UPDATE MARCH 26TH - This has been a very sad week for us.  Tuesday when we fed dogs we noticed something was wrong with Quest - his eyes were very black because his pupils were fully dilated.  We walked him up to the house to call the vet... he bumped into dogs and objects on the way so we feared he was losing his sight.  When we got to the vets they checked him out and referred us to a ophthalmologist so the next morning we were on our way to Dr Marion's office in Andover MA.  She examined him and our worst fears were confirmed - Quest was diagnosed with SARD (Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration). This is a disease of unknown cause which causes the dog to go blind as short as 24 hours.  It is not genetic, it's not painful and there is no treatment or cure.  To say we are depressed is an understatement.  We are already thinking of ways to make Quest's life as fulfilling as possible and how we are going to make it all work out for him.  He's doing quite well considering and is still pretty happy.  He still runs lose in the enclosure with all the other dogs, but he just walks now and sniffs his way around.  We are for sure going to miss Quest on the team.   He had turned into a top notch leader, lead our "A" team in every race in 2009 and was always excellent in harness.  We really feel he is one of those special leaders, the ones that take years to get and are once in a lifetime dogs.  We will miss him in training, the way he pants and quivers in excitement before a run, how he shreds shrubs when tied out on the truck waiting to get hooked up, how his ears almost touch when he is running down the trail looking to see what is around the next corner, how he shakes (like a wet dog) and moans when he's excited at hookup... those are the traits we will miss.  He's a great dog and we will never forget our last 3 seasons with him. 

UPDATE MAY 5TH -  Quest has been coping quite well with going blind.  We decided to give him a chance to run with the main team on some spring ATV runs.  We had no expectations of him but just wanted to see if he wanted to retire or not.  We were shocked and amazed at how well he has done!  We run him in front of wheel and he does very well there.  We will keep training him next fall and see what he wants to do.  We don't think he will be a main race dog in the future but we do think he will be able to run some.

UPDATE JAN. 6TH -  Well, it's a few days from our first race of the 2010 season and guess who is running wheel on the "A" team?  That's right, Quest is!  He has truly amazed us this season.  For the most part he drives just has hard as he did before he went totally blind.  Sometimes corners or dips in the trail will make him take an extra step or slow down a bit, but really that's nothing.  He's really an amazing dog, and we are so glad he could keep running with the team.  He gave us so much the first 4 years of his life as a leader, it's nice to repay him by keeping him on the team.  Some races he probably won't be able to do with us, some of the more technical trails like Wonalancet or Sandwich but overall he's done pretty much everything every other dog on the team has!