10/30/2026
🎉 I’m going to retire Candy from performance and sports field🎉
This was in my mind for a while this year since I noticed that Candy started slowing down the end of spring.
As the temperature getting low recently, she started getting some energy back so I submitted entry for Agility, Rally and Flyball after the result of senior bloodwork came out normal.
However just a week before agility trial she had very strange episodes several times over the weekend and the last episode got her collapsed and unresponsive. She eventually came out of it and started acting totally back to herself after long nap and never had another episode since then (as far as we know). She expected normal routine and training at supper.
I left her with our vet for some tests 2 days later and waited for the result from the lab. Next day I took Athena to agility practice and hanging out with our friends, and took Candy with us just as a company, it only made her upset when she saw our friends doing agility and she wasn’t😅 So I let her run once, she enjoyed like she always did🤷🏻♀️However I noticed that she got tired easily. This moment made me decide that I’m going to retire her from active sports. As much as her mind is not dying yet, her body is really slowing down.
That weekend she did 5 runs in the agility trial, she gave me 100% at every run like she always has been. I never cared for Qs (which getting Qs was actually never the first focus with us since she was my very first performance dog😃), we just enjoyed the time together in the ring.
After the weekend we received the test result from the lab and found out that she has some heart issue. She needs further test to get the exact diagnosis so our vet can suggest some treatment. So hopefully we can do it very soon.
Very interestingly and surprisingly she has been fairly good.
Today we had a Rally trial. She had one more triple Q to earn the Rally Champion title. She ran very STRONG and SOLID like her young days. It was just a piece of cake for her to earn the last triple Q. Not only that, she also earned the highest triple score in the trial with beating Athena that came right behind her (as usual😅)
Next week, we will have Flyball tournament. As long as she keeps feeling okay, I’m going to let her run with Sara, just one race each day, then she’ll retire. Sara had hard time handling Candy first but they became an awesome team eventually. Last couple of years being in a marching band she didn’t have much opportunity to do trials with Candy so I’m really excited to see them running together next weekend.
When I got this free dog from a local shelter over ten years ago (I vividly remember I traded her with a big bag of Pedigree food because I felt bad taking her for free🤣🤣🤣) I never planned to be a performance/sports handler with her someday. All I thought was “wow…. she is ALOT but such a fun dog!!” She was sooooo good at anything and spoiled me a lot as the first time sports handler. (Which is probably why I’m struggling with Athena quite often🤣)
So what’s our plan after Flyball tournament? As much as she was a great sports dog, her happiest moment has always been when people come say hi and pet her. I know in her mind she was dying for getting petted by whoever makes an eye contact with her at every trial site😆So we will try to get back to community as her being a therapy dog.
So if you ever see her in public don’t hesitate to come say hi to her, she is allowed to get it anytime now😉
RACH* Candy Shouse RM2 RAE2 FDC OAP AJP OFP BCAT FDCH DN CGCA CGCU TKI
