Wet wet wet. Wet.

What I look like in the morning when I'm not walking dogs or going to work on time because of the wet.

What some of the dogs do when they're not going to work or for a walk on time.

This dog got turned into a lamp.

Timmy is a happy dog this week. His picture isn't here because he's outside. Because one of his favorite things to do, besides run at full speed up our driveway and not bash himself into anything, is stand outside in the pouring rain. I don't chalk that one up to dementia, because he has always liked standing outside and getting wet. Just hanging out, sort of meander around, and get really, really wet. The dementia part though, means that he scratches on the door to get let back in, which involves the actual work on my side of drying off his mounds of fur, and then a few minutes later he wants to go out and repeat the whole process because he may have just forgotten he was just out there. If the pouring rain is at 5am, he's there. In the door, out the door, repeat, repeat.

Rain means a lot of stress at work because people want to know can they ride, can they not ride, and it's just always a crapshoot of about 30 variables of which ring if any we can use. And that's with our awesome and well draining footing, it's never a no brainer of life without a covered arena. I lose money in the rain. I have a lot of customers that are sort of, um, fair weather riders. So they're out. The regulars come, and I still get the horses out for the ones that have horses in training, but those pay by the lesson beginner types that don't want to still come out and learn horsemanship skills, or lesson people from long drives away, they kill me this time of year. So more work for less money! I always am smart about the career paths I take.

Dirt Night also became Mud Bowl. Ruby had to stay in the car, something is wrong with her foot. Did it cause slow weave poles on Sunday? I have no idea. I give up. She has an infected foot though that I didn't notice until yesterday morning when she was lame on it. Otterpop and Hobbes were fast and fun and barking and muddy. Thanks Rob for driving all the way back down to Salinas to get Hobbes! He has to go to the dog show on Saturday so he needed to practice. Or I guess just get in shape. Like Hobbes needs to practice anything. We don't get to go. Rob gets to run his own dog all by himself and not have to share him with his stalker. Although had I been a weather genie and could predict what work days would be a total washout, I should have entered and bagged a work day. But then the poor horses would have had to sit all day and I would have felt really, really bad. It's a good show because it's USDAA but all the Masters is Sat. and Starters and Advanced on Sunday. So you only have to go 1 day and get all your runs. But it's the wrong day for my lifestyle.

I worked with my beginner class on some Susan Garrett focus and drive to the jump exersizes during Mud Bowl. I tried to be just like Susan Garrett on her DVD. I used a Canadian accent and everything. I couldn't bring a demonstration dog out though because my ringer dog was lame and Otterpop, she's not so good at this one because it requires a smashing startline stay and since I've started working on this little exersize with them all for the good of Gustavo, I learned she just blows it part of the time from frisbee insanity. Oops. Never really taught her the control freak stay. Gustavo, he's the one learning this but I want to look like a rockstar Susan Garrett if I demonstrate to beginners so they experience shock and awe at my smashing training skills and Gustavo is still at stage one since he has to repeat stuff 600 times til he gets it. Ruby is the only one that can make me look good. And it's all about me right? Uh, ego flaw? I'm already going to hell for not singing to help the dogs but holding a candle for dogs instead of Martin Luther King and Heath Ledger.

Did you ever know a dog that was afraid of the dark?

I'm not being all goth girly or wicca here, why would I want to highlight those eye bags and creases, warm glow of candle light my ass. It's just damn winter and the power is out again.

So I was able to get some dog practice in yesterday morning, even though it meant I didn't get a couple of horses done before it got too wet and rainy in the afternoon. Sorry horses! I did work all day on my last day off. With horses and no covered arena, work schedule kind of goes away and I work as much as I can when there is dry and work less when there is wet.

Since their dog run at the ranch turned into a horrible murky swamp, the dogs are currently living in one big dog crate all day under a tarp. They have the door open and a little xpen around it so there is a little more room, but they all just huddle in there in one little black 6 beady eyed heap and stay warm and sleep. This may just be how they spend the rest of the rain season until they get a dog run back. Sorry dogs!

It's all about compromise.

Practice yesterday, quick practice because rain was coming and horses were waiting, was teeter day. Otterpop worked on doing her teeter all by her lonesome, far, far, far away from me. She will do anything I ask when we practice. A teeter at 30' away in the big scarey dog show ring with the Judge Who Clearly is a Dog Slasher nearby and terrible things like Photographers and Spectators who could be armed and dangerous robots, that is too much to ask. But someday, she is going to get that Gamble with a Teeter. She still needs that ONE Advanced Gamblers Q to move to Masters Gamblers. But we are a little cursed in that department. We rarely get to do Gamblers on Sundays. And one time, the time with the nice tunnel to a-frame, was the time I ran into the judge. Sorry Jim HIbbard but you were standing Right in Front of the Jump EVERYONE was using to head into the gamble! And one time I just messed up my opening timing, that time had a nice set of jumps and tunnels in the gamble. And one time, a teeter, no dice. But today, I was sending her out to speedy nice teeters and onto hard pole entrances from almost miles away. Kudos to Otterpop!

Ruby worked on nice fast teeters and just nice fast things sequences with lots of tugging or getting the toy. Far distance with toy thrown out, and close tight turns in and getting the toy. I am trying to get her less food frantic during practice and keep her motivation up with toys and see if we can somehow skew that into faster runs when she is bored out of her little skull from sitting all day at a trial or whatever causes her to slow down by the end of the day. Thus eventually becoming faster weave poles. So goes my theory. So she is just practicing having fun.

