Summer got her TIAD (intermediate standard) title FINALLY! We just did one day this weekend. I'm pooped with all the stuff going on. We ended up with 2 Qs and had a nice day.
Hank handled the trial FANTASTICALLY. I'm really pleased with how responsive and confident he was. Not so pleased with the crate shrieking or the jumping up on people or wanting to chase fast dogs but he improved a lot over the day and it was his first trial. i'm impressed with this guy and a lot of the agility folk were impressed as well with his focus and temperament.
On a sadder note I am seriously considering retiring Summer from agility completely.
I just... I don't know. I love it and it would suck to retire her now because we'd be looking at a year or two before competing with Hank (hopefully). I don't know when the next set of classes start up so no telling when Hank will actually start up.
But Summer has been aging a lot this last 6 months. I've only noticed it the last few months. Both her seizures (she's had 3 now, had another in September) and also just some other factors here and there. Sleeping more, grayer, snoring more, etc. She peed in the ring once and inside the tunnel once too. I'm seeing some signs of incontinence and also she just is running slower and acting less enthused. I AM going to wait a few weeks. We have a ring rental soon and also classes. I don't know if the stress of the move + Hank is part of the reason or not. 3 weeks ago she was flying in class. The last two weeks have not been good. This trial was ok. The morning was good but the afternoon not at all. At the least I think we may be done with big dog agility and just stick to doing a couple runs at local teacup trials. One lady gave me a supplement name so I'm going to test it out. She says she used it with her 13 year old ACD and she's gotten a lot more active since.
But it sucks. It's not something I wanted to think about for at the least another year or so.
Two of my friends are retiring their dogs soon too. It sucks. I hate it.
I hope that Hank likes agility. I think he will. I really do. I hope he does.