Kess continues to amaze us with her seemingly boundless energy and enthusiasm.  At 12 she is finally starting to slow down a little.  She sleeps in until 9, which I find endlessly cute.  She can settle and snooze the day away with a couple of 10 minute running sessions morning and evening.  Her eye sight is starting to get a little cloudy so we do a little less frisbee since it’s harder for her to find them in the sky, but she had a great time in the spring sunshine last week.  I’m so happy that she has adjusted to life on three legs so well.  Fingers crossed she stays happy and healthy for many years to come.

When Kess was still a quadpawd we got to know Maty, she’s an amazing tripawd that has qualified for and competed in the Skyhoundz World Championships several times.  She even placed 7th in the world in distance and accuracy (toss and fetch).   Maty was a great inspiration for us, and her owners were a great comfort as Kess healed from her amputation surgery.  Through facebook we’ve been in touch with another awesome disc catchin’ tripawd, Macie.  Macie and Maty got together last weekend at the open qualifier in CO, and tripawd Macie even made the news.  It first aired on the local channel, but I heard rumors that NBC national also aired it 🙂

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30335572@N02/8785408478/

here’s a link to the news cast

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/22309456/3-legged-dog-wows-crowd-at-frisbee-competition#.UZvM6MqRX-U?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8902525

At 11 years old Kess is still going strong.  It’s been a long time since we made it up on the podium at an event, but we still love to play together and she brings a smile to everyone she meets.  After she competed this past weekend we were approached by someone struggling with the decision to amputate.  They were simply blown away by how well Kess is doing, and by how happy and pain free she is.  It was the push they needed to make the right decision for their dog, and I was so glad we could show them that being a tripawd is not a disability.  Here’s a couple of pics from the competition.

We’re headed down to Eugene, OR at the end of June for the first ever Pacific Coast Canine Disc Championship, we hope to meet up with Maty and all of our west coast disc dog friends.

Kess uses her border collie eye to defy the laws of physics

Kess spends many an hour dutifully following our cats around keeping them under her ever watchful eye.  It’s all good and well until one of them tries to cozy up with her.

Wait a minute . . . just where do you think you’re going?

oh my dog it’s getting closer . . .

egads cats are vile . . . follow the rules and keep your distance

I promise I wasn’t going to bite him.

Woohoo it’s sunny out.  Kess ain’t doing to bad for an 11 year old 3 legged dog, just try to count them as she goes flying by 🙂

Kess gives the best hugs, she just leans in and soaks up the love and revels in the moment. I’ve been participating in an online group that takes one memorable picture of their dog every week. I really wanted to capture this aspect of Kess’s personality, especially for Valentines week. So I set the camera up on a tripod and used the self timer to try to capture the moment. I’m really delighted with the outcome. I just love these pictures, and will always treasure them.

2012 was another great year for Kess and family.  Kess has continued to be an energetic and busy dog despite reaching 11 years old this year.  We officially retired her from competition this, but she still enjoys joining in on disc dog and flyball demos when the chance arises.  We traveled out of state to compete in disc in northern California and had a blast.  What can I say, life is good 🙂

We did have a bit of a stumble when Kess put on a bit of extra weight.  Her activity level had dropped off since we were no longer practicing for different activities, and I think she just wasn’t getting enough exercise.  I thought she was slowing down because she was getting older.  Turns out she was slowing down because she was getting FAT.  A couple months down the road and a few pounds lighter and Kess had a new lease on life.  She’s back to running circles around everyone and keeping an ever vigilant watch over the household kitties.

Gimmie that stick

Hey I’m cute too!

Pwease can I have some cookies Santa

Happy Holidays !!!!

A few members of the Washington tripawds family got together on Aprill 22nd in Redmond, WA.  I started out the day hosting my four year olds rock n’ roll superstar birthday party.  It was a blast but Kess and I were ready for a break, and the tripawds pawty was just what the doctor ordered.  It was an amazing sunny and warm day (over 70 degrees). The Marymoor dog park was packed.  We arrived to find a news crew waiting for us!  Kess and Lincoln got a little screen time during the evening news, but sadly there isn’t any online footage to share.  After the camera crew left we headed back out of the park and made camp under a large tree.  It was a very relaxing afternoon, and we all hung out enjoying the warmth and sunshine in the company of kindred spirits.  We traded stories for a few hours while the dogs snuffled around in the grass and Kess attempted to get people to throw the frisbee for her. (I had to sneak away a little early).  It was great to meet everyone in the flesh, and see all of the sweet and special dogs they share their lives with.  As commanded I took lots of pictures.  If anyone is interested in getting together again the Everett, WA Mutt March on June 2nd ( http://www.k9muttmarch.org/ ) is a great fund raiser for the Chase Away Canine Cancer Organization.  Kess will be performing with the canine disc group (11am and 1pm ), and trying out dock dogs for the first time in the 10-11am class.  I’m super excited as we had a great time last year.

2012-04-22

I entered this photo in the local pet stores pet of the month contest.  I was delighted to find out Kess had won.  The winner is chosen by employee vote, and receives a $25 gift certificate.  Kess and I headed out this morning to go claim her prize and pick out some new toys.  We had a slight detour when we encountered an Australian Shepherd running loose in the road at the bottom of the hill.

He was darting in and out of traffic and was completely freaked out.  I tried several times to call him over and he wanted nothing to do with me.  He was just starting to run off in the opposite direction when I yelled out “Do you want a treat?”  His head popped right around and he came running right over and happily hopped in the car.  Luckily he had tags and we were able to track down Harley’s owners and get him home.  Sadly his owners reported that this has become a real problem recently and that Harley wont stay in his yard so they are installing an electric fence.  I asked how often Harley was exercised and was told he gets a 4 block walk once a day.  I suggested that a young herding breed really needs a minimum of 30 minutes hard running a day to be a content dog.  To this the owner replied “we have never had to exercise Harley before and he always stayed home”  she was pretty sure he was only doing it because he was jealous of their new cat who was allowed to go over the fence and out of the yard (Face to palm).  I tried for a bit longer to convince the owner of my credentials as a dog trainer, showed her Suki and Kess etc, but she was having none of it.  It was pretty sad as Harley was a bright, sweet, and fun loving young dog who just really wanted some interaction.  The worst thing was the woman’s final comment ” it’s really like a slap in the face that Harley doesn’t appreciate what he has and keeps running off, we’ve provided him with the perfect home any dog would love to have ”  Somehow it’s always the dogs fault . . .

So after that whole interchange it was time to have some fun.  Kess had a great time at the store enticing pets and treats from all the employees.  We had lots of help testing out all the squeakers, which Kess found delightful.  Kess settled on a grunting pig and dragon and a couple of real bones for good measure.   Here’s kess giving her new dragon a good once over

There’s nothing like a bunch of snow to make everyone feel young again.  Eventually it got so deep that Kess was having trouble getting around (up to her elbows here).  Luckily we’ve has a slow melting period so Kess was able to get out for a run once the snow wasn’t as deep.  After days of being cooped up in the house she was one happy pup.

we currently have blue skies and there’s still some snow on the ground on the hill.  Fingers crossed for one more snow photo shoot.