But first. . .
How did this all start, you ask? How do I have time for this? Why do I want to enter the realm of crazy dog show people? Am I going to start wearing embroidered Australian Cattle Dog baseball caps and elastic waistband pants that reach up to my boobs? I don't have an answer to any of these questions for you (except for the last one. . NOOOOOO!). All I know is that about 3 months ago, I started feeling like I needed to put a title on a dog. And what better dog to do it on?
So next thing I know, I'm researching dog shows and I've entered one. Here's the problem. . . Uli is not a purebred dog. So in an all-time low, even for me, I used scotch tape to tape Uli's ears upright for a picture to send to the AKC to prove that she is a purebred Australian Cattle Dog. And much to my surprise, it worked! So now, the only thing we had to do was train for it.
I entered a prep class, in which Uli was the best dog ever (not surprising. . . of course). But our heeling was lagging. So I did it, I hired a professional. Uli and I started going for private lessons with Terri at Up Front Farms, who helped us clean up everything just that much more.
So here we are at show day! I was up by 5am cooking bacon, cutting hot dogs and cheese, and packing every toy that Uli has even remotely played with for the show. I arrived with my purebred Australian Cattle Dog at 9am for a 10:50 class, giving us ample time to practice and warm up before going into the ring. Another cattle dog handler looked at me with her head cocked to the side as if to say "Really?". But I didn't care, Uli was working wonderfully. I, on the other hand, needed a Xanax. I settled for a mimosa in a sippy cup brought from home (told you I was prepared!). Just the thing to take the edge off of my nerves (and everyone thought I was just drinking OJ).
It was our turn now. We went to the ring with amazing focus. 200 points in the test, I needed 170 to pass. On-leash heels: -3.5 points. Figure 8: perfect score. Stand for examination: perfect score. Off-leash heels: -3 points. 1 minute sit-stay: perfect score. 3 minute down-stay: perfect score. Now the last test, the one that Uli has never blown. . . I think we have it in the bag. Recall: DQ.
What???? So Apparantly there was something really exciting behind me that I didn't see, because Uli did. And she wandered past me. As I realized that she might go behind me, I gave a second command. . . which was enough to disqualify us. Ugh.
So if you ask, how did Uli do? She did pretty well. If you ask how I did. . . I blew it for us.
But I'm not upset. In fact, I'm pretty fired up to go into another show. I learned my lesson about double commanding. And Uli was happy because she got to spend the whole day with me eating bacon, cheese, and hot dogs and making mean faces at sweet female golden retrievers who weren't really challenging her. So hopefully, next time I blog about dog shows. . . we will have the first leg to our title. Yesterday was just not our day, but it was a good first time in the ring.
Talk to you all soon!
