Happy Solstice!

First holiday picture in six years without Jasper Fforde. I miss you, party cat. At least Cai enjoys playing with his new sibling, too.

Rally-FrEe Advanced title (R-FE/M)

We signed up for the World Wide video competition. I recorded at Sherry's. I could record here in the back yard, but Chimera moves much better on a flat grassy field than on wood chips, and I wanted to set him up for success. Unfortunately on the day we had set aside for recording, it was extremely windy. Our ring gates were falling over, and one of the Free Choice signs blew away, never to be seen again. Poor Cai. This was not his best work. Despite the difficult environment, we qualified with a score of 142. That completes his title in the Advanced class, which is called R-FE/M.

We'll now be in the Championship class, which is identical to the Advanced class. (After that is the Grand Championship class, which requires 5 scores of 175+. That will be a challenge for us.)

First AKC agility Qs!

Chimera was entered into his first AKC agility trial yesterday. We did a standard novice run and a jumpers novice run and qualified in both!

I had been sure that Cai's height was just under 12" and therefore he would need to jump 12". However he measured in at 11" with one rep and 10.45" with the second, so he's all set to only jump 8" in AKC! That's a relief - it's easier on his body, and of course he'll be faster on the course.

Jumpers was one big counter-clockise loop for #1-9. Before #10 I did a rear cross, and a second rear cross before #13. After #7 I was glancing up ahead and heard Cai give a loud squeal. I looked back and he was standing in one spot, hunched over awkwardly. The bar was still up, so my best guess was that he had landed oddly. I asked him to take the next jump, and he did it normally. So I decided to finish the run unless he showed me that he was hurt. He did the rest flawlessly. After we finished I asked the judge if he saw what had happened. He and a couple people from the ring crew all confirmed that Cai squealed as he jumped over #7, but since the bar was still up, he mostly likely had barely caught a toe on the bar.

I don't think that he was truly hurt as he would have been limping and/or slowed down for the rest of the course. Instead he sped back up and finished with enthusiasm. He didn't limp as I walked him around afterwards.

I put him back in the car for 90 minutes until it was our turn in Standard. He was sound asleep when I went back for him after the walk through and was slow to perk up. I worried that I hadn't given him enough time to wake back up and warm up.

Terra chewed on the map a bit.

I did a front cross after the teeter and again after the weaves, making sure to go deep so that he would have a straight approach to the broad jump.

He hesitated at the top of the a-frame, which was unusual. No problems with the tire or teeter. I saw him hesitate just slightly and look closely at the panel and broad jumps, which he hasn't seen in a long time, but I repeated the cue "hup!" a few times and so he trusted me and jumped them. On the weaves, he got distracted and looked off and popped out. Fortunately novice allows a redo and on the second try he was perfect.

So all in all I'm quite happy with how we did. I'll keep an eye on his toes (and let Dr Wallace know at his next chiropractic appointment next week). And I'll continue to work on figuring out just the right balance between letting him acclimate and warm up but not tiring him out.

Time to check the calendar for our next trial!

Vet practice

We took a break from practicing handling at the vet's office after I brought Terra home. I scheduled another one and had the tech run through a typical exam with him. She checked his eyes, ears, teeth, pulse temperature, lifted his front legs to look at his chest/belly, and palpated his abdomen. Later I had her stretch and feel all four legs. Here and there he gave mildly stressed body language (tail down, yawn, and/or tense face), but he tolerated it. He only tried to avoid her when there was a dog on the other side of the door that he needed to bark at, and when she picked him up (which I should have told her not to do). We had previously also worked toward getting a voluntary blood draw, but we're close to the limit of what we can do without actually drawing blood. Maybe one more session with that to come. Aside from that, I need to do practice a lot more with settling calmly on his side.

Monthly chiro adjustment, rally-free failure

I brought a cheese and salmon Bark Pouch for Cai to lick at during his monthly chiropractic adjustment. He loved it and was so enthused that he didn't growl or even fidget once. Dr Wallace was impressed. As usual, she had to fix up his pelvis and front left shoulder. She noted that his back left leg was also a little off, which was probably from hitting it on the agility tire on Tuesday. No injury to his toes, though.

