Houston, We Have Toenails!

I'm super excited! Harry survived the flyball practice with all of his toenails intact. We were outside running on grass mixed with mulch, which is a pretty tough environment for tender feet.

Just in case, I gave him half a deramax with dinner last night after we got home. He was a tiny bit stiff after the long ride home. This morning, I couldn't see any stiffness and he didn't walk like his toes hurt. In fact, when he heard me playing with Cap, which I usually do right after I let him out to potty as part of our morning routine, Harry got out of bed and came running into the dog room, found a ragged piece of some toy, and shoved it at me ready to play himself.

Harry normally is a big slug-a-bed. He'll sleep in until breakfast if I let him. So when he jumps out of bed ready and rarin' to play, I know he is feeling good.

During practice, Harry was running between 5.0-5.3 seconds. Since he runs slower on grass, I expect him to hit some sub-5.0's at the tournament weekend after next. That means Harry is back in the game!

Harry in 2004 savaging a toy

I intend to stick to my plan and not run him in every race though. I just don't think I can get him fit enough by then and I'm afraid that if I run him when he is tired, he will be more likely to make a mistake and tear one of his tender new nails. And as a bonus, this will guarantee one of our up and coming DITs (dogs in training) some mat time. He and his owner have been working hard to get this slot on the B team.