Sunday, October 17, 2010

Phoenix, CDX!!!!!!!

U-CDX Carousel's Call of the Wild, CDX, GN, GO, AX, AXJ, RN

Yep, the Skinny Little Dog did it! He finished his CDX Saturday and got a security leg today. I am SO VERY PROUD of him. This has been a much harder title for us than I anticipated when we first started showing last March. 

I've learned a tremendous amount more about my dog since he first walked out of an Open ring on stays seven months ago than if we had sailed easily to this title. He's given me some very lovely work and some major WTF moments. There's nothing "easy" about Phoenix but he has taught me a tremendous amount in just a few short years and made me re-think things more than once.

It was a wonderful weekend, beautiful weather, good friends, watching awesome dogs and meeting new people. Here are a few of the things I learned (not necessarily having to do with dog training):

• If you check into a Motel 6 at 4 p.m. on Thursday, they tell you all the first floor rooms are taken. If you check into a Motel 6 at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, you get a first floor room without asking.

• Highway 157 and Interstate 64 are not the same road, no matter what Renee says.

• No matter how many times you drive up and down Highway 157, you will not find an exit to Fairview Heights.

• You will find about 17 bars.

• You will not want to stop at any of them for directions.

• Driving straight through downtown St. Louis on Sunday afternoon is actually a faster way home than taking the "less traffic" loop around the northeast/Illinois side.

• The Lotawata Southern Grill has the most amazing menu I have ever seen.

• I want to go back there and order one of everything.

• It is sooooo nice when a judge says something nice about your dog, even though you're obviously not going to be in the placements.

• Jamie and Phoenix  have ZERO concept of "sleeping in." Our motel was 5 minutes from the trial site and we were at the tail end of a 42-dog Open B class. I had a great crating place (thanks, Renee!) and there was plenty of parking. We did not need to get up at 5:30 a.m. to leave for the trial. Saturday, I managed to convince the Belgians we COULD sleep until 6:15 a.m. and no one would arrest us. Today, it was 6:08. To tell the truth, I wasn't really asleep either.

Nix and I have one more big obedience weekend (Halloween weekend), then we're going to take the winter off to get ready for a Utility debut in the spring. I have a ton of training ideas bouncing around in my head and can't wait to get started.


16 comments:

  1. CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I'm so freakin' happy for you guys!!!

    I've been checking your blog all weekend to see how he did. I'm so glad he titled and got the bonus security leg. Way to go Phoenix!! And Melinda, too!!

    That's an awesome picture of him, by the way, I love it!

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  2. Congratulations to both of you!
    I do agree with you that a hard won title always seems to provide much more satisfaction than the easy titles.

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  3. Congrats! What a great accomplishment!

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  4. Congrats!! My one dog doesnt sleep in either. Its 5am, places to go and treats to get. LOL Diana

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  5. Yay yay yay! Happy Dance and Tail Wags! Congrats to you and Nix!

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  6. COngratulations! What a huge accomplishment. Sleeping in is highly overrated, but I am glad that you had a good reason to get up early. Yeah Phoenix.

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  7. Congrats on that title! And what a good opportunity it was to expand your training horizons! Those are the real "wins".

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  8. Hey that is super. You sure have worked hard for this title. Congrats.

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  9. Hey Congratulations Melinda and Phoenix! I'm glad he was able to overcome the stay issues. Good news - no out-of-sight stays in utility!

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  10. Good for you two! Must have been the threat of more practice next to large white fuzzy dog! Seriously, way to go. It's fun for the rest of us to watch you work through a problem.

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  11. HUGE hearty congrats!!!! So very excited for you guys!! It is an amazing sense of accomplishment when you achieve something that you worked really hard for. Go team go!!!

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  12. Many congratulations to both of you!

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