So many good dogs!
March 14, 2017 7:08 AM Subscribe
On Sunday, Crufts 2017 international canine extravaganza awarded Best In Show to an American Cocker Spaniel named Afterglow Miami Ink, accompanied by the inevitable grumbling from naysayers and celebrity comparisons. Miami is a very good dog, but that's not why we're here today.
Panache! Heelwork to music, both regular and freestyle
Speed! 2017 Flyball quarters, semis and final
Coordination! 2017 Agility competitions
Also starring Mia the Beagle's spiritual cousin across the pond: OLLY!
Panache! Heelwork to music, both regular and freestyle
Speed! 2017 Flyball quarters, semis and final
Coordination! 2017 Agility competitions
Also starring Mia the Beagle's spiritual cousin across the pond: OLLY!
I needed Olly today!
posted by allthinky at 8:13 AM on March 14, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by allthinky at 8:13 AM on March 14, 2017 [7 favorites]
So Best in Show was a real documentary...
posted by Splunge at 8:17 AM on March 14, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Splunge at 8:17 AM on March 14, 2017 [3 favorites]
Go Olly go! Olly reminds me of my rescue schmoo who LOVES to run but is ever so slightly clumsy and has at least one face plant per day.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:18 AM on March 14, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Sophie1 at 8:18 AM on March 14, 2017 [4 favorites]
I'm about a year into doing dog agility with my rescue GSD. And I will say that nothing Mia or Olly did would have been out of place in our training facility. In fact many of the dogs I practice with are far less collected and attentive than either Mia or Olly. Bless them. :-)
posted by suelac at 8:25 AM on March 14, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by suelac at 8:25 AM on March 14, 2017 [1 favorite]
Has anyone told Bront?
posted by Reverend John at 8:26 AM on March 14, 2017 [13 favorites]
posted by Reverend John at 8:26 AM on March 14, 2017 [13 favorites]
As someone often described as a pompous fancy thing, do not let my regal self-assured facade fool you. It cuts to one's very heart.
posted by vorpal bunny at 8:28 AM on March 14, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by vorpal bunny at 8:28 AM on March 14, 2017 [3 favorites]
You don't know hilarity until you try to do agility with a coonhound. (He was a nice rally-o dog, though. We mainly impressed people just by showing up.)
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:32 AM on March 14, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:32 AM on March 14, 2017 [2 favorites]
Oh, it seems Olly is a regular! That year, he started heading into the stands. The 2015 one is also great, with Dudley the half-blind shih-tzu/pug just... noodling through happily.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 9:05 AM on March 14, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by flibbertigibbet at 9:05 AM on March 14, 2017 [6 favorites]
An American Cocker Spaniel! The bestest dog! yay!
When I was just under 3 years old I went off on a walkabout while my parents and grandparents were busy building what was to become our new home. My best friend Pete, a black and white Cocker Spaniel, accompanied me. I still remember the excitement as no one told me to turn around and come back. I wandered into a field with yellow daffodils – so it must have been early spring – and spotted a bunch of big white daffodils further up a hill. Then I noticed a stream! A gurgling, happy stream lined with purple flowers that I followed until my little legs got tired. I thought I would follow it back down... but it branched. I walked in what were probably circles. I remember being very hungry and surprised that the world could change so much just by walking. When I finally stopped, Pete wagged his tail and headed off, looking back at me. I followed him.
We reached a barbed wire fence. They were all the rage in our part of Oregon at the time. Memories of my childhood are filled with the pointy things. The fence went a very long way; further than I could see. I started crying. Pete went under the fence to the other side and waffed at me. I cried some more. Pete came back under the fence to me, nuzzled my hand, and went back under to cross it again. He wagged his tail. I understood! Got on my stomach and wriggled under. That young, I wasn't much bigger than a healthy Cocker Spaniel.
Pete led me to a neighbor house not too far beyond that fence. I was old enough to know Not To Speak To Strangers, but Pete went up to the big man there while I sobbed around his driveway. The guy phoned my parents thanks to Pete's dog tag.
Cocker Spaniels will always have a warm Pete-shaped spot in my heart. He lived until I was six years old, and was always waiting for me after school, rear end wriggling with joy.
posted by fraula at 9:26 AM on March 14, 2017 [63 favorites]
When I was just under 3 years old I went off on a walkabout while my parents and grandparents were busy building what was to become our new home. My best friend Pete, a black and white Cocker Spaniel, accompanied me. I still remember the excitement as no one told me to turn around and come back. I wandered into a field with yellow daffodils – so it must have been early spring – and spotted a bunch of big white daffodils further up a hill. Then I noticed a stream! A gurgling, happy stream lined with purple flowers that I followed until my little legs got tired. I thought I would follow it back down... but it branched. I walked in what were probably circles. I remember being very hungry and surprised that the world could change so much just by walking. When I finally stopped, Pete wagged his tail and headed off, looking back at me. I followed him.
