Warm and Cozy or Cabin Fever?

I'm warm and cozy but Tristan has cabin fever. We've stayed in yesterday and today and are doing without our daily trip to the park.

Yay, snow!

Happy 2012

Tristan and I stopped in at our old Schutzhund training fields today. Other than one very quick visit to say hi, it's been two years. Tristan has never completely bounced back from his back surgery and it's been very hard for me to acknowledge that he will never be 100% again or get back to Schutzhund training. We still do obedience work on our own (otherwise it would be Tristan in charge) but it's just maintaining basic levels.

Tristan was ecstatic. As in, absolutely ecstatic. He ran, he romped and then he went for the equipment. Before I could stop him he was up and over the A-frame wall. Wow, I certainly didn't anticipate that. I got him away from the jumps but then thought about the blinds. Would he really remember how to search blinds? Yep, perfect the first time. What a show off. The second picture is Tristan coming back from a blind search after I managed to get the camera out. The photo is too dark but I'm happy to have captured it.

I feel so badly that Tristan never titled. He really deserved to and was so capable of doing so. It's totally my fault for not becoming adept at Schutzhund training and working harder before his back problem occurred. We were so close.

My amazement at Tristan scaling the wall is mostly because I just took Tristan in to see his vet for an evaluation of his back. Clearly we will not do more back surgery but I wondered if it is time for Tristan to get on a medication or maintenance regime. He will still run like crazy if allowed but about half the time he crawls up into the Xterra using the runners rather than leaping in. I got stairs for him to use for getting onto the bed but his attitude is "I don't need no stinkin' stairs. He'll use them if I lead him onto them but otherwise he'll hop up on the bed on his own. The vet was actually very positive about Tristan's condition and in good shape. He reminded me that GSDs are built to run swiftly and laterally but aren't built for jumping. He cares for the Seattle police canine dogs and tells them to do what they need to do for training and certification but then to keep jumping at the minimum. So much for today's adventure - but it was all the rascal's doing.