Sunday, October 18, 2009

Pawsitively Surreal

My First Real Trial - and It Involved Meat

This was a long day and the story is long as well. You may recall that I have a pal named Shanti who I often do obedience practice with. Shanti's mom works for Norcal Golden Retriever Rescue. And. Shanti's mom found me for my mom and dad. Okay. That's what you need to know for today. Shanti and me were both going to the Del Valle obedience trials; Shanti in Novice B and me in Novice A. Here is Shanti not only qualifying for her second leg of Companion Dog, but winning the class. With a score of 198 1/2 out of 200. That was pawesome!

I'd been sitting around for awhile, waiting for my Novice A class, but the judges decided to take a lunch break after they were finished with the B's.

Mom and Dad and me took a stroll around the Alameda County Fairgrounds. The "midway" was loaded with doggie booths, pups and foodables for hoomans and peoples. I'm salivating for one of Dad's chicken sammiches.



Then some hooman came along CARRYING THIS!!! I must have jumped three feet up in the air and when I landed, I just barked and woofed my heart out. OMD!!! Have you ever seen such a HUMONGOUS creature???????? Well... it was time to get back to my class. I was the sixth in a group of 17 doggies. The judge is giving me and mom instructions.

Here is where the video should go, but it won't today. I did okay compared to Shanti, but great compared to the pups in my class. I think that's because I've been uber-trained by Barbara at the Oakland Club that I attend every Monday afternoon.

OMD!!! I qualified for my first leg of the CD!!! Not only that... I actually came in first!!!

Here is my pressie from the judge!

But here come the weird part. Shanti's mom is watching for the final scores from the Open Obedience Class. I guess I haven't yet told you that my scores from Novice A was 198 1/2. Well... after the Open class was finished, no one made a score of more than either Shanti or me. So here we are, BFFs, having to go head-to-head, for High Scoring Dog in a Regular Class. Anyway... this is really weird. Shanti is an uber-heeling pup and the judge made us heel off-leash. You can guess who rightfully and beautifully came out on top! Yay, Shanti!

Awesome pawesome job, girl!!! Ya do me proud! (But you gotta admit, that must have probably been a once in a lifetime weirdo thing to happen heheheh!) A great, but exhausting day! (We have a long vid of my performance, but can't seem to upload - thanks for all your amazing well-wishes!) Oh... and I got steak! Huggers xo,
PS: Got vid loaded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIDhPF8PbCU if you want to look - pretty long tho! Thanks for nice comments!

32 comments:

NAK and The Residents of The Khottage Now With KhattleDog! said...

Way to go Sammie!

Khongrats on your pawesome day!


AND FUR GETTING STEAK!

Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra

Sierra Rose said...

Yeoooooooo!!!! We are so proud of you and mom!!!! And, of course of Shanti and Sue! What a wonderful day! And, crazy how things turned out...going head-to-head with Shanti. You are both superstars and inspirations! Such big smiles in the photos. Wooooohhhoooooo! Look forward to the video.

Mom's going to contact Barbara right away to start some training for ME!

Hugs and snaggle-tooth kisses,
Sierra Rose

Princess Eva and Brice said...

Congrats!!! I know that the steak was a great way to reward your pawsome performance.


Princess Eva

Lou said...

Yay Congrats! woohooooo! *high paw* Great Job!
ahhh the steak...*drool*

Cocorue said...

sooooo proud of you Sammie.....congrats and the steak's worth it, right?????

way to go, dear Sammie
chikisses

Gennasus said...

Congratulations! I hope you get the video loaded, I love seeing Goldies working. Over here obedience is dominated by border collies, so nice to see the variety you have.....especially that little corgi in your last post!

Dexter said...

That obedience stuff is really hard. What a strange day for you, but you scored lots of good points, huh.

I am not sure what that thing was. Perhaps a water buffalo.

Slobbers,
Mango

Unknown said...

Oh Sammie!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Am SO proud of you! And so impressed!! Please, please do try to load the video again as I SO want to watch you in action! And my human is always so interested in the exercises that doggies have to do for the CD title and stuff - she never did proper Obedience with me (like in competitions) so she is always really curious - and also coz I think they do things differently in America to here in NZ. Anyway, so I hope you do manage to load the video!

Slobbers,
Honey the Great Dane
ps. loved the pics of you guys practising your Stays!

Bruce said...