I asked if she thought it would be okay to raise his jump height back to 12" and she said no reason not to. That means we can finally compete again!! We'll be doing AKC since it's the venue I'm most familiar with and is very common. (I'd love to do more TDAA as well but the one club that hosted events seems to have given up due to low entries and lack of volunteers to help run things.)

I signed up for a Rally-FrEe video event and we went to Sherry's to record. Cai was distractable and imprecise in his tricks. I stopped partway through our first run. We tried again and he was better but then he left the "ring" to follow a scent, which is an automatic disqualification. He's never good for more than two runs so we stopped for the day. We came back a few days later but it was raining so I had to scratch our entry.

I signed up for the world wide video event next month. I'll do more training in the meantime and hopefully we'll do better. I had expected too much from him after a long break without practice.

Foot owie

Chimera has never been good at the tire. He tends to misjudge the take off point. This morning he banged his back left foot against it and came up limping. I examined him, walked him around a bit, and then he was putting weight on it. I ran him over a small sequence but he was still compensating for it, so we went home early. I'm pretty sure it's just a little owie rather than a real injury - he's always been a drama queen.

Agility update, recent pictures

We've moved up to 8 inches in agility class. (We'd been doing 4 inches for a while so that we could get back into the groove after our long break.) Cai is flying over the jumps, and we're much more in sync now. Only thing that's still lacking is Cai's drive forward if I am not moving quickly. I have to be very careful not to slow down early on sends, which pulls him off. I'll move up again to 12 inches after his next chiropractic adjustment. If things still look good, we'll finally be ready to enter AKC Novice.

Here are some recent pictures:

Squirrel!

We've both missed our regular off leash hikes.

Whee!

Belly rubs while watching his sister play.

So suspicious.

What

What are you doing

Fast CAT

Chimera now starts barking and lunging with excitement when we're close to the lure. I'm glad the enjoys the chase but man is that annoying.

He ran full out and reached an estimated speed of 16.40 mph - consistent with his previous runs. The time to run 300 yards was 12.47 seconds. That earns him 32.8 points, bringing his total to 121.29. We need only 28.71 points to get his BCAT title - one more run! Of course I don't do this for the titles, but because he LOVES it.

This time I had another person release him at the start and caught him at the end. I squeaked his favorite ball and tossed it ahead of him as he crossed the finish line. The squeak worked to get his attention but he looked so disappointed that I didn't throw the ball very far. Then I scooped him up and fed him many many pieces of chicken to make it a memorable, pleasant event. We'll see if that holds up for next time.

Chiropractic adjustment

Cai had his monthly appointment with his amazing chiropractor. It was the same problems as usual - sacrum and left shoulder.

He had lost weight, which surprised me. Down from 10 pounds to 9. Dr Wallace said that 9 is better for him.

Last time we were at agility class (two weeks ago), Cai had had trouble with the backwards circles and pivoting I use as part of his warm up. This morning, he had tight, fast circles and pivots. There's always a clear improvement after his monthly adjustment.

And that's why she gets so much of my money. Thank goodness for pet insurance.

Loft bed

I purchased a loft bed when I moved into my current place, as it's a tiny apartment. Chimera quickly adjusted to being carried up and down the ladder. Sometimes I put him up on the bed when I have boarding dogs that he doesn't want to be around, and he just chills.

There's a ceiling fan that is positioned halfway over the bottom side of the bed. It's a very good thing that Cai is short. I have gotten my head and shoulders whacked multiple times when I wasn't being careful.

Larger than life

Sherry knew that despite our twice-yearly trips to dog events plus 1-2 family vacations each year, I've never bothered to buy my own luggage. I've always just borrowed from other friends and family. For my birthday/puppy/house warming party, she surprised me (and boy was I surprised!) with personalized hard-sided luggage!

It's a picture of Chimera from when we were waiting our turn at our first TDAA trial. Practical AND sentimental; it's a wonderful gift. Thank you, Sherry!

How did Cai react? He sniffed it, suddenly jumped back when he recognized the face of a dog, then realized that it wasn't real and ignored it.

Success with vet training

I am SO proud of Chimera. At our last training session at the vet's, he held still with the chin target while getting his temperature taken in his ear - a first! Then he did the same while the tech shined a bright light in his eyes - another first!





