Whoop Hoop de Do!

Liam and I went to Guides Canins for a Hoopers trial yesterday. Guides Canins is about an hour and half away from me; it's not a bad drive as it's all highway, although my GPS wanted me to go cross country. I used to go there and camp when I was running agility with my other dogs but with Liam's eyesight I hadn't made the trip in years, not since before COVID. They've built a new facility in that time and it is spectacular. They have an indoor turf building, an indoor/outdoor dock diving pool, two large classrooms, offices, grooming rooms, and gender neutral bathrooms.   

Turf Hall

Entry to Dock Diving Pool

Dock Diving Pool

Classroom

This trip, we just went for part of the day so I left Teddy home.  We had to leave just before 7 am to get there in time to set up and give Liam some time for a walk before the trial started. We timed it right and  arrived just as they were opening the building. 

We ran 3 events. At the Beginner level, there are only 3 games, Hoopers, Tungo and Parkour; we ran one of each. In all of them you just follow the numbers and you can run with your dog but the judge will include distance challenges that are indicated by lines or by a handlers box. All of our runs included challenge lines. You earn points for getting a clean run but you can earn additional bonus points for being able to do the course from behind the challenge line or from within a handlers box. You might be able to see the line in this photo of us walking the course, they are marked with white tape.

Walking the Course

If you use the furthest line, there's 15 bonus points awarded to a clean run, the next line gave 10 extra points and the closest line gives you 5 extra points. A clean run under 45 seconds gets you 10 points and from 45 seconds but under 90 seconds gives you 5 points. But even slower dogs, if you can work the distances, can get good scores.

It takes 50 points in Beginners to get a title. Liam only needed 10 points in Parkour and Tungo to get his Beginner title in those games. I was pretty sure we could go clean but I wasn't sure how he would run in a new place and with so much distance between obstacles as we train in a smaller venue. I walked the courses using the 10 point distance line but in all of our runs I had to cross that line so we only got 15 points for each of our runs. Enough for his Beginner Tungo Dog of Canada and Beginner Parkour Dog of Canada. 

Now we move up to Novice in those games. Our next trial will be a virtual one and hopefully he'll get his Beginner Hoopers title then as we now have 35 points in that game.  There's also an overall title once you have all the titles at a particular level, so getting our Beginner Hoopers qualifying score actually will get us two more titles. 

We'll have to work on getting more distance though as the distance challenges just get harder as you move up. 

But we're still celebrating so whoop hoop de doo!  

Easter Turkeys?

Our little neighbourhood has a FB group and while I was having my breakfast this morning there was a message with photos of wild turkeys on the street.  I thought that the turkeys wouldn't have stuck around so I didn't go look. When I went upstairs to get dressed, there was a turkey sitting on my garage roof. One of the neighbours, who were still out watching, took this picture.

There were five turkeys in all, two big toms and three females.

By the time I got dressed, the turkeys weren't out front anymore. I thought they had just wandered away down the street, especially as there weren't any people watching anymore either; but to my surprise they were now in my backyard. 

The dogs still hadn't noticed them so I was able to get a video without any barking. Now that the turkeys were wandering around the yard, it didn't take too long for the dogs to notice them.

Easter Turkeys Video

Then there was lots of barking and running around to get the best view of these wild things in the yard. The turkeys looked like they were getting comfortable in the yard so I cautiously went out and started to throw dog toys in their direction. Three flew up to the rooftops of the townhouses behind me, two flew up on my shed and then over the back fence. Not sure where they went after that but we didn't see them on our morning walk.

I can tell you one thing, Easter Turkeys don't leave chocolate like the Easter Bunny!

Hoop, Hoop

Liam and I did another virtual Hoopers trial the week starting from 22 Mar. For virtual trials, you can practice the runs before taking and submitting your videos. 

There are four games now in Hoopers. In three of the games you can run with your dog or you can try to do part of the course from a distance. Doing the distance challenges earns you more points towards your titles.  This past year they added a new game called Challenge, in that one you have to stay in the Handler's Box for the whole run. It's only offered at Novice level and above. Liam is still in Beginners although that is now an optional level. 

At this virtual trial, we ran a Hoopers course that only has hoops and some barrels, a Parkour course, that has all of the obstacles permitted by Canine Hoopers Canada and a Tungo course that has only barrels and tunnels but in Beginners uses one hoop for the start. 

Liam got three clear runs and we got the easier distance challenge in each run so he got 10 points for each run. Five for the clean run and five bonus points. 

