16 Years

I started writing this blog post a couple days before Buzz's 14th gotcha day and quit. Today Buzz turns 16 years old, a day I honestly thought we'd never see.

16 years ago Buzz was born. 9 weeks later, my family brought home a little black and white puppy who pretended to like retrieving, had worms and fleas, and already knew how to walk on a leash. The early details are a bit fuzzy but I know he was never actually house trained and I don't think he ever came when called. He has always been a dog with a mission of his own in life and we only became a team when I embraced him for who he is. It's hard to believe he used to be a speedy-fast little hellion with one mission in life: to enjoy it.

I tried to show him in 4-H using some outdated and dog un-friendly training methods. He told me to screw off and had his own fun. I can't even count how many times I tried to chase him down, and failed miserably. I'd call, he'd turn and look, then dart off in another direction.

Looking back at what we've accomplished, 2007 was our first year successfully trialing. He earned his RL1, RN, NAC, NJC, and TN-N. We had three grand years of trialing, which makes me so happy considering he didn't really start showing until he was 7 years old!

He competed in WCRL Veteran Rally for the last time in July 2013. He earned his RLVX.

Since January he's had increasing difficulty with mobility. Some days he gets really frustrated not being able to get up and move around on his own. Then on the days he is able to, he overdoes it if I don't contain him. Despite that, he remains mentally sharp. His bloodwork looked great when we ran it a couple weeks ago. All he really wants at the end of the day is someone to fall asleep on, so I try really hard to do that.

Today was (almost) all about Buzz. 

He got to watch autocross with Tim.

He ate an absurd amount of snacks. Even if he had to put up with me to get them.

We checked out a new park!

He ate more snacks at the new park.

And looked hilarious doing it.

Missing 100% of what I threw.

Then I threw some snacks in the grass.

I ran out of snacks. He said "see ya later."

A great day ends with a nice nap in the sun.

Happy birthday, Buzz. Thank you for being such a wonderful introduction to the breed. You are the standard to which I'll compare all others. Keep on keeping on.