This tribute has been floating around the dog net for years now...but I still love to read it. It inspires me everytime. I would love to change, however, the pronoun "it" to either he or she...depending upon which dog the author had formost in her mind as she wrote....
I recently dug it out as Maudie and I have started training.
What is an Obedience Title, Really
by Sandy Mowery of Highland, Wis.
Not just a brag, not just a stepping-stone to a higher title, not just an adjunct to competitive scores, a title is a tribute to the dog that bears it, a way to honor the dog, an ultimate memorial. It will remain, in record and in memory, for about as long as anything in this world can remain. Few humans will do as well or better.
And though the dog itself doesn't know or care that its achievements have been noted, a title says many things in the world of humans, where such things count. A title says your dog was intelligent and adaptable and good-natured. It says that your dog loved you enough to do the things that pleased you however crazy they may have sometimes seemed.
And a title says that you loved your dog, that you loved to spend time with it because it was a good dog, that you believed in it enough to give it yet another chance when it failed, and that, in the end, your faith was justified. A title proves your dog inspired you to that special relationship enjoyed by so few; that in a world of disposable creatures, this dog with a title was greatly loved and loved greatly in return.
And when that dear, short life is over, the title remains as a memorial of the finest kind, the best you can give to a deserving friend, volumes of praise in one small set of initials after the name. An obedience title is nothing less than love and respect given and received and permanently recorded.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Saturday, April 7, 2007
April 7
april 7
Spring is here and life becomes chaotic. The sky is filled with sprouts and the ground is soggy and emerald, all manner of green swords and pink cups appearing on the horizon and at our feet.
Maudie is pure pleasure. She is a collie: wise, gentle, funny, and modest. Everyday I see more of her soundness, that rock steady presence that has given me courage and energy to get out. Every night we go for a walk.
And yesterday, after a difficult first meeting with the long narrow staircase to Sharon’s office, we altered the plan and all went and sat by the river. Maude wanted to sit on Sharon’s lap, bury her head in mine. After a while she lied down between us and fell asleep. We chased a flock of Canadian geese away. She had on both her Roadie harness and her therapy dog vest.
On our way home, we stopped at Gabriel Park to see when the dog park would reopen so my girl could have a good lope…turns out there is a winter park. So we walked all around the back acres and through the woods, up the hill---the day was perfect—72 degrees and clear—to find a patch of dirt fenced in on a hill. I heard the screeching of a dogfight, as we got closer so I nixed the idea and we walked back on the trails. Through the special shadow of trees, on the gorgeous paths that lead somewhere, and sometimes over a brook or a bridge. My history came seeping back into my body like sunlight.
How many years I have wanted to go back into the woods..How many years have I forgone the pleasure thinking I had no place there? Did I know that it would take a collie to get me there? She has become my therapy dog, in service of getting me out into the world. When she is with me, I am unafraid, I am bold, I am curious. I just have to help my body catch up with the desire! These things alon are vest-worthy.
March 26
26 March 26, 2007
Early morning. I just returned from taking M to the hospital for day surgery. When I left it was dark; now the sun has come up just over the horizon. The morning is amazing. People are out walking with dogs or running or waiting for the bus and all the lights f the city are winking and in the houses on the hills people are getting up for work where one light burns. In some of these houses stacked and textured into the hills, tragedy is occurring and there is pain. But on the street all is cool promise; if you’ve made it this far out of bed, you’re on your way.
I took Flynnie with me and on the way home I drove into the Dairy to see the velodrome and the Little league fields and the Opera house; the Alpenrose compound is a cross between an army barracks, a fair ground and an historical museum. What is absent are the herds of cows, white and black on the greens. Now only the giant trucks come in from Tillamook with silver tanks of milk.
There I so much to say. Unexpected moments like when the new Lassie film arrives and I don’t even need to watch it because I have a collie. And then I think…I have a collie. My collie. And everyday is a day of revelations and promise.
All the dogs have settled back in to various postures of sleep around the table. It is just after 7. I could go back to sleep.
Early morning. I just returned from taking M to the hospital for day surgery. When I left it was dark; now the sun has come up just over the horizon. The morning is amazing. People are out walking with dogs or running or waiting for the bus and all the lights f the city are winking and in the houses on the hills people are getting up for work where one light burns. In some of these houses stacked and textured into the hills, tragedy is occurring and there is pain. But on the street all is cool promise; if you’ve made it this far out of bed, you’re on your way.
