Tess in Orlando

Well, we enjoyed our weekend at the Invitational, though we weren't as successful as I'd hoped. Poor broken dog, so many jump bars!

waiting to start Time 2 Beat:


couldn't skip this photo op:


with her ribbons (AKC kindly had this photo backdrop set up for people to use as they chose):


bird hunting in Lake Eola park:


waiting for her ice cream at the Spork Cafe:

Glad you guys had fun, even if it didn't turn out the way you hoped!

Tess is such an all-star! I'm happy you had a fun trip! That cougar photo is epic.

Well done!! Great pictures!

Uh, you have an awesome stafford that made it to Nationals and kicked butt! I think that's pretty damned rad and amazing in anyone's book. Goooooo TESS! Glad you two had a good time.

:thumbup: That.

Did I mention that someone on my Elkhound list as an awesome Staffy Bull that resembles Tess? I don't think they ever stop doing stuff- she just finished her breed Championship, and they compete in Obedience (Rally & traditional), agility and Lure Coursing (or whatever it is that AKC calls it for breeds other than sight hounds), among other stuff.

Tess looks great! I love the pic with the statue. Glad you at least both had a good time.

We love Lake Eola park- it's about 20 minutes from my house

I'm glad to hear you had a good time! Tess is gorgeous and looks like she had fun!

You were in Orlando, too? So were we. Wish I had known, the agility was right behind the pool area!

We weren't successful, either, but a good time was had. Wasn't it a fantastic event/venue?

Well, the other bull breeds there did better, but they weren't broken. Poor Tess, I knew when we went that she was going to struggle. She was a super good girl, and if it wasn't for her being broken, we would have had a really good chance at making finals.

Tess really enjoyed Lake Eola park, but she wanted to get all the birds! I kept pointing out to her that they could fly and/or swim, and she can't do either. And that the swans would kick her ass. She didn't believe me.

You keep saying she's broken. What do you mean by broken?

We went on a long hike a couple months ago (a few days after Labor day), and her back has been messed up ever since. Probably something with the ligaments. It was really gross, you could put your hand on her back and feel things crunching around. She was unable to extend in the rear, or jump up on things she would normally jump on.

She's had chiropractic, massage, laser therapy, and rest. And she has improved, her normal behavior is mostly back. Maybe a bit less vertical than usual, but way better than she was. But her jumping isn't what it should be. I kept her dosed on Rimadyl for the trial we did the weekend before as a warm-up, and through the Invitational. Walked her out well. At both events, her first run would be pretty normal, and her 2nd run, she had trouble jumping. She doesn't act like it hurts, she just doesn't move right.

I'll have video eventually, and you can see it. Her 2nd run on Saturday was cringe-worthy. She only took out 2 bars, but she was struggling hard with the 2nd half of the course. Poor broken dog.

Holy smokes that's awful that she hurt herself so badly . Why did you decide to run her? Did you do Rounds 3 and 4 too?

She's not in pain, and her vet wasn't worried about her. Neither her regular vet or either of the chiros that have been working on her thought I should skip it. She's been on rest since September, but I'd already paid $700 for my plane ticket to go to the Invitational, and if it wasn't going to hurt her, I was going to go. $700 is a lot of money for me to just wave byebye to. I figured we could have a nice time hanging out together if she couldn't run. But she did run. She wanted to run. I wanted to let her enjoy what is likely to be our last national event.

She did do rounds 3 & 4. Round 3 she got 2 refusals, my handling wasn't good because I was trying to watch her to see what her jumping was like. Round 4, she actually did pretty well. Knocked one bar, but I think that was because I did more rear crosses than she is used to. I believe she did a lot better with the 2nd round on that day because there was less down time between the runs, so she didn't have as much time to stiffen up.

Today I took her to Sauvies Island and let her run around like crazy on the sand, so yeah, my choices for her are sometimes more about letting her be a happy dog than a sound dog.