Saying no to 60-weave

Well it's official, I said no. The Purina Incredible Dog Challenge
people called me today to invite me back to the National Finals as last
year's 60-weave champion. I'd been thinking about it off and on through
the year. We had such a marvelous time, the Purina people were *great*
and it was great PR for Dobermans.

But it was also very hard on Cala. Most dogs who are really fast in the
weaves are half her weight and narrow chested. She's broad chested and
weighs 60 pounds. It was a tribute to her grit and drive that she did
what she did. She did 3 sets of 60 within about 15 minutes for a total
of 180 poles, averaging 13 seconds for each set. Watching the DVD, it's
clear how much she was torquing her back to do it. So I let my sensible
side win over the "but I could win it again!" side and said no.

It's funny. A friend of mine was at the C-Spot Win camp this spring.
There was a guy there with a dog who was "practicing to beat that
doberman at the 60-weave." My friend told him, "I don't think she's
going to compete." He got mad. "But I want to run against her. I can
beat her." She shrugged and said she thought I had decided it was too
hard on my dog. And he looked at her like she had two heads. He's
apparently been running that dog repeatedly on 60 poles to try to get
the "win."

Poor dog.