I'm 2 years old - and 2 years younger than Jada. Both my parents were great Champions and I'm following in their footsteps. (Sure, both of Jada's parents were great Champions also, but this is all about me now!)
Our mother is named Lucy (Am. Can. Ch. Trumpets Spirit In The Sky Esprit HOF) and my dad's name is Bounce (Ch. Trumpet's Jumpin' Jack Flash) (Jada's dad is Andy - Am. Can. Ch. Foxfair Excalibur, BISS)
Yeah, I'm a "show dog" but don't think that I'm some empty headed pretty boy. More about that later.
My name "Tyssen" does mean "firebrand" and they gave a great deal of of thought to my name. I was part of the "fire" litter, so every one of us has "fire" in our registered name. My breeder/co-owner/handler, Judy, wanted my call name to have something to do with "fire" also. Lots of names were tossed around. Joni wanted names Judy didn't want (Kolby and Mavrik were tops on the list - and boy, did she really try hard to find a "fire" connection!) while Judy wanted "Magnum", which Joni didn't like. Joni finally discovered after days and days of research that the name "Tison" meant "firebrand"....and the rest was history. Actually, that's kinda of an interesting spelling, isn't it? The other spelling considered was "Tiessen", but everyone seemed to like the way we did it in the end. At least it's not "Tyson" and forever connected to Mike and chicken!
Y'all probably won't believe it, but it's hard work to go to these shows and look good. I put in a lot of long hard hours doing this! The practicing isn't bad, but ENDURING all the work that is being done to me is the tough part!! Let's see....I get my "show bath" about a week before the big event. Sounds simple enough. HA! First I get to get up early and get line brushed out. That takes about 60-90 minutes. Then I get my nails ground down to the nubs (no kidding - and they call me a wimp! I'd love to get a hold of that grinder and grind their fingers down to stumps!) and my feet trimmed up. Then I get tossed into my bath and washed and conditioned. Then it's up on the table to get blown out. I'd guess nails and bath and blowing out take another 3 hours - then brushed again after that. I'm pretty much falling asleep on my feet as they're finishing me up! Then a day before we leave for the show I get my BLT bath....Britches, Legs and Tail. Oh, and nails again. Pretty much repeat the above scene again with half my body getting washed.
Then I'd be off to the show.....lots of strange barking dogs and smells and staying in a strange hotel room with Joni, where odd sounds and weird room smells keep me up all night. Kinda freaky to be in there with all those smells. Joni brings a blanket from home to put on top of the bed so I can have my comfy home smells, which is nice. We're up early the next morning to - you guessed it - get brushed out again! Then it's off to the show ring where I walk around the ring a few times with my breeder/handler, Judy, then stand in various places in the ring, then let some total stranger look at my teeth and feel down my body and....gasp....feel to make sure I've got all the privates I'm supposed to have. I gotta admit, that one took me quite by surprise the first few times. I just wish these folks would try to NOT have ice cold hands when they do this! YEEOWWWW! [shudder]. After we pick up our ribbons we're usually done for the day, and it's a long day of hanging out in the motorhome or outside in the expen, and I can relax some before heading back to the hotel room. But the next day it starts all over again! Usually the shows lasted from 3-5 days, so you can see how exhausted I was at the end and why I pass out for the trip home! But it's not over yet! I have to get another bath the next day!
So as you can see, it's HARD being so handsome and perfect!
I got my AKC Championship in something like 5 weekends out showing. A week before I finished that I got my UKC Championship in one weekend. I'm taking a year or two off from my show career to hang around the old homestead. Officially the reason told to me and others was that I'm taking some time off to "grow up" before they "special" me, but that's just absurd since I'm exceptionally mature right now. I'm still lurking around hoping to find out the real reason.
Maybe someday they'll let me get my Canadian Championship and I can be an "International Star!" Not to mention I'd LOVE the stamp in my passport, eh! Jada would be soooo envious (although she'd never admit it).
I'm also an aspiring Agility athlete. I say "aspiring" since Joni thinks I should. I think I'm great at it already - I can guess exactly what obstacles she wants me to do at class - but she keeps thinking I need to slow down and wait for her to tell me what I already know. Sigh. Someday she'll get it - I'll just have to keep working on her. I've suspected for awhile that she just changes the obstacle order when it suits her to make it appear as if I'm not doing what she claims she wants me to do....I suppose she thinks this makes her look better. And I'm sure she'll sometime figure out how to keep up with me as I run at top speed - after all, it's HER job to keep up with me and have those treats handy! It's like I've got to keep re-training and re-training her! For awhile I slowed down and tried my best to stick with her, but that got kinda dull after awhile. Who wants to go in 1st gear when I can drop it into 5th gear and tear the course up! So I'm back to racing fast again, and hoping she'll keep up!
Sheesh - the things we have to do for our people. I really wanted to do the next Agility trial, but she thinks I'm not ready. We did Snooker in class last night and I was amazing! I'm not sure how Joni managed to knock down a few bars here and there, though......at least I'm assuming it was her. It certainly couldn't have been ME! I did detect a slight breeze in there, so maybe that was it. Perhaps it is better we wait until she figures out how to do this stuff....I don't want her embarrassing me out there with her pitiful efforts!
I've heard a few whispers about Jada maligning my intelligence in her posts here. HA! I laugh in her face! She just thinks she's smarter than me! But while she likes to show off how smart she is, I prefer to keep that fact hidden to have an advantage over any given situation that might come up! Think about it - it's a brilliant plan! I pretend to be not as quite as sharp as Jada, so less is expected of me. Then when I decide it's time to let them have a glimpse of brilliance they are astonished and gush all over me and I get a bunch of extra treats! Pretty friggin' brilliant, isn't it! But shhhhh - don't tell anyone my secret!
Lessee....what else can I share in this first post? I like to "talk" alot but so far Joni has acted as if she doesn't understand what I'm saying. I've tried every sort of "whoo-hoo" I can think of and she still doesn't get it. Then she has the nerve to laugh in my face and pet me as if I'm the village idiot and just doing this for her amusement. I'm deadly serious with the very deep and personal conversations I'm trying to share with her and I get laughed at! I'm always shaking my perfect head at her obtuseness (look it up - ha!). I suppose I have no one to blame but myself for pretending I'm not as brilliant as Jada. That's one drawback to that tactic!
Before I end this to go pass out in front of my fan, check out my stunning puppy photo - wasn't I just irresistible!! Then a photo from last Fall, after finishing my illustrious class dog career. Not hard to believe a youngster so cute could turn out so damn hunky, is it?
Ciao!
(Had to throw that in because it'd drive Jada nuts thinking I spelled it "Chow" - ha!)
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