The Old Guy Keeps On Ticking

SUMMARY: Jake's 15th Birthday was November 1

We were in Scottsdale for Jake's 15th birthday, poor guy. He really wanted a party and a cake, but it just didn't seem practical (or, OK, easy) at the time, so I just mentioned it to a bunch of people and made sure that he got plenty of extra noncrate time that day.

So, tonight, for class, I'm taking a cake. Got nonchocolate so that, if anyone wants their dogs to splurge (it is a 15th birthday, after all, not just any old bday), they can have some.

I found some toy traffic cones and put numbers on them just like you'd have on an agility course, and numbered a path through the decorations on the cake from 1 to 15 with the #15 right on the "15th" of the message; there's even a start line and finish line. I'm sure Jake will appreciate the subtle wit.

I'm going to take all 3 dogs to class tonight so they can all have a piece of cake, and probably run Jake a run or two at 12"--mostly he's been retired from class since February, so we'll see how he likes it. Every time I've tried him since then, it has made me wonder why I retired him. Doesn't he look great for a (purported) 15-year-old? Wish I could backtrack his history; it just doesn't seem possible for him to be that old.

We know he has to be at least 11 based on when he earned his first agility leg, but that would assume that he earned it at exactly 18 months of age after being put into rescue and then being placed in a few homes and finally adopted out and eventually trained...