Tues., Oct. 11, 2011 - Courier Water Dog

When I updated Hardee's blog last, we were leaving for Arizona for some more water work for Hardee, a practice day and a water match.  That weekend trip to Arizona turned into a much longer trip than we planned.  We were gone and on the road for 2 weeks, and are glad to be home. 

Because Hardee did so well in AZ, we decided to try to enter the Texas water trial the next weekend.  After confirming there were still openings in that trial, we started the long drive to Texas (almost 1400 miles).  We had plenty of time on our hands since Jim was laid off of his job.  We had some health issues with Hardee on our trip, but he seemed better a few days later so we decided to let him compete.  We got to TX with a couple days to spare before their trial which gave Hardee plenty of time to rest.

Hardee was the first dog in the line up to compete for Courier on Saturday.  The first exercise is the courier pouch exchange.  He has to jump off my boat, turn and take the courier pouch in his mouth, swim to the other boat where Jim is and deliver the pouch to Jim, then take another courier pouch in his mouth and swim it back to me on my boat.  Once I got him off my boat (he no longer likes to jump off the boat or he just likes to hear himself bark and bark until he is ready to jump off) and directed towards the other boat, he was good.  All deliveries are to hand.

His second exercise is the blind retrieve of his float line from shore.  He has to jump off my boat, swim to shore, retrieve his float line, and swim it back to me on the boat.  Once I got him to jump off the boat, he swam directly to shore, located his float line, shook some water off, picked up his float line and swam it back to me on the boat and delivered it to hand.  What a good boy!

His third exercise is the double directed retrieve.  Jim has 2 matching bumpers on his boat that he has to throw out into the water, one towards shore and the other towards sea.  The judge determines which bumper he has to retrieve first, which in this case was the shore bumper.  Hardee has to jump off my boat, swim and retrieve the shore bumper first, swim it back to me and put it in my hand, then without boarding the boat, swim out and collect the sea bumper and swim it back to me, delivering it to hand again.  I had a harder time getting Hardee to jump off the boat for this exercise, but once he was off, he was perfect.

The fourth exercise is the fishing net pull.  Hardee has to jump off my boat, swim to Jim's boat, take delivery of the fishing net in the water, and pull it back to me on my boat.  This is the exercise that tires Hardee out the most.  Hardee's cancer and his heart weakened by the chemo have not helped him in this exercise.  Hardee did pull it all the way to me without letting go of the end of the net though.  Good boy Hardee!

The fifth and final exercise is the buoy ball drop.  Hardee has to jump off my boat, take his buoy ball from me in his mouth, turn and swim out past the marker at least 10 feet and drop it in a certain area.  When he turned away from me, right after he jumped off the boat and took his buoy ball, I told him to go "touch marker."  He swam straight to the marker, pushing it over as he went past (his "touch marker") and went straight out from there.  When he is at least 10 feet past the marker and within the drop zone, the judge raises her arm up.  I continued to send Hardee out much further out than 10 feet because sometimes he has a hard time letting go of the buoy ball rope to "drop it."  Because he turns before he drops the buoy ball, he is swimming into the current which pushes the rope of the buoy ball back into his mouth.  He can't just drop it.  He has to spit it out.  I sent Hardee out about 25 feet past the marker which gives me plenty of time to get him to drop the rope of the buoy ball.  If not, I have to turn him with voice commands and send him out again.  When Hardee drops the buoy ball in the desired area, the judge raises her second arm.  Hardee DID, and the judge's second arm went up.  It was perfection!!!

I still didn't know if Hardee had passed or not because everything is timed and has time limits.  I didn't know if we had surpassed any of our time limits, and while Hardee made the long swim back to my boat, I worried.  As soon as I had Hardee boarded, the judge turned to the crowd and said (as far as I remember) "that's a new Courier Water Dog!"  I was absolutely thrilled!!!  I knew Hardee could do it.  He is just the best boy dog ever!!!  I cried while my boat rower rowed back to shore.  Then I sobbed as I hugged Jim, and then the judge (she was also crying).  It was a fabulous moment, one that I am very proud of, and once again, I am oh so proud of my wonderful, working boy.  Hardee brings so much joy to us!

As thrilled as we are about Hardee's success, we are having some issues with Hardee's health.  Even though he was only 5 years old when diagnosed, Hardee is 6 years, 7 months old tomorrow.  We've had 14 months of extra time with him, and we are so grateful for this.  We've spent well over 50 grand on his cancer care but would still do whatever it took to keep him here with us, as long as it didn't affect his quality of life too much.  We've had the time of our lives with Hardee.  Keep your fingers and paws crossed for Hardee and for us.

For as long as we can, it will always be all about joy and all about Hardee.