Quality it is!

Here's the good news: Ceilidh's blood pressure is normal!

And the bad news: not only are Ceilidh's heart valves bad, they're really bad. And she has arrhythmia - her heart stops beating at times for several seconds.

There are pacemakers available for dogs, but if we had one implanted in Ceilidh, her activity level would have to be restricted. For a normal, couch potato dog this wouldn't be a big deal. But for Ceilidh, who only knows full-speed, this alone would kill her.

So we hope to be able to treat Ceilidh's condition with medication. The vet also said that any new stress factors are to be avoided. Keep doing the things Ceilidh loves to do - play with her beloved Latex Soccer Ball and go to Agility Class - but if I ever had any dreams of competing with Ceilidh, that's out.

Hopefully, Ceilidh will be around for a very long time, wanting to play, play, play...

Cheese wins!

I've written about how much Ceilidh adores her Latex Soccer Ball. She must play fetch with it at least once a day, otherwise she won't leave me alone. And it must be at least 10 minutes, uninterrupted for anything. Forget about the phone. Forget about the doorbell. Before Agility Class, she loves to tug on her Latex Soccer Ball, until it gets too slimy to hang onto. But once I pull out the string cheese, Ceilidh forgets all about her Soccer Ball. Her attention is fixated on me. I can ask her to do anything for a tiny sliver of cheese. Poor Latex Soccer Ball. Of course, when I put the Treat Tote away and we get home, Ceilidh wants to play ball.

Bleeding all over the agility course

You guessed it! My thumb accidentally got between Ceilidh and her Latex Soccer Ball last night, before our agility class even started! Ceilidh's tooth and my knuckle intersected - not bad, but it made a nice gouge. I usually end up with a lot of little scratches but this time there was blood. Enough that I put Ceilidh in the pop-up crate I bring in the building so that I could wash my hands and try to stop the bleeding. (Of course, I didn't even think to put bandages in the training bag.) Ceilidh was looking up mournfully through the mesh while I held a paper towel in place before class, not knowing what was happening, just that it had something to do with her ball. Consequently she wasn't even interested in tugging on it during class, when I wanted her to! But, surprisingly, she had some pretty good runs! Her weaving was exceptional (for Ceilidh) and there was very little sniffing. No, I'm not willing to risk life and limb next week!

Dax the Huntress

Ceilidh and I had an uneventful evening at Agility class last night: we drove to class in Rush Hour traffic (honestly, when is it not?); played with our beloved Latex Soccer Ball while we waited for the Beginning class to finish; warmed up a little; TUGGED on the Latex Soccer Ball before our first run (tugging - yeah!!) which, by the way, was spectacular!; practiced our spins, touches, give paw, dance, lie down, etc., etc., etc., while we waited and waited and waited for the other dogs; Ceilidh no longer interested in Latex Soccer Ball, just want treats and so did only mediocre on the second course. And then drove home in the much faster traffic.

Ceilidh crashed on the couch and I started to unwind. We had to wait for quite a while last night - lots of weave poles and consequently lots of restarts - and Ceilidh requires a lot of attention to help her maintain at least some focus and not try to eat all the spots off the floor at class. All this as a preface to: DAX the Mighty Huntress!

All of a sudden Dax leapt off the chair and stood quivering in front of a cushion, staring at it intently. We picked it up and there was one of the creepiest, crawliest, biggest, ugliest bugs I've ever seen. EEWWWWWWW!!!! A few tissues and a hard-soled shoe later, it was gone. But Dax found it!! What a good girl.

Enjoy the Good Runs!

Ceilidh had a good night, last night at Agility class. It would have been a great night, but, well, she's Ceilidh. There were only four of us at class last night, so there wasn't much waiting between runs, and that was great! Ceilidh was a tugging fiend for the first half of class last night! She still won't tug on anything but her beloved Latex Soccer Ball at class (and I have the scars to prove it), but that's OK. We tugged to the start line, where I persuaded Ceilidh to give up the ball so she could run, and we were off! She was focused, attentive, efficient and fast!! Our instructor was even impressed! For the first half of class Ceilidh was tugging my arm out of the socket, but then she shut down... She wouldn't even look at her ball. Go figure.

