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Twitter was
named after the movie Bambi and his mother
Tomfoolery AKA Tomi. When Thumper fell in love he
became “twitterpated”so the name Twitterpated Fool
became his AKC name. I feel that Malamutes require
obedience training and obtaining the obedience
titles from AKC validates their temperament as well
as working ability.
Twitter grew up
as a leggy young dog but grew into himself and
completed his championship after completing many
performance titles. He was know for his athletic
ability and loved to backpack, sled, weight pull,
run the agility course, and of all things herd
sheep.
I remember
participating in a weight pull competition in
Southern California and holding on to Twitter’s
weight pull harness and being pulled off my feet
toward the sheep herding demonstrations. I watched
and decided that Twitter seemed very interested and
was not sure if he saw “Leg of Lamb” or just wanted
to participate in the event. Well, I decided to
enter him in the Herding Instinct test and when it
was my turn I became very apprehensive and unsure of
the outcome. The rules clearly stated that if your
dog bites the sheep you bought it and had to take it
home. I now was very concerned and told the sheep
herder that I was hesitant and what would happen
if……… The man merely told me to let go of the
collar. I reluctantly did and off shot Twitter
toward the sheep. I held my breath fearing the
worst and Twitter came to a sudden stop and turned
his head to look back at me as if to say ” Now, what
do you want me to do?” There was a big crowd by now
and I was standing there looking blank faced. The
sheepherder started moving the sheep around and
Twitter looked at the man and did whatever he
asked. Wow, what a surprise and watching an Alaskan
Malamute herd sheep was truly amazing. He listened
to the man and took direction well and herded them
into the corral pen and the man closed the gate. I
had to drag Twitter out of the arena and he was
screaming to get back in and work the sheep.
Twitter also
loved backpacking and would get you up the mountain
no matter how tired or slow you hiked. I could
always depend on him and he guided me into base camp
every year even when it was moved to a different
campsite. One time he turned to the right when
entering Morris Meadow and I told him to go to the
left. Well, he looked back at me and kept going
straight. We verbally argued but he kept ignoring
me. Finally I took the lead and he followed me into
a camp site that was already taken by other hikers.
I was confused as to where the rest of our party was
located so I let Twitter take me back to the fork in
the road and lead me up the other side. Well, if I
had been watching I would have noticed the “Carins”
pointing to the initial trail Twitter was taking
before I pulled him off. He stopped and looked back
over his back and backpack and proceeded to lead me
into the campsite where the remaining party was
unpacking their gear. I never questioned him.
On another
occasion we were showing at the Golden Gate Kennel
Club show in South San Francisco, Ca in Utility A
(obedience) class. On the other side of the ring
was a photographer who was taking photos of the
winning dogs and tossed a squeaker toy into the
air. We were doing the signal off lead heeling
pattern and the timing could not have been worse.
As we approached the end of the ring I realized that
Twitter was not going to change direction and was
headed for the flying squeaker toy. There was a
collective gasp and Twitter was air born over the
white fence headed toward the toy. He landed in the
other ring with all the Rottweilers and grabbed the
toy and proceeded to jump back over to the obedience
ring with this wonderful toy that someone had
thrown. By that time everyone was laughing but me
and I was so embarrassed. I told him to drop the
toy and all I heard was a louder squeak and the toy
was clenched in his mouth. Now the photographer and
obedience judge were near us and all I could do was
try to pry the toy out of his mouth. We were asked
to leave the ring and I thought I was disqualified
but the judge stopped me and asked that I return
after the next dog and repeat all the exercises. I
must have looked horrified since returning to the
ring was the last place I wanted but I did as she
requested and re entered to ring to a round of
applause. Now, Twitter was so excited that he
leaped in the air during the various obedience
exercises and the crowd cheered him on to greater
heights. When I returned to the benched area I
could hear spectators asking which dog was the one
in the obedience ring. I decided to remain ignorant
and just sit there.
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