Monday, December 1, 2014

RIP Yikes! 10/28/01 - 11/30/14

MACH Speedoggie Already Crazy MXS MJG AAD GM TM


“Yikes!”
October 28, 2001 - November 30, 2014

Yikes! was our very first homegrown Champion and his accomplishments awarded Speedoggie with our first AKC Breeder of Merit Award. However all of his agility awards pale in comparison to his amazing spirit, sense of humor and companionship. Yikes! and I traveled together and enjoyed many an adventurous vacation while on the road competing and teaching. His first love was watching TV with us. His ability to locate television screens in any room, anywhere, and then turn them on was nothing short of amazing. Whether it be a smart phone, an iPad, computer or a large screen television, Yikes! could locate it in a room immediately upon entering it and then he would make it his job to get it to play something. Touch screens were no match for his nose and if there was a button to be pushed he would fine it and push it until he got the devise to start. Many a day I came back to our RV and he would immediately climb up on the dinette and turn the TV on top of the refrigerator on with his nose so we could watch it together. At one point he was filmed turning the TV on in our RV while we were out at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games Agility Competition. Always the entertainer, Yikes! loved all the attention and laughs he got from the film crew. 

Yikes! second love was water. Splashing it to be exact. Swimming wasn't really a great love of his, but splashing and yelling at the water droplets was great fun. So much fun in fact that we would have to limit his availability to baby pools, etc or he would hurt his feet from digging at the water. Lakes and oceans were also one of his very favorites and we would always try to find him some water to play in wherever we went. 


Yikes! made friends easily and wherever we would go he would be everyone’s favorite dog of our pack. You would think with a bunch of black and white border collies swarming around people wouldn't be able to tell them apart. But they all knew Yikes!, he charmed every person, child or animal he ever met. His personality was huge and after his retirement he became Speedoggie’s official greeter and bathroom assistant. Anyone who has been to our home knows Yikes! 

Yikes! spend his last hours with us sitting by the fire watching agility videos of his brother, niece and nephew from the weekends competition and feasting on a delicious chicken with homemade gravy meal that Frankie made for him. He died peacefully in my arms with us singing quietly to him. 

Yikes! will be greatly missed by his immediate family of brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews, birds and cats, as well as the many close friends (dog and human) he has made over the years. Our hearts are very heavy with the loss of our great friend and companion but we are thankful to have had the opportunity to spend so many great years together as well as one last Thanksgiving together as a family.