Diaries I Read:
I have a little gold trophy sitting on my desk right now.
You know why?
Because my dog is the best dog in the world.
Or, at least, in her obedience class.
In a way.
See, last night was Dixie�s obedience school exam and graduation. It was a very big event, and B and I had been preparing for it all week.
Dixie has been doing really, really well in her class. She knows how to heel, sit when you stop, stay, lie down, lie down and stay, stand up and stay, come and sit in front of you, and walk around you and sit at your side again. She is extremely talented.
Last week at her class, she was the best one by far. Her instructor raved about how good she was. Of course, this was while a lot of the other dogs were still jumping on their owners and had to be shoved down to make them sit.
Like I said, graduation day was a very big deal. I even tried to find a little doggie graduation cap and gown online, but I couldn�t find one. So she wore a new scarf around her neck � it�s blue with little butterflies and flowers on it.
Her grammy and grandpa came to watch her graduate, too, and I was prepared with my camera AND the video camera.
B was taking it very seriously. He was her handler for the test, since she seems to behave a little better with him than with me.
When we arrived, we discovered that there were seven dogs in the class again, whereas only five have been coming to the recent sessions. That meant even more competition for the first, second, and third-place trophies.
Dixie was the fourth dog to be tested. She had to heel, sit, stay, walk with B around cones, stand up and let the instructor �inspect� her (run her hand along her back) without moving, heel some more, stay some more, and come. She did everything perfectly! Well, nearly perfectly � B had to correct her once to get her to sit, and she may have tugged a little on her leash during some of her heeling. But even with those little things, she still had the best performance by far. That part of the test was worth 100 points.
Then they had all the dogs line up, sitting. Their handlers told them to stay and then walked away. The dogs had to stay sitting for one minute. Dixie sat there like a champ, not moving at all. Some of the other dogs around her got up and started moving, but Dixie just sat there. That exercise was worth 30 points.
Then, for the last part of the test (also worth 30 points), they were still lined up but lying down this time. Again, they were told to stay and their handlers walked away. She started the minute-long countdown, and I was really nervous as Dixie lay there. I could tell she was getting a little bored with all of this, and she was starting to act distracted, looking around her, but still lying there like she was supposed to.
Then she sort of looked over her shoulder, and there was this little girl standing on the sidewalk with the rest of the �spectators.� Everyone was being really quiet, trying not to disturb the dogs, but this little girl was dancing around. Dixie kept looking at her, and then she sat up. She didn�t move � just sat up.
Then it was time to announce the scores and give out the trophies for first, second, and third place. Even though I knew Dixie had done really well, I hadn�t been paying enough attention to the other dogs to really know how they had done in comparison. So I didn�t know what place to expect her to come in, but I was positive we�d be going home with a trophy.
Third place went to a Sheltie. We all clapped as she received her trophy.
Second place went to �
drum roll please �
DIXIE!!
I was thrilled! I was so excited that she had done such a good job.
First place went to a golden retriever named Mattie, and B was really annoyed with that, saying that Mattie was a �stupid, stupid dog� and that he couldn�t believe she had beaten Dixie. I didn�t really care that much � Dixie had learned a lot and she had performed well. I was very proud of her, and proud of B and me because we had spent a lot of time practicing with her.
But then we got Dixie�s score sheet. Because she had sat up during her �down stay,� she was docked the entire 30 points! Without that deduction, she would have beaten Mattie by a landslide!
My dog lost the first-place trophy on a technicality.
What a rip.
But we still know she was the best dog in the class.
And so does Mattie.
Working at home - Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2004
Toronto - Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2004
On the way to Toronto... - Tuesday, Nov. 09, 2004
A Good Day - Monday, Nov. 08, 2004
Another letter - Thursday, Nov. 04, 2004