Thursday, August 12, 2010

Carmen gets some letters!


So to pick up where I left off in yesterday's post, Brutus ended his weekend in lackluster style after I overcooked him in the rally ring.  That left us with not much to cheer about on Saturday, and a lot of time to kill.  You can only shop so much (we came home with lots of new collars and some other goodies), so I thought we'd take a walk to see what else was going on.

Lets go this way.  No I see something good over there, I wanna go that way....

Carmen has tagged along to the last few shows and really impressed me with how well she's handled all the chaos, just taking it all in like a pro.  She's such a smartypants, having learned most of her basic obedience skills (sit, down, stay, come and loose-leash heeling), already and she's just turned 5 months old!  We found that there was a CGC (Canine Good Citizen) test being given at the show so just for kicks I thought I'd see if Carmen could pass.  What did we have to lose at this point?

Test??  Did you just say TEST???

So I walked up to the registration table with Carmen and asked for a test form.  The evaluator asked about the dog I was testing and when I gestured to Carmen she looked at me like I had two heads.  She even had to go ask the other official if there was a minimum age for the CGC test (there isn't), and kind of shrugged her shoulders and handed me a form to fill out.


I warmed up Carmen in the building, hoping that the additional business of other dogs testing wouldn't be too much for her (this sort of thing has been difficult for Brutus to handle sometimes).  But thankfully Carmen shares few personality traits with Brutus and had no problem running thorough all her paces.  During the test she was just as solid and completely floored the examiner.  In fact when she did her stay/recall I even threw an extra little bit of flair and had her finish after the recall (the dog initially sits in front of the handler then on command moves back to heel position).  We actually got a round of applause from the little spectator crowd, and the examiner's jaw literally dropped when she saw what an obedience prodigy that Carmen was!

Hey Carmen, what's that new hardware on your collar?

Needless to say Carmen passed her CGC with flying colors, two days before she turned 5 months old (that has to be some kind of AKC record).  You know I'm not beyond bragging about any of my dogs, but this is REALLY special.  Carmen gets excited anytime she sees the clicker come out (she's learned almost everything via clicker-training), and just LOVES to learn.  I hope she continues to be such an enthusiastic student, amazing me everyday with how smart she is.  It's a joy to have a young mind and clean slate to work with, but a bit of a responsibility too!!   I'm hoping this is only the beginning of a long list of great performances for Carmen

Carmen is officially a Canine Good Citizen!

So with a passing CGC certificate in hand thanks to Carmen, we were able to wrap up our weekend on a high note.  My Frenchies did me proud over the weekend and we had a great time.  We'll never be the most impressive teams in the ring, but like I always say - I love it when we can put a smile on people's faces. 

Yes, you may come and adore me.



So here they are, my little superstars with their official titles (AKC recognitions followed by CPE agility titles in Brutus' case):
Brutus, RA NAJ CGC CL-1 CL2-H
Drama Queen d'Assisi, CGC

Putting all those new letters after our name is hard work, isn't it Carmen?

It's been nice to have some quiet days to relax at home since this week, just letting Brutus & Carmen be dogs and create the kind of ruckus that only two Frenchies can!  After this weekend things will quiet down again for a while, so hopefully I can catch up on blog-reading and commenting while they tear around and wrestle with each other, only pausing to sunbathe or nap gloriously together! Thanks for sticking with us, we'll see you soon!






22 comments:

Molly the Airedale said...

OMG, you go Carmen! We are so proud of you! And of course we're proud of Brutus also! You two Frenchies are 2 smart doggies!

Love ya lots
Maggie and Mitch

Anonymous said...

Congrats Carmin! What you did is simply amazing! High Paws to YOU!

Brutus, you dog you. No matter what you always come through :)

Glad y'all will have some down time soon,
Roo

agent99 said...

Go, Carmen, GO!!

Love
Gen & Lefty

Brutus, Ellie, Pippa and Otto said...

Way to go Carmen!! Congrats!! :)

Pugs & Kisses,

Yoda & Brutus

dw said...

Great work, Carmen!! All those letters after Brutus's name looks like some strange chemical symbols! LOL! Team Frenchie(s) sure has done you proud!

Frankie Furter and Ernie said...

Waaaaay to goooooooo!! Congratulations to both of you.

Deborah said...

Congratulations Carmen! Great job!
xxoo
Deborah

Maggie Mae and Max said...

Yay for Carmen! It was a grreat weekend for all of you!

Woofs and LIcks,
Maggie Mae

houndstooth said...

Congratulations on passing your test, Carmen!

Bunny

Two French Bulldogs said...

Oh Carmen bet you didn't know you would be working and doing homework and stuff at your age. And you came through with flying colors. Good job little girl. We sure are proud of you. Did brother give you any pointers?
Benny & Lily

Puglette said...

wow! that is just wonderful! little carmen is such a good girl. no wonder she can manuever her pen all around the house! you are doing a great job training these little beasties.
hugs,
puglette
:o)

Scooter said...

That is great Carmen. Us girls are really smart huh???

And congrats to Brutus too for his ribbons. You two are quite the champions!!!

wags
jazzi

verobirdie said...

Congratulations to Brutus and Carmen!
Amazing to see the differences of personality between them.
Anyway, they are both beautiful and smart.

George The Lad said...

Well done Carmen, and of course Brutus, two little stars.
See Yea George xxx

Rocky Creek Scotties and Rocky Creek Ramblings said...

WTG!! We're so proud!!

XOXO
Lilly, Piper, Carrleigh and Ruairi

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Carmen! That's SO exciting! Me and mom are going to try and work on that soon. The hardest part for me will be greeting another dog. That gets me kinda nervous. But maybe one day!

You're a rock star, for sure!

Wiggles & Wags,
mayzie

Dexter said...

Carmen is some sort of child star methinks to already be a good citizen at such a young age. Watch out, Brutus, you will have to make room for her ribbons in your showcase pretty soon.

Slobbers,
Mango

Kari in Alaska said...

Congrats Carmen! That is simply amazing!


Don't forget, we moved to http://dogisgodinreverse.com/

Anita said...

Carmen has grown so much since we last saw her! So proud of her! She really is a smart accomplished little girl! Keep it up!

-Basil & Guinness & mom

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

That is truly amazin - a big round of applause for Carmen AND her Mom - she couldn't have done it without you. You must be so proud of your pups.

Woos ~ Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara

Sandy said...

Congrats on the medal!
Quick note to invite you to hop over to my blog where I'll ad updates regarding Jan at Animal Talk, my SIL so you can keep informed on her condition post surgery.
Sandy
Traveling Suitcase

Oskar said...

What a brilliant little girl. My mom person is feeling a little bad that she has not spend enough time training me!

You guys are super Frenchies!!