We reached a barbed wire fence. They were all the rage in our part of Oregon at the time. Memories of my childhood are filled with the pointy things. The fence went a very long way; further than I could see. I started crying. Pete went under the fence to the other side and waffed at me. I cried some more. Pete came back under the fence to me, nuzzled my hand, and went back under to cross it again. He wagged his tail. I understood! Got on my stomach and wriggled under. That young, I wasn't much bigger than a healthy Cocker Spaniel.
Pete led me to a neighbor house not too far beyond that fence. I was old enough to know Not To Speak To Strangers, but Pete went up to the big man there while I sobbed around his driveway. The guy phoned my parents thanks to Pete's dog tag.
Cocker Spaniels will always have a warm Pete-shaped spot in my heart. He lived until I was six years old, and was always waiting for me after school, rear end wriggling with joy.
posted by fraula at 9:26 AM on March 14, 2017 [63 favorites]
and hey, 37 years later I only just now realize, the phone number had to have been for the old place, so someone probably had to drive to the site of the new one to tell them where their lost toddler had been found... this was in the days of landlines...
posted by fraula at 9:30 AM on March 14, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by fraula at 9:30 AM on March 14, 2017 [3 favorites]
Olly gets, like three solid tail wags while in mid air over the apex of the big pyramid thing, a technique I see he used in earlier years too. Such a happy puppy!
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:31 AM on March 14, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:31 AM on March 14, 2017 [3 favorites]
The Guardian had a lovely photo essay yesterday of a day at Crufts for two Red and White setters in competition.
posted by biffa at 10:19 AM on March 14, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by biffa at 10:19 AM on March 14, 2017 [1 favorite]
Olly's utter inflappability in the face of a faceplant and roll is an inspiration. And adorbs.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:41 AM on March 14, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:41 AM on March 14, 2017 [2 favorites]
You don't know hilarity until you try to do agility with a coonhound.
Huh... if you ever made it up to Countryside near (now in) Erie, you might have met biscotti and the vallhunds. If you were doing stuff in PGH, you may have run into our friends Sherry and Linda / Zap, who are most simply described as "the lesbians with the corgis."
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:50 AM on March 14, 2017
Huh... if you ever made it up to Countryside near (now in) Erie, you might have met biscotti and the vallhunds. If you were doing stuff in PGH, you may have run into our friends Sherry and Linda / Zap, who are most simply described as "the lesbians with the corgis."
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:50 AM on March 14, 2017
This is old but has been making the rounds again on my social media lately, and this bull mastiff competing in agility is basically me most days at the gym and I love him.
posted by TwoStride at 11:12 AM on March 14, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by TwoStride at 11:12 AM on March 14, 2017 [8 favorites]
I live near the Crufts venue, and was on the train early on one of the competition days. I stood next to a Pomeranian called Mildred, who was beautifully groomed and on her way to Crufts. She was a very good dog. Her owner wasn't expecting great things by way of awards but I bet they had fun.
posted by altolinguistic at 11:45 AM on March 14, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by altolinguistic at 11:45 AM on March 14, 2017 [1 favorite]
Olly knows how to live.
posted by praemunire at 12:55 PM on March 14, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by praemunire at 12:55 PM on March 14, 2017 [1 favorite]
The goth freestyle dog was exquisite, but recommend first jumping the playlist to the GODDAMNED CPR SOLDIER DOG WHO DOES SQUATS!!!!!!! HAVEN'T CRIED SO HARD SINCE THE FLY GLADIATOR ROUTINE!!!!
i cry at crufts every year, wake me up inside
posted by monster truck weekend at 2:24 PM on March 14, 2017 [4 favorites]
i cry at crufts every year, wake me up inside
posted by monster truck weekend at 2:24 PM on March 14, 2017 [4 favorites]
a Pomeranian called Mildred
I didn't realize it until just this second, but all my life I have been waiting to hear those specific words in that specific order.
Thank you.
posted by mudpuppie at 3:52 PM on March 14, 2017 [7 favorites]
I didn't realize it until just this second, but all my life I have been waiting to hear those specific words in that specific order.
Thank you.
posted by mudpuppie at 3:52 PM on March 14, 2017 [7 favorites]
Olly is my hero!
posted by shibalove8274 at 6:57 AM on March 16, 2017
posted by shibalove8274 at 6:57 AM on March 16, 2017
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posted by flibbertigibbet at 7:33 AM on March 14, 2017 [11 favorites]