OH! DIXIE!!!

And when she was good,

She was very, very good

But when she was bad she was horrid.

This nursery rhyme would describe Dixie in the ring, especially when I'm handling!  With her lack of coat (she actually has some bare patches!) there was no need for Ellen to handle Dixie today at the Rock Creek Kennel Club show.  I would have preferred to just have her absent, but she was needed to hold the major so I took her in the ring.  Dixie had already started to misbehave the previous day and when we arrived at the show site, she was in her crate with towels covering it to prevent her from seeing (and barking) at other dogs. Like her mom, Dixie will vocally object to anything she finds disturbing--the list is long and continually growing.  But, at least Phoebe would stop in the ring!  Dixie seems to have developed a very strong sense of what should be allowed and  is the self appointed collie cop of all things wrong.  She lulled me into a false sense of "this will be a fun ring experience" by behaving perfectly outside the ring, sweetly waiting for our class, and stacking wonderfully when we first entered the ring.  Our initial go around was great! I caught the judge looking our way!  I didn't think she'd win the class, but perhaps she could go second??? NO, we were lucky we weren't excused!!!!  Dixie wouldn't stand to be examined, then jerked her head out of the judge's hands.  When I tried to hold her head still, forgetting that I had bait in my hand, Dixie tried to grab the bait, earning me an admonishment from the judge--"don't feed her now"!  Dixie started to dance around, I was trying so hard to get her to behave, then I straightened as the judge bent over--almost knocking the judge's hat off her head!  After that good first impression, it was time for the down and back.  A piece of paper was blowing outside the ring and a couple were walking with their dog.  Oh, the horror, this can't be allowed!!!  Dixie started barking, charging towards the edge of the ring (unfortunately, not in the direction we were supposed to go), her tail straight up like an antennae.  Somehow I got her to the proper corner of the ring, gave her an admonishment, which she blew off, then tried to gait her back to the judge.  Dixie had her hackles up, was looking backwards and was barking!  David was going to get some pictures of us in the ring, but Ellen just murmured, "oh no, don't take pictures of that".  We finished third (out of three entries) but I was so glad that the judge didn't say "don't ever show a dog to me again" that I just kept saying "thank you, thank you"!  Apparently, the people watching the show (friends and other exhibitors) thought is was very amusing as I heard various comments--"I hope you weren't upset that I was laughing", "I've never seen a dog raise their hackles in the ring before", "she was having more fun than should be allowed".  Back at Ellen's set up, Dixie flopped into her crate, exhausted.  It's hard to show and keep order a the same time!