Riley is my first dog. Well we always had working Goldie’s at home. My father trained them. I grew up with the idea of training and working a dog.
Riley is a Australian Shepherd. Red merle with Copper and white. His father is Fairoaks Royal Flush and his mother Wyndanwood Fire in the Dark.
Riley likes to be cheeky and
noity at times. He is very sweet and loyal to his family members. Riley and i are one. He is so into me, everywhere i go he wants to go with me. He loved to do obedience and was getting so consistent and strong we thought he could go on till he is eleven years
old. How little did we know….
We started with obedience training when he was 16 weeks old. We loved every minute of the training. Together we started in
the lowest class Pre beginner. We just went thru the classes to C only inHolland. I think he was almost three years old then. We both needed a lot of training. Few years later we started to go over to England to compete. From one thing came another.
Riley qualified for ticket! A dream came thru! I never thought we would end competing in ticket. It’s a pity we only competed in a couple tickets. One time he got a 6th place. He missed
the down on the move but that was already because he had problems with his back. We just did not know.
Two times Riley was selected for the World Cup team Holland.
In 2011, his last year he got a individual 5th place and a first place with the Dutch team! Really did not think that it would have bin his last time at Crufts. He tried so hard that day. The circumstances weren’t great. That day he already
had his back problem.
Reading this back the first 8 years were a dream. Last year is just a roller coaster. Lots of times i think, how could i have not know… It just the way it is. He always
(like all my dogs) go twice a year to a Physical therapist and he did go to Helen Lightfoot. When he started fitting we were worried about a brain tumour. He went to the Neurologist and she checked him from head to tow. She never found anything on his back
and every other vet haven’t seen it. The focus was on the epilepsy. He had Mri’s of his brain but there was no reason to have one of his back. The orthopaedic specialist sad he had his back problem for a longer time. Probably a year. I know
he had a accident a year before and he was knocked out pretty bad. The specialist sad that would be the cause. Just a though guy Riley is to go one training. A real once in a life time soul mate. Just wish i had known…