Super Roxy

Hi, This is Roxy. She is a Thaltan Bear Dog-X. I'm not sure what she is mixed with but i'm guessing lab. This is the most energetic dog i've ever seen. We had so many battles in the beggining when I first brought her home from the shelter when she was 3 months old. She will be two in December 2006 and we get along much better now that we have an understanding on who's boss... she thought she was. We've gone through a year now of obedience traning and a little bit of agility. I love hanging out with Roxy. Not only is she energetic, but she is plain cute and has a soft, sweet silly side. She does have a sense of humor & makes me laugh all the time. For example, we entered into an obedience trial in the spring. You see Roxy will do anything for chicken wiener treats, and is very willing to work only when she gets them. In an obedience trial, there are no treats allowed. Can you see where this is going? So during the trial, Roxy started out awesomely & was really good, but when she realized I had no treats, she started goofing around. It started with the 'stand for exam.' In this exercise, the dog is off leash and commanded to stand and the owner goes & stands next to the judge. Roxy knew she was not on leash.... ah what can i do now she's thinking.

So this is our very first time in an obedience trial and we're both sort of nervous, in this foreign environment with a green rubber floor, white fence all around & strange people and dogs all around us. Roxy decides, since she is off leash, to go check out the very nice judge holding the strange clip-board. "Oh how cute I am, what a cute dog, look at me, who are you? is it okay i'm over here?" she's thinking as she sits in front of the judge & wags her tail (remember she is supposed to be in a standing, stationary position) Roxy's nerves get to her and she squats and pees right in front of the judge! Good grief, this is the worst thing that can happen. I was so embarrased at the time. It's really funny now. And it's an automatic disqualification. Since Roxy & I are newcommers to the obedience scene the judge allows us to continue, after the floor is cleaned up, so that we can get some practice at the other exercises. The first 1/2 is typically done on leash (except the stand) and the second 1/2 is the same things but off leash. "Wow", Roxy says. No leash! I can really have some fun with this! Roxy is not really paying attention and since she has relieved herself she has other things on her mind. We are walking in our heel position as directed by the judge & we are finishing up this exercise (i gave way to many commands to Roxy because her mind was everywhere - too many commands = points taken off your score). Roxy recognizes when we were finished this particualr heel exercise & decides to take off, jump the fence and go drink out of another dog's water bowl. OMG how funny. Again i was totally embarassed because I can't control my dog as she has a mind of her own. Our judge is so lovely & after I collect Roxy up and bring her back into the ring, she allows us to continue.

It is time for the recall over a jump. This is where I leave Roxy in a sit command, walk over to the other side of a jump, and call her over the jump, where she then has to sit in front of me like a good dog. Ha. Sounds easy doesn't it. Not when you've got a diva of a dog like Foxy Roxy. I call her over the jump and she jumps it beautifully, she's a great jumper & loves it. She'll do it for the pure fun of jumping! So she jumps it & remembers that she is off leash(and not going to get a treat anyway) & decides to test her limits. She goes into the center of the ring & starts running as fast as she can around in a circle. Fast severl times one way, changes directions & very fast again the other way. Just spinning around and around in circles. I had steam comming out of my ears but what could I do. Everyone was laughing as it was not very obedient but very very entertaining. She's such a funny dog.

I'm going to take her to another obdience trial in November because we have been working our asses off trying to do this all without treats and I've learned how to reward her with the simple tone of my voice! She was only about a year and 4 months at the last trial, which was way to young. ... you see she is so obedient when chicken wieners are involved! Now that she is almost two, hopefully Roxy won't bring out her divaness & we're going to kick ass in the trial. She knows she failed us by kicking up her heels last time & I know she wants redemption. What do you think?