[Dailydrool] I hope this helps to lighten things up a bit....

[Krutsinger,DeAnn]

Greetings to you all!!  I am a lurker on the daily drool.  My name is
DeAnn and my beloved basset is Gracie Mae.  Gracie is a rescue that we
got approximately 5 years ago and we estimate her age to be around 10
now.  A few years back I was a regular participant on the drool but due
to life changes, I'm lucky to read a few postings a week. I'm never
completely caught up.  Anyway, let me share one of Gracie's most recent
adventures....

 

A month or so ago my daughter and I took two of our dogs in for the
Canine Good Citizen testing and Therapy Dog testing. Unbeknownst to us,
our dogs should have had obedience classes prior to the testing.   There
were approximately 30 dogs that were to be tested and since we were
almost last to arrive we were at the end of the line.  As I watched the
many beautiful and obedient dogs being tested I began to sink lower and
lower in my chair.  All I knew (before coming to the testing) was that
the dogs had to be kind and gentle and enjoy being with people, not
jumpy etc.  OBEDIENT??  My Gracie Mae?? Sheesh! You have no idea how
many times I wanted to get up and just walk out the door.  We couldn't,
we would have had to cross the testing space and it would have been
painfully obvious that we had 'naughty' dogs.  (By the way, my daughter
is 12 and has an adorable rat terrier that she was having tested as
well.)

 

Finally, it was our turn.  We're walking up to the 'starting spot' and
I'm thinking to myself....'I can't believe we're doing this. This is
going to be bad, so very, very bad. Can I crawl into a hole?'  Before we
even start we have to announce our names, the dogs name and breed, age
and where we got them. Gracie was the only rescue in the entire pack and
once I said she was a rescue the small crowd burst into applause.  So we
had a few brownie points before we even got started.  Gracie has never
had a day of professional type training in her life. She is a tugger on
a leash, sniffs everything she can, picks up anything she can munch on
(edible or not) and really doesn't care where I want to go. She has mind
of her own.  That night, during testing, she walked beside me like a
pro, the leash was loose, she turned when I turned, she stopped when I
stopped, and it was AMAZING!!!  Then came the testing with the crowd.
Would she be spooked by people with crutches, walkers and wheel chairs?
Would she jump on someone? How well would she greet the other dogs?
Would she leave the piece of chocolate on the floor and simply walk by
it and ignore it?  SHE PASSED! SHE PASSED! SHE PASSED AND SHE PASSED!
By this time I was on cloud 9. Could it really happen? Could we get
certified to be a Therapy Dog?  Gracie was being a perfect dog (for a
moment I thought she had been possessed by a well trained retriever)
That left us with one final test to pass.  I had to put Gracie into a
sitting position and walk 20 feet away from her and then back to her and
she had to say put. Then I had to walk 40 feet away from her, turn
around and call her to me and she was supposed to come. All I have to
say at this point is 'uh-oh'.

 

Gracie has never been taught to sit.  Gracie has two speeds....run and
lay down.  So I kneel down and tell Gracie to sit....blink blink blink
is all I get back. "Gracie Sit!"  Blank stare.  Oh boy....So I put my
hand on her haunches and gently push and tell her "Gracie Sit!"  Gracie
promptly moves into a slow motion roll and turns her belly up for a
belly rub. I sit her back up again, she rolls over again, I sit her back
up again, she rolls over again...and on and on and on.....  I finally
looked at the trainer and asked her if I can walk away from Gracie while
she is lying down.  The instructor/trainer/tester with a grin says...no
ma'am.  By now I'm breaking into a sweat.  Once again I pick Gracie up
and put her into a sit position, she rolls, sit, roll, sit, roll.
Finally, finally she sits but she's facing the wrong direction. I slowly
and gently go to spin her around, she rolls. I get her up again, she
sits the wrong direction. I spin, she rolls.  Where's that hole I was
looking for earlier???  I look up at the instructor/trainer/tester and
she is laughing so hard she has tears rolling down her face.  I hadn't
even noticed but most of the crowd was laughing by now.  At long last,
the tester says I can walk away and call her.  I go my 40 feet, "Come
Gracie...come on...come"  She's still in her "I'm waiting for my belly
rub, four paws up in the air position."  Up side down head, ears flopped
out side ways....blink, blink, blink.  By now even you know the
routine...come Gracie.... blink blink....Gracie Come!.... Blink Blink.
Finally, I sit down on the floor 40 feet away from Gracie and whisper,
Psst. Gracie, wanna treat? Before I knew it she was sitting in my lap.

 

WE PASSED!!!!  The tester loved Gracie so much she realized that Gracie
was not going to be a threat to anyone, unless she happened to lay down
on their foot. LOL 

 

PS - My daughter and her rat terrier also passed.  Whew! 

 

 

DeAnn M. Krutsinger

Asst. Director of Financial Aid

Waldorf College

641-585-8122

Live Purple ~ Go Green

"...Happiness is the choice of living every moment with love, grace and
gratitude."

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dailydrool.org/pipermail/dailydrool-dailydrool.org/attachments/20100110/062b62c8/attachment-0002.htm>