NACA

I travelled to Sherwood Park for the NACA Dog Show June 2-5 2023. It's great as my sister Debra lives there so I can stay with her. Tarn did really well. On a whim I decided to enter him in the CGN test. To my surprise he passed!! Yay Tarn! He also took Best of Breed at all 4 shows. At 2 of the shows his litterbrother Loki was also entered. On the first day the Judge Mary White pulled him out in Group which was a thrill! The Sporting Group is very competitive in Alberta with alot of top dogs as well as professional handlers in the ring. On the 3rd day Tarn won a 2nd in Group!!! This was under judge Jean Desile, so awesome! He got 89 Top Dog Points putting him in 3rd place for Flatcoats in Canada. He also got 5 more Grand Champion Points , plus the 1 he got for beating Loki the day before, put him up to 18 points. 2 more and he will have his Grand Championship. I'm looking forward to Tarns future in Conformation.

Finally an Update !!

Holy moly where has the time gone!! My last post was over a year ago! So much has happened but I can't remember it all so here are some highlights! Last April 2022, while training Tarn, he passed out for just a few seconds. I thought it was a seizure at first but he came out of it so fast I knew it wasn't. I made an appointment with my vet and there she discovered he had a heart arrythmia. I didn't fool around so down to Calgary I went for an echocardiogram. Things got crazy. His heart was barely pumping and was very enlarged. He was first diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy. I was told to prepare myself and that it was very possible he could just drop dead on me. I couldn't believe that my 8 month old puppy was given a death sentence. To make it worse it was just 5 months since I had lost Lync. What the hell did I ever do wrong for the Universe to pick on me! He was put on a ton of medication and very very limited exercise. I switched him from his raw diet to kibble. There is some proof that raw diets aren't the best for the heart. I didnt care if it was true or not, I was going to do whatever I could. Fast forward to more echocardiograms and holter monitors and also a visit to a Canine Specialist Cardiologist. It is now 1 month past a year since the fainting spell. Tarn was found to not have Cardiomyopathy but a condition called Focal Atrial Tachycardia which he was most likely born with. It is not a hereditary condition , just luck of the draw. His entire litter was tested and none of them have it thank goodness. At his last check up in March his heart is almost back to normal. He runs and plays and shows no signs of any heart trouble. The cardiologist says he may eventually grow out of it completely! He is still on kibble and heart medication for now. In the past year Tarn has finished his Canadian Show Championship, going Best of breed over 5 Champions from the puppy class for his first points! This past January he won Best of Breed and got his first Group Placement, a 3rd! He is doing Obedience, Nosework and we just started Field Training. He is a bit behind where my other dogs have been at this age due to 5 months of him pretty much doing nothing. Last week he took his Designated Odour Test and passed all 3 hides with scents of Wintergreen, Pine and Thyme. This earned him his D.O.T. title! Tarn is such a special part of our family and I'm just so glad I took the chance and opened my heart up to him.