#OTCH will be a dream for a future dog

[theadventurek9]

Aayla is back to being about 75-80% She is still moving a bit stiff/sore when she first gets up but it's not noticeable to the untrained eye.

I would really like for her to get back to 90% which is her normal.

Ive made the choice that we will not work towards an OTCH after she gets her UD instead Im going to bump her down to preferred and work towards a PUDX and POC.

Working on her OTCH means she would have to do four jumps per day, three tall at full height (20") and one broad at full length (40").

I have never noticed her to be in pain after practice or at an obedience trial yet. But still. In order to get an OTCH it would take us probably closer to 4 years and let's be honest. I'm not going to be expecting Aayla to jump full height as she is approaching 12 years old.

For OM she would probably need twoish years of trialing.

For UDX she would probably need little over a year.

Those are considering we finish up our utility training and have a 75% Q rate with a consistent score above 193. With about 12 trials a year.

It's just a lot with an aging dog to jump full height.

A PUDX and POC are the same as UDX and OM respectively for their requirements. She could just jump lower. Instead she could jump as low as 10" for the high and bar jump and 20" for the broad jump. I can choose what height I want her to jump from 10-20. (most likely would start with 16 and work our way down, worried about her blasting through the jumps and knocking the jumps if they're too low)

It hurts to lose sight of the OTCH dream but it's not a realistic goal for Aayla. I have to recognize she is an aging dog with arthritis and elbow dysplasia. While both are mild now...I want to keep it that way for as long as possible while still having training goals for us both to work on.

[doberbutts]

Do you have any sports you'd like to get into with Creed or future dogs that you haven't done yet?

I want to actually compete in mondio rather than just play around in it, but that’s another story.

Creed’s about done with the physically active stuff tbh. Outside of workshops here and there, I’m not putting him through a full contact sport unless I see a drastic improvement. During lockdown I’ve noticed repeated instances of his shoulder injury from that car accident a couple years ago (the same one I also was injured in) flaring up, and he goes lame for a day. Then after an afternoon of running him through building searches where he had to do several 3-4ft jumps, he was lame for half a week. He’s already a stoic dog so if he limps or complains... it hurts. I just can’t justify putting him through pain to chase my own dreams. Sadly I think that means if we do get any further than a BH, it’ll just be a 1, because training for the 3 isn’t kind or fair at that point. He’s on a few supplements right now and I’ll see if he improves but if it’s not drastic... that’s it.

And, honestly, that’s why I had to get the swissy this year. There’s a reason I call her Creed’s retirement plan. If his shoulder injury continues to worsen then I’m going to have to retire him anyway, and I was already thinking I’d need to with him being 8 by the time she’s anywhere near possibly ready. The vet did warn me that we’d see some serious arthritis as he aged due to the nature of the injury but I didn’t think it’d be this sudden onset. I do want to get him in for an adjustment and an xray when the vets open non-essential procedures again, but right now that’s just not going to happen.

One thing I’d really, really love to accomplish is an OTCH, but I don’t know if I’m skilled enough for that just yet. Honestly even a UD or a CDX is a lofty goal for me.

So we’ll see what the future holds! I’ll try a couple things with Fae and see what she likes, and the swissy’s almost guaranteed to be a pack dog if I can make sure I’m physically fit enough for it.