Mocca
One issue is her eyesight, I am convinced it is degrading some and makes her anxious on some things like the Dog Walk or Teeter, and she misses tunnel entrances. The other issue is that she just can’t seem to get up the A-Frame anymore. It is too trying on her old bones! She tries, but jumps off 80% of the way to the top and you can see it is hard for her.
We’ve also decided to set the jumps lower for her – she gets sore the day or two after class and this should help. We’ll avoid the A-Frame, and if she “wants” to do the Teeter or Dog Walk, well then she can but she won’t be forced. She loves running out there so much so we’ll make classes as fun and easy for her as we can! But we will no longer be competing.
For being nearly 13 years old, she sure has done great! We didn’t start even training until she was about 6 or 7, and then for 3 years we were too nervous (I was!) to compete. When we finally did, she sailed through the Novice and we made it all the way to Excellent level in no time! I can only imagine how far we would have gone had we been able to start at a younger age, but I’m grateful for the time we did have out there. I think she was probably the perfect dog to learn with. Smarter than me with no fear, but not too fast.
Great job, Mocca! Here’s to your retirement! Here’s a few posts from past agility trials:
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Melissa, congrats to you and Mocca on a great journey. Fun was the key factor all along, you were both an inspiration. Enjoy as you continue in classes!
Enjoy your retirement Mocca! You’ve accomplished a lot is a pretty short amount of time, so now you can just take it easy.
Ilka and I got the first two legs of her RA last weekend. And some spectacular NQs in Novice Obedience.
I suggest seeing if anyone up there does NADAC – they have no jumping obstacles! the hoopers hoop rocks. it’s a handler challenge, not a dog challenge.
Thanks guys! Mocca still LOVES agility, we just are toning it down for her a bit. Brittany, I will look into NADAC. We dont have a lot of options as we are pretty far north in a rural area, but who knows!
I totally understand, we don’t have it here, either… but maybe you could bring it to Wisconsin!!!