Kess is an amazing athlete and has always excelled at any sport I tried with her. In just her first year competing she placed 1st in the regional disc championship in the novice toss and catch division. If I’d been braver and entered the expert division her score would have been high enough for an invite to the world championships. Not long after this Kess had a pretty serious accident. As dogs go, Kess isn’t generally concerned with self preservation and injured her back after colliding with a wall while playing fetch (I wasn’t home when it happened so I don’t know the full story). We couldn’t afford an MRI at the time, and x-rays pointed to a ruptured disc. We also couldn’t afford back surgery so after lots of research I decided to keep Kess on limited activity, leash walks only for 6 months to one year. The good news is that her back healed up great. The bad news was that as soon as we got over that hurdle we noticed the lump in her ankle joint. Despite numerous tests, surgeries, and vet visits Kess’s cancer went undiagnosed (we’ll tell that story another day). Anyway long story short I’ve been helping kess work back up to a full speed run, and decided she was ready to try for her first catch post-op. Here she is 27 days after surgery. I’m so proud of her, and excited for all the possibilities in the years to come.