This week the dogs had to hold a long down stay. It was a dog-wrestling event for the other owners, but Phoenix held her down stay in spite of the instructor squeaking and throwing toys, a boxer invading her space and me being across the room. Whereas the week before she swore she had never heard of such a term as "heel", this week she heeled like a champion, even with me doing inside and outside turns and varying speeds, which we had not practiced. Instead of racing out like a conformation dog, she stuck like glue and nailed every sit when I stopped.
I have to stop going to classes until I find a full-time job, but I think we will go on. She is much more confident than when we started and she clearly was the best dog there, and I think she knew it. The other people gushed over what a great dog she is. All I could say was, "She's a corgi", and anyone who has a corgi knows exactly what I meant.
5 comments:
Congratulations Phoenix! Good job girl!
Yes, even though Denali is clearly not meant to be a performance dog, she still has fun going to the classes and it has been a real confidence builder for her. She is just plain terrible on heeling, after a year of classes. She just doesn't have the focus and I am not sure she'll ever really be able to show, but we've been to a few matches and she has often been better than many of the others there! It has also just been nice to have more verbal control over her, as she's kind of a wild thing at times. She's still a big puppy at heart and she is a Cardi - life is all about having fun!
Even if she doesn't ever get a title, if Phoenix seems to be getting something out of the experience, it is definitely worth it!
Sedona says "dats my sissy!" :) Way to go Phoenix!! Keep up the great work with her! Sedona is next on my list to get some agility and obedience training :)
Wow, I feel like I just hear from MY long-lost sister!
If Sedona is like Phoenix, she is too smart for her own good and needs a job to do.
So, obviously the litter was wan Arizona theme--do you know where and/or who are the rest of the puppies in the litter?
It actually was a "D" theme for the registered names.... and Carolyn happened to like the ones I came up with. :) She had a Aussie with a name similar (registered name) and loved the Desert Rose idea I had come up with. I'm not sure now, how we came up with "Phoenix"... I think I was throwing names out there and it stuck. :) We're the only "Arizona" themed puppies from the litter.
We also have Norman - who lives in Eugene, Bond, who lives with Laura Scaura (where ever she lives), Blue, who is now living in NY state (but who was raised by Kate in Idaho and all other fun places she went), and the fuzzy blue boy whose name I'm not able to remember now... I have lots of litter pictures, if you're interested.
I'm just glad to be able to see the adventures of Phoenix again! I love keeping up with littermates!
Thanks for the info on the litter. I have a few pictures from Kate of the litter, but I would love to have more. My e-mail is hmdahlin@mac.com and would appreciate some.
I love both of Phoenix's names, since I love the desert and have special memories of running around Arizona with my cousin. I love Phoenix and all of her quirks. She is so sweet and smart as all get out.
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