| Washington Mixed Breed Dog Club |
|
|
|||
|
MB-CH "Callie" MB-UD, U-CDX, NATCH-4, ATCH-OP, ADP, HIC, CGC |
|
Some of us are lucky enough to have them with us for a fairly long time in
terms of dog years yet it's still hard to believe it when they leave us. We
lost Callie on February 5th. She
was such a catalyst in my life. Who would have figured a little mix from the
pound would have such transformational powers. A lot of people think of me
as an "Aussie Person" who happened to have a Beagle mix. In fact, I have
always considered myself a "mixed breed" person who picked up a few Aussies
along the way.
Normally I am fairly quiet on this list but last weekend at a trial I
discovered that Callie had touched more lives than I could have imagined. As
I thought more about it I realized that many of you knew her or knew of her.
Another thing I discovered at the trial was that few people actually knew
her history or the number of things she had accomplished in her life. I also
hadn't realized the number of people we had inspired and given hope to—some
with dogs with fear aggression issues and some with dogs that had the curse
of the hound. :) We
started out in obedience—not out of love for obedience but out of necessity.
When we got her, Callie was described as a sweet little dog. What we didn't
know was that she was a fear biter. Humans and other dogs. Not so sweet.
Yes, she was a rescue. Yes, she was abused. But our problem was that she was
our dog now and that biting thing just wasn't going to fly. So we worked and
worked with her in obedience. So much obedience that someone asked if I was
going to trial her in obedience. It had never crossed my mind. We ended up
earning a U-CDX and on the way to a MB-UD (Mixed Breed Dog Club of America
obedience Utility title) we found agility. A friend suggested that agility
might give Callie some more confidence (so of course, I could finish that UD).
I knew nothing about agility but started taking agility classes. It was fun
for both of us. And it did build her confidence. And after a while someone
asked if I was going to trial She
was five years old when we started agility and her last run in agility was
at fourteen years old. In the process of running agility she earned 4
NATCHes, an Accomplished Performance Dog title, and an Outstanding
Performance ATCH. She won the NADAC Championships in her class one year as a
veteran and placed every year we went. Locally, she won the Northwest Cup in
the Performance class and won many awards through the Mixed Breed Dog Club.
She also earned a HIC (herding) and probably the most treasured title she
earned was the CGC. What a journey we had and what a teacher she was. I have been overwhelmed by the kind and thoughtful responses I have gotten in regard to Callie's death. I guess it was clear how dedicated we were to each other. The loss is new and at times the grief washes over me with amazing power. I miss her feisty little self. She was my teacher, my student, my friend and my buddy. Susan Perry
|