Next items to work on:
- More with blood draws; we're to the point that we need 3-4 hands to draw blood from a front leg so I'm not sure how often we'll be able to practice this. (It was explained to me that one hand needs to roll off the vein and the other needs to gently pull the paw forward in order for the vein to be in the right spot. And then of course you need at least one more hand to work the syringe.)
- Teeth/mouth examinations. (He currently allows this and is fairly relaxed but I'd like a stronger +CER.)
- Settling onto his side and staying, for examination of his side or belly, or for getting an ultrasound or x-ray done.  (I need to do more work with this at home as well.)
- Getting poked with a needle for a vaccine. (I'm not totally sure which party of the body various vaccines are given in, d'oh.)

Giant little sister

Even though I have a Papillon now, and had another Papillon before that, and a 20 lb mutt before that, I have long been lusting after a giant breed dog. I love that Cai is drivey and energetic, but I wanted to enjoy having a big, cuddly doofus at home as well. This past weekend, my dream came true, and Cai met his new giant little sister. Her name is Terra, and she is a 14 week old Irish Wolfhound.

I had expected Cai to be very annoyed with her and to have to keep them separate most of the time. However Terra is (so far) very sleepy and mellow, and so Cai ignores her except when he is guarding something or she comes close to knocking into him. The guarding is a problem, as it has always been when I have other dogs around. He guards his crate. He guards his preferred toys. He guards food. He guards me when he's on my lap or getting petting. I'm working on it by preempting the guarding and praising him when Terra approaches, interrupting the moment I see a stare or lip curl, and giving him a time out if I don't catch it and he snarks at her. We are practicing taking turns for petting, play time, and training. I also encourage him to move away and hang out in his crate if Terra is playing with the current boarding dog and he's getting annoyed. (He also often goes into his crate on his own to avoid the mayhem.)

Photobomb

 
So far Terra respects him and gives him space, but is not afraid of him, which is perfect. I will be watching carefully in case she gets too assertive as she enters adolescence and feels like she can throw her weight around. I am prepared to keep them separated when unsupervised for their whole lives. Terra should be at least 120 lbs when full grown and Chimera is 9 lbs. Accidents happen between dogs and I have to keep my little guy safe.

In lighter news, Cai is actually getting MORE attention and training time this week because I want to make it up to him that I brought this puppy home. We are super rusty in our Rally-FrEe skills and I want to fix those up and get back to competing. Our new weekly agility class is helping with that sport, and we're slowly getting back in sync. Hopefully we'll return to agility trials by the end of the year.

Cai enjoying Terra's puppy party

Vet training

I've been doing weekly training sessions for Chimera at our awesome Fear Free vet clinic, Happy Tails Animal Hospital. Cai is always happy to present his front legs and do a chin target. Sometimes he offers them even when we don't want it. It's always funny when we're working with a new person and he leans over and puts his chin or nose on their hand and just freezes. They're always confused.

He's still sometimes upset when his back legs are handled around the iliopsoas, but it's very hit or miss. Mostly I'm having people avoid that area, or we do very careful desensitization.

Mostly we're working on:
1. Bringing a thermometer to his ear. (He doesn't like this big object coming toward his head, but after a warm up he'll allow it.)
2. Blood draws. (Rolling off and bandaging are not a problem, alcohol swab is nearly good to go, syringes are next.)
3. Rolling onto his side for belly exam, ultrasound, or x-ray. (Still at beginning.)

Putting thermometer in his ear.

Rubbing right leg with alcohol swab.

Chin rest plus handling his ear.

Once we're done with those goals, I'll ask the vet what else she would recommend training.

Playtime with Caper

It didn't go how we were expecting...

Fifth birthday!

Happy fifth birthday to my little monster! Here are some recent photos.

I want petting but I want to keep an eye on Mom

Champion Lap Dog (ChLD)

Laying on the plastic because it's hot

Using a toy as a pillow

Chest rubs!

Funny face

Adorably scratching his head

Adorably scratching his head #2

"I'm watching you."

Barking repeatedly at a box of toys and chews put up on the counter

Pooping on a rock like a BOSS

Third annual Fenzi Dog Sports Camp

Camp was in Albany Oregon this year. As usual, Sherry and Jacques and Chimera and I went together. The location was the Lynn County Fairgrounds, which I loved because our hotel was just a minute's walk from the labs. I crated Cai in the car on the first day, since that's where he would be most calm and comfortable. The rest of the weekend was hot so I switched to crating in the hotel room. As far as I could tell he was quiet there, too.

