What a brilliant agility partner!
Cali is such an amazing partner. I recently learned that she has significant lumbar spine degenerative joint disease (DJD). I had noticed increased jumping problems, especially on day two of a trial. Everything checked out fine except for this "incidental" finding on her radiographs. The radiologist said Cali has some of the most severe DJD she has seen and that her spine is more like that of an elderly boxer (rather than a 3-year-old agility dog). I call her my little miracle child because, honestly, it's a miracle she can be so active and driven and enthusiastic. My rehab vet says "Treat the dog, not the xray." Sage advice.
Cali started on a joint supplement (Platinum Performance CJ) and Adequan (which I learned how to inject). We are working with a rehab vet with performance dog expertise (personal and professional). She advised us to drop back to performance AKC (that is, jump at 16 inches rather than 20 inches) and to limit trial weekends to a single day. We are just starting an exercise program through online coaching.
This weekend was our first trial since all of this unfolded. I was nervous and anxious and worried. Cali was, well, her usual sunny Cali self. She was overly energetic during our first run but then settled down and had three lovely runs. The premier JWW course was one of the toughest we have attempted. Big thanks to our judge Ronda Bermke. I love challenges.
I was unsure if Cali could even do all of the stuff I wanted her to do. I honestly thought we didn't have a dream of running clean. But, in the spirit of fun and just going for it, I asked her to do exactly what I thought we needed to do to successfully navigate the course. And, d****d if it didn't work. She ran clean (although I admit to a bit of luck that the bar on the second to last jump didn't drop - she nicked it). I was pleased with Cali's work, my work, and our teamwork. See what I'm saying? What a brilliant agility partner!!!
Cali started on a joint supplement (Platinum Performance CJ) and Adequan (which I learned how to inject). We are working with a rehab vet with performance dog expertise (personal and professional). She advised us to drop back to performance AKC (that is, jump at 16 inches rather than 20 inches) and to limit trial weekends to a single day. We are just starting an exercise program through online coaching.
This weekend was our first trial since all of this unfolded. I was nervous and anxious and worried. Cali was, well, her usual sunny Cali self. She was overly energetic during our first run but then settled down and had three lovely runs. The premier JWW course was one of the toughest we have attempted. Big thanks to our judge Ronda Bermke. I love challenges.
I was unsure if Cali could even do all of the stuff I wanted her to do. I honestly thought we didn't have a dream of running clean. But, in the spirit of fun and just going for it, I asked her to do exactly what I thought we needed to do to successfully navigate the course. And, d****d if it didn't work. She ran clean (although I admit to a bit of luck that the bar on the second to last jump didn't drop - she nicked it). I was pleased with Cali's work, my work, and our teamwork. See what I'm saying? What a brilliant agility partner!!!
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