New Orleans - looking back

So this July I went off to New Orleans for a veterinary conference, and a behavior meeting. This should have been an awesome trip - and in many ways it was. However, the end of the trip was tainted by a lot of stress and strife, drama that fractured the neo-relationships a few of us were building.

On the brighter side, I did take some fun photos in the French quarter during my trip, and thought I'd post a few favorites here.



Through the gates of Jackson Square.

Jackson Square is lovely, if rat-infested. The artists and buskers along the fences made for excellent people-watching. There was a particularly talented young boy - perhaps 14-years-old. He was painting amazing blue and black portraits in oil on canvas. Most of them featured faces from a variety of perspectives, some pensive, others sorrowful or troubled. All were surreal in the genuine feeling of the subject's emotions. I watched him for a little while, marveling that such morose images were flowing from the hands of a seemingly vibrant young boy.



That street corner on all the post cards. Look, I made my own!

Truly, the architecture in the French quarter is just like in the movies. The iron filigree is captivating - garish and modest at the same time. From across the street it appears soft like lace sewn in charcoal, but up close it is hard and cold. It should be smooth but a quick touch reveals chips and bubbles in the coating, the iron wraught like any other iron, welds gripping the metal and making it seem so ordinary. I was struck by the illusion of it, truly. New Orleans was surreal in that way - I got the impression most of the French quarter was a series of illusions and people hiding from the city, or themselves.





Perspective. I took a lot of photos from odd perspectives, and the shutters were some of my favorites. Many of the old buildings have carriageways leading to interior courtyards. These shutters cover the windows looking into the carriageway.


Fun street sign. Pirate's Alley is right off Jackson Square, and sandwiched between the cathedral and another building. The tiny pirate bar there was a lot of fun.



Of course, Cafe du Monde. I went here and had the required Cafe au Lait and Beignets. It was quite tasty. Then I sat on a bench just outside Jackson Square and read my book in the sun for an hour. Good relaxing afternoon.


This statue was described to us as "Touchdown Jesus" by a tour guide on our ghost tour. So I thought I'd try and take a ghost picture of my own -- voila! "Christ Ascends!"

Herding Clinic

This weekend was the herding clinic at Fido's Farm with Scott Glen. I have a great deal of respect for Scott. He is an extremely talented and skilled handler and trainer. He reads sheepdogs in a way that is really special and I know my understanding of his knowledge is just rudimentary at best. I'm sure when he is explaining himself to me he must feel like he is talking to a toddler.

Diane loaned me Lucy for the clinic. She was quite worried because she took Lucy to a trial and on her Pro Novice runs she was flat at the top and would not hold the pressure on the drive. I was surprised to hear this because both Diane and I have worked with Lucy to keep her outruns nice and deep and I have especially been working on her holding pressure during driving.

I went for a private lesson on Friday and reported the prior weekend's transgressions to Scott. Lucy did try to come in a bit tight the first time I sent her on an outrun. I called for a lie-down, applied a little pressure and she bent out nicely. For the rest of the weekend her outruns remained clean, wide and deep. She was back to her old self.

During the clinic Scott was teaching me how to get Lucy to understand short vs. long flank whistles on the drive, and to get her to take a steady whistle without stopping completely. By the end of the weekend she was understanding what I was asking a whole lot better.

I'm very sad because Diane has decided to send Lucy to Scott for 6 months of training. I know it is what is best for making Lucy a competitive Open trial dog, but I will miss her a lot, and miss being able to work her every week and see her progress. I will also miss her as my buddy on the sofa while I spend long nights doing email, and seeing her smiling face in my office each day at work. Lucy has been living with me about half the time and I am realizing I gave her a little too much of my heart considering she doesn't actually belong to me.

I went over to Diane's house tonight and had dinner with she and Scott, and got a mini-lesson with 2 of Diane's young dogs she is asking me to start until she is well enough to work them herself. I left Lucy with Diane tonight and Scott will take her away tomorrow. I know he will take care of her, and she will benefit from all of the knowledge and skill he has. I would never be able to put the training on Lucy that Scott will be able to do. However, my heart was breaking as I walked away and Lucy ran to the door, jumping up on the windows and wondering why she couldn't come with me as I left.