He was reactive toward other dogs if they came right toward him, but that was generally easy to manage. He was also still reactive to the sound of dog tags jingling, and that's still a pain in the ass. We did a little practice crating in the official crating area. He didn't seem to mind me moving away, but I had to stay pretty close so that I could quickly feed treats after he heard tags. If I can just get him past that issue, I think that he would be fine in a covered crate during future camps.

In good news, he stayed focused the entire weekend, other than our final lab, when he just couldn't muster the energy anymore.

Here are my biggest take aways and exercises I need to do with Cai.

Figure 8 (obedience) with Hannah Branigan
- Use a pivot platform to teach the dog to come into your side, and then use a pivot/side-stepping motion to train moving into you as you go around a cone. This will transfer to an inside turn with lots of rear end movement into you, and good attention on you.
- For the outside turn, teach a sequence of you look at the cone, then cue a jump to your left hand, and click and reward the jump. Looking at the cone will become a cue to "power up" as the dog heels.
- I want to do both of these exercises with Cai.

Ring Ready (obedience run through) with Denise Fenzi
- We did a novice run through. Cai did better than I expected!
- He doesn't have any automatic sits in heel or front since I trained a default stand for rally-free and freestyle. So I just skipped those rather than cuing them, which would have added pressure and stressed him out.
- We skipped the touching in the stand for exam - the judge just walked by him. He still became nervous and stepped toward me. I definitely want to work on that.
- Denise told me that I have a bad habit of slowing down during heeling (which I didn't realize I did!) and looking back at him too much (which I'm aware of but is hard for me to stop doing). It was especially bad on the outside turn of the figure 8, which is funny because I KNOW not to do that and I've told clients not to do it multiple times. But that doesn't mean that I can always follow my own advice! She told me to look where I'm going.
- For the first half of the run through, I was too stressed to remember to be playful with Cai in between exercises. I did reward with food jackpots. When I realized that I should also connect with him socially, we both felt better.
- During the off leash heeling pattern, he started to look around and stress down, so I stopped in the middle of the pattern and kneeled down next to him. I pet him as he looked around for a few seconds. then I had him put his paws on my legs and we did our little "paw at each other" game. He recovered completely and we finished the pattern with enthusiasm. Woohoo!! That was a big victory for us.

Getting Ahead (agility) with Loretta Mueller
- Sending ahead has always been a weak point for me and Cai, and it really showed in this lab. I need to get in successful repetitions of me doing a clear send and Cai taking the obstacle ahead.
- It's definitely better when I follow Loretta's instructions to connect with the dog as he finishes the previous obstacle (see dog's feet land), then look at the take off point for the next obstacle, then repeat. (Feet, feet, feet!) Our runs are much smoother when I get this right. Not only does Cai follow my intended instructions better, but it feels less hectic on my end.
-  I have a problem with disconnecting with him when I look around to make sure I'm not running into an obstacle. I need to turn this into a super quick peek taken as Cai is committed and performing the previous obstacle, and be turned back in time to watch his feet land.
- I miss doing regular agility practice so much!!

Use It And Lose It (training aids) with Julie Flanery
- Do the initial platform shaping with the platform in front position - saves time and helps dog orient to front position when the platform leaves.
- Before you remove your prop, you must place it on cue.
- Using multiple props for the same behavior makes it easier to fade them because the behavior isn't dependent on any one prop. (I think this is where a lot of people go wrong.)
- Let the props do the work, not your food/lure/body etc.
- Make sure to build plenty of value in the position you want - do that first, before teaching the dog how to get into that position. (Stationary position before movement.)
- Keep the picture the same when you're fading props. Minimize how much you have to move around as you're physically removing props. For example, do your platform fading sessions next to a table so you can swiftly pick up the platform and place it out of sight without moving your feet.

Fabulous Fronts with Julie Flanery
(I was late to this)
- Use your final cue as soon as criteria is reliably being met - even if you're still using props to make dog meet criteria
- Use a chute from gates to create straight fronts. Feed in center of your body. Dog comes to food rather than the food going to the dog's mouth.

