Big dog teaches little handler life lessons

A PINT-SIZED DOG OWNER AND HANDLER LEARNS VALUABLE LIFE LESSONS FROM HER HULKING CHARGE.

By Lane DeGregory, Times Staff Writer
Published January 21, 2008

Twenty pounds separate Scarlet the bullmastiff, 14 months, and Kasey O'Brien, 10. The fourth-grader is both handler and owner of the beautiful brute. It's all smiles at show time. Photo gallery: America's Top Dogs
	[Stephen J. Coddington | Times]

BROOKSVILLE - In the yellowed grass beside Ring No. 8, the little girl bends over her big dog. She reaches around the dog's muzzle, tries to pry open its jaws. The dog flaps its jowls, shaking her off.

"It's okay, Scarlet," Kasey O'Brien says, rubbing the dog's wrinkled forehead. "We can do this."

The girl's sneakers are caked with mud. Her suit is slathered with dog drool. For this, she gave up cheerleading.

Kasey, a fourth-grader at Pine Grove Elementary, wants to be a vet. Scarlet, a 14-month-old bullmastiff, wants to be a lap dog. Kasey weighs 85 pounds. Scarlet weighs 105. When they dance together, the mastiff rising onto her hind legs, the two stand nose to nose.

Scarlet sleeps in Kasey's bed, licks her awake for school, walks her to the bus stop.

"She steals our shoes, our coats and lunch boxes. But when we tell her, 'No,' she listens."

Girl and dog are growing up together. In nine months, Kasey has learned how to spread Scarlet's paws into a perfect square, to make her stand still before a judge. She taught her to trot around a ring - and figured out how to lengthen her own stride to keep up with the dog's loping gait.

Kasey's mom, Dawn, says her daughter has learned much more than how to get a bullmastiff to behave. Discipline and devotion. Consistency and caring. Responsibility. Patience. What it feels like to have someone you love depend on you.

And, most of all, trust.

Now, on a cloudy Sunday morning, Kasey waits with Scarlet to enter the ring at Florida Classic Clusters, the state's largest dog show. Five minutes before showtime, as adult handlers fluff their poodles and spritz their schnauzers, Kasey practices what she thinks is the hardest part: showing Scarlet's teeth.

"It's so complicated," she tells her mom.

Kasey kisses her dog's wet nose, tries again. Scarlet sees her owner's hands reaching down. As if to help, she arches her upper lip, exposing a jagged smile.

"Good dog."

Lane DeGregory can be reached at degregory@sptimes.com or 727 893-8825.

[Last modified January 18, 2008, 17:42:16]