Eyes on the Prize

Okay!  My hope is that Riff and I will be able to compete at the Santa Rosa and Petaluma AKC trials - and play at the Fun Match - all in August.  If we can't make it back to the field by August, then my next target is the Santa Rosa show in September.   (Driving has been tricky.  I can't imagine any kind of distance-driving yet.  I can't imagine packing, unloading, and setting up my canopy either.  But we'll get there, someday.)

For now it's all about 'work, work, working' toward being able to just get through a course with Riff.  (Sometimes I wish I could dream it true.  But alas, life doesn't happen that way.  Phooey!)

My physical therapist gave me 8 exercises, and I can get through them all (yay!) - but only every other day or so.   My current goal  is two days in a row.  My right leg has started misbehaving on occasion (crikey!) so my PT is saying things like Uh-Oh, Take It Easy, Go Slow, You Need To Be Really Careful, and Ice Ice Ice Your Back.   I'm sitting here now with my buddy, the icepack. 

Yesterday I heard a story about someone with a similar back problem.  That fellow went through PT, and three epidurals, and the whole nine-yards of treatment, only to land in surgery anyway.  With a minimum six-week recovery period after surgery.  It's the third time I've heard this kind of story, and I know people are trying to be helpful.  (ie. He felt So Much Better After Surgery!)  They don't really want to scare the heck out of me.   (Do you see my hands shaking?  No way.)

So I keep my eyes on the prize:  Running Riff through an agility course.  Yessiree!!  Having a dog is one of the best motivators in the world.  Being in love is right up there, too.  Raising a child is a good one (going shopping, making lunches, getting the kids to soccer practice...) but I've been there, DONE that.  (Whew!)
 
This morning I took the dogs on a one-mile leash walk around the neighborhood.  Slowly.  Carefully.  Too slowly for my sweet border collies, so used to trotting smartly at my side....but we got it done!  

Lately I've been wishing for a horse.   

Here are a couple more photos from Riff's Wednesday romp.