One Year Old Nova!

Nova's first birthday - December 7, 2012

Yes, I'm a little late posting this.  Nova turned 1 year old almost 2 months ago.  Reaching her 1st birthday wasn't just an excuse for lots of special treats and toys, it was also the time to see if her bones where completely developed.  An x-ray of her shoulder the day after her first birthday showed her growth plates just needed another couple weeks before being completely closed, so I scheduled her spay for January 10.  Along with the spay, she had a gastropexy, a surgical procedure where they suture her stomach to her abdominal wall to prevent gastric torsion, or stomach twisting.  This is frequently fatal, so better to take preventative action now!  She has healed nicely and gets her stitches out tomorrow.

Nova is improving her agility skills rapidly.  Before her bones were completely developed, she learned all the agility obstacles, but couldn't jump at full height or do weave poles.  She had learned the preliminary steps to weaving, using a method called "2-by-2" weaves, but hadn't been able to put it all together, until today.  Today she did 6 inline weaves for the first time.  Yay!  She was rewarded with many pieces of cheese!

Nova obviously loves agility and she always learns quickly, but she's been a bit of a naughty girl in class.  She seems to think it's more of a party than a class, and would impulsively run off to play with the other dogs.  That was usually followed by a game of "catch me if you can".  One night it took me 20 minutes after class had ended to finally catch her!  After that, class was modified a bit to prevent Nova from disrupting everyone's class.  Gates (fences) were put up across the ring to give her some separation from some of the dogs, and she worked on a long-line to prevent her from running off to play with dogs on her side of the gates.  Meanwhile, I worked hard to teach her that playing with me is more fun than running away!  She's not quite ready to work off-leash yet, but she's making progress.

February 1 will mark one year with Nova.  It's been a wild year, but I'm so grateful to have her!  As I drove away from the breeders house that night, with Nova whining in her crate in the back of the car, I suddenly wondered if I'd picked the right puppy!?  I'd planned so carefully to get a dog with energy and drive that would love agility as much as I do.  I'd tried so hard to evaluate those 11 adorable puppies and pick the one that was perfect for me.  But, what if I'd chosen the wrong one?  Well, almost 1 year later I can say with complete confidence that I chose the absolutely PERFECT dog for me.  I hope she agrees!