Breaking News… Kirby the Beagle completed his dog training class and came in (drum roll, please)…  Hey, wait a second.  Hold the phone.  This announcement needs a little build up, so please be patient.

A little over one year ago, we adopted Kirby the Beagle. Kirby was a once returned pound puppy.  Yes, we were Kirby’s second and probably last chance.  This pup was out of strikes.  How did Kirby show his appreciation?  Well, urine throughout the house.  Barking this way and that.  Chewing or tearing up many a random item (in particular, he had a grudge against the lattice under our back deck).  Escaping out of the house and running throughout the neighborhood at every available opportunity.  Kirby was bound and determined to play his last hand.  Little did he know that we had other plans…  dog school.

Last Spring, Kirby completed his dog classes, but was informed that he would need to repeat “Level One” in the Fall. Ugh, yet another Kirby set back, but we had come this far with crazed pup and we were determined to make this work.  So there we were, back in class this Fall and much to our surprise, Kirby started responding to the training.  Sitting without verbal command.  Coming to us, when asked.  Walking around like a good citizen and sitting still, when told to “stay.”  Our Kirby was really coming through with one exception, “Down.”  Kirby hates lying down upon command.  Sure this is a dog training deficiency, but Kirby has come so far, so I have grown to accept that this is one more hurdle that will take some time.

Well, tonight was the final class and at the end of class, they have a “Dog Show” and give out prizes. I went up to pick out our contestant number and I picked number one.  Sure it was a cocky move, but why not?  Show that pride.  Walk into the ring with a little swagger.  Showing our number one to my 10-year-old son Jacob, he expressed skepticism.  I reminded him that for rec baseball, he wore the number one.  Jacob then responded with a new piece of information, “Yes, but for old people, number one is bad luck.”  Ouch.  Old?  Bad luck?  I was unaware.  Double whammy.

Any who, there we were number one and going for broke. Kirby was doing great, other than at one point wandering off to inspect some hockey gear placed in the corner of the room.  Other than that, he was really doing well.  Then came the “Down” command.  Kirby looked at me and scoffed.  “Ha!  ‘Down.’  Say it all you want, big boy, but I hate the ‘down’ command.”  Ugh.  At least we did well at all of the other commands, now it was in the hands of the judges.

So there we were, Kirby the Beagle trying to make a full comeback, from the pound to top of his dog training class. We waited.  We wondered.  Even Kirby began to sweat and dogs don’t sweat, so it had to be tense.  Then came the announcement (now the drum roll, please), “In second place, Kirby!”  There he was, my little partially reformed pound puppy, not first place, but still a certified comeback kid and “Best of Show” in our pack.

Kirby the Beagle resting on the couch and contemplating his second place performance. That or else he is figuring out if he can eat his ribbon, probably the latter.