Heeling with Denise Fenzi
- I walked into the ring and Denise immediately asked, "Where are you going to look?" "Where I'm going!" "Good girl. Start heeling."
- Denise had me do a bunch of wide right circles to practice looking where I'm going, and reward Cai for staying nicely in position. Apparently he did great. I couldn't tell because I couldn't see him. It was SO HARD. She asked if I could "feel" him in position and I really can't.
- We also did a little trouble-shooting on right about turns. He stays fairly close but I'd like him closer. I should do a lot of turning, then drifting to the right to pull him into my left side. This will pattern train him to stay close on the right about turn.

Heeling with Hannah Branigan
(Can't get too much of heeling!)
- Hannah had me practice the right turn and jump to hand touch exercise from her earlier lab (which I'd audited).
- She noticed that Cai was only pivoting left when I did a big ol' shoulder turn, and I need to minimize that. She suggested I go back to my disc work and get my footwork to cue the pivot rather than my left shoulder. Then I need step forward with my left foot in front of my right, heel touching toe, angled left. Click for Cai pivoting toward me without any other help.

Private lesson with Hannah Branigan
- Since I had already gotten a lot of help with heeling, I asked about a different obedience exercise: positions out of motion, for example the drop on recall. Here were the steps we worked through:
1. Test the stimulus control of the target behavior. If you hold completely still and say the verbal cue, does the dog immediately respond with the correct behavior? If not, train that first. Cai passed this test.
2. March in place and say the cue. Reward the correct response, and repeat. March just a little at first, then go into full-on goose stepping. Cai hesitated at first, but then caught on.
3. Slowly back up and say the cue. Reward and repeat. Cai hesitated, then caught on.
4. Increase speed of your backing up. Cai was doing great at this point.

- If you want to do it while heeling forward, start with slow forward movement, then faster.
- For the drop on recall:
1. Pick a spot on the floor that you can see but is not salient to the dog (ie seam in the rubber mats, stripe on the rug, crack in the sidwalk).
2. Toss treat behind dog. Dog will eat it, then automatically start heading back toward you. Click as dog approaches spot, then toss treat behind him. Repeat until the dog starts to slow and later stop as he reaches the spot. Cai got this faster than I expected. We had a hiccup when a treat stuck to my finger and landed in front of where he had stopped - then he resumed trying to come all the way toward me and we had to quickly rebuild the behavior.
3. Cue the desired position as the dog reaches the spot and slows to a stop. Click and toss the treat backwards. Cai was getting it.
4. Repeat with various distances.

- To get those varied distances, start off by tossing treats to various distances, and cuing the behavior right as he's finishing eating, before he starts coming back toward you.
- I asked about teaching the dog to drop as he's moving away from you (just to be extra fancy), and she recommended having a cone or target to send the dog to, but otherwise repeating the steps above. (Click as dog approaches spot where you want to cue drop, treat to reset.)

Distance (agility) with Amanda Nelson
- You need trust and confidence in other to get distance.
- Always help the dog. Step forward, closer to the obstacle, if needed. Don't just stand there yelling "go" or "out!"
- Reward at distance via remote reward or tossed reward.
- Think of a rubber band - the greater the distance, the greater the pressure.

Private lesson with Shade Whitesel
- I was so excited to have gotten a private with Shade, but I'd already had two private lessons just on heeling, and one on changes in position, and I had trouble deciding what to ask for help with. I came up with three things that I could honestly use help with: sound sensitivity, fronts, and pace changes in heeling. Shade said to talk to Amy about sound sensitivity (that's fair), and she didn't want to work on fronts without the ray diagrams on the floor a la Sue Ailsby, so that left us with pace changes.
- We did well when we went out and just gave a demo of our current paces. I'd never actually trained Cai to respond to pace changes; he just picked it up along the way. But when we demoed a second time, you could see that Cai wasn't totally sure on what to do, and I wasn't sure on exactly what pace to use for our fast and slow.
- Shade said the most important thing for me to do is give him more warning, and I can do that by doing a half-step differently right before I actually change. I need to practice this more sans dog so that I'll be smooth. (Practice with a metronome would be great for this.)
- If he lags, I can keep going and then reward by tossing food/toys forward when he catches up. The fact pace should be a canter.
- I need to slow down more on the slow pace so that he clearly downshifts to a walk.
- His normal heeling pace is a (happy bouncy) trot.

