RIP Rapid

At 7:25am on Sunday 4th March 2012 my house caught fire. Rapid was recovering from surgery and shut in a crate. He died in the fire - almost certainly from smoke inhalation before the fire reached him.

I have been honoured to have 2 very special dogs in my life. The first was Tip who was my faithful companion through a very difficult marriage break up. She taught me everything I know about dogs. Tip was a Staffy cross. She wasn't as smart as Rapid but once she knew the rules she stuck to them. She was a very good at teaching puppies as well. Tip knew that dogs weren't allowed on the road. She showed this clearly the day she sat at the kerb while chasing a ball which went on the road. If a puppy went on the road she would get in there and give it a little nip. My parents lost their dog and being then in their late 70s (Mum) and early 80s (Dad) didn't think they could manage a puppy so in 2000 Tip went to live with them and lasted another 7 years until she died at 14.

Rapid came to me in January 2005 as a little ball of fluff. I had the choice of 2 dogs in the litter but Rapid picked me. From that day I was seldom alone. Whatever room I was in Rapid was there too. He lasted 2 weeks in a crate before he moved to sleeping on my bed. Yes I know that it is supposed to be bad to let puppies sleep on your bed but he was restless sleeping in the crate so I gave in.

Rapid started agility training at 9 weeks old - walking along a plank and chasing a ball down the weave lane. He was doing a seesaw when he was so light I had to put a foot on before he took his front feet off or else it started to go back up and rolled him. Other puppies are tunnel made but Rapid's favourite obstacle was always the seesaw.

When Rapid was 14 months old I enrolled in a Canine Behaviour paper at Massey. For the major paper for the course I had to teach a dog a new behaviour and document the learning process. I decided to teach Rapid to turn left and right on voice cue only. I already had hime turning when I turned my shoulders so over 6 weeks I faded all movement and I could release him over a jump from between my legs standing still with my hands behind my back and have him turn 9 times out 10 the correct way. The turn command was given only as he committed to the jump.

Rapid was way better at agility than I am. He got frustrated with me because my thinking wasn't fast enough or my signals clear enough at the speed he wanted to go. Eventually he decided that about 4.2m/s ws as fast as I could think straight and that was the speed he settled down too - a little fast on an open course, slower if it was tight and I started doing lots of crosses. Rapid got a 2nd place challenge at Nelson in June 2011. I am sure that with a better handler he would have been a champion but we were a team and he had to carry the weak link in the team - me.

Rapid graduated to Jumpers A at championship level in January 2012 but tore a cruciate before he got to compete. He had surgery on 7 February and was recovering well when he died.

Thak you Rapid for sharing your short life with me.

A memorial service will be held for Rapid at the conclusion of the DAWG ribbon trial at Porirua School on 15 April.