How Old is Old?

I have been reluctant to post a blog spotlighting Kaylee, as I fear I cannot sum her up that way. I may come to this eventually, but for now I will just say that she has been such an integral part of my life for almost nine years, I truly cannot remember what it was like before she came along. I choose not to imagine my day to day once she is no longer in it. Thankfully, as she approaches her ninth birthday, she constantly reminds me that she is far from old and frail.

Yesterday the gang and I drove to Daytona for one day of agility competition. I really enjoy this, as Buster and I were free to socialize with fellow human beings on Friday and Saturday night, he was able to go to class on Saturday afternoon while I got some chores done at home, and then Sunday was spent enjoying the company of agility friends and a day outside with the dogs. I only entered the boys, as I have limited financial resources and want to focus on trialing with them right now. Having briefly considered leaving Kaylee home for the day, she refused to accept that and so came along as well. When she was younger, Kaylee competed quite a lot. We attended between one and three shows a month on average for a period of time, and then tapered off when she earned her first MACH. She has been around trials since she was very young and is excited when she recognizes that’s where we are going. As an old pro, she really did not understand why she was at a competition and did not get her turn on course. Sure, she was able to come out and walk around the grounds, find some delightful stinky piles to roll in (one of her favorite things in life), and bark at the other dogs. But for her, this seemed to not be enough. I have worked hard at keeping both my corgis thin and fit so they can remain active and healthy, and Kaylee constantly demonstrates that she has the ability AND the desire to run and play.

After returning home from the competition, which was so well run, we were done by 1pm, the boys immediately parked themselves on the couch. They were tired. I was tired. Kaylee, on the other hand, was not tired. One of the toys that I had picked up as a prize from the show was a little blue stuffed chicken, perfectly corgi sized. Kaylee generally has a brief attention span when it comes to playing with anything that doesn’t involve food, so typically when she gets a wild hair, she will tug and retrieve for a minute or two and then quickly loses interest. Yesterday, however, she must have had so much pent up enthusiasm from having not been allowed to compete, that she tugged and fetched and played with me for over twenty minutes! What was even more hysterical was the mischievous grin she was displaying that lit up her eyes the entire time. She had me laughing and smiling so profoundly, just from a simple game of tug and fetch; a basic interaction we sometimes lack now that my focus has been shifted to the younger two. The boys both had their special time with me while competing today; Kaylee had to remind me to pay her the same attention.

Being my first real agility partner, Kaylee and I spent countless hours, just the two of us, training and practicing. We have a bond that was born through working to understand one another, which we have done effortlessly for so many years that I often forget she is a dog. There were special games such as “catch me if you can,” her reward for a successful practice which involved my trying to catch her as she dashed about like an untamed hare. I have never seen a dog experience such a pure, unadulterated joy from just running as fast as she could. She will still do this whenever the opportunity arises. She is virtually flawless now when I ask her to run any sequence, as we seem to always know what the other one is thinking.

Given that she still has an obvious love for agility; it is difficult to refrain from entering her. Aside from the cost, she is older, and I do not want to add undue stress to her body. Incredibly fast, even at almost nine, she still delights in running, climbing, and weaving. She runs almost as quickly as Kirby when we go to the park and will playfully steal the Frisbee from Xander and scamper away before diverting her interest to something else. Kaylee makes it easy to forget that she is not in her prime anymore. Then again, who is to say she won’t live to be eighteen years old, as one of her corgi relatives once did? If she is only middle aged, is it fair to treat her as an old lady if she does not act like one? Am I protecting her, or depriving her? These are the questions we struggle with, when we share our lives so closely with our dogs.