I remember our first trainings. I was so enthusiastic about it, I used to drive like 1 hour away so that we could run a little and play. Not Ben, he thought agility was really not fun and preferred to stay aside and wonder what the hell am I doing there among the obstacles. He is my first dog and my first agility partner, it was not his fault I didn't know how to show him agility was fun. He wasn't an easy dog to start with, especially not as we were surrounded by crazy high drive border collies. I didn't understand much about agility then, it was hard for me to understand why he would run so crazy after a ball, he would run with me in the woods, fields, he was not that type of a dog who would get distracted by anyone or anything - he was just so focused on me - but no, he wouldn't run agility. It was nice he made me realize right from the start that agility is not fun if you make things too difficult, if you take it for granted, if you don't listen to your dog and compare him to others. I'm so thankful for him. So we made things easier, shorter, I started listening to him, adapted things to him, we did only things he liked, like running contacts and channel weaves, we trained when he wanted to, we did many things... And succeeded :) Sure we had many ups and downs after that, but we succeeded, we managed to have fun together on the course. He made me realize so many things. Thanks to my Ben I am who I am today and my dogs are who they are. I will never forget about the feeling of being on the start with him. He liked to make things difficult and was constantly reminding me not to get too lazy - we used to start from hand for 9 years just because he would not run equally fast if I asked him to stay. he would run to just any obstacle near or far away if I was just a tiny bit late or even if I was on time - just because it was more fun that way. He made me laugh a million times on the course. He taught me how to laugh. Always. About 5 months ago Ben slightly injured his toe, probably running after a ball. It's probably just a tiny ligament injury. He feels no pain when walking, running, swimming. Only on agility. I gave him a long rest from agility, twice. After the first break we tried again, but the limping came back. After a second 3-months long rest we tried some agility again. No limping, no pain, however he seemed a bit slower. Since he showed no pain we tried another training a week after that. But this time he showed a slight pain in his finger again and it also got a little swollen. I am not sure what movement causes this limping, could be the contacts, could be just running after the ball, as I always reward him with a ball after the run. It's hard to reward him with anything else, as he clearly loves his ball more than agility and more than anything else. Ben is 11 years old. I could give him a longer rest than 3 months, but I am not really sure how much sense it makes to give him 6 months of rest and then try again at 11,5 years. Even tough I will miss these moments so much, I just want him to be healthy. These were for sure wonderful 10 years of my life, but I am ready for the next ten years with him, doing other things. I'm sure he will enjoy being a cheerleader as well, I will make sure he will always be the centre of the attention, that he gets a lot of cuddles and treats and most of all that he will always be right next to me, my little shadow <3. In the video you can see two of Ben's last runs, it was just after the first break after the injury, he seemed perfectly OK here and was running like crazy. I love these two runs, as they are so real - with all the funny mistakes we used to have, with all the enthusiasm he showed, what an amazing little dog. Unfortunately he showed a slight pain in the toe after that. Happy retirement my little clown. Every ending is a new beginning. I will make sure you will always know how special you are, on and off agility.