Up Schitts Creek- But Rallying On to Kenora

How does one spend a particularly dismal couple of days?  I could be lamenting about the rain followed by a snow storm and my slushy, soupy driveway turned ice rink OR I could reflect on the journey to our third Rally Competition of the Year.  I chose the latter.  

As I have aged I have found it increasingly harder to balance my committments.  Have you encountered this too???  Has it always been this way and I was just oblivious?  Or maybe I have just blindly added to my list of obligations over the years with little regard to time management.  Anyhoo, for 2024 I had a lofty goal of attending as many Rally Competitions as I could; as long as the competitions had minimal impact on my work schedule, my ability to farm sit on the weekends and did not eat up all my vacation time, so that I still had time to visit with the family.  

Looking at the Rally event schedule I figured out there were exactly two weeks between the Kenora and Portage Dog Shows.   Hmm, in three weeks I could attend two competitions and fit in a visit with family and friends.  Sign me UP!  

As I registered for both competitions I may or may not have had a small panic attack when I realized how much the fees were going to set me back… did I mention dog shows are not for the faint of heart… and do you know of anyone who would be interested in being a corporate sponsor? 

Up until then the Ladies were only eligible to compete in one level at a time, but now they have graduated to the big leagues and could compete in both Advanced and Excellent at Kenora and Advanced, Excellent and Masters in Manitoba.  Well you can imagine how fast the entry fees rack up with you have three dogs running 3-4 trials per level per dog.  EXPENSIVE… even with the multi-run discounts. 

I had the option to travel right through to Kenora, same day, or to break up the trip.   I decided to spend one night at Pukaskwa for a well deserved night of camping.  I must admit it wasn’t the competition or the thought of seeing family that got me through the weeks of work prior to vacation, it was the thought of reconvening with nature, that had my cup running over with excitement.  As I drove that morning, I found myself randomly squealing “EEEEEEeeeeeee!”… every 30-45 minutes.  The frequency increased the closer we got to the campground.  I was even more delighted when we managed to snag my all time favourite campsite.   

It had been raining off and on for the 5 hour drive to Pukaskwa.   Luck was on my side and the sky’s cleared up as we pulled into the campground and registered for the eventing. With the Herd staked out on tie out ropes, I set up the tent and unpacked everything we would need for the night.  That done, it was time to explore. 

Before they decided to play Tie Out Twister

The plan was to go for a short hike down to the shores of Superior where we could look at the interesting pieces of driftwood that the Lake had deposited on the beach.  Nature had other thoughts.  We had just started down the trail to the beach when the skies opened up and it poured down upon us.  

NUTS!

I had left my rain jacket at the campsite and I really didn’t feel like spending the night with soaking wet dogs.  We weren’t far from a comfort station and I decided we would make a dash for it.  What I didn’t plan for was my foot landing weird when coming down a small hill.  The weird landing in combination with three dogs pulling on the leash resulted in a pop in the knee and excruciating pain.  I pushed the pain aside and hobbled triple speed to keep up with the dogs, who seemed to be equally intent to get out of the rain.  

We made it to the comfort station only to find out it was locked.  Thank-goodness for an overhang that we could huddle under waiting for the rain to lighten up.  The storm lasted no longer than 10 minutes, but it felt agonizingly longer as I couldn’t put weight on my left leg without pain shooting down to my toes and up into my hip.  Eventually the rain lightened and we slowly made our way back to campsite.  The dogs exuberantly bouncing about in the puddles and me swearing under my breath and growling at them to knock if off, as each jostle of a leash brought on a new wave of pain.  

Hiking was now out of the question, so I decided the next best thing was stretching out on the King Mondo air mattress to chill and read a good book.  I read, Ferg slept and the Ladies kept guard.  I had a moment of panic when a bunny decided to hang out at the entrance to the tent.  I don’t think it knew it was taunting death, sitting where it was sitting.  There was only a thin layer of mesh separating it, from three big dogs, one of which has shown an extreme interest in chasing down rabbits.  Luck for the rabbit the Ladies held it together and Ferg slept through it all.  It seems sleeping for 5-6 hours while someone else is driving can be tres exhausting!

Waiting for a break in the rain

What is that???

Travel can be soooo exhausting!

Mum, the Bunny is looking at us!

Ummmm nature!

Where is our supper? PS you have some ropes to untangle. Tee Hee!

We were up early the next morning to pack-up and head the rest of the way to Kenora. It’s a good thing I gave myself extra time to pack-up, as I had to figure out how to solve the Tie Out Tetris puzzle the dogs had created while I was packing up.  Ropes untangled.. swears kept to a minimum,  we were on the road.  

