Club Report Summer 2006
Hats off to Claire Allison, oops I mean Menard for the year that she has had. She was going to school, then studying for exams, writing exams then working until she found out if she passed. She planned a wedding, trialed at the Prairie Regionals, got married and one week later went to the Nationals to compete. The wedding was terrific and we even took the day off training to attend the church and later the reception.
Unfortunately, training Cabre ended up at the bottom of Claire’s priority list so consequently Cabre was lacking a bit of control at Nationals and was disqualified in Protection.
Congratulation Claire on your marriage and on handling all that stress with such ease. We are all very proud of you.
Claire managed to place 3rd at the Prairie Regionals where we had a great time thanks to the host club Schutzhund Manitoba. The trial was excellent except for the torrential downpour during Brian Curry and Ali’s protection. It rained so hard we could barley see them 10 feet away. Everyone ran for cover and when it was all over Claire and I went to the van to check on the dogs. All the doors had been left open so all three dogs looked like drowned rats and there wasn’t a dry spot in the van anywhere. Later that evening when we turned the van on to drive home, water was pouring out of the air vents. I think Claire’s van still stinks to this day.
Several other club members had planned on joining Claire at the Nationals but a couple of cancelled trials made that impossible.
Claire and I had a super time at the Nationals in Calgary where we got to catch up with many friends from across the country.
Congratulation to the German Shepherd Dog Club of Calgary for putting on an excellent event. They did have some help from the Hooter Shooter Gals, April Lensen, Cathie Pierson and Shirley Habke who helped raise a lot of money and a few eyebrows too.
Pino and Zeus decided to go down to Minneapolis to try for their SchH 2. It was so hot there that they held the tracking very early in the morning and the obedience and protection late at night hoping it would be cooler. Pino and Zeus weren’t successful but it turned out to be a very valuable experience for both of them.
Finally on August 26th we hosted our first trial with Judge Frank Mensing. We had 3 SchH 1’s and 3 SchH 2 entries. Although the tracking conditions were ideal with light mist and plenty of moisture on the ground, the scores were not indicative of the conditions. Everyone passed though, with Pino and Zeus coming away with 90 and High in Tracking. Pino being the stubborn and determined guy that he is, managed to trial even though he had broken his shoulder the Tuesday before the trial while doing helper work. Congratulations Pino on passing your SchH 2 under difficult and painful conditions.
All six competitors were also successful in Obedience and Protection with Bob and Damma demonstrating a near perfect routine for a 97 and High in Obedience. Lol and Dakota received High in Protection with 97.
Thanks to George Kopecky and Bill Reid for traveling from Winnipeg to attend our trial and congratulations on achieving your SchH 1’s.
Thanks to Frank Mensing for judging our trial and making it a fun and relaxed weekend. Your thorough evaluations and informative critiques were greatly appreciated.
We sure hope you had as much fun as we did.
Our club now has 3 teams ready for their SchH 3’s, a couple ready for SchH 2’s and several young dogs attempting their BH’s very soon.
Good luck to everyone and happy training.