By Jack and Jan Tomlinson
My name is Jack, and I am a Collie just like Lassie. I live with my owner in Verde Santa Fe, but my trainer, Jan, has been showing me Rally Obedience. This has really been an adventure, so I thought I would write about it and share it with you.
We started our first show a year ago in July in Flagstaff. Boy, was it hot! I had on my winter coat because I thought it was cool in Flagstaff. I didn’t know that my trainer had poor eyesight, so I had to read the signs for her! My vocabulary is limited, so I hoped for the best.
On the first day, I managed to read all of the signs without any mistakes, so we qualified for our first leg of Novice Rally. We have to qualify three times to get our Novice Title. Now, I have four legs, so I don’t know why you only need three legs! The second day of the show, I read the signs perfectly, and we qualified for our second leg. Hey, we are getting there!
After that, we went to the Prescott show. I was also showing in the beauty contest that day, so I was very busy! We had to show under a big tent on the parking lot asphalt. Now, the beauty contest was indoors on nice soft mats and was air-conditioned. I always practice on the nice soft grass at our training ring, so this was a real challenge! But we went out there and qualified and got our title. I got a BIG ribbon that said I had earned my Novice Rally Title! I was really proud of myself. After that show, I took a break and relaxed on my sofa! I thought I was now famous enough to earn a vacation.
Now, fast forward to this July. I am now in Intermediate Rally with Jan, so I have to learn how to read some new signs! We’re now back in Flagstaff for the show. On Saturday, I was ready to go into the ring and noticed that all the other dogs had their mud boots on! I didn’t know that I was supposed to bring mine to the show. It had rained very hard on Friday night, and the ring was a BIG MUD PUDDLE!
Now, what was I supposed to do? I had to go to my beauty pageant right after this class! I was all groomed and beautiful, so how was I going to stay clean? Thank goodness there weren’t any signs that said “down” on them! So, Jan and I just tip-toed around the ring in the mud. I was so busy trying to stay clean that I forgot to read the signs, and we made a few mistakes. I think this class is harder than the novice class. I have never had to show in a swamp before!
So, on Sunday I brought my mud boots with me. I was going to be prepared this time! When we got to the ring, surprise, surprise! They had moved the ring out onto the concrete, and it had a big tent over it for shade. Boy, is this going to be easy!
When we walked into the ring to show, I noticed that the signs were on the cones and covered part of the numbers and that there were cones all over the place. Uh oh, I think Jan is going to be in trouble! I can read the signs, but she has to see the numbers!
I was right! Jan blew right past a sign and went on to the next exercise. Then, she did our Figure 8 around three cones instead of the usual two. I have always told her that there are only TWO cones for Figure 8! Now I have to worry about her not being able to count! I don’t think she was very good at math! Maybe I need a new handler.
Many people at the show knew Chase. They thought that Jan had put him under a magnifying glass and had made him bigger! I was Chase’s friend, and I don’t look a bit like him. Sometimes people are really silly.
My next show will be in Prescott again, and I hope we will do really good in my rally class. I will be writing again about my show adventures. ‘Till then…
~ Jack The Collie ~
