Tuesday was Boola's big night - his Gold test. I was very nervous about it as although he is brilliant at some of the exercises, he is a bit more hit and miss with others. We all gathered before our class, and there were some pretty tense faces, even from those who'd done Gold before with their other dogs. The examiner arrived and then it was time.
We started with our road work exercise, before it got dark and that went very well. This is one of Boola's strong points as he walks so well on the lead. Then we were back inside the church hall for the remainder of the test. We slowly worked through going to the bed (Boola had to have two goes at this). This exercise is paradoxically the hardest for Boola because as a typical greyhound his bed is his default position! In all the time we've owned him, we've never needed to tell him to go and lie down as he usually just takes himself off to the nearest comfy sofa, duvet or rug. So having to get him up, walk round the church hall and then tell him to go back where he just came from is obviously in Boola's eyes, a completely baffling exercise. Anyway, he did it.
We started with our road work exercise, before it got dark and that went very well. This is one of Boola's strong points as he walks so well on the lead. Then we were back inside the church hall for the remainder of the test. We slowly worked through going to the bed (Boola had to have two goes at this). This exercise is paradoxically the hardest for Boola because as a typical greyhound his bed is his default position! In all the time we've owned him, we've never needed to tell him to go and lie down as he usually just takes himself off to the nearest comfy sofa, duvet or rug. So having to get him up, walk round the church hall and then tell him to go back where he just came from is obviously in Boola's eyes, a completely baffling exercise. Anyway, he did it.
Then it was doing a timed Stay with an out of sight bit too (I had to go and stand in the vestibule, leaving Boola settled). As expected, this is another of his strong points - once he's on his mat, and lying down, he's usually pretty settled. Then the examiner came round and did the physical examination - by this time, Boola had actually fallen asleep, so we had to gently wake him for the examiner to do her inspection of teeth, eyes, ears, coat etc. Then it was time for questions to handlers on dog care and welfare. After that, we did off lead walking and the emergency stop. Boola's emergency stop is not as crisp as some of the others - but it was sufficient to pass which was a huge relief as this is also one of his less good exercises. We had to a small test with some food to demonstrate food manners - fortunately, Boola's are pretty good so that was fine. Then we had to do Controlled Isolation - Boola flew through this as again it just required him to stretch out on his rug and have a nap! By this time, we had completed the test exercises, and Caroline came round with our certificates and rosettes. I was so proud of him - he is the only greyhound in Caroline's classes to have done his Gold, and he really is a wonderful ambassador for ex racing dogs. Given his age, his achievement is even more special.
I wanted to give Caroline a small gift to say Thank you - I also made her a card. I have a bag in the spare bedroom which is my "present" bag where I stash gifts that I buy during the year so out of that came a lovely L'Occitane Pivoine toiletry set, plus I popped in a tissue holder that I'd made. To complete it, I made a little drawstring bag. Picture attached. The fabric is from the Martinique range by Moda. A while back, I bought a lovely little box of precut 2.5" squares in a selection of designs by Moda - a sampler collection. For each fabric collection there are 40 squares so this was perfect to make up a small drawstring bag - with 5 rows of 4 squares on each outer side. I lined the bag with some striped blue and cream cotton, and used a Martinique strip to make a channel for the drawstring. After pressing and adding the drawstring, it was ready to go. Caroline really liked it, which I was very pleased about.
It turned out that sadly, that evening Caroline had been to the vet with one of her three dogs, Bella, a beautiful mastiff, and had received the terrible news that she would have to be put to sleep. Caroline's ability to keep going and run the class after hearing this awful news was a tribute to her professionalism. Bella was actually put to sleep yesterday afternoon - RIP to a beautiful dog. We actually heard the news when we were at the hydrotherapist with Booty - Angela the therapist was another of the gold classmates with her Staffy cross, Charlie and she had her rosette and certificate proudly displayed when we arrived. She had the text from Caroline with the news while Booty was putting on her harness for her dip.
Booty is continuing to enjoy the therapy - she rushes in with a waggy tail, gets lots of fusses and treats, and then trots quite happily up the ramp into the tank. Afterwards, not surprisingly, she usually has her tea then spends the evening fast asleep.
I wanted to give Caroline a small gift to say Thank you - I also made her a card. I have a bag in the spare bedroom which is my "present" bag where I stash gifts that I buy during the year so out of that came a lovely L'Occitane Pivoine toiletry set, plus I popped in a tissue holder that I'd made. To complete it, I made a little drawstring bag. Picture attached. The fabric is from the Martinique range by Moda. A while back, I bought a lovely little box of precut 2.5" squares in a selection of designs by Moda - a sampler collection. For each fabric collection there are 40 squares so this was perfect to make up a small drawstring bag - with 5 rows of 4 squares on each outer side. I lined the bag with some striped blue and cream cotton, and used a Martinique strip to make a channel for the drawstring. After pressing and adding the drawstring, it was ready to go. Caroline really liked it, which I was very pleased about.
It turned out that sadly, that evening Caroline had been to the vet with one of her three dogs, Bella, a beautiful mastiff, and had received the terrible news that she would have to be put to sleep. Caroline's ability to keep going and run the class after hearing this awful news was a tribute to her professionalism. Bella was actually put to sleep yesterday afternoon - RIP to a beautiful dog. We actually heard the news when we were at the hydrotherapist with Booty - Angela the therapist was another of the gold classmates with her Staffy cross, Charlie and she had her rosette and certificate proudly displayed when we arrived. She had the text from Caroline with the news while Booty was putting on her harness for her dip.
Booty is continuing to enjoy the therapy - she rushes in with a waggy tail, gets lots of fusses and treats, and then trots quite happily up the ramp into the tank. Afterwards, not surprisingly, she usually has her tea then spends the evening fast asleep.
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