I haven't kept up with this blog, and looking back at my last entry, the last sentence read, " I am confident a new ACD will join the family in 2013. I don't know when, where, or how, but I cannot wait to meet him/her and start again!"
Well, March 23, 2013, it started again and Trek entered my life. He was a 9 month old moose of a cattle dog! Trek was born June 10, 2012. I remember watching pictures of his litter as they grew up on Facebook, but I was not ready for another dog at that time. They were such lovely puppies, but the time was not right. Fast forward 9 months, and Trek's owners in Connecticut were expecting their 2nd child. Although Trek (previously known as Hank) was crate trained, house trained, and got along wonderfully with their 2 year old child, they decided they could no longer take care of him with the baby on the way. He was returned to his breeder in Pennsylvania, and the rest, as they say, is history. Several weeks later he was on the road to Indiana and what a joy he has been! He immediately started agility, obedience, and herding classes and learned the rules of the house. He feels there are too many rules in this house, but has come to the conclusion that this is a pretty fun place to live, so he'll abide by them. He is thriving in class and passed his CGC (Canine Good Citizen) test in October. He is a wonderful dog.
Tully is still going strong, just a month shy of 12 years old! He earned his RAE2 and RAE3 rally titles in 2013 and ended the year as one of the top rally ACDs nationally. He qualified to attend the 2014 AKC Rally National Championships in Harrisburg, PA, in March and we are hopefully going to make the trip. Tully and I also started volunteering weekly at the Indiana School for the Deaf. Tully earned his re-certification as a Delta Society/Pet Partner therapy dog in June and is enjoying his work with kids. He also was able to participate in the Welcome Home Dogs program at Camp Atterbury last winter, working with service men and women returning and being deployed overseas. Health wise, his lymphoma has still not returned (Yay!) and his back issue is stable. It will never go away and may worsen, but he is pain free and happy. He does have laryngeal paralysis now and last summer it was very difficult for him to breathe some days. We will have to make a decision this summer regarding surgery. Thankfully that decision is several months away. I am grateful that he is still healthy and enjoying life and thankful for friends who help me keep him that way!
Our goals for 2014 are pretty simple. I hope to start competing with Trek later in the year in obedience and rally. We will continue our herding and agility lessons as well. The ACDCA nationals are in Tennessee this year and yours truly is the agility chair (sad, but true!) so we will be heading there next fall and hope to compete as well. I also hope that Trek can pass his therapy dog certification this year. He is a kind dog with good manners who loves people, especially small children. Tully will continue his therapy dog work at the Indiana School for the Deaf and hopefully will stay healthy and happy. If he feels up to it, we may make the trip the national rally championships in March. It's a rare opportunity and one I will never have again with him. We are honored to be one of the few cattle dog teams that qualified to go.
Here's to hoping for a healthy, safe, and fun 2014 with the red dogs!
No comments:
Post a Comment