No, I haven’t abandoned my blog (though it may look that way!) Been busy, haven’t had much to blog about, and it’s so much easier to write a sentence or two on Facebook than compose a big blog post. But I do have some catching up to do, so here goes:

Bryce – celebrated his 12th birthday on July 10th, his 3rd since his cancer diagnosis. It’s a sobering thought that he’s now survived longer than some people with his type of cancer! He’s still doing agility – 4 Q’s away from his CPE Jumpers Championship and picked up 40 pts in NADAC this past weekend. I can potentially run him in 2 1/2 more NADAC trials this season and am wavering on what to enter. He needs 105 more points for a lifetime 1000 points. Or, 3 Q’s in Open Weavers would give him his Open Versatility but jeopardize our chances of getting the points, because one missed entrance or popout will put him over time in Open Weavers.

It may seem strange that I still have goals for him and maybe some people think I should just enjoy running him. I DO enjoy every run with my wonderful little guy (and he’s still loving it too), but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a few more goals! I wish the dance would never end and it keeps my focus off the inevitable.

Jayda and Raven (aka JayVen)The girls are doing well. Jayda is 2 Q’s from a C-ATCH, finished her AKC OJP last May and got her first AJP Q the same weekend. We’re (gasp) doing TWO AKC trials this fall, hoping to finish her OAP and maybe the AJP too. Down on the table problems were the only reason she didn’t get her OAP in May so the rule changes have me feeling quite optimistic . In NADAC, she finished her Novice Triple Superior in May, got her OAC and her first OJC Q this weekend – the girl’s on fire! OK, maybe it’s a slow, smoldering fire, but a fire nonetheless. Love my big Jayd-Jayd !

Raven’s growing up and starting to run really nicely for me. I can’t believe she’s almost 3 already – she’s still very “puppy.” She’s also quite the little Princess, but that’s a blog post in itself! Distance work is an issue – she’s the “stickiest” Sheltie I’ve ever had – but she’s getting better. That’s going to be our winter project. Jayda could benefit from some work in that department too, especially if I want to get her Open Chances title! While NADAC Novice was cake for her, Open’s just a little outside her comfort zone.

Kitties are all doing well. Things got ugly for a while after I brought in Hat, but they’ve finally settled down a bit. Biki still doesn’t like him – nothing personal, just because he’s a CAT and he’s in HER house – but she seems to have resigned herself to his presence. His old BFF Cassie’s become my new porch cat and become pettable! She also likes the dogs, especially the girls, who are disgusted but tolerant of all the enthusiastic PDKA (public displays of Kitty affection.) She’s pretty and petite with a tiny little voice, and once she finally got brave enough to let me touch her she can’t seem to get enough of it! Anyone want a kitty? I hate thinking of her spending another winter outside and would be happier if she were inside somewhere, safe and loved!

I’ve been busy with work and pouting and crabby lately because I trashed my lower back 2 weeks ago. How? Possibly moving storage boxes around earlier in the day, but I really don’t know. All I DO know it that sitting is bad, standing is OK. Fortunately, walking and running seem to be good so I can run my dogs – priorities, ya know! I actually feel a bit better after the trial this past weekend. My new trial job is Gate (because I don’t have to sit or bend.)

It was March 31, 2008 that I got the results of the routine bloodwork that eventually led to Bryce’s cancer diagnosis.

In dogs, Multiple Myeloma has an average survival time of 540 days. We’re at 730 and counting and I’m thankful for every single one of them. Bryce is in clinical remission and as of his latest bloodwork his globulins were about where they were back when he was healthy. For today, life is good.

They say there’s a positive side to everything, so sitting in traffic yesterday seemed like a good opportunity to ponder this. Aside from the stress and vet bills, what has Bryce’s cancer given him and given me?

Possibly the strangest thing that’s come out of this for me is in agility. Sometime during the course of Bryce’s cancer I’ve finally developed … a mental game! Prior to that, I had a long history of getting nervous and screwing up any time something important to me was on the line. And believe me, there’s nothing to put on the pressure like knowing you’re running on borrowed time! But somehow the need to come through for Bryce, knowing that I might never have another chance, has helped me break past that better than any imagery exercises, affirmations or other sports coaching tricks have ever been able to do.

As for Bryce – Bryce is never taken for granted. Ever. Two years of extra attention, extra love, extra cookies … OK, he was always a little spoiled and now he’s gotten REALLY spoiled . But when life’s busy and you have a houseful it’s hard not to sometimes just let things chug along as you go about your silly human business while some illogical part of your brain reassures you that they’ll always be there and there will be plenty of time for them “when you’re done”.

