Cardigans get no respect, none at all. Especially from whippets and their owners. Yes, Scot, you giggling fool.
Last night was our monthly kennel club meeting. One of the topics was the show wrap up report and then fielding some ideas for next year. We’re going to try the herding instinct testing again. Cardiac clinic sponsored by the boxer club. And someone is interested in holding a CAT at the dog show.
CAT is luring coursing lingo for Coursing Aptitude Test and now most breeds in AKC can participate at that level and get a CAT certificate. Lots of cardigan have received their CAT’s and well, beyond the funny word and associating it with dogs, cardigans as a whole are a very versatile breed and coursing is just one of their hidden talents.
When I happened to mention that a lot of cardigans have already gotten their titles, giggles erupted from the hound people sitting around the table. I got comments like-how slow do you have to run the lure? Or – do you have a bag small enough? Or-the corgi is the same size as the bag.
Okay folks, let’s prove those thin skinned sight hounds wrong! First off, our dogs can chase and corner as well as those long limbed things. Sometimes much better as our dogs actually think and realize that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Your's blindly follow a plastic bag in circles! And thin skinned, our dogs don’t need no coats or blankets or what not to keep warm when standing still. They can still go out and hunt in the dead of winter. What about injuries? Our lovely cardigans can dive into brush and bramble to continue the chase and come out with nary a scratch, while our poor little sight hounds have cuts, bruises and scratches galor!
We’ll prove them all wrong-our little multi-purpose pooches! I got amazing looks this last weekend when I was talking about how many things cardigans can do. You can shoot over Fred, he points and flushes too. Ratters? Not a problem at all with that. All my dogs love that game in the barn. Guardians, many will tell you that when you come to my house, if you aren’t invited or a stranger, you will get a talking to from the herd and can’t get a pet in until the hoomans say it’s okay. Herding, that’s a big duh. Ducks, sort of chickens, sheep, kids, you name it, we’ve herded it! As companions I have the best hot water bottles in bed on cold winter nights and silly games to lift my spirits.
CAT’s watch out, here we come!
Later gators....
C
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2 comments:
Of course you are preaching to the choir, but what an EXCELLENT post! Loved it!
How can anyone think Cardis are slow? Sure those long legged/light-weight breeds can outpace a Cardi in a point A to point B race, but my high-drive Cardi boy can blow the socks off of many 16-inch agility dogs and is always in the top ten in his own 12-inch class, and that's saying something in my area.
How fun that will be! Lola has had two experiences with lure coursing. She was so excited the first time but didn't realize that there wouldn't be a dog to chase. After she got over her initial disappointment she got right down to business. Then a few weeks ago we had the opportunity to go again at our local humane society's fundraiser. She put all the other dogs to shame (although it was embarrassing having her squeal in excitement while she waited her turn). Max was a curious spectator on the other side of the snow fence. Each dog got to run three passes (it was a shorter course for smaller dogs) By the second pass, Lola had the shortcut figured out. Max was loudly rooting her on. After her third run when the bag came to a stop, she looked at it briefly and then attacked it for good measure. I wish there was a place we could go around here for the CAT. There is one club but they only allow
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