Farewell to Murphy

Fenrik-Murphys-Outlaw_4704head

“MURPHY”

trained and handled by
Le Hammer

For most of her life, Murphy lived up to her name.
What can go right will go right.

Born: 9th September 2007
RIP: April 2018
Taken from us a little early with mammary cancer

Agility Champion
FENRIK MURPHYS OUTLAW
ADM ADO JDM JDO SDM GDM SPDM

SIRE: FENRIK NEVER SAY NEVER ADM JDM SD GD CDX FDX ET
(S: Ch Fenrik You’re a Wag   x   D: Fenrik Dream Lady)

DAM: AGILITY CHAMPION BRENILLY DIAMOND DOG ADM ADO JDM JDO SDM GDM SPDM
(S: Ch Topnotch Comic Court NRD   x   D: Brenilly Ziggy Stardust

fenrik-murphys-outlaw-09

 Murphy’s Outlaw: What can go right does go right!

fenrik-murphys-outlaw-10

Murphy is the
mother of our
TENN, NEW,  HOT,
CARD GAMES, HERO and OLDE
litters

fenrik-murphys-outlaw-08

Murphy has proven to be a very trainable, very eager to please and very affectionate team mate in our sport of agility. And there are lots of highlights to her career already.

Murphy became an agility champion by 5 years of age. She has also been very successful at National competition (where the faster working dogs are really tough competition.) She has been a finalist and minor place-getter in Western Australia (2010) and (all heights) National Masters Snooker Champion.

At the 2012 National Agility Trial in Sydney, Murphy managed to win the 600 Strategic Pairs (with Fenrik Kinetic Energy), with an Agility Heat to come 2nd in the Agility finals. And this was after I jammed her tail in the car door after her first day of competition. It was very sore for her, and yet she loves her agility so much, she still put in some fantastic runs for me.

fenrik-murphys-outlaw-07In 2014 she was finalist and place-getter at the 2014 National Agility Trial in Brisbane. Once again, she was half of the Strategic Pairs National Champions (this time with  Labrador friend – “Go the Gundogs”.

fenrik-murphys-outlaw-06

fenrik-murphys-outlaw-01Murphy has been a wonderful companion. Perhaps she does not want a cuddle as often as some of our other dogs but she does “need the occasional attention and groans with pleasure with an ear rub. She is just a pleasure to live with.

fenrik-murphys-outlaw-02

fenrik-murphys-outlaw-03

fenrik-murphys-outlaw-04

Le’s memories of Murphy:

This is a farewell to my best agility team mate. I often felt that Murphy and I had a bit of mental telepathy happening. In reality, we had just done so much agility together that she was just tuned into my body language. She knew what I wanted, before I had been aware that I had told her. It sure felt as though we had mental telepathy. A lot of my fondest memories of Murphy are in the agility ring, just because she loved it and just because she tried so hard. So I cannot help but tell a few little stories about her.

She hated getting her feet wet. Swimming was fine, playing with the hose was great fun, but walking on wet grass . . . no way. She would walk to the end of the pavers then have a pee with her back end handing over the grass so she did not have to get her feet wet! But rain at an agility trial was another thing. To warm her up I would toss her toy and she would gingerly walk over the grass and bring it back. Second toss would be retrieved a little more enthusiastically. 3rd toss, preferably into a puddle, would be retrieved with full enthusiasm and she was ready to run. I remember coming out of quite a few wet whether runs, covered in mud, having had a ball.

The thing I will remember most about Murphy is her expressive long white tail. She would be lying on the couch and her eyes would follow you while you walked around the room, with just the last 10cm of that tail wagging – we called it her death adder tail. Then you would mention her name and 20cm of the tail would wag, a little bit more enthusiastically. So you would say to her something like “Did I say something to you, Murphy” and the whole tail would wag madly – nothing else moved, just the eyes and the tail. When you walked down the hallway in the morning, you would hear that tail thudding against the leather of the lounge to greet you. 

There was a short period when it wasn’t white . . . my vet nurse, at the time of her first trial, decided we needed to celebrate the event by dyeing her tail bright blue. It was a bit of fun.

A less fun memory of that beautiful white tail was on her first day of competition at the Agility Nationals in Sydney. I jammed that beautiful tail in the car door, giving it a distinct break. It was very painful for her. I did not know whether to trial her or not. She was so excited to be going and it was such a big event. I decided I would take her and if she did not want to run at her first run then I would withdraw her. SHE RAN. She loved the indoor arena, and she seemed to know it was a big event. She did some terrific runs, winning an agility heat and a fantastic pairs run with her half brother Fenrik Kinetic Energy. We had to plan a really unusual course so that Murphy did not have to do the chute tunnel, nor the weaves, but the strategy worked brilliantly and we won the National title.

In her other classes she did so well. Her weaving style changed a bit so her tail would not bump the poles, and she held her tail down when doing the chute tunnel, but otherwise, everything was a full speed.

On another occasion, the day before a trial, she had been hooning around on a granite surface and literally worn the pads off her feet. She hobbled up to the start line on 3 legs – the judge looked at me doubtfully and said are you sure. Of course I would pull her out is she did not want to run . . . but she ran. As soon as the judge said “go”, she took off like the proverbial rocket for a beautiful clear round. Bounced up and down at the end while I put on her lead, and then, when she calmed enough to realize her foot was sore, she started to walk on 3 legs again.

NOTE: I know my dog, and I knew that running her with these injuries was not going to effect the long term result of healing. I would not be running a dog that was happy to ignore pain for an injury that might get worse because you ran them. Please do not run your dogs if they are injured, unless you have veterinary advice.

She loved competition. She was always a little bit more excited at competition, especially the big events. She often did well at Sydney Royal, she could also claim a few national championship (not just with a broken tail) and performing in an indoor arena put her adrenalin up another notch. She was normally a pretty quiet dog, but I remember her screaming with enthusiasm doing her 3rd and 4th set of weaves in a game of Snooker at the Sydney Equestrian Centre.

Mind you – her enthusiasm for agility competition was not always a blessing. I could rev Murphy up to the max in training and she would never miss a contact, no matter what I tried to do, no matter the distraction, no matter where I was or what speed I was running. Put in that little bit of competition adrenalin and she lost all patience. Ho hum. The solution was just to say a very loud, very firm steady as she went on any contact equipment.

Other things to remember – she was very protective, and a few dogs did regret going too close to her car . . . and a couple of people. She loved other dogs . . . but only if introduced politely. Otherwise she would tell them to bugger off in no uncertain terms. This, of course, was not her best point.

She loved her puppies and gave me 6 beautiful litters, and grand kids as well. There are many memorable characters amongst them. Too many to mention, really but her bloodline will continue. They have performed well in agility, the show ring, obedience, rally-obedience, Frisbee, nose-work and now my little Lace (Murphy’s last puppy) is starting off really well in search and rescue work. She is a natural.

My Murphy had a big, open-mouthed smile when she was happy, and she is the only dog I have seen genuinely laugh. On a hot day at the 2017 summer camp she went and hid in the tunnel to find some shade. When we called her, she was not to be found and when some-one looked in the tunnel she came out the other end, laughing at us. Of course we all burst into laughter and she laughed with us. 

I miss her little 360 degree spin when I release the dogs at a gate. I miss watching the movement of her eyebrows – the only bit of her that moved as her eyes follow me around the room (and the 10cm tip of that tail wagging). I miss her regal positioning when she lay down with front feet crossed. I will miss sharing her litters of puppies with her and I so dearly miss her as my agility team mate.
fenrik-murphys-outlaw-05