WAY TO GO SAMMIE & SHANTI! CONGRATULATIONS!!!
your cat pal,
Bruce:)

Rocky Creek Scotties and Rocky Creek Ramblings said...

Yeah Sammie!!!! Yeah Shanti!!!!

XOXO
Lilly, Piper, Carrleigh and Java

Angel Tucker, Daisy and Leo said...

OMD, Sammie, you won your class. Congrats. And what fun, to compete with your BFF for the title. You deserved to get steak. We are so happy for you, and hope you can load the video soon, or put it on You-tube and put up a link.

Tucker and Daisy

Sam said...

Wow, congrats. Its great to Q at your first trial, but you really went the whole way with a first!

The Oceanside Animals said...

Your steak was well-earned!

The Army of Four said...

Woo, Sammie! Way to go! We're really proud of you! Congrats to you AND Shanti!
I'll bet you LOVED your steak! YUM!
Luv,
DAve

YD, sometimes with ♥June and ♥Angel Samantha said...

Congrats Sammie! We are so proud of you!

Golden Daily Scoop said...

Hi Sammie!!!! Congrats on your award you did sooo pawsome, very proud of you my furiend!!! I loved watching your video. Mom hope's some day I will be able to walk with a regular leash and not the gentle leader!!! Guess I should practice!!!

lotsa licks,
Miley

D.K. Wall said...

Way to go Sammie, that is great.

Molly the Airedale said...

Congratulations, Sammie! That's awesome! We are very proud of you and Shanti! Enjoy your steak! It's well deserved!

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Astrid Keel said...

congrats sammie, you ROCK!!!!

Lizzy said...

Samantha!

Thank you so much for dropping by my blog, it's grrrrEAT to meet ya! I've added you to my dogger blogger list so that I can visit you more often!

I hope you have a GRRRReat day ahead, my friend!

Sparky

Allison Walton said...

WOW!! Way to go Samantha!! Woo are a grrreat representative for the Golden Babies, as is your BFF Shanti!

wuv,
Gus and Waldo

Thor and Jack said...

Congrats Sammie and Shanti!
That was pawesome!
The steak was very well deserved!

xoxo
Thor

Scout and Freyja said...

WOO-HOO! Our momma is just smiling so, so big and showin' us the pictures of you and Shanti and sayin' things like, "...you should do this." We is furry prouds of you and are furry happy fur you but now our momma wants us to be A students, too, and we are happy just the way we are - come to think of it - probably momma is, too☺

Golden Woofs! SUGAR said...

Woof! A big Congrats Sammie. Pawesome job. You surely deserve a yummy streak for a prize. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar

Unknown said...

Wow.. I didn't know you got MEAT for attending those trials. I may have to reconsider. You know Shanti may have uber heeled to 1st place but you are the star dear sammie. I am sooo impressed.
norwood

Farley said...

Yahoo for Sammie and Shanti - you girls are my heroes!! Nice work and congratulations :)

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

Oh wowzers, Samantha. We are so excited for you AND proud of you. Your mom must be so thrilled. All that long hard work paid off bigtime. That is just awesome. And we are so glad you got steak!!!

Woos, the OP Pack

Dog By Nature said...

Congratulations Sammie! You and Shanti cleaned up:) Steak?! Wow, that must have been tasty!

animal lover, quilt lover said...

I love your name Samantha!!You are beautiful and very smart!!! Very good winning your class in the Obedience trials!!!
Thank you for coming to my blog and leaving comments. I look forward to our friendship. I am also looking forward to hearing all about you. I will read all your posts someday when I get some time. Love, Fern (animal lover)

Gus, Louie and Callie said...

Way to go Sam. We are so proud of you...

Big Sloppy Kisses
Gus, Louie and Callie

NCmountainwoman said...

A very big CONGRATULATIONS!!! Way to go!

Unknown said...

Wow, Sammie - I just watched the video - you did so well!!!! No wonder your humans are so proud of you. That was really beautiful heelwork and I love the way you are smiling all the time!

By the way, do you do any other exercises for the CD aside from the ones shown in the video? I guess maybe the CD is different here in NZ - we also have to do a Retrieve, a Drop on Recall, a 1 min Stand, 1 min Sit Stay and 5 min Down Stay, as well as a Scent Discrimination test using scent cloths. I can do all of them except the Scent cloths stuff - I just have no clue! My human was hoping to do the CD with me but what with all our dance training and stuff, there just isn't time to do additional Obedience training! :-)

Slobbers,
Honey the Great Dane