Confidence Games with Amanda Nelson
- You can use known tricks as an emotional barometer. Is your dog responding quickly and with enthusiasm?
- Cup game (use 2 clear plastic cups):
1. Place a treat under a cup.
2. Tip the cup over or pick it up as the reward to shape the dog to interact with the cup. The goal is that the dog tips it over himself to eat the treat.
3. Add a second cup without a treat. Let the dog figure out that he can use sight and/or smell to find the right one.
- Middle (dog goes in between your legs, facing forward) - good place to wait for your turn, and helps many dogs feel secure.
- Go to mat
- Fly
- Knocking over tupperware to get food
- Wait and go (I didn't write down what exactly this is, I think it's self control and then release to reward?)

Agility match with Loretta Mueller
- We ran the course as if it were a trial. Then Loretta fixed my timing and made sure I connected and watched his feet land and gave good cues. When I got those things right, Cai ran beautifully!! I really miss doing agility regularly.

Rally-FrEe match with Julie Flanery
- There were only a few people signed up for this, and so we went right after we finished our 10 minutes of agility practice. Cai was tired out. He was still trying but he couldn't recognize some of the cues I was giving. I just did easy stuff and helped him out and gave him rewards, and we were soon done.


I love dog sports and I love my little monster. Can't wait to do it again next year! We should probably actually do some training and trialing in the meantime (Fast CAT not withstanding).

Fast CAT adventures

Sherry came with to be Chimera's "catcher" for two back-to-back Fast CAT trials last Saturday. Cai's first run was awesome. He took off after the lure and ran at almost exactly the same speed as last time - 12.4 seconds /16.46 mph, earning 32.92 points. However he seemed to not hear Sherry calling him at the end, as he turned around and started to run back toward me. I could tell he was looking for me and I was already walking toward the finish line, so I wasn't worried. But the other exhibitors didn't know that he wouldn't run off, and my friend Michael did a flying tackle and caught Cai in his arms. My heart stopped for a moment as this happened, as I was afraid that either a) Cai was getting crushed, or b) would be traumatized and scared of people approaching during future runs. But Michael was very careful and Cai was fine. Cai even solicited butt rubs from him later.

As we lined up for our second run, Cai heard the sound of the line winding around the corner posts behind him, and really wanted to investigate them. I kept him facing forward, waited until the lure started moving to release him, and thought that he saw it. However his mind was still behind him and as soon as I let go, he ran behind me. I called him and ran forward a few steps, and then he saw the lure up ahead and ran forward. But the lure operator wasn't ready and didn't immediately get the lure going again. Cai outpaced it and started to drift off to the right side of the track. At the end he turned back toward the middle and passed the finish line successfully. It took 18.2 seconds, which comes to 11.21 mph and 22.42 points. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Sherry called him, and this time Cai looked like he noticed but he deliberately turned and started back toward me. Again I was already halfway to joining him at the finish, and I knelt down and called him. He saw me and headed right for me... and then the lure, which was being wound back toward the finish, passed him and he changed course to chase it. *face palm* The person who was doing the start flag was quick on his feet. He picked up the line (after it stopped) and waved the plastic bags up and down, and Cai jumped up and down to get at them, allowing me to catch up to him and scoop him up.

I guess we have extra recall training to do! Also from now on I will have someone else release Cai at the start, and I'll be at the finish waiting for him.

Treeing Papillon

Chimera ran out the door as my parents were visiting. I figured he'd do a lap and then come back, but then I heard his "I've cornered a cat" bark. I went out with a flashlight and sure enough, he had treed a cat in the orchard. As I approached, the cat jumped down and and they both took off again. The cat went up another tree way down the property. I found them thanks to Cai's barking as he treed it again.  I stopped a few feet away, squatted, and called Cai. No acknowledgement. It took some calling for him to finally give up and return to me. His legs and belly are covered in burrs.

BUMAS muzzle

Chimera's custom-made muzzle is here!

It's slightly long and wide, but it's hard to get these things right with tiny dogs - a single centimeter makes a big difference. He wore it happily for these pictures, but we're still working on wearing it while walking.

