My last blog; Kiara’s last run:

Today, as I (Andrea) laced up my sneakers, I watched for a response from my all time favourite running partner.  I waited to see if Kiara would perk up her ears and start following me around eagerly.  There was a time when she would get excited as soon as I pulled a certain type of shorts out of my dresser, knowing what that meant.  Since we started running together in 2007, Kiara has always loved going for our runs.  In the beginning,  there was a lot of pulling and resisting.  She would pull, and I would resist.  Her fitness and excitement levels were clearly unmatched by me and I could not keep up.  Slowly, as I learned to claim the dominant role and she learned to run beside me;  we became an awesome running duo. 

Boerboel’s need a lot of activity and I was happy to provide it for Kiara.  Apart from the occasional challenge from the un-leashed dog, our runs would go pretty smoothly.  Over the years, our runs changed from her pulling me, to us running in sync, to me pulling her.  As she began to slow down in the last 6 months or so, I wondered if it was due to laziness, bad timing, lack of interest on her part, among other things. It wasn’t until we took Kiara to the vet for a check up that we began to see differently.  The vet mentioned that we should soon consider putting her on a “seniors diet”. That blew my mind. Kiara is our youngest dog.  We knew Kobe (our almost 14 year old Choc. Lab) was a senior, but Kiara too???   Yes, the vet said a 9 year old Boerboel is considered geriatric and that we shouldn’t run much with her anymore.

Sadly, I wanted to go for just one more run with her. After that, I agreed I would walk her to her hearts content.  So, today, I laced up my sneakers, and waited; hoping to see the familiar excitement.  She didn’t appear thrilled, however she did saunter over and agreeably went outside with me.

What started out as a brisk walk, quickly turned into a smooth jog.  I started thinking, maybe she’s not too old and maybe she really could keep running with me.  Shortly thereafter, she wanted to sniff and pee. So, as per usual, I let her, but without complaint this time.  It was an interesting run.  Jog, sniff, pee, repeat.  Not quite the fartlek we were used to, however we enjoyed it much the same. 

I will certainly try and keep Kiara as a part of my runs as long as possible, even if it means simply having her walk with me during the cool down after the run.

So, tonight was the last time Kiara joined me on one of my runs and tomorrow will be the first time I join her on one of hers. Her pace; her direction. I follow. Just like in the beginning.