What a perfect weekend for our special boy. Marc couldn’t make it to Rapid City this year, but we had such a great time last year, that Jenny was aching to go back. We decided to split up the gang for the weekend, Marc would stay home with Renny and Schmav and Jenny would head out with a few girlfriends and Karma and Indy.
Jenny picked up Steffie after work on Wednesday and hit the road for the 6.5 hour trip. As soon as we arrived, we checked in and hit the sack for an early morning. Thursday morning, Steffie was off to show a few other breeds before Vizslas, and Jenny and Indy headed to Rally. Judge Daniel Herald designed a very generous course without too many complicated signs. Indy did SO well! The only place he/Jenny really messed up was a fast pace sign that ran parallel to the jump. Indy saw Jenny speed up and instead of staying in heel position, he took the opportunity to get in another jump (his favorite part of rally). Oh well, he still earned a 96 and that was good enough for 2nd place in his class! This is the first placement he has earned in a Rally class and it was pretty darn exciting. Then it was over to the Vizsla ring to have everyone clap for him as he ran around the ring as a Veteran with our friend Kelli Kujawa. Karma wasn’t entered today, so after the Vizslas wrapped up we headed out to get some off-leash exercise. We traveled with our friends Molly and her V girl Penny, and Erica with her boy Tej. Indy, Tej, and Karma had the best time chasing Penny as she chased her tennis ball 🙂 Penny also loves the water and went for a dip in the stream, which of course made everyone else want to join her. We have to say, no one can swim quite as beautifully as Penny! After more swimming and running, we headed back to the hotel to drop of the dogs and headed out to see Mount Rushmore. After our visit with the presidents, we hit up a local fro-yo spot for a delicious frozen yogurt dinner — only on a girl’s trip!
Early Friday morning, Karma started whining and wouldn’t wag her tail — anyone who knows Karm knows that her tail never stops. Freaked out at Karma’s condition, Jenny jumped out of bed and googled the nearest 24 hour vet. After 2 hours, 3 x-rays, and $300, Karma was diagnosed with gas pain. SERIOUSLY?! So with some Gas-X and probiotic in hand, they got back to the hotel just in time to shower and take Steffie to the show. Not convinced with the gas pain theory (should I mention that the vet must have only been 25 years old and openly admitted that “intestines were not her strength”?) Jenny set Karm up with Debbie, a certified Massage Therapist. While Karmie got her massage, Jenny and Indy headed over to Rally. Indy was clearly on edge (he is very sensitive and certainly knew something was wrong with Karm and was probably also honing in on Jenny’s nervous energy) and didn’t do nearly as well as the day before, but he still passed with an 86 and another 2nd place under Mr. Herald! Hoo-ray! Then it was back to get the Karm and Debbie’s diagnosis. Debbie said it was no big deal, Karma just has “cold tail.” Common in sporting breeds it can happen from too much exertion, a bath and then a cold draft, or a dunk in a cold stream. Debbie really worked her tail trying to get the blood flow going and wanted to see Karmie back on Sunday. As soon as we told the story around the ring, everyone acted like it was no big deal — happens to everyone, some dogs get it every year during their first hunt, etc. Our friend Kathy Rust even knew the prednisone dosing schedule off the top of her head so Marc called in a quick prescription and we had Karma on the road to recovery in no time. Glad to have all the drama behind us we went home and cuddled up with the pups for a little nap and some much needed relaxation before meeting up with friends for dinner.
Saturday morning our little Karmie-Karm had a little wag back! It wasn’t her normal super happy wag, but it was definitely recovering. What a difference from 24 hours before! We loaded up and decided to let Steffie decide if she wanted to show Karm or not ringside. But first, Indy would be going for his final RA leg. We picked up the course and geez!! it was super hard. The maximum amount of stationary signs, all the hard stuff. But luckily we practiced the hard stuff 🙂 The judge, Mr. Charles Kline, actually gave a pretty cool speech about how he hates the dumbing down of Rally, that our title should mean something and that we should be proud of our accomplishment. Indy was much more attentive than yesterday, but still not as on as he was on Thursday. But despite a few miss-steps, he did it! Indy earned an 89 and his Rally Advanced title!! Incidentally, he earned another 2nd place too 🙂 Then it was over to the Breed ring where Steffie decided to show Karma but it was pretty obvious she wasn’t herself once she got in there — she didn’t look sad, she just wasn’t asking for it. But the good news is that Penny won, handled by Erica! Molly was super proud and it was fun to share in the joy. After the show we headed up to Crazy Horse and then stopped at Beau Jo’s for some Colorado style pizza! We were pretty excited to find it 🙂 and then we continued to eat our way through Rapid City by going to Armadillos ice cream shoppe. Then just to make our girls night complete, we went back to the hotel, watched a movie and gave each other make-overs — just like junior high!
Sunday Karmie’s tail was doing better, but still not 100%, however, today there was an extra girl, so if we pulled Karm the points would drop from 2 to 1, which we didn’t want to do. So Karma and Steffie headed in and pretty Penny (and Erica!) won again! Molly was over the moon and we all had big smiles. Then in went Indy and Kelli for Veteran and Best of Breed. To make the weekend absolutely perfect, Judge Charlotte McGowan pulled Indy out for Select Dog and a 4 point major! Our sweet boy won something every day of the four day show! It was very exciting 🙂 After pictures, we had one last indulgent meal together and then hit the road to head home. By the time Karma walked in the door to see Marc, she was back to her normal wiggle butt self and Indy was roo-rooing his way through the house so happy to see Marc and Schmav. What a weekend — thrilled with Indy’s performance, loved the time with the girls, but very thankful we are home and Karma is back to perfect.
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