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Monday, November 17, 2014

MACH Samurai



MACH Wingssong The Seventh Samurai MXB MJS OF T2B
Oct. 25, 2014

 Samurai earned the 20th QQ for his MACH at this trial. We celebrated at the trial with a cake decorated with the Japanese kanji character meaning, “Samurai”. The “i” in Samurai was dotted in red symbolizing the red sun symbol of Japan.

Samurai was named in honor of my Japanese aunt, Chieko, who passed away shortly before we adopted Samurai. His registered name was taken from the classic Japanese movie, “Seven Samurai”.

Samurai, who was a troubled, reactive puppy, was named after the movie’s character,  Kikuchiyo.

Kikuchiyo, the seventh samurai, was a brash, silly farmer. He only pretended to be a samurai, but in the end, he became a hero. We gave Samurai this name in hopes that he would someday find his way from being a crazy puppy to being a good dog.

It was a very long journey. Samurai’s reactivity made it difficult for him to go to classes. I trained him mostly alone and then added classes as a distraction. From the beginning, I didn’t dare hope that he would ever be able to go into the ring. Later, my highest goal for him was an Open agility title. Even earlier this year, I thought he might not ever have enough focus to have consistent weave poles.

Then, we nearly lost him summer before last due to chronic digestive problems that made it a constant battle to keep weight on his skinny frame. After being diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Disorder, we changed him to a raw diet supported by Chinese herbs. Samurai gained weight and became stronger. His tummy no longer hurt as much, so his attitude improved, too.


We are very proud of our brave little Samurai and look forward to many adventures to come.