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Back to school!

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Jayda and Raven (“Jayven”?) went back to class last night. Jayda, after her initial and customary apprehension, was happy to be back and looking good (though her tunnel/contact discriminations need a little refresher).

Raven … was Raven excited? Can you say “screaming lunatic”?!!! She took one look at all the kewl “toys” she hadn’t seen since June (Aframe, Dogwalk …) and was absolutely beside her little self! She doesn’t seem to have forgotten much over the summer and was working really well … and FAST! She does have an annoying tendency to run in towards me, but teaching her “out” this summer has proven to be a big help. I keep reminding myself that Bryce did the same thing at that age. She also still needs work with the chute – I HAVE one, pure laziness on my part I didn’t address that in the last couple of months.

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Bryce is an orphan :(

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I just got word this morning that Bryce’s birth mother passed away.

I didn’t know Cassidy well – I only met her when I went to see Bryce and bring him home – but she impressed me as a sweet, intelligent girl – sociable, but her world definitely revolved around “her” special human. Like Bryce’s father, she was a fun-loving Sheltie but a bit more of a gentle soul – personality traits she passed on to Bryce.

Here’s a picture of Bryce (as a young adult) with his mother – I have a larger version of this somewhere, but for now this will have to do.

Bryce and Cassidy

My thoughts are with Cassidy’s human family – it’s never easy to say goodbye.

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Happy Birthday, Brycey!

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Bryce celebrated his 10th birthday on July 10th!

For a surprise, I borrowed my neighbor’s fenced yard and treated him (and the girls) to a little agility. Unfortunately, it was too hot for much of that so they spent most of the day indoors in the A/C, playing and eating cookies. Here are the happy threesome – taking time out from the festivities for a family photo:

Bryce and his sisters on his 10th birthday

Not knowing how many more he has left (true for everyone, but a more tangible concern for him under the circumstances) , I really wanted to make this birthday special so I splurged and bought him his very own 12′ tunnel – a matching blue with white ribs. What better present for my favorite agility toy? Here he is posing with it – under protest, in case you can’t guess that from the leash and the snitty face he’s making! He liked the tunnel very much, but wasn’t at ALL pleased about me making him POSE FOR PICTURES in front of it like some kind of dork. I discovered his ability to sit and stay in front of a tunnel is about as good as his start line stay at trials (hint: we do a variation on the good ol’ “drop and run”).

Bryce and his new tunnel

Speaking of dog shopping, darned if somehow the matching collar to La Raven’s little purple butterfly harness made it into my cart during a trip to the store the other day. She’s a growing girl and her hot pink collar was looking a little too babyish…

Aw c’mon! What’s the point in having a little foo-foo dog if you don’t dress them up :) ?

Here’s the stylish Ms Raven – looking fabulous next to some bright orange tiger lillies …

Raven and the tiger lillies

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European Open Agility 2008 Results!

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Congrats to Jayda’s young cousin Hex and Auntie Bernadette (Great Britain) for finishing 3rd at the European Open Individual Finals! They were beaten by another cousin, Unique (Denmark – also bred by Bernadette) who finished first! Results are posted here – I think they’re running team today.

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Why I haven’t posted much lately …

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Most people who read this blog probably know this already, but for those of you who don’t …

The end of last March everything was going smoothly and life was good. Raven was settling into the family, and I was looking forward to spring agility trials and starting to think about fall. With Bryce closing in on both his NADAC and CPE agility championships, I was cheerfully trying to determine the best strategy for completing them.

That was also the time of year I have the routine annual stuff done with my dogs and cats – heartworm tests, rabies shots as needed, etc. Last year at his dental Bryce’s kidney values were slightly elevated so I opted to have bloodwork run on him to make sure they weren’t getting out of hand.

What I subsequently found out turned my whole world upside down….

My beautiful Brycey

Bryce has cancer.

Multiple Myeloma, to be exact – a profileration of malignant plasma cells, generally originating in the bone marrow. It is not a common cancer in dogs. He has no particular risk factors for it. It’s not an extremely fast-moving cancer. It is treatable but not cureable.

MM is more common in people. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis lost a battle with Multiple myeloma. So did my mother – ironically. right before my birthday and almost 16 years ago to the day that I found out Bryce was ill.

My birthdays suck!!!

The good news, if there is any, is that at present time Bryce has no idea how sick he is. His appetite is as good as ever and he’s been playing with his sisters and generally acting like himself. We trialed through April and May, he finished 2 titles, earned a versatility award, accumulated some points towards his NADAC championship. He seemed a little “off” on a couple of times when the weather was unusually warm, but that may have been my imagination. Or it may have been because he’s nearly 10 and wasn’t acclimated to hot weather yet.

His treatment was delayed due to some intestinal issues, but that’s apparently under control now. Some bloodwork run last week shows that the disease is progressing and there’s a worrisome elevation of one of his liver enzymes so I expect he will go on chemo soon. We are working with an excellent oncologist and also with one of the best holistic vets in the area (neither of which I can really afford) – I can only hope that I’m making the right choices and that my bouncy little boy will continue to enjoy a good quality of life and still be bouncing around with all of us for quite a while yet.

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