Miller and I are headed back to the PT today in KC and of course it is raining. I can't catch a break with weather and driving but at least it is rain and not snow or ice! Am anxious to hear where she thinks Miller is with his injury. Ran him in class the other night, just a couple of runs and he did awesome. I saw my old boy but I was afraid to run him anymore. I do think we are in the point of his career where I am going to have to tone back a little bit. Gone are the days of doing 6 runs a day in NADAC or USDAA. Sucks though because I really want to get his PD3 title in USDAA and since we only have 3 or 4 local trials a year, will have to be super consistent and pick and choose what classes I do at what trial instead of doing them all. Guess it will save me money for sure! I wish USDAA would hurry up and announce where they are going to have nationals. I will go if it is in KY but not PA. It is looking like I will not be doing the USDAA trial at the beginning of January as I cannot find a teammate. Oh well, more money saved I guess.
I am getting alot of emails about my running him and I do appreciate everyone's concern. However, every dog is different and every injury is different. Protocols are written in general and I am going to do what is best for Miller. I will rest him and then see where we are at. He isn't three legged lame and it isn't consistent so it makes me believe that it isn't as bad as some of the other dogs we have seen with this injury. I think this is an injury I will probably have to manage for the rest of his agility career. I could rest him for 6 months and then bring him back and he could re-injure it the first run back. I am weighing all my options here for sure. He is 10, we think, and he may not have a ton of career left so I really don't want to rest him forever and give up what little career he has left. Saying that, he may run for another 2 or 3 years just to spite me! I do not think moving him to preferred is a solution I am going to explore yet either. Having had a dog that had an ACL tear and repair and then rehab and back to showing, I can tell you that it wasn't the jumps that got her, it was the climbing. Miller just got done doing multiple runs at nationals and never knocked a bar and that was at 22 inches, 2 inches over his normal height. When the time is right and I feel like he is ready, we will move down to 16 inches or just retire. My last run at nationals proves to me that he isn't ready to stop. He ran like he had a fire under his ass! You would think after 3 days of multiple runs he wouldn't have any gas left in the tank and I think that was his best run!
Well, I will post later on what the PT has to say. I am making the Sunflower trial my come back trial and we will go from there. I don't see any thing wrong with making a goal and then changing it if I have to.
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