but sweet!
Beasil sometimes reminds me of a Funny Car at the Drag races. You know, the muffled sound of thunder as the the cars approach the starting line... the feeling of power that’s shaking the ground (and your internal organs) and lets you know that something is about to happen... the blinking lights on the ‘christmas tree’ that almost prepare you for... the explosion that happens so fast that your brain and your eyes start having an argument about Newton’s First Law of Motion and the improbability of the existence of an Unbalanced Force that can explain what you just saw.
SRCSD hosted an AHBA Herding Trial and offered the HCT test. Beasil earned the first of two required legs back in August, 2006 and we haven’t seen it offered locally since then, so the second leg might seem a little below her ability now. But why not finish what we started?
I took Brücke and Beasil along, knowing that they’d spend most of the day in the van. They really don’t mind ‘cause they’d rather be there than just hanging out at home. Naturally, they each got out for a couple runs and potty breaks and had plenty of shade, cool breezes and time to visit folks.
It was around 4:30 pm when the HCT test was held. Beasil was scheduled to be the third of four dogs entered, right after two BMDs and before a Boxer. We stood in the shade about 50 feet away from the arena and watched the Berners take their turns and then walked up to the gate. I’d decided not to put on Beasi’s herding booties, so I dropped the bag next to her water bowl and got ready to go in.
Beasil and I always “make obedience” before we go into the arena -- so in addition to her ‘platz’ while she was watching the Berners, we tried to ‘fuss’ as we walked up to the gate and as soon as we stepped inside the gate I had her sit so I could close it. The judge reminded me that we could do the run with the leash dragging or take it off. I can’t help but think that the judge may have interpreted Beasil’s controlled behavior as that of a ‘lazy Rottweiler’ -- she spoke up and said that we ‘might want to get a little closer to the sheep’ as I was preparing to remove the lead. No problem. We walked a few steps and I had Beasil sit & wait while I removed the lead and folded it to stuff in my pocket. Then I walked over to the sheep, and released Beasil.
The rest of the time went... as usual.
In the second leg of the HCT the dog and handler are supposed to show directed movement of the sheep back and forth across the arena, a stop, and a recall.
Beasil and I like to make sure that we do a little more than the bare requirements, so I think we did at least two complete trips (four crossings), two stops, changes of direction, and some circling. Handler error almost resulted in a split, but we managed to avoid that (as well as avoiding getting trampled by the sheep when I stepped right instead of left at one point) with a well-timed use of the crook.
Next thing I knew, I heard the judge say “I’ve seen everything that I need... unless you want to get a little more for your money.” Uh, no thanks... we’ll stop while we’re ahead!
I stopped Beasil, put her lead on and, despite Beasil’s protest, headed for the gate. As we were leaving I heard the judge saying some nice things about Beasil ‘having it all’. I took that to mean a bit more than just having met all the requirements for the test -- it seemed like she was impressed with the Little Maniac Bitch. (Yeah, I think she’s pretty great, too.) I almost wonder if I should send the judge a ‘get well card’, to help her recover from the shock of watching that sweet little unleash the Unbalanced Force. Heck, she might be suffering from PTSD.
A little later I got the paperwork from her run. The judge was, again, very complimentary in her remarks about Beasil. Coming from a BC person, I was flattered. I looked at the elapsed time and then understood why Beasil seemed a little upset about ending her run: 1:07.
Guess it was okay to leave the booties off. That’s barely enough time to get those paws warmed up!
Short,
Sunday, March 8, 2009
