little wobbly but we made the panels and headed back to the shedding ring. I have a tendancy to forget to watch that last leg when it is to the ring instead of the panel, thankfully Rae takes care of me! Had a marked single and though we had to work at it, WE GOT IT! Timed out en route to the pen.

Sunday I got to sleep in til 4:30am, got there to run 7th-ish, after an hour or so of a fog delay. I was really nervous for this run and felt mentally sluggish. Rae ran out better knowing where her sheep were, but she was a little pushy down the fetch and not as in tuned to me. Were doing ok until right before the DA panel I blew the world's worst down whistle at a critical moment. We're talking a horrendously bad whistle. She flanked and we played rodeo for some time, missed the panel, rodeoed across the cross-drive and missed that panel, too. I was ready to walk, but we hung in there to get our split and pen. I was totally disappointed in myself, but Rae was such a good girl for me all weekend and I was so happy with her that I didn't feel quite so down.

Liver-puppy got to watch her parents run and see her sisters. She also had some practice watching agility, pumpkin-chucking, and other festival goings-on. Other than having endless energy, she was a good girl. Gabe thought every single person and dog there wanted to be his best friend, he was beside himself with excitement over the whole shebang. Told him he needs to get the sillies out because soon he'll be out on the trial field and I need him to have his mind in the right place. He is a high-energy type of worker, so I'm starting to get a little nervous about running him!

That was the end of the fall trial season. Rae has been running so very well for me and I think I've made some improvements myself. Trying hard to not get too frazzled when things don't go well and trying to use more efficient corrections. I can see major progress, but there's still room for more!

Time to focus on Gabe and get him trial-ready.

Broken Back Ranch SDT

Geez, I'm always playing catch-up.

Two weeks ago we headed down to SC for the Broken Back Ranch Trial. I was up last and had to work until lunchtime, so hustled like mad to get there just in time, a mere 4 runs before I was up. The field was not large but had lots of draws, and the sheep were very challenging. Plenty of RTs for losing sheep to the woods. It was tricky to figure out how to handle them...sheep ran if your dog got too close, ran if your dog got too far off...ran ran ran! Had to find that sweet spot. I suffered the effects of a cold whistle for the first part of Sat's fetch (just under my jacket was NOT good enough, had to go down another layer!), we nearly found ourselves in the woods by the driveaway panel where you were to RT, but got things recovered. Good cross-drive line, made panel, split, timed out at pen (there were but a handful of pens).

Sunday she lifted like a mack truck (and they were on corn), so they shot off down the hill, catching me by surprise. Regained control but she took a wrong flank at the post and we had to unwind half (never did that before). Same course, better first drive leg, cross-drive dead on and made panel, this time pen before single. The only prayer you had at the pen was to get them stopped in the mouth and wait them out. We had 2 promising occasions but somebody decided to get a little slicey (I swear I kept my cool on my end!) and unsettled them. Timed out.

Livy came along to learn about "the business." Here she's learning about the business of king-sized hotel beds.

I was really pleased with our work even though the scores weren't great. We were able to clean up messes that previously would've resulted in RTs. Woohoo, progress!

Dog Trials and Cold Meds...

...don't mix well. Despite battling a killer bug, I decided to run down to lovely Water Cress Farm in TN yesterday for a quick go with Rae. Got there 4 dogs before my turn, saw a couple RTs and then sent my dog. Last year Rae stopped short on the left outrun, and probably since I was ready and expecting it this year, she chugged right on around and came in fine. These sheep really bring out her eye, so I had trouble getting her to flank freely on the fetch. We limped along just offline pretty much the whole way down. I didn't have much energy to fight her, so just kinda let her have her offline fetch. Slow and deliberate turn, got the drive going well until shortly in front of the panels when I know my whistles were bad. My head was really cloudy at this point, I know I was blowing late and big flanks, so we missed the panel but recovered for a good cross-drive leg, making those panels. Return leg to the shedding ring was probably sloppy, I don't really remember, I was too busy huffing and puffing to walk 15 yards out to the ring. We needed a split, but had a tough time with a ewe who kept wanting to break no matter where I put her. I was about zero help for Rae at this point, couldn't move enough to hold up my side, couldn't think enough to come up with a plan, but she hung in there and we eventually pulled out an 8 point split. Regathered with 8 seconds left, went all out for the pen and tried to shove them in, but the timer went off just as I was closing the door on one's butt.

