Actress

And the Award for Best Actress in a Sub-ratting Role Goes to. . .

Maggie has been my reluctant Earthdog for the last two years, probably really for all four years of her life, but I'll just count the two years during which we've been running at trials.

Her two successful attempts include two Intro runs where her "working" consisted of trying to unlatch the cages. (They called it digging and biting at the cage and I wasn't about to argue.) After thirty seconds of that, she got wise and figured she was never going to get the suckers anyway, so why bother? By April of this year, you could show her the cage of rats, she'd glance up for a moment and then start to munch on the greenery around her.

Maggie does love tunnels though.

Earlier this year at a trial in Moses Lake, she decided she would run through the tunnel, touch "base"( as in rat cage) and make her exit. She repeated that performance yesterday in Kent.

We stayed for the apres-trial practice session, and the judge told me to come around to the rat put in and encourage her.

Nothing doing.

"She knows it's not real," said the judge, "So you've got to get her to generate her own excitement."

"Shall I ask her to speak?"

"Sure."

"Okay, Maggie, SPEAK!"

"Achoo!" she answered.

"Not SNEEZE! Speak!" I urged.

"Ruff! Ruff!"

"That's it, Maggie! Good girl! SPEAK"

"Ruff, ruff...RUFF."

"Oh-- I get it," I said to the judge. "It's sort of like acting. By getting her into the spirit, she can get into character?"

..And that his how Maggie got exposed to Konstantin Stanislavski's theory of Method Acting. She would identify with the "character" of the rat-crazed earthdog, and presto change-o, she'd become that character, and tomorrow we'd walk away with a Junior Earthdog rosette, right?

It was getting kind of hot by the afternoon, and it was time to run in Juniors. Maggie would be the second dog to run. I took her into shady corners. I talked to her. I urged her to speak. I told her how wonderful it was going to be. She COULD get the rat. This was really her dream.

"Believe it! Feel it! Experience it!" (I was the drama coach.)

Surely Maggie was getting into character. She perked up a bit when we got to the "on deck" area, transforming a little from her normally placid, very-laid-back-for-a-Cairn personality. It was subtle but unmistakable!

Maggie was grunting and getting kind of interested.

This was it.

"When you are ready, put your dog on the ground and give one command," said the judge.

"Tunnelrats"

Maggie approached the hole, turned around, looked at me and scratched herself. Again she turned to the tunnel. Now she was staring at me.

Her expression said it all: "You got me all worked up and excited for THIS? Give me a break."

Again she turned towards the tunnel. Again she looked at me. She just stood there as if I'd forced her to Stand for Exam or something. I silently waited for the rest of the thirty seconds to wind down.

"Get your dog."

On that cue, Maggie returned to me, and I picked her up and we exited the test area.

Although she didn't pass, I now realize that her acting job wasn't half bad. The only problem was that she had gotten into the wrong character. Instead of becoming The Rat-Crazed Earthdog, she became The Quintessential Bitch!

Bette Davis lives!