I took Flynnie with me and on the way home I drove into the Dairy to see the velodrome and the Little league fields and the Opera house; the Alpenrose compound is a cross between an army barracks, a fair ground and an historical museum. What is absent are the herds of cows, white and black on the greens. Now only the giant trucks come in from Tillamook with silver tanks of milk.
There I so much to say. Unexpected moments like when the new Lassie film arrives and I don’t even need to watch it because I have a collie. And then I think…I have a collie. My collie. And everyday is a day of revelations and promise.
All the dogs have settled back in to various postures of sleep around the table. It is just after 7. I could go back to sleep.
March 24
24 march
Went to the Dove Lewis AAT conference today. Lots of labs in their vests lying on the carpet in the meeting room…croissants and muffins and coffee and power point. It felt like a good place; the people with dogs knew who was on the other end of the leash and there was lightness and a sense of camaraderie and fulfillment. I longed to have Maudie there with me on her new therapy dog lead (!!!). IN 6 months we can interview and then take the class, then the test. I have no doubt that she will do really well. She is solid and loving and willing.
Tonight, she tried to squeeze herself into the papillon bed, like Olivia used to do, and it was hilarious, because the pap beds are big enough for her head only…but she was in there, scratching around and then spinning down…I got pictures…but they’re not as good as seeing her actually work to get in…
I have gotten off track writing. Getting up so early, having Maude, it has thrown me off…. I need to regroup. Sitting down, like now, at 145am isn’t going to work anymore…
Grow strong for walking.
Revisit the writing project and schedule.
Went to the Dove Lewis AAT conference today. Lots of labs in their vests lying on the carpet in the meeting room…croissants and muffins and coffee and power point. It felt like a good place; the people with dogs knew who was on the other end of the leash and there was lightness and a sense of camaraderie and fulfillment. I longed to have Maudie there with me on her new therapy dog lead (!!!). IN 6 months we can interview and then take the class, then the test. I have no doubt that she will do really well. She is solid and loving and willing.
Tonight, she tried to squeeze herself into the papillon bed, like Olivia used to do, and it was hilarious, because the pap beds are big enough for her head only…but she was in there, scratching around and then spinning down…I got pictures…but they’re not as good as seeing her actually work to get in…
I have gotten off track writing. Getting up so early, having Maude, it has thrown me off…. I need to regroup. Sitting down, like now, at 145am isn’t going to work anymore…
Grow strong for walking.
Revisit the writing project and schedule.
March 23
In bliss there is a kind of silence…and in fulfillment there is darkness, a closing down. Or is it the change of seasons?
Here, by my feet, is my collie. I have dreamed of her all my life and now she is here. When we walk together, she glides silently next to me, but for the moment when she turns her head to bump my thigh, to say, hey. She is a happy girl, she is a gentle girl. She is a collie and all that has come to mean materializes in front of me. There is a wisdom that seems pecliar to the breed. A kind of insight about what is needed, a deep desire to do well, to be of service. It is in the size of her voice and her heart. She is a big dog much of the time, a lion, a whale…
Who are these dogs? Who figure so large in so many heroic stories? The science that says we made them through selective breeding suddenly seems like such a small idea…its more like they were always there, waiting to take form…and we only think we designed them…The truth is simply that we called them out.
Who is a truly a collie person I can’t be so arrogant to say that only those if us who spend our lives studying and working with dogs are the only ones…they show up in all kinds of houses, with all kinds of people, and who is to say that they are not on a mission? But I have seen them in the hands of collie people flourish and bloom like characters from King Arthur… chivalrous, virtuous.
She will teach me a lot about teaching. It’s a whole new game.
I want also to talk about Flynn and how she has responded to Maudie with nonchalant grace and humor. And tomorrow is the Dove Lewis conference…my first official foray into the world of therapy dogs…
Here, by my feet, is my collie. I have dreamed of her all my life and now she is here. When we walk together, she glides silently next to me, but for the moment when she turns her head to bump my thigh, to say, hey. She is a happy girl, she is a gentle girl. She is a collie and all that has come to mean materializes in front of me. There is a wisdom that seems pecliar to the breed. A kind of insight about what is needed, a deep desire to do well, to be of service. It is in the size of her voice and her heart. She is a big dog much of the time, a lion, a whale…
Who are these dogs? Who figure so large in so many heroic stories? The science that says we made them through selective breeding suddenly seems like such a small idea…its more like they were always there, waiting to take form…and we only think we designed them…The truth is simply that we called them out.