Rae did so much more than her share of the work, and I really don't know how she understood my feeble whistles, but she even took her downs. I saw 2 runs after mine then hit the road, fighting off sleep the whole way. Slept for 14hrs and decided not to go back today. Bummer, because I was so looking forward to this trial. Ah well. I'm on-call about a gazillion times this next week and weekend, so resting up was the smart move. Sorry Rae.

Edgeworth '10

What a fun trial! Nice combo of my "northern" and "southern" friends, great weather, great site. I got off to a slow start and was running behind schedule Friday morning when my weekend's worth of dog water upset in my truck 1 mile from home. Stopped at the clinic to clean up and pick up a rescue dog to be dropped off in Christiansburg. I got as far as Charlottesville before realizing I forgot to pack all of my shirts...they were still hanging on the closet door! Quick detour to the Charlottesville mall, 3 new shirts later and I'm on the road again. Got there just in time to see the last 2 runs of the first day of Open, both RTs. Seeing as this was my first fall Open Edeworth experience, I was super bummed to miss an entire day's worth of runs.

We ran Saturday morning, quite near the end of the first go. Thinking I'd send Rae left (as Renee told me she'd always sent), we got to the post and Rae showed me right. I let her have right and she gave a picture perfect outrun all the way out (625? yards) over the hilly terrain. What a good girl! I had trouble getting her to flank off the pressure down the fetch line, but got it corrected before the panels, turn a little hiccup-y since I chose to use stops and small flanks to keep her in close for fear of her going wide to cover. We never got a good flow going down the driveaway, she either wasn't listening or couldn't hear me, and I wasn't handling well, so we ended up retiring. Blah. I know I sounded frantic and angry (which I was), but I need to at least pretend to be less rattled!

Sunday we ran around lunchtime, again sent her right...and this time she came in way too early and needed a redirect. That's not something I practice much with her, but she took it perfectly and got out to the top fine. I really reigned her in and handled her much more slowly down the fetch to make sure she was listening and felt in control of her sheep. Sheep drifted through the fetch panels, pretty good turn again keeping her in close, good start to the drive. About 2/3 down the driveaway I had a major brainfart and blew a wrong flank. That got me flustered and I proceeded to blow MORE wrong flanks. Things got hectic but finally we regained control, just in time to miss the panels wide. Got them on a good line for the cross-drive, which ended up being a sprint. After holding her back, I saw that relieving pressure was not going to slow them, so I hustled her on. I'm not used to handling sheep moving at a full run, but we had a good line and made the panel. Slowed everyone down on the return leg, then we were to put them through a chute, which was make or miss. Somehow I got lost in the moment and ended up farting around at the chute for way too long (I was really freaking determined to get them through!), so when we finally gave up, I had only 1:30 left to pen and shed. I had a high-headed ewe who wasn't keen to go through the chute or pen, and we ended up timing out at the pen. Rae was hot and tired so I didn't push her too much at that point. She ran so well for me and I was really quite pleased with our teamwork!

One of our biggest accomplishments was the successful use of the DOWN WHISTLE which has plagued me for over a year. She took most of her downs and I was unbelievably happy! Without my mental mistakes of blowing wrong flanks and being hyper-focused on the chute, we actually had a decent run going. I learned many lessons and hopefully won't make the same mistakes again, for the sake of my patient teacher Rae and my innocent young dogs!

Innocent young dog? HAH!

Gratuitous sibling photo of Liver-puppy with her studly bro Deuce.

Been Awhile

Oops, couple months went by. In that time, I bought a little "mini-farm" and have been super busy with a million projects to get it into working condition. Was hard to work dogs in the scorching temps that we had in the late summer, but now that fall's here, I'm getting to training on the young ones. Livy is KEENKEENKEEN and I'm liking her. Gabe hasn't seen much work, but is plugging away and maturing very nicely. I have another youngster who I've been putting some time into, and though he's not mine, I'm really enjoying him. Ella was re-injured (that darn neck popped out at C2-C3 AGAIN and also at the A-O this time), but a day trip up to the chiro and she's good as new. Rae hasn't been used much other than to settle the puppy sheep; I've mostly been trying to keep her fit and happy.

