Since this is my first post on this page, let me be the first to say welcome to my brand new blog all about my dog. My name is Cassie Kennedy and I am a student, a runner, a dreamer, but most importantly...a dog mom. I am nineteen years old now, but a few years ago I was diagnosed with a considerably rare heart condition known as Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome. It causes my heart to beat irregularly, and sometimes very quickly. As hard as it was for me to accept that I had this rare condition, there was someone who never left my side. Someone who stood by me every night it would get bad. And for me, that was my very special Border Collie...Tiki.I'll admit that all of my dogs are special to me, but Tiki helped me in a way that none of the others ever could. She would listen to my heartbeat and no matter how much I pushed her away, she'd always lay on top of my chest to comfort me. One night, an ambulance came and took me to the hospital because my palpitations wouldn't stop. Tiki ran away from home that night, looking for me.
That night, I was afraid I was going to lose my best friend. I'm so glad I didn't, and ever since then Tiki has had a way of being able to slow my heart rate when all other methods I tried won't work. I can't help but believe that some greater power sent her to watch out for me. And I'm so thankful for that. There are no words to describe just how much she really means to me. I think that Tiki is more sensitive to my own discomfort because she has experienced some health issues herself in the past. Before Tiki was my service dog, she was my competitive agility dog.
On weekends, we attended trials all over Florida and she loved it. She even earned a couple of titles back in her day, as well as many ribbons and awards. However, Tiki would begin to overheat and collapse. Unfortunately, I had to make the difficult decision to retire her from competitive agility for her own good. Now, I still attend competitions with my other Border Collie, Stoke (pictured above). If you would like to read more about him and our adventures together, you can do so by clicking here, as I have a separate blog dedicated to him.
My goals for Tiki now include getting her certified as my service dog "officially" so I can bring her to my classes with me when I go back to school in the Fall. In addition to that, we have also been performing trick demonstrations for events around the state, and even been getting paid to do so. Sometimes I ask myself, is there anything this dog really can't do? I highly doubt it, and even if there is I wouldn't trade her for anything in the entire world. Because she means that much to me.
Much Love,
Cassie & Tiki