There was a quick stop in Terrace Bay for gas and a chance for us all to tap a kidney before we were on the road again.  Around Kakabeka Falls  I needed another pee break.  I typically “air” the dogs when I stop,  but this time I decided against it.  I don’t know why.  Maybe it was the thought of trying to manage all three dogs with a sore knee, while another dog was also out being aired OR I was trying to save time as they had already had a break a few hours before.  Whatever the reason it was a decision that I would regret in a few more hours. 

We were travelling down the highway and I ended up behind a semi carrying a load of livestock.  It was fragrant and I was biding my time until I could pass it and get out of the cloud of funk.  I passed the semi but the cloud of funk didn’t dissipate, in fact it was getting stronger.  I glanced over my shoulder at the three in the back and commented “That better be gas… ha ha!”.  It had to be in my imagination right?  The smell started to fade away… it was totally my mind and nose playing tricks with me.  Then all of a sudden it came back more pungent than ever!  What in H E double hockey sticks was going on?  I saw a side road and pulled over.  The smell was getting stronger.  Please tell me what I think happened, did not happen???

I open the back door and my nostrils and eyes confirmed that my worst fear was actualized.  Lyndy had a diarrhea accident in the back.  Ferg was huddled in the corner traumatized.  Lyndy looked chargrined and was trying to escape from her oops.  Meanwhile Hazel was dancing about… in and out of the diarrhea spill zone, excited to see where we were and what was up next on the docket.  I clipped leashes on all three and got them out of the vehicle to further survey the damage.  There were two main liquid poo piles on the mat,  but tails and paws had managed to paint poo on the door, back of the seat, etc.  As I turned around my rage scream lodged in my throat as I finally got a good look at Hazel.  My normally white dog was splotched with diarrhea brown.  

Christ all mighty she had laid down in it.  That explained why the smell had started to reduce for a short period in time, she was smoothering it with her body.  

Lovely! 

There was no way I can show up to a hotel with poo encrusted dog??? Not to mention there was no way I could compete with her poo stained self.  What could I do?

That is how I ended up deep cleaning the back of a truck and bathing a dog on the side of the highway,  while also holding onto and trying to control two other dogs. I thanked my lucky stars that I had to foresight to pack extra paper towel and garbage bags. I removed as much fecal matter as possible from the mat before rolling it up and depositing it into the box of the truck.  That would need to be a problem to solve on another day. 

Once everything was cleaned and sanitized to the best of my ability, we were back on the road again.  I did have a moment of  worry that history repeated itself when we caught up to the livestock truck in Dryden.  But the funk quickly disappeared when we passed.  Thankfully Lyndy lived up to her promise to keep all remaining poop in her body until we made it to Kenora.

The next snag in the plan was I couldn’t remember the name of the hotel that I had booked and I couldn’t find the email with the confirmation.   There I sat in the Tim’s parking lot looking at the list of Kenora hotels hoping that something would flag my memory.  It didn’t help.  I was drawing a blank.  Luckily my sister had recommended this particular hotel, as she had stayed there for work.  One text later, I Google mapped my way from the Tim’s parking lot to the hotel. 

WE HAD ARRIVED!

Nature’s Inn turned out to be the home away for home that we needed for the weekend.  The staff were friendly, the room was large enough to fit all the crates and still have room to walk around.  There was even a small table and chairs to use for meals.  The other bonus was it was close to the venue. 

Once unpacked we went for a short walk to unwind and coax more poo out of Lyndy.  My knee ached as I walked and there was intermittent sharp pains.    I wondered what the next day would be like, but hoped that Aleve would work its magic and get me through the evening and weekend.  

The next morning had both Lyndy and I popping Pepto.  Me for my nervous stomach, her to ensure there were no Hershey squirts in the ring.  I arrived early to set up and had a momentary panic when it did not look like there would be space on the floor of the arena to crate the dogs.  The only other alternative was to crate them on the upper mezzanine which would mean doing + + stairs, something that would be difficult to do quickly and ad nauseam with an injured knee.  But in true Rally fashion some of the competitors moved over so that I could tuck in my three crates.  

At the beginning of our Rally season we had been competing with the top three Rally teams in Canada.  Kenora introduced us the Teams ranked 4th and 5th.    Both dogs were owned by the same person and she and her two lab mix’s had an amazing weekend with perfect scores on most of their runs.  Man it is something else to watch a flawless run, let alone multiple flawless back to back runs.  Very impressive!!!  The Kenora club also did something that I had never seen before.  They presented High in Trial rosettes to the teams with the highest aggregate score over each trial run. This is something that tends to be offered in formal Obedience but this was the first time I had encountered it being offered for Rally.  Needless to say the Lab Mix teams went home with a plethora of well deserved rosettes!

