Got root?

I showed Rockit today at the Troy Kennel Club Dog Show in West Springfield, Mass. Rockit is maturing, and at 17 months old, he’s starting to come into his own.   Today he showed spectacularly.

For the first time since Suffern, NY, he had competition in his class.  (Open Red Dog). He’d never beaten the red tri boy he was up against today, but Rockit showed really, really well today.   He moved well — so well in fact that I didn’t need to think about him much once we got going.

So he took the Open Red class, and we stayed in the ring for winners. I thought that perhaps we weren’t even going to get a look, as the judge immediately began looking at the blue merle behind me (the winner of the Open Blue Merle Dog class).   He had that dog come up, and had him move down and back. The, suprisingly he had me move Rockit down and back.   At that point I knew I was in the mix.   He had one other dog move down and back (the winner of 12-18 month dog), and after that he awarded Winners Dog to the 12-18 month dog, and Reserve Winners Dog to the blue merle. So, no points.

But, I’m very pleased at the fact that we were in the mix, and considered. And tomorrow is another day.  More on that tomorrow, perhaps…..

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time lately working with my Australian Shepherd Callie.

Well, her registered name is RisingStar Diamond in the Ruff, but her call name is Callie. She’s pretty awesome, and I’m getting her ready for showing. I also think she’d be pretty good at agility down the line.

Here she is: Click here for her picture.

Our latest endeavor has been Basic Obedience. This is kind of interesting because you don’t want her sitting in the show ring, so I’ve been trying hard to decide if I should avoid “sit” altogether for now, or else get her to the point where she only sits when I tell her to. I’m leaning toward the latter.

The training facility, Connecticut K-9 is great. They having a training method that involves some minimal correction, and lots and lots of praise (with a food reward from time to time). Seems to work very well for Callie and me.

I’ve come to believe in what the author Jon Katz calls co-existence. For example, there are things that Callie, by the very nature of her breed, are compelled to do. Yes, training helps, but in a way, it’s also like having a 3 year old running around the house. You child-proof your home for those times when accidents happen. You dog-proof your kitchen (especially if the dog tends to want to check out what’s on the counter) for the same reason. Co-existing is a lot less stress on both of you.

By the way, you might want to check out Katz On Dogs, which is an exellent book. He’s got Border Collies, which are a lot more high energy than Aussies, and his books have been most helpful to me.

More on Callie and our show efforts in the future…..