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| RETURN TO DOTTIE'S BIO PAGE |
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Mary Yates's Bio |
|
 Miss JB  Miss JB  Mouse  Mouse  Mouse  Skunk  Skunk |
I had never lived with a dog until age
forty, when an adult beagle
named Miss
JB
came into my life. I was under the impression that dogs were simple
creatures who lived to please and went through life in the key of C
Major. JB set me straight. She was often too fearful to function, and
we were expelled from our first obedience class. In trying to figure
out how to help her I learned about clicker-training. Then one day a
friend gave me a video of an obedience competition. It amazed me that
such things were possible, and it gave me a goal. Ultimately JB and I
did some Rally obedience together, and my proudest moment was showing
her in Pre Novice at the 2004 Beagle National Specialty. She never saw
the point of dog shows, but she loved to train. In 2001 I got Mouse, a Cardigan Welsh corgi who became my dog-show buddy. Mouse enjoyed the limelight and excelled at everything I asked her to do, from obedience, agility, and herding to acting (she starred in a series of TV commercials for a photo-processing service). Twice she was the top-ranked obedience Cardigan in America, and by 2006 she had earned ten obedience titles and two all-breed High In Trial awards - at which point she ruptured a disc and seemed destined for life in a cart. But she brought the same enthusiasm to physical therapy that she brought to every other job, re-learning how to walk and resuming her obedience career. I am now working with my second Cardi, Skunk. No doubt she too will teach me something amazing about training, about teamwork, and about what dogs can learn to do. My dogs (past and present): Miss JB Goto's Just Beautiful CGC (1990-2006) Mouse (Cardigan Welsh Corgi) U-CD Cornerstone Xtacee Fantasmic CDX RAE NAJ CAN CD, ASCA CDX, APDT RL2 Skunk (Cardigan Welsh Corgi) Visions Greifzu Good Luck Charm CGC |