Pon Z Rosa's Moseley ADCH FDCH MX MXJ UD TD VCD2 EGC EJC EAC

Meet Moseley - the first Polish Lowland Sheepdog to earn an agility title in the United States. The Polski Owczarek Nizinny (a.k.a. PON or Polish Lowland Sheepdog), was developed as a functional working dog on the Polish terrain. The better-known Bearded Collie is descended from this breed.  The PON is a medium-sized, strong, and muscular dog with a fairly shaggy thick coat of any color. Generally they are between 17" and 20" tall and weigh around 35 - 55 pounds. In countries permitting it, tails are docked at one day old. PONs are suspicious around strangers, but devoted to their family. They are recognized by the FCI, ARBA and are currently in the AKC Misc. Class.

My PON, Moseley, started her agility career in May 1998 when she was 1 1/2 years old. Her first time in the ring was a NADAC Novice Gamblers class, where she came away with a Q and first place! What a start!

Since those days, she has moved up to compete in the highest levels of agility in USDAA, AKC and NADAC. (Except she is still hoping for one more NADAC Novice Gamblers leg!) :-)

Moseley is a fun dog to train and run. I recently discovered that the only reason she has barked at me on course for the last two years was my bad timing! Now that I've got that figured out, we've improved greatly as a team. She is a very honest dog, taking only obstacles that I tell her to perform. She is a great snooker dog but still needs to build confidence working at a distance.

Around the house, Moseley keeps us laughing. PONs are known for having an excellent memory and Moseley in no exception. Several months ago, a friend was over visiting and we were standing in the kitchen. I bragged about how I had trained Moseley to pick up items I dropped on the floor, like an assistance dog would do. Except unlike a *real* assistance dog, Moseley gets a little treat whenever she does it. So if I'm writing a letter and I drop my pen on the floor, she'll jump up from wherever she is, run over, pick up my pen in her mouth and give it to me. Then I give her a small cookie.

So, last night to demonstrate, I bumped a small box off the counter. Sure enough, Moseley rushed over to pick it up and give it to me. My friend was duly impressed; Moseley got her cookie and then the conversation moved on.

A few minutes later, Moseley rubbed herself against my refrigerator that is covered in decorative magnets. One of the magnets fell to the floor. She quickly picked it up and brought it to me and I gave her a cookie.

My friend said, "You know, Moseley did that on purpose." I didn't believe her and told her so. She said, "No really, I was watching her and she knew exactly what she was doing." She suggested we just keep talking and watch Moseley to see if she'd do it again. We didn't have to wait long. Moseley carefully walked over to the fridge, looked quickly to me (to see if I was watching), then she bumped a magnet with her nose, causing it to fall to the floor. She snatched it up and proudly carried her offering to me, waiting for her cookie.

I almost couldn't believe what had just happened. Moseley had clearly figured out how to make the cookie machine (me!) work. I gave her a reward, and this time, she went straight to the fridge and plucked a magnet off the side with her mouth and brought it back to me. I'm still amazed at her capacity to learn and THINK. What an amazing little girl!  As you can probably guess, we've moved all our magnets to the top half of the fridge!

Her amazing memory has made training her for agility fairly easy, except that she remembers any mistakes I make!

 Moseley has qualified to compete in the 2000 USDAA World Championships in
San Diego. And we'll be making the long drive across the desert in September. Keep your fingers crossed!

Elizabeth Evans

McKinney, TX.