Much fluff

I brushed Cai with his regular slicker brush to remove debris and tangles. Then I forced him to put up with a thorough brushing with a flea comb, which pulls out much more of the loose hair.

He is significantly less fluffy now, but hopefully cooler in this hot weather (100+ degrees F).

Vet visits

We moved onto a farm property last month. Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of flea pressure. Chimera has always attracted fleas. During Clicker Expo a few years ago, Cai picked up fleas while Jacques (Sherry's Papillon) came through unscathed. Cai was on Advantix II and I've been keeping the house clean, but they still wouldn't leave him alone. When he ended up chewing at his side badly enough to pull out hair, I took him to the vet.

I had already decided that I wanted Happy Tails Animal Hospital in Vacaville to be our new clinic. I had gone onto the Fear Free website to see if there happened to be a nearby clinic with certified techs and vets, and was thrilled to find one!

Cai has always been quite good at the vet's but I wanted to make sure that things stayed that way. He is a little nervous about getting man-handled by strangers (understandably). And I definitely wanted to support a clinic that went to all that effort.

The longer appointments offered by Fear Free clinics are great - they allowed me to get to know the tech who worked with me (Shawn) and the doctor (Dr Diedrich). The doctor asked for my business cards and gave me some of hers. They gave me a tour without me even asking.

I got a free trial of Nexguard and some medication to temporarily lower his body's response to itchiness. Both helped and the potential hot spot healed up.

The doctor noted that he had enough of a plaque build up on his teeth that a dental was recommended. I went ahead and scheduled one asap - I had noted that his breath was awful lately and I didn't want to neglect his dental health. The pre-dental x-rays revealed that Cai had a couple of molars in the back of his lower jaws which are normal in big dogs, but small dogs usually don't have them because of the lack of room. There was bacterial build up around these molars and the doctor removed them. She said they came out easily and he should recover quickly, which was true.

A week later, we had an appointment with Dr Wallace, his chiropractor. We hadn't seen her in a few months because I'd had to reschedule an appointment and she always books up way in advance. Once again Cai had to have an adjustment around his sacrum. He was PISSED when she pressed in that area. He whipped around and tried to snap at her hand. I had to hold his head and he kept growling and whale eyeing. But finally she got him adjusted and was able to feel him up with no reaction. And that evening, he was much calmer during brushing around his back legs. I hate that he keeps having problems in that area even when he hasn't been very active. I made an appointment one month out and another two months out. Poor guy.

First Fast CAT run

There's a new type of AKC lure coursing event, called Fast CAT. CAT stands for "coursing ability test." The regular CAT events are 600 yards for big dogs and 300 yards for small dogs. Fast CAT is a sprint of just 100 yards. Chimera loves to sprint and chase things, so I decided to give it a try. My mom joined us since a "catcher" is required to get the dog after he finishes chasing the lure.

I was worried that Cai wouldn't chase the lure (a plastic bag on a string, which zips along the ground), or that he would go partway and then return to me (which many of the other dogs did). However he took off like a shot the moment he saw something "running" away from him, and ran all 100 yards lickety-split! My mom reported that once the bag stopped moving, he approached it, but then she called him and he ran to her and got chicken treats. What a good boy!

He ran the 100 yards in 12.34 seconds, which is 16.58 mph. There aren't a lot of Papillons who have done the sport yet, and the fastest one is 19.76 mph! However the second one is only 15.27 mph, so apparently Cai is still very fast!

Since he is under 12", I multiply the mph by 2, and he has earned 33.15 points toward the BCAT title (needs 150 points total).

I wish I had gotten a video of him running all out. It was very cool to watch. There is another event very close to me on July 8th, and I'll definitely sign up for it.

Only downside was that the event was poorly managed by the club, and we had to stand around waiting for a full 2 hours before our turn - and we were #43. In fact, this really highlighted how silly these dog sports are: I drove 2.5 hours south to my parents' house, spent the night, got up early and drove 40 minutes to the event, and waited 2 hours in the cold, so my dog could run for 12 seconds. I then drove 40 minutes back to my parents' house and then 2 hours back home. On the bright side, I had a lovely time visiting my parents, and I would do it all over again! But I'd bring a chair, blanket, and good book.

Running at the beach

Since we're about to move an hour north, this was probably our last trip to the Albany Bulb. Chimera likes to run run run on the beach.