On the Road to Cynosport: Dove and Torque

Dove Cresswell of Burnaby, B.C., Canada, likes the challenge of agility competition, and Torque, her 7-year-old koolie, is happy to meet each challenge right alongside her. Together they have enjoyed success at Cynosport^®, as well as the Pacific Northwest and Southwest Regionals. But it hasn’t always been easy, Dove said.

“Torque has overcome a lot of obstacles in life to become the amazing agility dog he is today,” she said. “From a rough start as a chained farm dog, to battling a chronic viral infection for 14 months—which required an experimental autonomous vaccine to beat—and then just months later being diagnosed with lymphoma,” the challenges he has faced in his young life have been plentiful.

With the same teamwork and tenacity they demonstrate on the agility field, this team didn’t let the cancer stop them. Torque had six months of chemotherapy in 2014 and has been in remission ever since. “He lost a lot of muscle, but with a conditioning routine and lots of hiking, he came back stronger and faster than ever before,” she said.

Throughout all of this, he was always playing with toys and enthusiastic to play agility, even if it was just single obstacle work.

Dove and Torque are excited to face whatever challenges Cynosport^® 2018 brings. “He’s beat the odds multiple times,” Dove said, “and taught me never to underestimate a dog—and NEVER give up!”