Monday 19 April 2010

An Email to Crunchie...

Crunchie got this email yesterday from his beautiful daughter, Chiclet who lives in California. I thought you might all enjoy it. Shared with permission.

Hi there Dad

Long time since we "woofed" but I need to vent a little today. I want you to know that everywhere I go there is someone that has heard of "Crunchie" & I'm getting a lttle tired of the expectations of being great in harness like you so today I handled a situation & thought I would share my knowledge just in case you need some creative ideas one day.

Today I set my own standards !! Mom took me all by myself to this event where I got to meet a bunch of new dogs & people. I met Kecia last weekend & liked her until today (we'll discuss that later) and her dog Magnum. You see mom didn't tell me she volunteered me to be part of an urban mushing team demo . OMG these guys are nuts, its hot , on sidewalks... aaarrgg...

Everything was fine until Kecia pulled out the bright pink harness, I thought when I left NW I was NEVER going to have to do THAT again, but they tricked me today. And I should mention all the time time they are talking Crunchie this and Crunchie that what a great dog he is & how I look just like him. Geez I'm charming & BE-A-u-ti-ful in my own right !!

They took pictures & I tolerated that ok, if you look at Kecia's Facebook she has more but then they expected us to run with all these people talking and cheering. I just wanted to go for a nice walk. that's when all H&$% broke loose, Magnum barked at me & told me to "get with it" and speed up that I was lagging. HOW DARE HE !!! We had just met !! But I was good, ran for 30 -50 yards or so, not bad but what was my mom doing to me, She had better have some darn good cookies is all I could think !!

So after that stressful & exerting effort on my part, quit laughing dad it had to be 40 yards long, they expected us to run back. WHAT ???? So I started slow again & darn that Magnum, he YELLED at me again !!!

That did it !!! I was done !! I'll show then you can't make a sled dog princess do anything she doesn't want !! Don't you dare yell at the Princess !!

I stopped & did the dead bug imitation, yep, stop, drop & roll. The team drug me on my back 10-15 feet or so till they stopped just for me !! Luckily Kecia was the musher so she didn't have time to get a picture hehehe & everyone felt sorry for me(but mom, I think she has plans I may not like too well) you see they thought I was this cute puppy that didn't know how to run in harness yet. tee hee. I think it was a very good thing it was a public exhibitiion because Mom couldn't even have words with me in front of the people and since we dogs live "in the moment" I hope she will forget. She sure forgot about giving me cookies after all I went through.

I did get plenty of belly rubs & attention from all the people they do think I'm darn cute & I practiced obedience, focus & touch games with Mom and that all went very well (good dried buffalo for that effort).

You know I think it is just too hard to live up to your reputation Dad but I do miss everyone & hope you are all well.

Your loving puppy,
Chiclet


7 comments:

Kathryn said...

Chiclet - That's horrible that your mom humiliated you like that. The worst my mom has done was put a 10 lb pack on me and we went out hiking for 5 miles. She also put me through 2 obedience classes, but I heard that my Grandpa is going to be making me some agility equipment to try out in the backyard.
Hope your mom doesn't do anything silly like that again to you.
Love,
Your Little Brother Bean

Karen_SanDiego said...

Brother Bean - You have NO idea what it was like....hated it... But I wil say this tho, you will LOVE Agility !! Mom started classes a month ago with me & we train a couple of times a week. I'm the new little Diva Star in class & love the attention. All about ME !! Gotta keep doing obedience it's what will make you good in agility.
...Your loving sister

Anonymous said...

Chiclet --- I am soooo sorry about what happened to you! I saw the whole thing happen and was appalled myself.

BTW, I wish I had known who you were because I would have loved to say hi as we are first cousins! I was also at the Pet Expo on all 3 days, doing dog scootering demos. My Dad is Skor, and I have been living here in So. Cal for almost 3 years now and run regularly with my brother Coal (he was also at the Pet Expo on Saturday). Our distant cousins were also there --- 6-month old siblings Lucky and Bolt from Kelim Siberians.

Anyway, I just want you to know that I am an urban mushing dog and do this all the time, including doing presentations and giving demos to the public. I love it and enjoy telling people (and yes, I do talk alot) about how much fun I have running and pulling.

They shouldn't have put you on that team, specially if you weren't prepared for it. And it is true, yesterday was warm and we would NEVER run under those conditions but we do oblige for short demos.

And when we run here in Southern California, we always run when it's much cooler, usually during the early mornings (and sometimes in the early evening), and get plenty of rest stops during the run and drink plenty of water before hand. We avoid running on pavement and do most of our running on dirt trails.

I am glad that you didn't get hurt and hopefully we'll meet someday. And if ever you want to join us for a run, just let me know and I will make sure that you have a much better and more enjoyable experience!

Your cousin,

Obi (Stonehusky's Obsidian)

Karen_SanDiego said...

Well didn't know family was watching my antics. Not a chance on getting hurt, I have made the stop, drop & roll an art form. I got everyone's sympathy... tee hee.

Maybe next time we meet I can give you a few stop, drop & roll pointers. hehehe

---Cuzin

granimar said...

Aw-w-w Chiclet, that experience obviously was not positive. If the humans around you had had good teaching experience, they would have realized one of the fastest ways to get human siblings to shut down is to compare them with their siblings. They need to learn to credit you for being you. :-)
I'll bet the human and dog faces were something when you did your drop and roll exhibition.

Kaos Siberians said...

Chiclet, I think you need to contact your union rep. You'll notice that the only dogs from Kaos that were there were Grandma's "old lady dogs." The rest of us were home, doing what we do best...sunbathing and stealing spots on the sofa!! Grandma's dogs have to put up with a lot of hugs and kisses from Grandma, but we were home playing in the dirt. Our union rep does her job well.

We'll have to trade pointers on the dead bug trick. We like to do it to Mom in the ring when there's more attention on her. You need to up the "embarass Mom and she'll never make you do it again" factor.

Robin and the Kaos Gang

Anonymous said...

Chiclet - it was so much fun meeting you and having you run on the team with us! We are still all chuckling over that trick you pulled and I'm going to have to remember that one for the future. I'm still a crazy puppy but Mom keeps saying we are going to do something called "obedience" so maybe I'll save it for the first time we do that in public. You really are going to have to come out and play with us again sometime. Being hooked up to run in the team is how I learned all about doing this stuff, but it's a lot more fun when we can run further and it's cooler out. I don't get to meet many other dogs of the non-domino variety and mom says she is still drooling over your beautiful color. Hope to see you again sometime soon.
Jeep (Nat Ch Nordiclights Lil Mud NTH Tires)