Life Adventures

I realize that agility will never look the same to me again.  From now on, all my eyes will see is a brindle blur.  Well, at least as long as I'm running Frye.  In previous years, all 20 of them to be exact, I looked ahead to see obstacles and my running path.  Yet all this time I was supposed to be looking at the dog, never losing connection. There were some other important learnings as well, taboo suggestions if we reversed time a decade ago.  This little tidbit of knowledge is that in order to get max speed on course, don't get in your dog's way.  The best turn tool for cuing and getting out of the way is the blind cross.  Of course, if agility were judged like Olympic Ice Skaters, all those fancy moves we've been learning the last 5 years might get us some extra points.  Don't get me wrong, I love learning new moves, challenging the status quo, and getting more tools in the toolbox, but it is important to also remember the old adage, "everything in mode

....it was another ill one never wants to experience..... Saturday July 29 was a beautiful July day.   The heat wave finally broke bringing with it temperate 75 degree weather.   Logan hadn’t been getting out as much because of the heat, so we decided to take the opportunity to walk his favorite park and let him meander on the trails with us.   Logan has always liked to take shortcuts through the woods.   I firmly believe that switchbacks have a certain scent because Logan knows exactly how to sniff them out and shortcut through them.   We walked along a familiar switchback and Logan wasn’t at the end of it waiting for us.   A wave a panic ensued.   Russ went into the woods to retrieve him.   Logan was coming towards us, stopping along the way to eat grass, and seemed to be choking on something.   He then vomited, and he kept pulling for grass.   His breathing was labored and I noticed that his belly starting looking full.   “No, not this!”   I thought.   “Bloat!”   We were abou