What can I say about this wonderful dog who was with us for so long and shaped my life in so many ways ? A total impulse buy not long after we got married , this funny looking farm dog with huge ears that he never quite grew into and of dubious parentage - supposedly a BC/ACD cross with a bit of kelpie somewhere in there for good measure. The last one left in his litter, we found out some time later that he was due to be 'disposed of' the day after we decided to take him, so maybe it was meant to be.
Although I grew up with kelpies as a child, I had never really been involved in training them in any way and don't ever remember having one as a young puppy. (I suspect Mum and Dad did some work with 'my dogs' first before they got put into my hands !) So into our unprepared lives came this goofy, tricolour pup who chewed everything he could get hold of - including every pair of knickers that ever got hung out on the line and my new bike seat, pulled on the lead like a maniac, barked like crazy every time he was left alone in the yard and totally shaped us to be his slaves in every way.And for the first few years we knew no better and went happily along on one big 'Yasser-ride' in our inner city terrace home where he played happily with the other neighbourhood dogs on a tiny strip of grass near the railway station every morning, walked the city streets with me of an evening and learnt to swim in the Merri Creek on the weekends (eek!), progressing to the Yarra River once he got the hang of it.
When Yasser was 4 we discovered the Obedience Club quite by accident one Sunday when visiting a local nursery. L was impressed with all the 'good dogs' that were surprisingly obedient to their handlers and not a lead puller in sight. On the other hand, I was captivated by the dogs up the back corner doing agility and decided that I might even like to give it a try one day. (And so the seed of an addiction was planted.....)
L. and Yasser did pretty well at obedience, but there was never any joy in his work. At the time we put it down to him being 4 before he started, but looking back now I believe the training methods had a lot to do with it - my only regret with this dog is the number of 'corrections' he received in the name of dog training and if I could take every one back then I would.Yasser had to be at Novice trialling standard before he was allowed to join the agility class. This took around 2 years (yes, there were a lot of bad habits to break first - courtesy of us!) and by then I was totally hooked watching the other dogs week after week and couldn't wait. Finally after our first agility class, another class member just happened to mention an agility only club where you didn't need to be at any particular standard to join and the rest is history. I couldn't believe that I had waited almost 2 years when I could have been doing agility all that time.
Yasser took to agility with a lot more gusto than obedience but having a foundation of 'working on the left only and not moving out of heel position' was a challenge at times. Although never a speed demon, he worked carefully and consistently and managed to do quite well at Novice level. Those who knew him used to joke at how revved up he would get outside the ring, barking and spinning around and giving every appearance of a totally driven dog. But the moment he got into the ring the 'driven' turned into something more akin to 'driving Miss Daisy' and he would amble around at my side, happpily taking any obstacle that I asked him to but never really moving out of half pace. This really did make him the perfect beginner's dog - fast enough to make time easily in Novice but not so fast that I couldn't get into position easily enough with my clumsy handling. Even though he was 7 before our first trial, he moved through Novice easily, with 2nd and 3rd placings along the way and had a couple of one fault runs in Open (the old Excellent class) before disaster struck and he injured his shoulder after getting a fly off on a seesaw.
Although his shoulder healed it was never really the same and he would sometimes develop a limp after jumping at 570mm height. Then we discovered ADAC agility (the Australian 'forerunner' to what is now NADAC) where he could run as a Veteran dog with a reduced jump height and so we retired from ANKC and made the change. This was a big hit with Yass, his speed and level of enthusiasm increased and he competed quite successfully in this venue until his retirement at 11 years of age. The only thing he never liked was a set of winged jumps (thankfully these disappeared after our first few trials) that were shaped and painted like elephants. He used to run up to them and circle them and bark and never once jumped the crossbar in the middle. The teddy bears and the soldiers were fine with him but obviously the elephants were just too damned freaky.
Despite his elephant aversion, Yasser amassed quite a collection of ribbons and medallions that I was always so proud of. Although they bring back lovely memories of our time in the agility ring together and the start of an ongoing journey, I would happily hand every one back if I could just step up to the startline with him one more time and see the look in his eyes as he couldn't wait to go.
Yasser enjoyed our move to the country where his new dog run was bigger than the entire backyard he had grown up in - even if he did have to share with some additions along the way.He was a wonderful teacher for all the puppies that came to share his life - and there were 4 of them. Patient and gentle for most of the time, but also quick to put them in their place when their lack of manners warranted it. Both the kelpies especially loved him and right to the end would tell Bosnich exactly what they thought if they believed he had hurt the old man in any way.
Even when he was deaf, arthritic and his body was beginning to fail him, Yasser still loved to watch the kelpies training agility and would bark encouragement from the verandah. Although he got to spend less than a year with Ivy, once again he was a patient teacher and I loved seeing my young and old tricolours together - regretfully I never got a photo of them together.
So farewell my lovely boy and true friend. May you run free at the Rainbow Bridge, chasing tennis balls, sticks and frisbees, chewing bows off knickers and of course happily flying over those lower jumps. I'm sure Wolfie has found you by now and you are revisiting old times together.
Yasser was a beautiful dog and truly one of a kind. He was much loved, loved in return and is very much missed. Please give your dog a good rub behind the ears on his behalf.
