Kira and I started Agility when she was 8 years old and overweight. It took me a year to get the pounds off but we did it. She was slow and steady and always tried to get the horse poop in the arena. I don't think she ever did a whole course without eating some. She never competed as I wasn't comfortable jumping her full height. She taught me so much about Agility. She continued in classes for about 4 years until she decided to dive off almost the top of the A-frame at home and caused an injury to her front leg.
At that point, Kira needed to retire - which was very hard for me. She did low easy Agility at home almost until the day she died. She never wanted to quit so I put the bars on the ground and did jumps and tunnels and chutes with her. She would sneak on the full height dog walk and go: "Look at me mom, I can still do it!" She scared me to death when she did that behind my back.
Kira was the most loyal dog I have ever known and saved my life once when I got between a cow and it's calf. The cow charged and Kira came flying through the air and grabbed the cow by the head to turn her away from running over me. I will never forget her and miss her very much. She was a very special dog in a lot of different ways.
By Dianne Quarg