Ceilidh was brilliant! and then...

As many of you know, Thursday evening is Agility class for Ceilidh and me. While I've come to the realization that I may never compete with Ceilidh, the class is still fun and it's great for her focus. There weren't many of us in class last night, which was great - more time running the courses and less time waiting. It also allowed us to run the courses more than once. We ran the first course three times, in fact. The first time Ceilidh was hesitant on the equipment, sniffing all the speckles on the floor and not really paying attention. While the other dogs were running, I pulled out Ceilidh's beloved Latex Soccer Ball and we had a tug-fest. (While a 2-inch diameter ball does not have much real estate, my fingers escaped unscathed.) I asked Ceilidh to "drop it" while I unhooked her leash, and she attacked the course! Ceilidh slammed down the teeter! She ran across the dog walk! She flew over the jumps! Ceilidh used centrifugal force in the tunnels! And she zoomed over that last broad jump! Brilliant!

And then we were back to Ceilidh-normal the rest of the class. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Dax, and Ceilidh's Ball

I have mentioned that my Boston Terrier, Ceilidh's favorite toy in the universe is her Latex Soccer Ball. The other day it went missing! This was actually not the catastrophe that it might have been, since we're always careful to have at least one spare. Yesterday before dinner she came running into the room proudly carrying the missing Latex Soccer Ball. We knew it was the missing ball since we always put it away after our scheduled play session. We told Ceilidh how clever she was for finding her ball and took it away, promising that we would play with it later. Well, it must have fallen off the shelf because a few minutes later Dax came in with the ball in her mouth! Where was the camera!!! You should have seen Ceilidh's face - her eyes went wide and her mouth went slack - pure astonishment! Like, "But that's MY ball!" No harm - we got the ball away from Dax before either she or Ceilidh got any ideas. We'll see if Dax shows any interest in the spare Latex Soccer Ball tonight during play time...

Agility Happiness

Ceilidh was brilliant last night at Agility class! We'd been having more focus problems than usual the last few weeks, but last night we were a real team! While Ceilidh loves to tug on pretty much anything she can get her teeth into at home, this is not the case at class. Occasionally I can get her to tug while we're waiting for the class before us to finish, but hardly ever in class. And, as Agility people know, tugging is a great way to relieve stress, get rid of tension, and expend some excess energy. But, last night she was tugging like a champ in class, in front of everyone! The only thing was, the only thing she'll tug in that building at all is her beloved Latex Soccer Ball - the 2 inch diameter one. So, her ball got slimy but she actually did let me get hold of it! And, she was so interested in her ball that I was able to do rear crosses while her attention was on the ball, not where I was!

Later we did a couple of runs on the obstacles, and Ceilidh was still focused! She had a really good night. And when we got home, she crashed on the couch!

A Rare Thursday at Home

It's not often that we have a quiet Thursday at home, but we had a week off between Agility Class sessions. As our loyal readers know, Ceilidh loves Agility class, it's a great energy release for her, and it helps her to focus. More than anything else, though, Ceilidh loves her schedule. If things don't happen in the order that they usually do, she's lost and bewildered until we give her some structure. She knows that after dinner she gets to play with her beloved Latex Soccer Ball. She knows that Wednesday morning she gets a medicated bath. And she knows that Thursday evening is Agility class. (I don't know how she tells the days of the week, but she seems to!) Usually on Thursdays we eat dinner earlier than normal because we have to fight traffic on the way to Agility. But last night we didn't! And Ceilidh didn't like it! But once we started playing with her Latex Soccer Ball, Ceilidh knew that all was right with her world.