On Day 1 Ferg managed to earn two legs in Masters, despite the handi-cap of having me as partner and finished off his Master’s title.  He would have had higher scores, if I had not continued to mess up signs. Duoh!!!

Hazel was all over the map on her runs. Sometimes she was ultra focused on me, other times she noticed everything around her.   At one point she got overly excited by the Shepherds running in the conformation ring that was adjacent to ours.  There was a moment where I thought she was going to jump the barrier to go and join them, as she really, really , really wanted to run vs having to do boring things like sitting, standing and backing up.  Thank goodness she managed to hold it together and she earned one leg toward her RAE title. 

Lyndy was lack luster in her performance on both runs.  There was a dog and a half between us when heeling (almost like she didn’t want to be seen with me😆) and she would follow through on commands but at her own pace.   Even though it wasn’t her best work she did manage to make it through all 4 runs with no poo accidents in the ring and with qualifying scores in both her Advanced and Excellent runs for two legs toward her RAE title.

Is that a human or elephant knee?

I wish I could say that my knee also held out, but it didn’t.  Sadly, Aleve was not enough to combat the hell of prolonged walking and pivoting on an injured limb.   By the end of the day I was walking like a pirate with a peg leg, complete with a grimace with each step.  I couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel and put my leg up.  It wasn’t until I got back to the hotel and surveyed the damage that I realized me knee wasn’t just a little hurt it was FUBAR!  It had ballooned up to double its normal size, with swelling in my calf and up into the thigh.  In a desperate attempt to reduce the swelling I started a contrast bath for my leg, sitting in hot water for a few minutes and then as cold as I could stand it water for a few minutes. Repeat, repeat, repeat.  It helped a little, as did the Tylenol and second Aleve, but I still had difficulty walking.  Thank goodness I conveniently had not removed the cane from the back seat of the truck after my last round of dislocating fibula.  Procrastination for the win!  

As I didn’t have it in me to go out for food I ordered in from Spice N Nice Indian Food Hub.  Man was I impressed with their butter chicken.  It was hands down the best butter chicken that I have ever had.  I would highly recommend this restaurant if you are ever in Kenora.  

Spice N Nice… Yummmmmm!

Lyndy took advantage of my impaired mobility to try and claim the bed.  She knows full well that I don’t allow dogs on the bed in hotels but that doesn’t stop her from trying her luck.  I guess she thought I would relent as she was also feeling under the weather, but it doesn’t work that way.  She was banished right after I snapped this shot.

Nice try… OFF THE BED!

Despite the contrast bath, anti-inflammatories and sleeping with my leg elevated on pillows, my knee was still double its size the next morning.  Now a sane person might have just taken it as a sign that was time to go home to be loved up by my Mom, but I am not a sane person, I am cheap, determined Mother Fudger and there was no way I was going to forfeit all that money and not compete.  Tylenol, and Aleve were added to my Pepto cocktail and cane in hand I loaded the Herd into the truck for our final day of competition.  It didn’t take me long to realize that the only way I was going to make it through the day was to use the cane.  I brought it into the ring for Ferg’s first Master’s run, but quickly realized that although it aided my mobility it caused the dogs to panic and mess up the signs.  I quickly compromised and used the cane to get to and from the ring but would leave it on the chair with the leash while we ran the course. 

The second day of competition proved to be Hazel’s day.  She managed to get two more legs toward her RAE title, even with some jumping, running and hopping around the ring.  One of the judges commented “I know she has been naughty in the ring, but I just love her personality!”.  That sums Hazel up very succinctly… naughty but lovely!

Lyndy and Ferg both petered out by the last run.  Neither qualifying for their Advanced, Excellent and in Ferg’s case Master’s run.  Ferg became progressively slower with each run, to the point where I think he was walking backward in the final run of the event.  Even with this set-back, Ferg still managed to earn enough points to become the #1 Golden in Canada after that weekend.  It was short lived… but it happened🙌🎆.

I tell you, you have not lived until you try to load three dogs, three crates and all the accoutrement’s that go with dog shows into a vehicle while needing a cane to help with mobility.  It was trying, but I managed to get it done.  It was a quiet ride to my parents.  The dogs were conked out and did not stir until we pulled up in the driveway.  Even at that they barely lifted their heads from their slumber, but life was breathed back into them when they heard Grandma’s voice.  We had made it and were…

HOME FOR A REST! (As if!!!)

I’d like to shout out to the:

• Kenora & District Dog Club for providing a fantastic venue for the competition. 
• The Ring Stewards and Organizers for all their hard work and assistance.  Without you we would not have a show to compete at!
• The other competitors for their words of wisdom and for cheering us on and
• The Judges Mary Monteith and Diana MacKenzie for their well thought out and challenging courses.