I will probably drive Scott crazy asking for updates, but Lucy is really a special part of my life. She is my friend and she will give me her whole heart and best effort every time I ask her to join me on the field. I will miss her very much, but Diane will have a much better trial dog when Lucy comes home next year.

Agility Weekend

Well last weekend was our Extreme Agility Team trial. I always enjoy our trials - it is almost like working at home because I know everyone who is there, and feel at home helping out in the rings and at the scoretable.

I've been really pleased with how my dogs have been working in practice lately, and am pleased to say the results showed at the trial.

Results:
Zora - 13 runs, 10 qualifying. (Average rate of qualifying for NADAC is about 15% so that was an AWESOME weekend)
I was very proud of Zora because she qualified in a very difficult Chances run on Saturday night. The run required a long send to a tunnel, with the tunnel exit facing 3 jumps fanned out. The dog had to come out of the tunnel over the center jump, U turn over the closest jump back into the tunnel, then go all the way to the far jump. After that was 2 more jumps about 35' away followed by a tunnel/dogwalk discrimination. Zora gave it her heart and ran beautifully. Only 4 dogs out of the entire Elite class qualified on that course, and I was very proud of Zora to earn that round.

Magick - 10 runs, 7 qualifying. Magick and I have been chasing the last few points for her NATCH all summer. Fortunately she earned 2 more jumpers legs this weekend (only 2 were offered and she earned both!) so now we have only 2 rounds of jumpers left to complete her NADAC Agility Trial Championship. She will be my first NATCH dog. While I understand plenty of other people earn NATCHs right and left, it is a big accomplishment for me and my Magick dog. She has had to have 2 major knee surgeries in her life, and because of my teaching schedule I only trial her 5 or 6 times per year.

Paddy - 4 runs, 2 qualifying. Paddy earned her Elite Tunnelers title as well. Running Paddy is sheer joy, and every time I take her to the start line I thank her for being my soulmate. I don't care how she does, I just want us to have fun together.

This same weekend 3 of my students were competing at the NADAC Championships in Gillette, Wyoming. I am extremely proud of them, as each placed in the top 8 in several events and earned lots of qualifying rounds. They represented themselves and their training wonderfully, and my heart swells with pride for each of my students.

So, that was another weekend gone. It was well-spent.

Some things are meant to be...

Well, I'll spare you all the gory details of my trip to New Orleans. Here are a few highlights:

I got to meet some members of the Society of Veterinary Behavior Technicians whom I had not met before. It was a great deal of fun to finally put names with faces!

The Association of Veterinary Behavior Technicians was accepted by NAVTA, and as a result, Veterinary Technician Specialist- Behavior, is probably in my future! Kudos to Ginny, Julie S., Marcia, Linda C., and Angela to their successful petition submission.

I made some excellent contacts to ramp up my speaking engagements.

I got to wander the French Quarter daily, and wander Bourbon Street nightly, drinking, smoking and engaging in general debauchery.

I had cafe au lait and biegnets at the world-famous Cafe du Monde on Decatur Street, reading my book and people watching at a little marble table under lazy fans circulating a heavy, humid breeze.





However, the last evening of the trip there was quite a lot of drama. I ended up not sleeping for 2 days and feeling really discouraged. I almost resigned from SVBT on that trip - but ultimately decided to hang in for the long haul.

As a sign of my decision, the universe arranged this meeting in Dallas:



Yep, I ran into my MICAH at the Dallas airport. We realized what was happening when we were both in our respective airports (me in New Orleans, he in Reno) and spoke on the phone. Who could believe our luck? My layover was to be a little over 90 minutes, his a mere 30. His flight was delayed 65 minutes so our layovers were the exact same length, and we arrived in the same terminal!

We had the chance to sit together and enjoy our friendship over a few cocktails before boarding our planes and jetting apart once more, me to Seattle and he to Florida.

So although things were looking grim at the end of my trip, this unbelievably wonderful surprise made it all worthwhile. I guess sometimes the universe is looking out for me after all.