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DOG
OF THE MONTH |
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Submitted
by Harald Witting, who is owned by Dolly
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Shield
Crest Hello Dolly is a four year old Sheltie. She
was given to me by my wife, Joyce, as a puppy. However,
Dolly made it clear from the beginning that she is a very independent soul,
not to be owned by anyone. She has
a very clear set of priorities: Running
around the woods, chasing chipmunks, squirrels, birds, light beams and
anything else that moves. She is not
interested in actually catching anything. Food
is also a big priority, and that gives me a little leverage. Agility is
way down on the priority list, and negative reinforcement is definitely
out. So,
we started Agility training at the Seibert's,
and Dolly was willing to play along with me as long as the tidbits were
of good
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quality. Dolly is my
first dog, ever,
I found out quickly that Dolly is a joy to handle in Agility. She learns quickly and on the few occasions when she incurs a fault it is due to my handling error. Her speed was moderate at first, but steady, and it is increasing nicely with time. I entered her in trials, and she earned the AKC NA, OA and AX titles in a total of 10 runs, and ditto for the NADAC NAC, OAC and EAC titles. She now has the AKC MX and MXJ titles, along with NADAC EGC and EJC, USDAA PD3, and she is working in CPE level 5. She also goes sheepherding and tracking with me. Joyce
and I often take our 6 dogs off-leash on
long walks through the woods in back of our house, and our other Shelties
will stay with us. Dolly, on the other
hand, is likely to disappear, show signs of life by barking in the distance,
and reappear at a time of her choosing. When
I see her jumping over logs in the distance at high speed, it occurs to
me that those logs are not displaceable, so that Dolly had to learn to
jump cleanly. She is a great source
of fun and amusement. |
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copyright © 1997-2001 Deborah Burton.
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