Saturday, I was able to finish a goal for my dear friend Nancy Jennings and her Toller Gopher.
I alluded to it in a previous column, but didn’t want to jinx it – in case I wasn’t able to pull it off.
We called it a “Reverse Ryan.”
So some background about why we named it that is needed here.
For those who might not remember, I had a dog named Ryan that I trained in Rally, but he decided that I was way too serious for his liking when it came to showing in it. One miserable performance in the ring was all it took to convince me of that.
And besides, at the time I had my heart dog Buzz to train and show. And he loved Rally. He adored me, too, and turned himself inside out to do all he could on course to make me smile.
Meanwhile, Ryan enjoyed training in the basement and all the treats involved, but when I got too serious about perfecting something, he was done. He’d exit stage left, race up the stairs and put an end to our training sessions.
At the time, Nancy was dogless and Ryan loved her, so I asked if she wanted to take over and show Ryan. And she agreed.
She’d come on Saturdays and train him and he just loved it. Nancy has a very happy- go-lucky attitude about training and showing. Ryan thought this was perfect and turned himself inside out for her.
She’d laugh and smile at him if he made a mistake, blow it off and say, “That’s just Ryan.”
Unlike me.
Her attitude never wavered and his enthusiasm matched hers. The two cruised through all the levels of Rally and they complimented each other while doing a lot of winning. Once he got older, I retired him and Nancy got a puppy that she named Gopher. He came from Minnesota, the Golden Gophers, I mean, come on, it’s perfect.
Nancy spent years training Gopher in Rally – working with me in the basement and traveling to shows. The duo successfully rose though the Rally classes to the Master level and had achieved 19 qualifying scores out of the 20 scores the partnership needed for a Master Rally 2 title.
But that last qualifying score became elusive and frustrating.
After all those times in the ring, Gopher decided he was done showing in Rally. Kinda like Ryan with me. And he made it quite apparent, stopping and scratching and walking around the ring instead of trotting between the signs and racing over the jumps – as he did while training.
So we listened to his wishes and tried another sport – scentwork. No matter their age, Tollers need a job or they are miserable and they will make their owners life just as miserable. Gopher thought sniffing was really cool and he found “his thing.” He’s really good at it.
Since a few years had gone by since Gopher had last shown in Rally and I’m a Rally person at heart, I just couldn’t let it go. I really wanted to get that last qualifying score for my friend Nancy.
So, on one of those Saturday mornings while having my first cup of coffee when I concoct crazy schemes, I decided to try. Gopher was trained, he just needed to get through one more run. And it didn’t matter if he barely qualified (70 or better is qualifying). So, no pressure on me to win, just get through a course.
I wanted to do this for Nancy, especially after all she’d done for me with Ryan. For you see, I wanted the Rally titles on Ryan, he didn’t care.
And I knew it still bugged Nancy that she hadn’t been able to finish the title.
Plus. when I put my mind to something, I’m rather determined. So, I worked with him a couple Saturdays and took him to a match. He happily worked for me. So I entered him on Feb. 7.
What’s the worst that could happen? He didn’t qualify, right?
Of all the things I imagined could happen, what didn’t cross my mind was just how sensitive he became when we walked into the show building and he was surrounded by an atmosphere of nervous energy.
I wasn’t the least bit nervous, but Nancy was … for me. And Gopher felt that, too.
I’m a seasoned exhibitor. I’ve been in the Rally ring probably 400 or more times at this point. But Gopher was pretty wigged out. And until I got on the course, I didn’t know what a toll it would take.
He started out the course walking up to the first jump, heaved himself over it and walked back to me. In training and at the match, he always flew over the jumps.
Thankfully, I know a thing or two about handling a dog — no matter what might happen on course. I walk a course with Plan A, B, C and D in mind.
And, I needed to use all of them.
All this time, I’d blamed Nancy for letting this highest level of Rally get into her head. And when you’re not in the right mindset for Rally, it really affects your performance.
I ate a lot of crow when I came off the course exhausted after 2 minutes or so of competing. But I powered through and Gopher hung with me. He scored a 95, which is pretty good, but it took everything in my handling bag of tricks to make that happen.
Mission accomplished.
Nancy now has this title. A green ribbon and a pretty new little title ribbon as well. And there will be a certificate from AKC heading her way in the mail to make it official.
And I was able to play a wee part in that.
So here’s to you Gopher. Thank you for showing one more time to give your mom this title.
Now you really get your wish. You are really, truly done showing Rally.
Happy sniffing.
