Malamutes and Drill Team, hmmmmm ....

Two concepts intrinsically alien to one another. Case in point: on Saturday we attended the Travis County Kennel Club dog show. Allie was gorgeous and shiny, not a whiff of the chicken entrails she had rolled in, since I was able to get her an emergency visit at the groomer's on Friday. I won't say she was fluffy -- next to the show-mutes, her funny cowlicks and stegosaurus ridge look somewhat less than plush. But she was adorable, had nicely clipped claws and a perky red bandana. And that certain gleam in her eye. It should have warned me. We were called for one p.m. and were kept waiting interminably, and Allie got more and more Malamutey, while my back was aching and I was developing some 'tude of my own. After several eons, we finally entered the ring. To my shock, Allie did not immediately throw herself onto her back and present her tummy to the admiring multitudes. Instead, she was a perfect angel and performed the first half of the routine dead on. When we got into the big circle, however, and I put her into her "down," she did not settle all the way down, and I should not have had any confidence in her stay. As I moved away to walk around the circle, I glanced back, and of course Allie had broken the stay and gotten up to meander after me. The expression on her face was pure-as-the-driven-snow innocence. So of course I had to return to her and stand with her, face burning, while everyone else completed the manoeuvre. Fortunately, the next part is a comedy bit, so Allie and I had basically loosened the audience up ... we should probably have done a little schtick, if I could have thought of something. Of course, of all the parts of the routine, the down stay is one she NEVER gets wrong in practice. Malamutes! She was very tired afterward. The diva slept like a log til morning.