Two Feet on the Ground

I've been neglecting my blog lately, in part because I don't have much training to report but also because I've been kind of crabby. Went to the doctor last Tuesday hoping she'd tell me I could ditch the crutches and I'd start walking again no problem. Well, she told me I could start weaning myself off the crutches and that it would take 1-2 weeks. I thought she was crazy, I'll be walking with no problem right away but it turns out walking is harder than I thought it would be. I had to start out putting partial weight on the bad leg while still using the crutches. I could stand no problem with 50% weight on the left leg but I couldn't put full weight on that leg for about 3-4 days. Even now at 6 days I can only walk short stretches and it's more of a lurching hobble than a walk. It's great to have a bit more independence but it feels like it'll be a very long time until everything feels somewhat normal again. I think I was a bit deluded about how bad the injuries really were. She told me no agility trials/running until August at the earliest and that would be pushing it. She took new x-rays of the fractures and I was expecting them to be healed but they barely looked any different. It'll take 12 more weeks for the bone to completely fill in.

The good news is I can go to the pool. The bad news is my neck is so messed up that I can't turn my head properly to breathe. I can pool walk (no pool running even) but I get so cold so fast. I'll probably have to sacrifice one of my wetsuits to the chlorine gods because I can't last more than 30 minutes total swimming and pool walking without starting to shiver.

I reviewed a DVD I have on teaching dogs to work at a distance from you in agility and there are plenty of exercises to do that don't require running. I started yesterday with a simple send over 2 jumps in a row (sent Lola ahead of me over the jumps while I stayed standing behind the jumps). Lola took a few times to catch on but once she did there was no stopping her. I also sent her to the weave poles from all kinds of crazy distances but she already knows how to do that. Cody caught on to the jump exercise right away but the more times I asked him to do it, the worse he got. I know he hates repitition, what was I thinking? I always need to quit while I'm ahead with him.. I have to remember I need to train both dogs differently. He did pretty well with the sends to the weaves too but I opened the channel on the entrance to make it easier for him and didn't send from such far distances as Lola. He's not quite up to her level in the weaves department.

Once I'm totally independent from the crutches I can start biking on my trainer though the doctor warned me this will be painful since the fracture location is right where the bones are that sit on the saddle. Hopefully she's just exaggerating but she's been right so far. I can also start taking 20 minute walks with the dogs once I'm crutch free but walking for that long seems a lifetime away at this point. I go to a physical therapist tomorrow so maybe that'll help speed things along.

Took a drive up Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park over the weekend. Got some great pictures that I'll post later.