I went to 4H graduation today with my pet Samoyed, Bert.

I was really scared to do the exercises by myself in front of everyone, but Bert was great! He only messed up once when he didn't stay down long enough on the exercise where you lie the dog down and leave him for a few minutes.

I screwed up a few times though. A couple of times I couldn't hear what the judges were saying because I was in a barn with a metal roof and rain was creating this deafening din and all the other dogs were barking and snarling.

Despite the odds, Bert won first among the Beginner A group!!!

We got a red ribbon!

I'm so proud of him. This was his first time in a "show" and he had only been to 4 classes and he's a really old dog; 13 years old, to be exact...

Apparently you CAN teach an old dog new tricks. It'll be a while before he's playing fetch and rolling over and doing trick dives, though.

Congratulations, Bertus!!!!