ten years ago today...

...a litter of three black and white border collie puppies was born.  At the time I had just started looking for a puppy to surprise Chris with, since Jadzia had turned out so bonded to me even though she was supposed to be his dog.  Little did I know what I was about to find, and the amazing treasure I would decide to bring home.

This is the first picture of Curzon that I have, taken when he was two weeks old.  It's an actual physical print and is one of two that the breeder sent me when I inquired about the puppies when they were about five weeks old.  His eyes aren't even open yet in this photo, we didn't know he existed or that he would be ours when it was taken, and all I can see when I look at this picture is the promise within those fat little puppy legs.  Curzon more than lived up to that promise, and he set a high bar that all dogs we have in the future will have to work hard to meet.

Last weekend was the Auburn tournament, the one where he debuted at 1 year 2 days of age in 2004, and the one where he should have earned his Iron Dog title and award this year.  Several other dogs who debuted with him nine years ago got their titles on Saturday and Sunday, with one more planned for next month.  My friends put the memory pin on their black lab as he ran his retirement and Iron Dog races, so that Curzon got to share that run in some small way, and that was incredibly lovely of them.

Today is Curzon's birthday.  Happy birthday, my beautiful boyo, and I hope you know that I still love you and miss you and I hope that you are happy and free from pain, wherever you are.

another flyball milestone

The last weekend in September was another flyball tournament for us, this time one in a new location hosted by a club that hasn't hosted before.  The weather was kind of rotten (high winds and heavy rain...ick), but the venue was suitable and had good RV parking, so we were happy enough.  Our A team won Division 1 on both days, and Ezri earned her Flyball Grand Champion 40k on Saturday - that's forty thousand points earned over four years and two months, and 40% of the way to my goal for her which is HOBBES, the hundred-thousand-point title.  One of my flyball friends took some great photos this weekend, which I was happy to see that he's putting up for sale now online - photography isn't cheap, after all!

I love, love, LOVE this photo of Ezri leaping off the box - she looks so strong and fast, and of course she's chomping that tennis ball flat into submission.  This is the essence of flyball, to me - athletic dogs having a ball playing the sport that they love.

As usual, there was a wait here and there for technical problems or conflicts between the rings (one club racing in one ring and on deck in the other is the usual issue), and he got a great picture of us hanging out and waiting.  Even when lying down, Ezri is not particularly relaxed when she's in the ring...she just waits...

Martok did great in both Friday and Saturday night green dog work opportunities, although we just had him do flat recalls with distractions due to his healing shoulder.  His focus is amazing and I'm super proud of him...and of course he's a giant dork as this photo shows.

I love this photo of Martok tugging, with his ears flattened out, his legs braced to pull, his tail curled up happily, and those teeth going GRRR at me.  Such a great puppy!

I'm very happy that Martok's shoulder is all healed up now, whatever was causing him to limp has gone away and he's doing just fine.  Thank goodness it was just a strain or growing pains!  I played chuckit with them in the yard on Friday, plus he did over-back jump practice on Thursday and Sunday, and he's doing really well.  We'll be starting him on wall work in November, and if his progress continues as it is now, he'll be debuting in March.  Attaboy!

Next post will be all about the Tough Mudder run that Chris ran yesterday...he succeeded and I'm so proud of him!

should have are the saddest words in this language

No cute pictures today, unfortunately, as today's post is a short one about Curzon.  It's now October, and it's been five months since we had to send him off into the long night to release him from the pain of the cancer that riddled his body.  I knew October was going to be very hard for me, and that is indeed turning out to be true.

He should have been here to earn his 50,000 point title.
He should have been here to turn 10 years old and race in a flyball tourney on his birthday (October 20).
He should have been here to earn his Iron Dog award at that same tourney.

And mostly, Curzon should have been here to watch his baby brother grow up.  I'm not sure how, but Martok is showing so many behaviors that his big brother displayed, things that he couldn't have seen in their short eleven days together.  Martok has been rearing up to go outside, and bounds and leaps and curvettes like Curzon did.  He's been waiting outside my bedroom door for me in the mornings, just like Curzon did.  He initiated a game of hide-and-seek around the living room / kitchen wall last night with Chris, just like Curzon did.  Most days it's a comfort, but some days it's just a painful reminder.

Curzon should have been here to see all of this.

But he's not.

And that still breaks my heart, and it may always do so.  I miss you, my darlin' boyo.  So much.