All Doped Up

Got a tip from the shy dogs Yahoo group. There have been a lot of discussion about L-theanine, which Shane has been on for quite some time, but one poster said she took one herself before a show just to calm her nerves. So I decided to give it a try and it's amazing. I wasn't nervous all weekend and we did pretty well as a team. I also doubled Shane's dose and the effect was clearly evident. Shane is still very reactive to barking dogs, so he lost focus several times in our runs, but he did not run out of the ring or charge any dogs. Frank came along all three days to help just in case, and his presence made me feel very secure.

Maggie did very well in Novice JWW with 1st place in all three runs. She still won't go over the teeter though. She still exhibits a lot of stress, so I think we'll be taking a break for a while. She slams the teeter down at home, so I'm not going to enter her in any more shows until she can slam it down at class. Her agility classes are very helpful in confidence-building so we will continue to work.

The big drama for the weekend was mine. I walked out back Saturday morning to make sure that the dogs had pooped only to slip on a patch of ice on the deck steps. My feet flew out in front and I landed with the edge of the step hitting the small of my back. Major bruising but not major pain. I was very lucky.

I'm glad I waited to see the outcome of this weekend before I entered any more shows. I will continue to work my dogs. We will continue to walk and practice agility daily and go to class every week. Every once in a while I will take Shane to a show for a day and see how he does.