Things I need

With the approach of the ever-dubious holiday season, I have been pondering lately what it is in life I actually need. I feel the overwhelming pressure of giving people good stuff, and being given stuff in return happens, but it is often easy to be caught up in the idea that external stuff is necessary.

So, with that in mind, I'm going to try and keep a list of things in life I really need...and allow the other stuff to hopefully recede into the background, or the would be nice category.

So, ahem:

1. Exercise. Being laid up with crappy knees has really reminded me that I am much happier (read: saner) when I am exercising regularly. So, I will attempt to come up with more cross-training ideas while my knees heal and start taking better care of them (stretching, icing, etc.), because I forget to do these things.

2. Dogs. I definitely cannot survive without my dogs. So, more training, more outings, more dog one-on-one time.

3. Meaningful work. While the job right now is not as satisfying as I'd hoped, the profession is where I want to be. I need to focus on getting the most out of being there, learning on my own as much as I can, and honing my skill set.

4. A healthy relationship. Too often, I think J and I still take each other for granted, because we are not used, after four years of vet school, to being around each other day in and day out. I need to plan more one-on-one outings for us. As simple as getting coffee and reading a book, just so we are in each other's presence without tv, video games, chores, or even my fav dogs as distractors.


Some things I don't need
1. tchatckes
2. chocolate
3. impulse purchases
4. donuts


Here's a bonus pic of the blue dogs, having a wrestle. I've decided not to tape/glue Zig's ears. Ear set is just not that important to me.

IT bands can suck it.

Apparently, a half marathon is too much mileage for me, because my IT bands are very, very angry. Did a short 3 miler on Saturday and my left knee refused to go any further...meh. How frustrating is that? After all that training. Stupid knees. I guess I should have paid more attention to stretching.

I need to find a decent apple crisp recipe for the t-giving dinners. Tried one on Saturday that turned out well, but the crispity topping wasn't quite cohesive enough. Need another one to try today...don't mind eating the results.

Half marathon recap

Half marathon success!

I didn't know whether the half would be possible. The week before, we did a 10 mile distance run and both of my knees decided to be assholes. I think I had both runner's knee and IT band pain. The week before the half I didn't run at all, just tried to rest my knees, ice them as much as possible, and hope that they'd cooperate.

The morning of, we woke to the pouring rain. Jen had been checking the weather.com "fitness index", which in Oregon basically tells you how sucky exercising outside will be that day. Our half marathon day had an index of one, which is as low as it goes! I had to forego the costume because I didn't want to wreck my awesome Queen of Hearts outfit, sad.

The race started, and about mile 3 I could feel my knees. They were the worst at mile 4-6, when the rain was also at its worst, and we were pretty much drenched. I thought the rest stop near my house was at mile 7, so friends were waiting there to greet us a little earlier than they should have been (the stop was actually at about mile 9). My dad ran the last five or so miles with me, which really helped perk me up for the end. I felt strong until the last mile, when the road began to feel very very long. But once I saw the finish line, I did a little sprint to the end. We ran the sucker in about 2 hours and 28 minutes, which is very good for me. And we ran the whole way without walking!

It was definitely a good time, and if my knees shape up I would do another. Not sure I could actually survive a whole marathon.

Ziggy 12 wks

ten -pupdate

Ziggy did well with social stuff so far this week. Better greeting of people including a cute little boy today. Zig seemed to like him! He is pretty dependent on me out and about right now, but I anticipate this changing a lot with age. He picked up hand targeting quickly today during our first session (did my hand smell too much like food tho?)

Concerns: toy drive. Tug drive is good, but he will get tired of toys long before food right now. I really wanted a pup who loved to play with me. He loves to play with the big dogs. I wonder if I need to restrict that right now? I feel like the argument for restricting interaction with other dogs are tenuous, but I am concerned if he thinks they are the only fun ones to play with.

Need to do more shaping exercises to help limber up and get him to try new behaviors.

puppy raising diaries...

9 weeks:
Sit: verbal cue in house, automatic sit often
Down: hand signal
Come: solid in house and yard
Potty training: two accidents (after hard play, whoops)
Chew training: velociraptor!
Socialization: greeting people well, does not like hand over head. Greets other dogs well, polite to adults, polite to pups, will play with larger pups, interested in cats, wants to play with Squid. Fidget hates, will run from and pup wants to run after (bad)!
Toys: loves tugs, will sit for a chance to re-engage in play.
Crate: sleeps through the night quietly, rides quietly in the car, barks if placed in crate during day but will settle.

Zigs getting coffee today.

Puppyface and agility class fail.

First...puppy!

After hours of deliberation, this is the one I picked! He's the blue boy that I liked from week 3. It was a tough pick, in part because 5 of the pups were so close to what I wanted. I debated really hard about one of the blue girls and a black girl, and the other blue boy, but ultimately this little guy won. He's adapted well so far, he had to go with me to an agility trial all weekend and did great. Met lots of people, saw lots of things, met a dog or two, rode in the car, pottied in strange places...all pretty much without balking. He was a little overwhelmed by Saturday night, but Sunday did well and has been a trooper so far this week. I of course have paranoia that I am going to do something wrong, but hopefully experience and training will prevent that from happening. There will probably be lots of pictures of this little guy soon. I'm a bit concerned about some shyness that was not evident in his temperament tests or with his litter but have popped up over the last week...but he's a baby and has a lot of socializing ahead

Agility trial was good for Griff as well. He q'd in 6 of 7 runs, and was overall way more focused than I had any right to expect. We didn't q in our second standard run as I forgot to get the turn command out and caused him to back jump (off course), but it was totally my fault.

However...agility class on Tuesday was a nightmare. I could do nothing right as far as my instructor was concerned, and I ended up leaving class in tears. Griff was disconnecting because he saw how upset I was. I don't know why she decided to ream me...I know I was setting him up at jumps closer than I should, but most of the start lines were really near the other dogs and I didn't want him to get overly excited at the barky sheltie and leave me. However, the more I was berated, the worse I got, until I couldn't remember the courses at all. Finally, I just said I wasn't going to correct any mistakes and just let Griff have fun. I went out in the parking lot after class and cried like a five year old.

I know that trainers get to the point where they've seen mistakes people make a hundred times and it must be frustrating. However, training is as much about being compassionate to the people as it is the dogs. I am not trying to be unfair to my dog when I don't handle as well as I should. I'm just new at this. Berating me is a great way to make me shut down and make more mistakes....I wish I knew what to do about this.