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Holly at School 
Mom believes that a well-behaved dog is more likely to
stay a member of the family than one that is not. So, I
started puppy school as soon as I got all my shots (ouch!).
We liked it so much that we signed up for another, and another.
Now I go to two schools, sometimes even three. I guess Mom
wants to keep me in the family forever.
 
 .....What was that command again?.....
I don't know if I'm really smarter than before, but
I'm sure getting bigger cause all the treats I get
there. School is lots of fun. I get to see all of my doggie
friends and visit with other humans too! I get to
play with a "dumbbell", jump over boards, and sometimes
just "heeling" around and around the room
chasing all the other doggies, but we never catch up
with any of them. They're always ahead of us. I
also have to watch out for the ones chasing us, but they
never catch us either. Once in a while my mom pops a treat in my
mouth and says "good girl", "good heel", "excellent job".
As long as I hear that and get treats, I don't care if we
go around in circles all night. Maybe we're all supposed
to lose some weight since we doggies get so much treats!
I have two teachers,
Loretta Delinger,
and
Lori Drouin.
They're both great! I must be doing good because they keep
letting us come back. The only hard thing about school is that
even though I know how to do a behavior, I'm not suppose to
do it until Mom gives the command. I mess up there
a lot because I want to finish the behavior quickly
and get my reward. They call that "anticipating", and it's
not good. They try to trick me by giving me other commands,
but I get confused. For instance, I know on the recall I'm
suppose to run real fast to mom to get my treat, but when the
teacher says "call your dog", Mom doesn't always give me the
signal to come right away. So I help by coming anyway. But
when I do that, she doesn't like it and makes me repeat the
exercise again. All these silly humans, why do I have to sit
or lie down a certain way, or not move at all? Or sit each time
Mom stops. Then I have to hurry to catch up with her when she
starts walking again. If I don't have to sit when she stops,
I would be ready to go when she does! Oh well, I guess there's
a reason, so I'll keep going to school to get smarter so I can
find out what it's all about.
Sometimes mom takes me to a park and we have to do
certain things in a "ring" fenced only with ribbons. I can escape
from the ring if I want to, but I stay to keep mom company.
Then we go through some "exercises" with a human following us
giving commands. This worries me because I'm afraid I'll mess
up and mom won't give me any treats. Anyway, sometimes if I'm
real good, the "judge" will give mom a ribbon or a prize, but
I don't get any treats! That's no fair...I do all the work and
Mom gets the reward! Some day I'll discuss this with her. One
time in the ring I decided not to obey the commands and just
went visiting the stewards near the table. Boy, was this a big
mistake! I didn't make the "leg" and really disappointed mom.
She just took me to more classes, but I didn't mind because
I love going to class!
Lori has this really neat Sheltie named Chaser who is really,
really smart. He must have gone to school a lot because he's
got a "UDX" degree, and
that's much better than a
"CDX" (which I
have)! But I've got a "CGC"
and a
"Therapy Pet" degree too.
He always does everything just right, which makes us look
bad in class because the rest of us aren't as smart. Maybe that's
why he gets to relax or play in his pen while we have to work!
Sometimes my mom sneaks a treat to him, but his mom doesn't know.
Don't tell her.
Loretta brings her doggies to class too. They're Border
Collies, and one is named Holly too! The other is Echo.
Holly's got her CD, and she does herding too! Imagine, being
able to tell sheep what to do! She also has a Sheltie named Peter,
but I haven't seen him in a long time. Maybe he's so smart now he
doesn't have to go to school any more.
Mom and I have been trying really hard to get legs toward my CDX, but
I'm not doing so good. We went to one trial, and I did really good
in the first part, but blew it in the group exercises. Boy, when I
saw Mom leave the ring during the sit-stay, I wasn't about to stick around with all those
mean-looking dogs and a human I didn't know. I was out of there! In
fact, I bolted so fast out of the ring, I even beat Mom. To make things
worse, the judge told her to put me back during the down-stay, but
that didn't stop me from leaving again, and fast. Mom told me I lost
a 191-1/2 score by running out of the ring, whatever that means.
What is the big deal anyway, that was just one time that I didn't obey
Mom. I listen every other time. Besides, don't worry, there'll be other
shows (gulp). I don't like shows.
Well, we went to another show last weekend, and I blew
it again. I did everything great up until the very
last thing--the down stay. I was so mad at mom for not
giving me any treats when I did a great job, I decided
to show her by running out of the ring again. I did
the heel free very well indeed, only lost 1-1/2 points,
did the drop on recall with a perfect score, only lost
1/2 point on both retrieves, and would have done the
broad jump perfectly if the judge hadn't kept staring
at me and making me nervous. Right after the jump she
followed me, so I stopped to see what she was going to
do. Oops, I forgot to sit in front of mom and lost 3
points there. Oh, well, you can't win them all. Then,
I did something which I thought was quite amazing; I
stayed the whole time on the long sit and didn't even
move a toe! Well, when mom returned into the ring,
I gave her the biggest proud smile and, of course, I
expected her to give me a big treat, but all she did
was give me a pat and a "good girl". That was the last
straw. I'm not working when I don't get paid! So, when
she left the ring for the long down, I ran out. How am
I to train her if I let her get away with it this time.
Before you know it, she wouldn't use any treats. I've
seen this in classes, and I feel sorry for my fellow
canines who work their tails off, and they get no reward.
No, I wouldn't want my human to start doing that. So,
I ran. Ummm, I'll let you know next time if this improves
mom's behavior.
Boy, did I make mom happy today (4/30/00). I not only made
a "leg" toward my CDX title, but I tied for first place. That
means two dogs got exactly the same top score. So we had
what is called a "runoff", but what I call more work. We had to
go into the ring again to do some more heeling. Well, did mom
ever BLOW IT. When we walked into the ring, I saw one of my
favorite people working as a steward and naturally I had to go
say hi. Mom pulled my leash back and told me to sit. The
judge SHOWED HER--not suppose to use the leash, can't
use corrections in the ring, ha ha. For once the judge was on
my side! That made us lose the runoff, so we got only second
place, a red ribbon instead of blue. Boy, all of my hard work
and Mom ruined it! Anyway, Mom also got a pretty trophy.
I'm glad I made that one for her, maybe now she'll get off my case!
Maybe we won't need to go to another show for a while. She did
treat me extra special the rest of the day, gave me lots of treats
as soon as we got out of the ring!
Wow, I did it again, made my second leg at a kennel club show
and was the only dog in my class that passed. I won first place
and got a blue ribbon. Mom got a pretty glass jewelry box. I
even got my picture taken with Mom and the judge!
Double wow! I got a third leg and finished my CDX at another
kennel club show. This time I only got 4th place and a white ribbon.
Now we get to party at the next class! You're suppose to throw a
party and bring a cake and stuff when you earn a title.
See you at the Golden specialty in Carmel!
Well, I just made my UD title, all legs in one weekend in only 3 shows, and all
first placements! Mom and her friends seemed very impressed. Said something
like rarely happens, usually takes many many more shows. Mom says God gave
us the victory, that's why we made it. They must have been miracles cause I
wasn't trying hard at all since I wasn't getting any food in the ring. Always hate
to work without pay!
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