They won’t. And you’ll never be “done”.

I’m not taking my others for granted as much as before either. Or the people in my life.

I think that’s all good.

We almost got snowed out! Thursday and Friday everyone in the area got from over 1 foot to over 2 feet of snow. Some people lost power. I had to dig myself out of a snowbank almost up to my waist (plowed in by my town). But then the sun came out, the snow began to melt and the trial was on !

Jayda Narrows the Q-Count

Jayda brought her “C-ATCH Countdown” from 15 down to 9, finishing her requirements in Wildcard and FullHouse and Q’ing twice in Standard and Jumpers. She may also finish a couple of individual class championships before the C-ATCH. The courses were trappy and tricky all weekend and the times were tight so I was very proud of her.

Bryce Beat Jayda by 2″ in Jumpers!

Even though he stopped to shake out his fur following a messy rear cross! Of course this was also the last run of the weekend – Jayda’s 10th and his 2nd – so Jayd was a little tired, but his speed was decent, his turns were tight and he had a good time showing everyone that he’s still “da man” .

Rrrraven Rrrrrocked!

She’s just getting better and better and a little more mature every trial. We had bobbles here and there, but all just green-dog / new team kinds of things. Overall she was fast and attentive, finishing her CL2-F and CL2-H titles, getting her first Level 3 Q (in jumpers), and ended with an awesome 1st place, 53 point Jackpot run.

Not that we don’t still have things to work on – I learned that she has about 2 un-reinforced teeters in her. (I asked for a third one and almost didn’t get it.), our rear crosses stink, and I really need to work on collecting her AFTER she runs (she doesn’t always want to stop and leave!) but she’s starting to look really nice!

No matter how much you wish they were normal at the beginning, every next day and every next year, you love them more for what they are.

Silvia Trkman, talking about her dog Bu (“News” page).

The other weekend may have been All About Bryce, but the girls deserve a mention too

Jayda qualified in 9 out of 10 runs and finished her CL4-S title – now she’s completely out of Level 4! The best thing is she was really HAPPY this weekend, especially on Sunday! She had that big Jayda grin that I know and love on her face all day long and was eager to come out and run every run. I’ve NEVER seen her that happy or that confident at a trial before but I hope I see more of it!

Jayda’s not all that far from a C-ATCH of her very own. She’s a lot closer than Bryce was at this time last year!

Raven had a great day Saturday, going 4 for 4 – she was wonderful and all-in-all looking pretty mature! Sunday? Uh – not so much. There was a very “baby-dog” run in Jackpot, 2 really good runs (Colors and Wildcard) …and then there was Standard…

(Don’t laugh at her bad hair day – she was rolling around on the sofa before I took this and got a bad case of static cling! She also needs to take posing lessons from Jayda.)

Where was I? Oh yes – Sunday. After years of “drop and run”, I’ve been TRYING to get back into doing an occasional leadout with Raven. We do them in class, the course was perfect for a leadout, I decided to go for it.

Set her up and led out. She stayed in place and was watching me attentively. Released her … and she took off BEHIND me like a shot to make up her very own 5 obstacle wrong-course!

Leadouts – bah! WA-A-A-AY overrated, if you ask me !

Cute as it was, after that start we were pretty much toast, though the rest of the run was not without moments of brilliance. Overall, I was very pleased with her. Most of her qualifying runs she was working close to 4YPS and I think that number will go up as she gains confidence and experience. (Among other things, she has a very “bouncy” running style which eats up time – but she’s starting to flatten it out a little). She’s only 2 years old – not all that mature for her age, and only been trialing for a few months. She’s already come a long way.

So there you have it – the recap of a pretty exciting weekend!

Long ago I made a promise to Bryce that we would finish at least one agility championship together. At one time, I had my eye on several, but that wasn’t to be. I’m happy with this one and I’ll just have to save those other goals for the next generation!

A quick shout out to “Team Brycey” – all our friends and supporters in the agility community, his doctors, David at Advanced Canine for putting his BACK back together, and his “Aunties” and “Granny” – Tracey, Pat, Bernadette and Toni – for being a shoulder to cry on when things weren’t going so well and for helping ME keep it together the last couple of years! And to CPE – for providing a venue with something for everyone and for giving me the opportunity to keep a promise to a friend.

Bryce just would NOT look at the camera!

If you’re wondering about the light object in the foreground, that’s his beloved duckie. He’s taken it everywhere since he was about 4 yrs old, I thought it was only right that it got to share his special moment .