I have a new whistle, but the transition hasn't been easy for me or for Rae. When I first practiced with it (sans dog), I'd end up blowing spit all over myself like I'd never whistled before. I tried with Rae and she actually took her flanks backwards. We're making some progress, but I still don't feel totally comfortable with it and still have slobber sessions. However, Rae has shown me that she understands the stop whistle (when I blow it well) on the new titanium one vs. never on the old aluminum. And the only difference I've made is changing whistles...

We have Edgeworth this weekend. I don't feel as prepared as I'd hoped to be for the start of the fall trial season, but it is what it is. Unfortunately there are only so many hours in a day, and now the days are getting shorter and shorter...hate that.

Fetch Gate Trial

They say it takes a year to really get with a new dog...we had a good reminder of that last weekend at Fetch Gate. I also learned that driving myself 10 hours for a weekend dog trial is just too much for me to handle, both physically and mentally. Temps were in the high 90s all weekend, making things that much more unpleasant. And I had a nice headache going from the time I pulled in Friday night til pulling out Sunday evening. Grr.

We drew up deep in the order both days, running in the 60s on Saturday and 59 Sunday. I need to learn how to stay focused for those late afternoon runs...I seem to have trouble with this and I'm finding that I'm exhausted by the time I even get on the field. Maybe it will be better when I have more than one dog to run.

Saturday I felt like a zombie at the post. My timing was off, and Rae was reacting by being slicey and over-flanking. I don't really remember the run, which is weird for me since I usually have quite the photographic memory. I think we saved the fetch in time for the panels, missed the driveaway, banana'ed the crossdrive to squeek through the panels, sloppy line to the pen but made it. We fooled around a little in the shedding ring before I called it quits. It was very tricky shedding, we ran a ewe and two lambs and ALL of them were totally glued to the person. Rae got wider and wider and hotter and hotter, so we gave up.

Sunday was better but I still feel like I handled very poorly. Missed the fetch panels, but had a perfect turn at the driveaway (looked like the sheep just pivoted around the inside panel!). Part way through the crossdrive I had a huge mental lapse and blew a down whistle for Rae. Doesn't sound so bad, except I know that 100% of the time in practice she takes it as a comebye instead of a down...so of course she took it as a comebye. That was at a critical moment and the mistake caused the sheep to run hard for the exhaust. Rae caught them, but it took a great deal of work to get them up and moving again. This is not one of Rae's strengths, and the ewe was very unimpressed by Rae's attempts to turn her. They were a good 150yds away from me, and I could see Rae looking to me for help. I cheered her on, flanked her, asked her up, working for maybe 30 seconds before she finally got that ewe turned. I tried to put them back on line, but too much precision took our momentum away, and they stopped again. So then I just had Rae bring sheep however she could, and that good girl did! We worked a bit at the pen, then headed to the shedding ring with about 40 seconds left. I fiddled around for a little setting it up, then threw out the Hail Mary by running straight at a lamb. Rae came flying in for an impressive full point shed with only a few seconds to spare.

I was less than happy with our performance for the weekend, most of it my fault, but I was very proud of Rae for hanging in there when she was having trouble. I was very close to giving up on her, but I'm so glad that we hung in there. And for her to keep her cool to get a difficult pen and shed made it all the sweeter. We had many compliments on our shed, as they were few and far between for the weekend, so I am super proud of that achievement.

I did get to visit with friends that I don't see often, so that was great. The rest of the trip wasn't so great, though. On Friday morning I met Sue at her field to work my young dogs before leaving for NY. I took a couple good hits when working Livy, one of them was quite spectacular, actually. I got hit on the side of the knee, went airborne, and rolled over one complete revolution before hitting the ground. I felt like a stuntman in a movie who gets hit by a car and rolls over the hood.

Somehow Gabe managed to put a gash in his leg, so I ended up at the vet clinic where I used to work getting it stapled. I'll need to add something to the first aid kit for lacerations, I didn't have anything to patch him up.

THEN when we got back to Dad's on Sunday night, the dogs got locked in the car with the windows up. Of course it was Sunday AND 4th of July. I hate the VUE and I don't know why it does this. I was literally walking around to let the dogs out when I heard it lock itself. We worked for awhile with a neighbor and finally got it opened by lasooing the lock with a twisted coat hanger.

THEN on the way from PA to VA I got pulled over for speeding. I was driving with the flow of traffic but happened to get singled out for being out-of-state. Ironic in that I've lived my whole life in PA til last fall. The rest of the trip was painfully long since I had to drive the speed limit.

It was good to finally get home after such a long weekend.