Merry Christmas!

Today Chi went for a walk along the Downs Way with his 'family', Billy (honorary OBay). Griz the Lurcher, his Mom, True, sister Zen & The Little Evil 1 - Hex (1/2 sister):) We then went home to stuff our faces with the best roast beef ever! And dispite my forgetting the goose fat the roasties turned out fine (phew!) see the Obay site for spud details.

We toasted family & friends and wished everyone an enjoyable Christmas.

Olympia

What a day, wot an atmosphere, what an acheivement!

Having gone to the practice session at Premier on Sat and not had any adverse reactions to a little bit of work i decided to take Chi to Olympia. He was on top form - the only other time i remember running that fast with him was the Championship finals at Thames back in the summer.

Here are the courses - designed by Kate Austin and gr8 to run. Hum... not so easy to see the numbers eh! Tyre tunnel, weaves, jump, snake, wall, jump, tunnel, pin wheel, right turn jump, long finish - does that help? There's a prize for anyone who can figure out the course from that description! Alternatively just click on the pic!



We gained 5th in the jumping a good start to the day :)



Jump, dog walk, tunnel, jump opposite tunnel, right cross behind, jump, A frame, sharp right, jump see saw, right tunr jump, jump, wall, weaves, jump, long, right through to finish.

Chi had the fastest time on this course unfortunately he had a pole down (jump 11) so we ended up 7th. But in the scheme of things he is a champion in my and lots of other peoples eyes so we realy don't mind :) Watch out next year!


Here's Chi doing he bestest sit for Santa in the hope of getting a Christmas goodie!
Mum & my Auntie Mary came to watch. Here we are with Chi's rosettes. Our very efficient groom for the day & fellow OBay owner, Sonia took this pic. Unfortunately i didn't get a pic of our other supporters or Sonia - there was so much going on and so much to concentrate on.
It was a fantastic day, Chi performed brilliantly taking the whole atmosphere in his stride as usual. A good sign for Crufts & next year!

To Run or Not to Run

Today Chi had his stiches out. The wound is looking very tidy with no swelling, which is a good sign. Chi's vet agreed with our idea of having a test run for Olympia on Saturday and monitoring Chi Sunday & Monday for any adverse effects. If all clear we run. He could see no reason for us not to run as long as Chi was ok after this test run. To keep him fit Chi has been having a mixture of road walks and field runs over the last 3 - 4 days and is showing no signs that make me want to rest him up - so far so good. So fingers crossed. He continues to have Reiki & massage and his diet is crammbed full of anti oxidants & immune boosting foods. Nothing but the best for our boy :)



To keep him warm Chi has been wearing this special little hand knitted jumper. Note the 3 red arrows - rather fitting for Chi really :)
Now that he has his stiches out he will be able to wear his Equafleece - it's red just like our Olympia T shirts - 'tis a sign!! (I hope )

Remission

This morning we received a phone call from Professor Dick White informing us that the cancer in Chi's neck had been fully excised with good margins. Prof White wants us to be reviewd on a monthly basis for 6 months and is confident that if there are no further cancerous growths in this time that there is unlikely to be a recurrance every again.

So excellant news and fingers crossed till July!

The nutritionalists at Burns have provided some very helpfull advising on suppliments to boost Chi's immune system & help him recover. Luckily Burn's is a holistic food anyway with lots of body boosting ingredients so we're 'quids in' there - thank you Burns :)

Massage will also play a big part in Chi's fitness regime to help re build his muscles, strength and stamina ready for his next competition.

Home Sweet Home

HORRAH! Chi is home!

We collected him yesterday afternoon. He is ok, a little dazed probably from the GA and looks pittiful without his ruff - they shaved him for the USS (Ultrasound scan) & surgery.

Hopefully his special fleece jumper will arrive in the post tomorrow.

Now is the long 7 - 10 day wait for the lab results on the tissues Prof White removed. The chest x - ray, USS abdo & aspirate from the node under his jaw (which turned out to be a salivary gland, not a lymph) were all clear - HORRAH!!

Plse continue with fingers & toes crossed for good results.