Hi all,
Well done Wendy and Lara.
Yes, I remember some of the negative comments you got when you first got her but
she has done well for you and , as I have laways said, "you get
out of a dog what you put in" and I know you have put in heaps and deserve the
rewards.
She was a challenge and you have well and truely met it head on!
Keep me posted.
Caron
Sinaway Kennels and Laras' breeder.
Quoting syrinxkennels <syrinxkennels@...>:

> Hi everyone,
> Last night, Lara and I had our fourth obedience trial. Now, although
> it is November, which should not be cold in Australia, and we are in
> a massive drought where we live, we had a freezing night with
> driving rain! You can never tell in Canberra. Here it can be 'Four
> seasons in one morning', rather that day. I would like to say this
> is a level under CD, almost all the same stuff, but the heeling is
> on lead, as is the stand for exam. But we need to start at the
> bottom, as I have never done this before. It is called Community
> Companion Dog - the title is CCD. It is a good thing, as it seems to
> be getting people into trailing that would not be confident to go
> right to off lead work.
>
> The night had not really started off too well, I had to wait for Kim
> to get home with the car, then I couldn't find my chair, got stuck
> in heavy Friday night traffic and was thinking very bad thoughts
> about the drivers of ALL of the cars in front of me. I got there,
> pretty much just in time to be vetted, picked up my number to find -
> I was number ONE!!!! I still need to watch what someone else does to
> calm myself and work it out, so was thrilled to find out that a
> friend of mine was going to steward in another ring, and so, needed
> to go in front of me.
>
> I hugged him. ;-))))
>
> As we were almost finished our heeling and individual exercises, the
> rain started. By the time we were walking back to our stuff, the
> heavens had opened. Dogs were refusing to drop, or even sit, and
> people were failing by the drove. Even experienced handlers were
> walking around muttering 'This is ridiculous!'. Water was pooling in
> the rings, footpaths were flooded.
>
> Now Lara has a few 'quirks'. She just loves to roll in grass, mainly
> because we don't really have any at this point. So we have to get to
> training or trailing early so she can roll in it enough to get it
> out of her system. But there is one thing she loves more than grass -
> and that's wet grass. She also was 'born tired' as my father would
> say, and will very often go down in the sit/stay.
>
> We walked into the ring for the stays, only 5 of us had gotten this
> far, and all purebred dogs, which is rare these days in Canberra.
> There was Faxon the Afghan, then Lara, a Foxhound, GSD and a mini
> Schnauzer, who unfortunately had just had a very short hair cut. The
> first thing she did was have a big roll. Three times. We got into
> position, and I left her with all this wet grass, and I tried to
> pretend, but did not leave her very hopefully. She sat there,
> looking at me, the Foxhound got up almost immediatley, but Lara
> stayed rock steady. It seems she likes damp grass, but this was too
> wet even for her. It was raining so hard, I could see she had her
> eyes half closed to keep the rain out. We walked back, my heart
> leaping, as that was the one we usually trip up on.
>
> But then, as we got ready for the down/stay, I realised that we had
> not done this in this kind of weather. I did not know if she would
> even go down in this amount of water. But down she went, and I
> walked away, again trying to be confident. Again, the Foxhound got
> up, Lara didn't move. Then the judge, wearing a long, swishy coat,
> walked a bit too close to the dogs. The Afghan took offence, and got
> up, and that pass would have been his title. So the dogs either side
> of her had stood, she still stayed. That left the three German
> breeds. Then, as we neared to end of the time, the little Schnauzer
> could take no more, and sat up. Lara had been looking at me with a
> expression that very clearly said, 'Mum, you CAN't mean this, can
> you?? Is this RIGHT??' But she stayed there, regardless. I was so
> proud of her.
>
> They could not write on the score board, as it washed right off, so
> I had no idea how the scores had gone, I really only cared that we
> had qualified. When all the rings had finished, the few drowned rats
> that were left, and unbelievably soggy judges and stewards finally
> gathered in the heated, dry club house and presentations began, I
> was amazed to find that we had not only been one of the only two to
> get through, WE WON!!! And 92 points out of the 100 on offer. She
> lost all in the heeling (she lags) and every other exercise was full
> points. The judge said some wonderful things about better work than
> she has seen from dogs in perfect weather, and we got a big cheer as
> several of our instructors (past & present) were there. The one we
> have now is actually looking at getting a LH!!!!! Lara works at
> Novice level in her class, as it is combined CCD and Novice. So we
> do the off lead stuff and the retreiving - Lara's favourite! People
> have actually asked me how I got her to retreive, but try stopping
> her! Her kids and grandkids are natural born retreivers, too. At
> about 4 weeks they start carrying their toys around. As soon as they
> can lift them off the floor, or drag them along.
>
> When we first started training there, we got a LOT of negative
> comments about training a Wei. There is a special award in Canberra,
> a medal for a dog that has a show Ch, and then gets CD, CDX or UD.
> Bronze, silver and gold. I said that I wanted to get one, in fact I
> don't think any Wei of any coat has had one, certainly no LHs.
> People actually laughed when I said that I was after one. So few
> people train them here, it is so sad. A few pets come through, but
> every one I have seen at our club has been misbehaving as they have
> needed a firmer hand than the owners were giving. They soon give up.
>
> But maybe after last night's performance, the trainers and members
> of the club may start to reconsider the Weis.
>
> Go the soggy LH!!
>
> Wendy
>
>