Liam's Hoopers Run

Liam's Parkour Run

Liam's Tungo Run

We have a physical trial at the end of April and there's another virtual trial at the end of May. Titles are based on points, in two of the games Liam now has 40 points; you need 50 points for the Beginners title in each game. I think Liam will be able to get those titles at the next two trials.

Then we'll be able to say Whoop, whoop or should I say Hoop, Hoop!

Planning Ahead!

Well, it's that time of year, while the weather certainly doesn't look like Summer, or even Spring for that matter, we are planning ahead. Ontario provincial parks are open for reservations, although you can only book 5 months in advance, so you can't book for the whole summer yet. Quebec and New Brunswick Provincial park reservation systems are open too. This year we decided to travel down east to Prince Edward Island but the reservation system for the provincial parks there doesn't open until 15 Apr. That's unusual as the National park is open for reservations and so are the commercial campgrounds.

We went ahead and booked a shake out trip here in Ontario for early June. We would have gone the first week but I have a doctor's appointment and there's an agility trial I'd like to do with Liam. Then we decided on the dates in Shediac, NB so we could get the two sites we had last time. They're shaded and near the bathrooms and then we worked our way backwards to select sites at the other campgrounds.  We now have booked three one-night stands in Quebec and NB before a four night stay in Shediac, NB. Our brother lives close to there so we might have him out to camp with us, the site next to ours is a tent site and I could bring extra equipment with me if he wants to come out. Now we just have to wait for the reservations to open for the Prince Edward Island parks and hope that's it's first come, first served. We have two provincial parks picked out and a number of sites in each park so hopefully we'll get something. If not, we have another sister who lives on PEI, her driveway could become our camping location; that's what I did when I went over for the Arsenault family reunion. 

But if that's not planning ahead, another sister and I, who are going on a river cruise in France this summer with a pre and post cruise stay in Paris, put a deposit on a trip to Portugal and Spain for Sep 2027. That's so far in advance that all the company can guarantee for the type of room is double or single. We prefer a twin. But by putting the deposit down now it does fix the price. We had planned on Egypt but with what is going on in the Middle East right now it might be better to wait. I guess we could look ahead to 2028!

Teddy Stewart

Teddy Stewart, that makes me chuckle when I see my dogs named written out like that. My vet doesn't do it, but the specialist veterinary hospital where Teddy went to see the cardiologist does.

We got the report from the cardiologist last week. I had to call back to get the low sodium food list. The cardiologist said it was a grade 3 heart murmur but the report says grade 3-4. The cardiologist did say Teddy could be stable for quite some time before heart failure. Even after he has heart failure, he could have a good quality of life for 6 to 18 months with additional medications.

They added another medication and increased the dosage of the other two that Teddy was already taking. Teddy is now on 5 pills a day; he does seem more active and there's definitely less coughing. I'll also be changing his food to one lower in sodium.

The list the hospital gave me had a large selection of low sodium food choices but the majority had chicken as the protein and Teddy is allergic or at least sensitive to chicken. Of the non prescription diets, all except for Royal Canin, were American. Teddy and Liam are currently on Acana Pacifica so I messaged Acana to see what the sodium levels were in their diets.

Acana Customer Support sent me back a list of their diets without chicken with their sodium levels. It is recommended that his diet be 90mg per 100kcal or less of sodium. Acana Pacifica is well over that but two diets: Pork with Squash and Red Meat with Healthy Grains are under that, at 68 mg and 71 mg respectively. I'll be changing Teddy over to the Acana Red Meat option to get the grains into his diet as well. 

Teddy's heart condition is the first time I've made claims where the deductible has been paid and I've gotten money from the insurance company. The deductible was paid just with the first visit to my vet to diagnose the condition with all the blood work and x-rays, so when we went to the specialist, the cost of the actual echocardiogram was covered. Now any additional tests and medications will be covered. The medications cost over $500 for two months so the insurance covers about $400 of that. While I could cover the medications, it's nice not to have that big bill every couple months. In a little over a week, Teddy will have some other blood work and it's recommended that he have another echocardiogram in 4 to 6 months. A friend said you never really want to win the insurance game but it is is nice not to have  to worry about making these decisions when there could be large expenses involved.  

Teddy Stewart is doing fine right now. He's more active on walks and plays more with Liam. A number of friends have told me their dogs with heart murmurs did well for years on medications. Hopefully, I'll get to take him to play in the ocean this summer and even in summers to come.