Twelve years ago Merlin entered this world, the firstborn puppy (on the 57th day!) He arrived in front of the refrigerator, looking like a little wet skunk. (All black and white stripe; tris don't get their brown until later.)
As a young dog he had two personalities- the one for show to the public (well-behaved, quiet, heeling like he'd actually been trained, staying down off furniture and people) and the one at home (loud, stubborn, wild, crazed.) As an older dog he merged the two and became a grouchy old man both in public and at home.
He survived two ACL ruptures and three surgeries (ages 2 and 5) and started learning agility at age 7. His first trial was just short of his 8th birthday, and he got his first two legs in CPE Level 1 on that day. It wasn't to be a very long agility career, as he had reached Level 4 and was doing great when he started to slow down and knock jumps.
At the age of almost 10 he started having seizures (suddenly, clustered together) and was put on medication. Sometime later that year I started suspecting DM, but it took another year for it to become obvious. By September 2008 he was dragging a foot, and within six months was in a cart.
Today, he is happy to use his cart if food is involved, loves to ride in the stroller or car, and of course, still loves to eat. His front end is still quite strong, and the seizures are under control finally. Will he make 13? I don't think so... I think DM is going to catch up to him if nothing else does, but I didn't think he'd make 11 so we'll just see what life brings!
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1 comment:
Happy Birthday, Merlin.
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