Ok. Well my long 6 weeks with Harry and the whole Mutt Makeover experience is now over. I'm quite sad and although he got a good home I miss the fuzzy guy a lot. I taught him over 20 commands and tricks and he's a goofy, fun-loving dog.
We came in 6th overall, we were only 5 points off from making the finals, which were the top 3 dogs. The judges were much harder than I had anticipated and so I was frazzled with all of that. However, the weekend was fun. Harry just wants to say hi to people and dogs. He's just a love muffin. If I didn't have four dogs and a baby I know I would have made him a new family member!
We had 2 preliminaries of which the 2nd was broken down into 2 parts--obstacle course they designed along with a distraction and freestyle routine. The distraction scared me to death as I thought he'd panic as many of the dogs either were afraid or overly interested, and I didn't' blame them--it was a rooster! Yes. A live rooster in a cage. The 2nd part of this prelim was a 90-second freestyle routine where we could do whatever we wanted. Harry did some real goofy stuff here and didn't do it as planned but he was a definite crowd pleaser to say the least! It wasn't very practical to have these dogs doing this stuff with 100 people standing around and no fence to keep the folks out! Anyway here are the two parts of the preliminaries here. (The 1st preliminary was just obedience--leash work, sit, down, stay, come--and I didn't get that on video.)
We came in 6th overall, we were only 5 points off from making the finals, which were the top 3 dogs. The judges were much harder than I had anticipated and so I was frazzled with all of that. However, the weekend was fun. Harry just wants to say hi to people and dogs. He's just a love muffin. If I didn't have four dogs and a baby I know I would have made him a new family member!
We had 2 preliminaries of which the 2nd was broken down into 2 parts--obstacle course they designed along with a distraction and freestyle routine. The distraction scared me to death as I thought he'd panic as many of the dogs either were afraid or overly interested, and I didn't' blame them--it was a rooster! Yes. A live rooster in a cage. The 2nd part of this prelim was a 90-second freestyle routine where we could do whatever we wanted. Harry did some real goofy stuff here and didn't do it as planned but he was a definite crowd pleaser to say the least! It wasn't very practical to have these dogs doing this stuff with 100 people standing around and no fence to keep the folks out! Anyway here are the two parts of the preliminaries here. (The 1st preliminary was just obedience--leash work, sit, down, stay, come--and I didn't get that on video.)
I really want to tell you that after teaching so many tricks to Harry I want to pedal the tricks class to anyone who will do it! Tricks are a great way to not only entertain but keep your dog busy and mentally stimulated! Ask me about a tricks class and if we get enough interest we will put one together for a 3 or 4-week class!
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