Gustavo is learning to run speedy fast up the teeter and flip into his down while I set it down slow. That is all he has to do for a long time. He just needs to learn to fly up that board and not get scared and always hit his down. So that's what he does. He needs to do everything a lot of times before he gets it. That is how he learns. I get it! So that's what we do. I am doing lots more clicker tricks with him, lots of fast, fast, fast repetitions and he is getting things. I can't ask him to do too many things or let him go to Spring Break in Puerto Vallarta of the Mind. So now he is learning a little through the legs move to my right and revisiting hand touches. Easy. Right? Your dog learned it in 5 minutes. My other dogs in a couple sessions. Gustavo, few weeks. He is fast, he is talented, he just learns more slowly so I get this now! We gots no hurry vato. We got all the time he needs.

And we got to practice in the light. At our house, we had no power last night. Tiresome. But who would have thought dogs notice? It's just nighttime and dark right? Not for little Gustavo. Power goes out, he runs to a crate and hides and won't come out. Power on? Out of crate, a-ok. Power out? Panic, scrambles off to crate. He's a fraidy cat! I'm getting him his own flashlight.

I might as well start driving an ark.

Oh my god. We are all freaking out here. Because there is actual water falling from the sky, and air blowing strongly over the land. I rushed all day at work yesterday, to get almost every horse out, because for the next couple a days it sounds like the horses will be walking (this is optimistic, you try keeping big fit show horses happy cooped up in little stalls for more than 12 hrs and see how nice they want to be about walking) up and down the barn aisle. While Ten Inches of rain pour down upon us all. I even gave up precious dog practice time so I could get more horses done before the rain started. Good customer service!

Did I forget about this water plummeting out of sky creating mud and wetness on all surfaces when I decided it was a good idea to have 4 dogs? I forgot to do the math and it was summer. 4 dogs = 16 sopping, muddy paws. One dog didn't get the memo that you go outside, pee or what have you, quickly, and come in. Waiting, in a sit, without moving, until your muddy and wet self is toweled off. Each paw included. Only then, move into the rest of the house. Oh that memo. Welcome to rain, el vato. How long can dogs go without going to the bathroom?

One of my students told me about one of her co-workers, another small animal vet, whose group of perfect border collies were able to march in a parade, doing tricks, not on leashes, then all lay quietly at work without moving until she moves her finger or something. Hate her. I see her at trials. She is a good trainer. This is while my dogs were screaming around the barn aisle, having been evacuted from their dog swamp, bouncing off the walls and just wanting to RUN.

I totally get the people that have the dog treadmills. I think I thought this last time it rained. Then it was sunny. Because all I am saying right now is "NO. Get off THAT! Leave the Cat Alone! Drop That! HEY! That cat is a citizen! Stop It NOW!" You get the idea. Little wet fur things running amuck. Can't they just pretend to be tired somehow? Have not had their long run. Amuck in my tiny house that had a clean floor just the other day. Dog toys. I want the poor cat to learn to come in the house. It's sort of feral. But I hate to see it all wet and I am training it to come in the door and set a spell. Various dogs are obsessed with it. There is either running and chasing and frantic monkey sounds in it's honor, or sitting and staring. The poor cat just wants to sit there. And it has 4 eyes on it all all times, just staring. And then the cat is bleating. And the monkey sounds. And the shrill bark of Otterpop the control freak. Instead of being a good trainer using this as a Training Opportunity, I just pretend I Can't Hear You All and go back to typing.

Like the day they ran straight into the Hershey's shop in Times Square. They all attacked the crew from Project Runway that was there cleaning up after the ransack of the designers and having secret negotiations in the York Peppermint Patty Pillow Conference Room over how mny Reese's Pieces commercials they will run on the Bravo Channel for free. Otterpop attacked the camera man and Ruby went after the PR Team. Gustavo just ran around and screamed and then Tim Gunn came in with Heidi and she had a fire extinguisher and sprayed all the dogs and they ran into Times Square and chased the tourists. I hate it when that happens. So do all the Project Runway designers.

The Big Storm will start today is what they say.

Dirt Night started up again last night, I got to run my old friend Hobbes who I hadn't seen since before the holidays. I am such his stalker. I tug with him and his weird, stinky old toy for a long time so he likes ME. I don't know how much Hobbes actually likes Me and how much of it is he just likes to do agility and tug and if you will do that with him, he likes you. I like it when he starts barking nice and loud though when I run one of my dogs. I ran all 3 dogs last night and am feeling very much the See's candy everywhere in all my joints. No major screw ups with anyone, everyone fast and accurate, until at about 9:30 I forgot someone's course because my brain just stops functioning somewhere around 9ish.

We had a lot of hard weave pole entries from right angles off long fast straight lines, where you had to send em in from far and then run out and rear cross it, and all the dogs, not just Hobbes, aced it every time. They were all happy to be at dirt night. Also, now that I've led everyone to believe that smarty pants Hobbes does all the work (Hobbes can count. Hobbes can read numbers. Hobbes speaks 3 languages), no one thinks I have to do anything to run him accurately. So let the record show, he is a big fast dog that still needs handling, even if he is trained a million times more perfect than my dogs. Border collies just are a whole different kinda thing, way more brain cells per pound.

And kudos to Gustavo, who is able to be on long stays, looking only at me, outside the ring when dogs are running and barking. Who woulda ever thunk it?

It is supposed to be the Big Storm today, I am providing poor customer service to the horses by not going out there first thing and getting everyone out before the storm but getting the dogs out instead. I'm a little worried about their dog run at the barn, I have this feeling it is going to be a dog dock unless I build some kind of floor, um, right now before the rain starts? They can either stay home or just sit in a crate inside the barn. Poor dogs. The lawyers want all the dogs tied up or in their pen at the ranch at all times. Poor ranch dogs. Everyone just gets good customer service some of the time. Can't please everyone. Horses, horse owners, dogs, dog owners, lawyers, readers, everybody just wants something a little bit different.