The Spaniel Annals

Originally printed in the  IWSCA newsletter in Spring 2018.  What better way to update this blog than with Journey’s UDX earned back in February?

Journey (Ch. Whistlestop Journey to Freedom [now] UDX, RN JH)  began her quest for her UDX at the Collie Club’s all-breed obedience trial in Feb. 2017, and ended it at the very same trial a year later, on Feb. 25^th 2018.  To earn the UDX, the dog must pass Open and Utility on the same day and do this ten times.  Six of Journey’s legs also earned High Combined awards, meaning her combined score was the highest at the trial.  Her pass rate improved over the year, with her last three trials providing the last three legs, and all of them also won High Combined.

It’s been a journey for me too, but a longer one.  I’ve been trying to earn the coveted advanced obedience awards with my springers and setters for 20 years now, and while their spirits were very willing, their bodies often weren’t up the task.  I could see Journey’s gifts in the very first weeks of training her oh so long ago, and while our life together has been a winding road, her intelligence, athleticism and willingness have always been evident.

Her titling weekend became a true test of our ability to focus.  At 10 ½, Journey has the mental drive, but sometimes she gets tired by the end of a weekend showing 2 classes in both days.  Fortunately, I’ve recently found a great combination of bodywork and supplements to help with this, and in the previous weekend’s trials, I had been very pleased to see her energy level remain high.  So I had high hopes she could maintain focus this weekend too.

This titling weekend was also a test of my mental toughness.  With literally decades of hoping, planning, training for untold hours, and trialing, this UDX meant more than I can even put into words.  But if I let my emotions and future-tripping thoughts engulf our performance, I could undermine everything we were trying to do.  While I have a number of tools in my toolbox for mental toughness, by Sunday, with one more qualifying class to go for the title, I knew there was only one way to shut down all the thoughts swirling in my head so I could be completely present for Journey, and that was to put the entire performance to music.   While I’m not a fan of electropop, the song “Unstoppable” by Sia seemed to fit best.  And so I played the song through my earbuds before I took Journey out of her crate for warmup, sang it to us as we waited to go in the ring, and played it in my head while we were performing.  Between each exercise, I brushed Journey’s curls away from her eyes as she looked up at me, and said, “We are UNSTOPPABLE.”  And we were.

Journey’s journey continues with the quest for the OTCH, and we are well over halfway towards that goal.  Since most of the points possible are in Utility, and she already has her major wins required from both classes, she is now a “Utility specialist,” so she doesn’t get too worn down from too much jumping and showing too many classes all weekend.  With this plan, I have high hopes that we can keep showing for a good while, and that we can reach that most holy grail of obedience trialing, the Obedience Trial Championship.   However that journey ends, I am forever grateful for the tremendous gift this dog has already given me.