Jump that Ring Fence!

(Phoned in by Rudy)

Hi guys!

I was at a dog show today, 'way out west of home about an hour, and I had a fun time. Mom brought me out there early and it was raining on the way out, but not when we got to the showgrounds. We parked in a big field and she wanted to practice some more obedience, but there were so many smells in that field (GROUNDHOG!!!) it was hard for me to concentrate.

Finally I got the idea but only after the sun came out and dried out the grass and the good smells. We were going to do Rally Obedience! Oh, OK... it's not as much fun as agility or Earthdog, but here we go. Mom figured it out so she gave me a huge pep talk and acted like this was going to be some fun! Yea! I was pepped up!

Well I got so excited, we did the first few stations just fine and then we got to the left-hand corner of the ring. Mom was crowding me and trying to get me to do a 270 degree left turn , and her left arm went out like she wanted me to go away, and so over the ring fence I went! That was fun! This was an off-leash test so I was free to go anywhere. Mom was kind of shocked and called my name -- oops, isn't that what you wanted??? So I popped back over and she got me to try that turn again. Oh geez, I hoped we weren't eliminated for that. We did the rest of the test just fine and when we finished, the judge told her we were OK since I came right back and started working right away. That made Mom feel better.
Some bad doggie that came after us thought what I did was cool, so HE jumped the ring fence but HE didn't come back. He ran around and around and around! Ohhh they didn't get to try that again... they had to leave.


I ended up scoring 90 out of 100 and getting third place. That was great! I got a lot of treats for that. My 'fan club' was really pleased! (yes I have groupies.. heh heh) I had to go with my breeder after that and do conformation showing and guess what -- I got Best of Breed and followed that up with a Group 3! (3rd best in the Terrier group). They all love me now!

(I'm spending the weekend with the breeder and her show buddies so I'm dictating this to Mom tonight. I'll be glad to get home, they don't treat me like royalty over there...)

Love,
Rudy


(Mom speaking: Rudy's mom Clancy and Auntie Em couldn't be less impressed tonight)