Who is a truly a collie person I can’t be so arrogant to say that only those if us who spend our lives studying and working with dogs are the only ones…they show up in all kinds of houses, with all kinds of people, and who is to say that they are not on a mission? But I have seen them in the hands of collie people flourish and bloom like characters from King Arthur… chivalrous, virtuous.
She will teach me a lot about teaching. It’s a whole new game.
I want also to talk about Flynn and how she has responded to Maudie with nonchalant grace and humor. And tomorrow is the Dove Lewis conference…my first official foray into the world of therapy dogs…
March 21
21 march
We have past the one-week mark and I feel my own life changing. The weekend was spent driving back and forth to Albany with Sonny for that last CD leg…but it was not to be. He got up both days on his long down. On Sunday, barely 5 minutes from the house, 630am, I was trying to get a vial of pill curing down with some water and it all came up…all over me and the door of the car. I spent the drive mopping up, drying out, in some other world where the sun was coming up and I was floating through space.
But I have continued to evidence the energy and independence that have surfaced in the middle of this project. I think behind it all, my medication is working. I cannot imagine I would have driven that drive, 2 days in a row, by myself, and have gotten up at 530 to do it before.
Maudie. She is a person. Her age has somewhat solidified who she is, and she is no pushover. She is gentle, loving, calm, strong, intuitive, willing. All I might have wanted and more. She is big too…and has the demeanor of a lioness, much more so than a wolf…that gravitas is both ephemeral and physical. In her groan as she lies down heavily; the weight of her paw when she lifts it to me.
She likes it when we are all together. She does not much like the car. She has grown fond of her various crates and she seems particularly drawn to lie in the soft crate with the Critter Bed I picked up for her from Claudia in Albany.
I need to start forging a plan for more outings. The month is a time of settling in, but there is a kind of bonding in going out together. The car is key. I ordered a harness so she can sit in the back seat and maybe be more comfortable. I think she is very uncomfortable in the open square of the way back of the wagon…
Food is an issue much on my mind. I started out throwing too many new things at her, and now I am feeding her a kibble breakfast with yogurt, a spoonful of Gus’ canned and a probiotic. Supper is raw. I have a 10lb bag of Essex Cottage Farms I should make up some more and get her off the kibble…but there is a big bag of it to eat. I suppose we could return it…. or just stay the course we’re on until it’s gone.
It is finals week. I have a small stack of work to do and then I have a week and the selvedge of this week. I do need to plan 2 classes. This Saturday is the AAT conference hosted by Dove Lewis. 830am.
We have past the one-week mark and I feel my own life changing. The weekend was spent driving back and forth to Albany with Sonny for that last CD leg…but it was not to be. He got up both days on his long down. On Sunday, barely 5 minutes from the house, 630am, I was trying to get a vial of pill curing down with some water and it all came up…all over me and the door of the car. I spent the drive mopping up, drying out, in some other world where the sun was coming up and I was floating through space.
But I have continued to evidence the energy and independence that have surfaced in the middle of this project. I think behind it all, my medication is working. I cannot imagine I would have driven that drive, 2 days in a row, by myself, and have gotten up at 530 to do it before.
Maudie. She is a person. Her age has somewhat solidified who she is, and she is no pushover. She is gentle, loving, calm, strong, intuitive, willing. All I might have wanted and more. She is big too…and has the demeanor of a lioness, much more so than a wolf…that gravitas is both ephemeral and physical. In her groan as she lies down heavily; the weight of her paw when she lifts it to me.
She likes it when we are all together. She does not much like the car. She has grown fond of her various crates and she seems particularly drawn to lie in the soft crate with the Critter Bed I picked up for her from Claudia in Albany.
