The journey concludes

Dear Diary,

Another whirlwind couple of weeks!  My obedience-competition and National-Specialty journey with Spirit has come to a conclusion.


Bittersweet, but I will have wonderful memories of this time I have spent with her.

Last Sunday -- was it really only one week ago? -- we were entered in two obedience trials in one day.  I knew it was going to be a long, tiring day for Spirit.

The start of our National Specialty run

The first trial went surprisingly well, and Spirit qualified with a fourth-place score of 193-1/2. Wow!  

As the afternoon dragged on, Spirit was becoming tired and stiff.  We walked around outside for a while to stretch our legs and enjoy the beautiful, sunny spring day.  

Before our turn in the second trial, I witnessed something that made me quite upset (see last week's blog post for details).  Between my emotions and Spirit's fatigue, I wasn't sure how well our run was going to go, but she did it!  Our score, though not great, was good enough to qualify, earning the second leg toward her Beginner Novice title. 

 On to the National!

Wednesday morning's alarm clock blared much too early for this night owl, but I dragged myself out of bed, excited and nervous for the day ahead.  Arriving at the Specialty venue, my stomach and chest were full of butterflies.  Giddy is probably the best word to describe how I felt.

Finally it was our turn.  Knowing she was already tired, I was a little worried as we entered the ring.  Her heeling was atrocious, with abundant lagging and many tight-leash points lost.  

She caught sight of the camera during the figure-8.

On the figure-8 exercise, she went over to sniff one of the stewards -- something she has never done before.  Combined with the lack of sits at halt and a delayed response on her very slow recall, I had doubts about our performance.  

However, Spirit still deserved praise, and I was hugging her when the judge said, "You <unintelligible> qualify," I was unable to hear whether he had said "did" or "didn't" and had to ask him to repeat, "You did qualify."  YES!!!!  I thanked him, gave Spirit another hug, and told her, "You can retire now." 

There was no placement ribbon on this day, as her score was barely qualifying, but I was still over-the-moon excited.  I'm sure the judge thought it was strange that I asked for a photo, but I didn't care.  Spirit, at nearly 13 years old, had earned two legs on Sunday and the final leg on Wednesday to complete her Beginner Novice title, and I was immensely happy. 

  

Waiting for the recall

While we waited for the judge to have a chance to break for the photo, I took Spirit outside to walk around.  I had to fight hard to keep the tears at bay.  I am so very proud of this dog for giving me her all over the last few months of this journey.


I am also incredibly blessed to have a supportive breeder and friend who placed this wonderful dog with me.  

I love you, Spirit, and even though this part of our journey is completed, I hope you are able to remain my companion for a long time to come.   

Cherish your dogs.

MDW