Club Report Fall 2007
R
oad Trip, or make that road trips! Maybe once Cabre retires we can start flying again but until then Trip #1 was to Niagara Falls for the Ontario Regionals. Lol Claire and I loaded up the Sienna with 3 dogs, tons of luggage, a pod on the roof and a bicycle strapped to the back. Oh yah, we mustn’t forget Carmen McGarmin, our new best friend. She navigated us safely through heavy traffic to the hotel in Niagara Fall at 10:30 pm in the rain.
Lol and Claire took turns sitting in the penalty box, the small seat in the back which is the 40% of the 60/40 split and fold back seat. I refused to go back there because it was just too cramped for me but they told me it was the best seat in the house. I doubt that!
By the way, why is it always raining when it’s my turn to drive?
What we learned on Road Trip #1.
A – That it’s ok to drive 800 miles to the nearest Toyota Dealer with the check engine light on if you’re pretty sure it’s just the gas cap. But wait, what the heck was that VSC light on for? Um, the van started, its running ok, let’s just keep going.
B – Two Twinkies keeps Lol talking (very loudly) non-stop for three and a half hours! She says she was just trying to keep me awake while I drove. I say no more Twinkies!
C – Two shrimp is one too many. I told them when I ate the first one, “if anything is going to happen it will happen in about an hour”. Nothing happened so I had another one and broke out in hives and a huge lump on the side of my face which took 2 days to go down. Guess I have to face reality now and admit I am allergic to shrimp. Thank God Bob had a good supply of extra strength Benadryl on hand.
D – Beware of trucks hauling tractors down city streets. They take down electrical wires that fall on your van and nearly tear off the pod and roof racks. Good thing everything stayed put because I borrowed that pod.
E – Remember that you have a pod on the top of the van when you drive under low branches. Not to worry, just a few scratches. Maybe the lender won’t notice when I bring it back.
And lastly if you ask enough times and in a nice enough way you too may get a brand new air conditioner installed in your room while you are out.
What Claire learned on Road Trip #1: If you are going to exercise your dog by taking him for a bicycle ride, don’t run him over the broken beer bottles in the parking lot.
We had a great time hanging out with all our Southern Ontario friends but we were there for a trial after all. Claire had to pull Cabre, Lol held it together and Dakota screwed up in obedience this time, and Bob ended up 4th overall. Good job Bob.
Congratulations to Niagara Hundesport for a great Regionals and congratulations to Joanne Fleming, Frank Mazzulla and Tim Bulloch for placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Road trip #2 to the Nationals in Orangeville wasn’t nearly as crowed or eventful and much quieter without Twinkie Girl talking non-stop.
Claire and I loaded up Claire’s Caravan with 2 dogs and enough clothes to last a week, or so we thought. We had to find a Wal-Mart first thing to buy all the stuff we needed or forgot. No problem, the Orangeville Motel was only 5 minutes away from not only Wal-Mart but Canadian Tire, Zellers, Tim Horton’s and last but not least the Liquor Store. Who could ask for anything more? How about a Pet Food Store because somebody can’t measure enough dog food to last 7 days. We managed to get to all of them. Some more than once.
The weather was very hot and humid but Claire lucked out on trial day when the temperature and humidity both dropped to bearable levels. Cabre did an excellent obedience routine and protection looked very promising. He was actually outing, and then came the courage test. Cabre covered the distance to the helper in record time and hit with such force that they went down, rolled, and popped back up but it was all over. There would be no outing Cabre after that. I suppose the standing ovation was some small consolation to Claire but we really thought he was going to get a passing score in protection this time.
Great job by the back half helper, Ray MacIntyre, to finish the protection routine with an arm that was almost twisted off.
Congratulations to Team Canada Members Ralph Gilby and Billie, Mario Lamarche and Cita, Mike Bauer and Axt, Tim Bulloch and Auley and Frank Mazzulla and Uwe. Good Luck at the Worlds. Congratulations also to Brian Curry and Ali for their 2nd place and High in Protection. Great job Brian.
The drive home was uneventful and it didn’t even rain on my shift. We had one more dog or rather puppy with us, Millie de Lupus Saevus who we were delivering to club member Jill Biggs back home. We had to stop a little more often but there always seems to be a Tim Horton’s whenever and wherever you have to go. They all have a nice little patch of grass too, where we tried to get Millie to poop but to no avail. Oh well we tried (and tried and tried and tried…)
It’s back to training for us and a trial with GSSCC and SV Judge Raino Fluegge in September.
Happy Trails and Trials to you.