I need to start forging a plan for more outings. The month is a time of settling in, but there is a kind of bonding in going out together. The car is key. I ordered a harness so she can sit in the back seat and maybe be more comfortable. I think she is very uncomfortable in the open square of the way back of the wagon…
Food is an issue much on my mind. I started out throwing too many new things at her, and now I am feeding her a kibble breakfast with yogurt, a spoonful of Gus’ canned and a probiotic. Supper is raw. I have a 10lb bag of Essex Cottage Farms I should make up some more and get her off the kibble…but there is a big bag of it to eat. I suppose we could return it…. or just stay the course we’re on until it’s gone.
It is finals week. I have a small stack of work to do and then I have a week and the selvedge of this week. I do need to plan 2 classes. This Saturday is the AAT conference hosted by Dove Lewis. 830am.
March 14
Still walking in a dream. I was thinking about a bumper sticker that says, “I may believe in Gd, but collies are my religion.”
I was thinking about my generation’s relationship to the collie via Lassie; the film the book, the TV show and WHY I think all those people on the road should gasp when they see her…The iconic collie.
And then that it was Terhune who solidified, cemented--all the wrong words-- ignited my passion for both the body and the character of the breed.
How many breeder bios mention those sources? Lassie and Lad? Almost all.
What is the relationship between the literature and the life? How all this brings me to this point: Maud and therapy work. Who would I rather see more if I were sick or lonely or depressed than a collie?
It would be a very very short list….
These are the next pages I need develop in this project. I have the year…to get it on its feet.
I was thinking about my generation’s relationship to the collie via Lassie; the film the book, the TV show and WHY I think all those people on the road should gasp when they see her…The iconic collie.
And then that it was Terhune who solidified, cemented--all the wrong words-- ignited my passion for both the body and the character of the breed.
How many breeder bios mention those sources? Lassie and Lad? Almost all.
What is the relationship between the literature and the life? How all this brings me to this point: Maud and therapy work. Who would I rather see more if I were sick or lonely or depressed than a collie?
It would be a very very short list….
These are the next pages I need develop in this project. I have the year…to get it on its feet.
March 12 * Day 3
Today we went to Ellie’s. It was hectic; Maudie didn’t want to go into the soft crate and I didn’t have a plan to get her in…so Karen held onto her for a bit until she started “talking”…that collie moan and howl/whine. So I worked with her a little: heel position. (Just walk and when she looks at it…praise and treat.) Sit and Stand.
But not stay yet.
Body parts. Handle them and name them. We should do this every day.
Feet
Ears
Mouth
Tail
Hug
And then I put her in the car.
When I let her out before we drove home and she jumped back in when I asked, I was wildly happy. Something about the willingness and the power of this dog amazes me.
Sonny and I worked a bit…we have a trial this weekend. 8am. Albany.
As I was driving to and from Newberg, I was hyper aware of the fact that the people driving around me could see my collie. And what a gift that was to them. How insane with joy I would be to see that. Don’t you know I said aloud you are looking at the God-og? How lucky you are! It was then that I realized that collies are my religion.
I recall sharply the first time we went back into the kennel at KV and Leslie and Eva let Simon out t to meet us. He rose up on back legs, this enormous rough blue merle, and I said, “This makes me believe in GD.” L & E got that. They knew what I meant.
I discovered that I can ask her to “lie-down” from the driver’s seat and she will lie down in the back of the wagon.
*these are posts written on the title dates, but not posted until the blog date.
But not stay yet.
Body parts. Handle them and name them. We should do this every day.
Feet
Ears
Mouth
Tail
Hug
And then I put her in the car.
When I let her out before we drove home and she jumped back in when I asked, I was wildly happy. Something about the willingness and the power of this dog amazes me.
Sonny and I worked a bit…we have a trial this weekend. 8am. Albany.
As I was driving to and from Newberg, I was hyper aware of the fact that the people driving around me could see my collie. And what a gift that was to them. How insane with joy I would be to see that. Don’t you know I said aloud you are looking at the God-og? How lucky you are! It was then that I realized that collies are my religion.
I recall sharply the first time we went back into the kennel at KV and Leslie and Eva let Simon out t to meet us. He rose up on back legs, this enormous rough blue merle, and I said, “This makes me believe in GD.” L & E got that. They knew what I meant.
I discovered that I can ask her to “lie-down” from the driver’s seat and she will lie down in the back of the wagon.
*these are posts written on the title dates, but not posted until the blog date.
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