We were invited to an agility demonstration last Saturday where I was "hoping" to show off Baxter's improved performance. (Well we all know where this story is going!) His 2 practice runs were good, but he missed the entrances to 3 pieces of equipment due to his excitement. I hoped that he would pull himself together, for there was only going to be one run per dog at this demonstration.

We were sixth in line. I sat him at the start line and the little so and so started without me. Well I was impressed with his eagerness, or so I thought. He did the first 3 pieces of equipment perfectly, and as we approached the tire he went "off" course - way off course into the crowd. He sat down next to a small boy and the boy fed him human cookies. The crowd found this terribly amusing - I did not. I picked him up and placed him in front of the tire and gave the command. Well he did the tire perfectly, gained speed and disappeared into the crowd again. This time he emerged on the far side of the crowd with a whole hamburger complete with pickles in his mouth.

With "death" threats on my mind, I ran after the little dear, only to watch him shake the pickles off the burger, and gulp down the meat patty. By the time I reached him, he had almost finished the top part of the bun. I quickly and firmly picked him up, with the typical disapproving snarl fest from Baxter, and we returned to the course. He finished the course perfectly after that, but his immediate future was in doubt. It was a good thing that there were several hundred people watching, because Baxter could have been stuffed and put on wheels right then and there.

I quickly retreated to the tent and thanked the agility gods that this demonstration occurred in the far reaches of the city, an area where I will hopefully not make another appearance with this 'rotten' dog.

Post Script

As a result of Baxter's performance, his showmanship abilities spread through out the agility community in Toronto. We were subsequently invited to "perform" at more agility demonstrations.