We had Derby's heart auscultated at a cardiac clinic in November of 2006 and the cardiologist heard a faint murmur. He marked the form as having equivocal results and recommended re-testing him in 6 months. April 29, 2007 we had Derby re-examined by a different cardiologist, and in his written comments he said that he heard an "innocent murmur" and it was a "Grade 1-2 low frequency ejection type murmur over the tricuspid valve" and recommended an echo cardiogram as follow-up. It seemed that Derby's murmur is pretty ordinary and harmless for a sighthound. However I followed up with an echo-cardiogram by a third cardiologist on Saturday, September 8, 2007 just to be sure that there were no surprises lurking. Derby got a 100% normal diagnosis - no sign of congenital or acquired heart disease. The third cardiologist also called the mummer "innocent." Derby gets along well with most other dogs and has lived with both intact females and males and while he is respectful and non-challenging with the older males he grew up with, we feel he would do best in a home without other male dogs. Derby was neutered on July 18, 2007 and was recovered enough to run again by the Jersey Rag Racers lure coursing trial on August 11th. He had a couple of very nice runs and managed to come in 3rd to a 5 point major to earn his first two points towards his AKC Field Championship. On Sunday, September 2, 2007 he ran a "course of a lifetime" in his preliminary run, it sent goose bumps up my spine. He finished 2nd to a 4 point major to garner an additional 2 points towards his title. He has shown improvement each time he's run and on November 25, 2007 he finished 1st in an open stake of 16 for a 5 point major. After taking the winter off, Derby won the Open stake of 18 on April 13th, 2008 to finish off his AKC Field Championship with a second 5 point major. That drive home went really quick! Since then he's run in three ASFA trials and finished first, first and third to accumulate 60 points and his two firsts towards his ASFA Fch. He's entered in the Open stake at the International Invitational to be held May 31 & June 1, 2008 in Leesburg, VA. Let's hope for cool weather this year! Derby and I took a Beginner Obedience in the fall of 2007, and he learned very quickly what is expected of him. Sort of on the spur of the moment, I decided to try him at the Canine Good Citizen test on November 9, 2007 since it was being offered at my local kennel club's show, and much to my delight, he passed. This spring we're going to see how much of his obedience exercises he remembers as we go in the ring for the first time in Rally Novice. |
| Running at Hanover 12/30/2006 at 14 months of age |
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| Here's Derby at age 2, I guess those obedience classes are worth something after all. |
| Flash! - Derby has earned points in the last three trials he's run in. He won the Open stake at two trials earning 60 points and all the placements required for his ASFA field championship. |