Chapter I – Being a Show Puppy
August 25, 2008
Everyone calls me Chase. I am a Cardigan Welsh Corgi.I live in New Mexico with my human mom. People call her Penni. She feeds me, brushes me, takes me to our training place, and tries to teach me things. I really do want to learn, but there are a lot of things going on around here that I should check out.
My human Grandma is Carolyn and I was born at her house in Oregon on October 17, 2007. I was a very little puppy with nine brothers and sisters. My G-Ma Carolyn and Penni are friends, so G-Ma Carolyn let me take an airplane trip with Penni before I was even twelve weeks old. My sister Libby was the only other puppy that got to fly. She went all the way to Ontario, Canada to live with our Dad.
I had two Cardigan friends at my house in New Mexico. Inca is a lot older than I am. She is red and white. She also thinks she’s the boss of the world. Kip is younger than Inca, but older than I am. He’s black and white. He really knows a lot of training stuff. Kip has gone to live with Jill and Jim and Sarah. I’ll miss him. Now I just have to make sure Inca doesn’t take my toys. She seems annoyed with me, but I’m not sure why.
This summer I had a big adventure. It started in May when I was only six months old. Penni took me to a really noisy place with about a million dogs. My friend Bonnie put me on a table, and then a woman petted me and looked at my teeth. She also felt my private parts. Bonnie said it was okay, though I’m not so sure about that. I trotted around in a circle. The lady gave me a blue ribbon, and then a little while later gave me a purple ribbon. I guess that was a big deal. The next day we did it again, but I got extra ribbons – a blue and white one, a green one, and a pink one with streamers. Penni and Bonnie were really happy. So was G-Ma when we called her on the telephone to wish her happy Mother’s Day.
I thought I’d been awfully good and that we were done with the running in circles thing, but Penni took me on a long car ride to a place in Oklahoma that’s bigger than our training club. She gave me to Sherri and David and Lauren. I was pretty upset because that didn’t seem fair. But, you know what? Sherri and David and Lauren gave me even more treats than Penni did. I went home with them for a few weeks. While I was with them we went more places where I trotted around and stood on a table so different people could feel me. I liked meeting all those people, and they gave me more ribbons and some presents. Then one day when we were in Topeka, Kansas, I ran in circles over and over again. I even got to go in the ring with dogs that weren’t Cardigans. There was a Collie and the other kind of Corgi, and a dog called an Aussie. A really nice lady named Pat gave me a big white ribbon — that was called the Group Place. That night we ran around in circles again with just Cardigans. I got a Blue and White ribbon. Then Sherri used her cell phone to call Penni and tell her I was a Champion and could come home. Penni’s friends Keith and Mary took me to Wichita where Hawk-the-Vallhund’s G-Ma picked me up. She drove back to New Mexico, and Penni came and got me.
So, I’m back home. I still have to go trot around in a circle sometimes, but we do some other things that are more fun. Penni lets me run through tunnels, and jump things, and climb things, and ride a teeter totter. We also go out in the fields and I find someone’s smell. I follow it until I find a glove. Whatever we do, I get great treats. The treats are prizes for being a really good boy.
And that’s what I am – I’m a really good boy!
