Olympia, Washington
HERDING WITH SCHUTZHUND CLUB
On March 21, 2009, Twin County Schutzhund Club (TCSC) fired up an old tradition by hosting its annual herding instinct test sanctioned by the American Herding Breed Association (AHBA). Though the club missed a few years, we happily pulled together a good number of entries consisting of puppies and big dogs from a fine selection of several breeds and mixes. The weather favored us with sunshine so the dogs, sheep, participants and testers all finished the day dry and happy.
As always the venue at
For TCSC members, they had the pleasure of performing support activities such as ring steward, gofer, registration table, and oh yes the food concession. In between duties, they also entered their dogs in the test and had great fun overall. In a relatively short time 51 runs were done. Those runs produced a lot of smiling dogs and handlers and strong incentive to come back next year. We hope they do. 
TRIAL REPORT –SUNDAY DELIGHT
Twin County Schutzhund Club’s annual schutzhund trial on October 26, 2008 found a small group of participants and spectators enjoying shockingly good weather, a really good judge, quality helper work, and some real sportsmanship all around. Our USA judge Glenn Stephenson kept us on track, educated and comforted throughout. The entries included some long time competitors and brand new first-trial folks--a great combination and completing the whole picture of a successful trial.
Light came to a foggy morning and revealed a large field of hay grass. Ah, tracking was about to begin. There was some wind but it didn’t deter the trackers as they worked the scrappy grass. Three of the four dogs tracked their way to good scores and one had a great lesson in tracking--more work needed.
From the countryside we stopped for breakfast (gotta feed the judge you know) and then back to the trial field to begin the obedience phase with the SchH 3 and SchH 2 dogs. We saw good work to use as an example and other to learn from. The SchH 1 dogs came up for their time on the field. Paired together was an experienced handler working with his young dog. He was happy with a good routine. And a new Sch 1 dog came up next. The routine had some unexpected surprises and there were too many points left on the field to pass but there was great support from everybody and a good learning experience. Thank you all! Our B dogs come out to complete the day’s obedience work. Even with some problems, two of the three made it through to the traffic phase and on from there to pass the B. TCSC would like to thank two pulled entries for being there and staying throughout the trial to encourage all those remaining. They are special sportsfriends and we want to thank them for their support.
After a short lunch break, all came back to the field, got the chairs arranged and watched our guest helper dress for the part. Ken Stupak from Colorado accepted our request to be the helper for this trial. We met Ken at our recent Regional Helper Seminar where his skills as a regional level helper stood out through the weekend. We want to thank Ken for extending his talent to our trial and giving our entries good, safe helper work. Our SchH 3 came through and completed the third phase to pass with a good rating. One SchH 1 completed the protection phase for a good overall rating and a new title. Congratulations to all of our successful friends. Twin County wishes to extend our sincere thanks to everybody who came to support us. We have now moved away from that training field and are seeking a new training field but want you all to know you will always be welcome at our schutzhund home wherever it is.
October 24, 2009
AT A TRIAL SOMETIMES YOU GET MORE THAN A SCORE……
It is said that every
trial brings different rewards. First
on people’s minds may be passing scores and earning titles. In the larger picture however there are
other less tangible rewards such as teamwork and camaraderie, the sense of
pride or pain one feels as our teammates succeed or fail. Watching the terrified look on the face of a
first timer fade to cool confidence as their four legged partner leads them through
the exercise. It is the bittersweet joy
of a popular judge in the sport saying his final good bye to a career that
spanned 50 years. Twin County certainly
experienced all those benefits and more at our October trial this year.
We were privileged to have
Rudy Mietzner from Edmonton, Alberta, back with us to judge our small trial as
his last trial of a long career of schutzhund judging. As always Rudy was gracious, friendly and
helpful to everyone. His steady guidance
and calm demeanor seemed to give confidence to all and resulted in a very
smooth run trial.
With 200 trials as his
goal, health issues shortened his career to 196 trials. Though feeling better these days, Rudy
completed his judging schedule with Twin County Schutzhund Club’s Fall trial. Ironically, a TCSC trial was his first trial
as a judge in the United States in 1985.
We felt honored to welcome Rudy back for that last trial. His last trial here was as good as his
first. We had the privilege of
presenting a Regional tribute to him with kind words delivered by Paul Schneider. Special thanks to Paul Schneider who spoke
for the entire Region when he expressed to Rudy how much the sport will miss
him.
As usual we want to talk about the weather and venue. Mother Nature could not have been kinder and contributed to making the event very special. After a week of rain and wind, we had two beautiful days of cool mornings, fog, and all day sunshine. Considering the trial field was at a park and on the county fairground front lawn, it made a fine setting for the trial phases B and C. Tracking in the a.m. both days was on rough farm land, longer than turf length grass – wet grass. In fact Sunday it was white just short of frozen. Challenging and yet good for trial tracking.
Four of the six Bs passed. Most of the trial’s successes were in tracking. The schutzhund entries with tracks performed and scored well; the TR 1s and 2 did well. Way to go all and keep up the good work.
Our club helper, Mark Glastetter, had his first opportunity to be trial helper. TCSC is happy to have its own helper for our trials once again. Mark was a busy fellow during the weekend as he was entered both days, arranged for the field and the farm, brought the jumps and other equipment in and did field set-up.
As anyone who has spent
much time in the schutzhund world can tell you, individual clubs come in all
shapes and sizes. When the club is
small all the members have to be deeply involved in the trial development and
finally in the execution.
The small crowd of spectators was supportive and applauded in all the right places. A friend of the club dropped by with donuts and a crowd of people to see their first schutzhund trial. We thank them for coming and making the trial a warm and special event.
USA PACIFIC NORTHWEST REGION
TRIAL HELPER SEMINAR & CLASSIFICATION
AUGUST 16 & 17, 2008
Photo from the 2001 Sieger Show
TRACY BETENBAUGH
Thank you, Tracy for sharing your expertise and sense of humor with the PNW Region’s helpers. Friends of TCSC and the region brought dogs so the helpers would have good dogs to train on. Hydration
and fresh wading pools became priority to keep dogs and helpers as cool
as possible during one of the hottest weekends of the summer.
The Region provided a no-cost experience for eight helpers who successfully completed training. Our entries came from Eastern Washington, Central Oregon, and Colorado as well as Western Washington. Four USA clubs were represented. Two helpers passed the classification: one achieved first time Basic category and the other re-certified for Regional level classification.
Congratulations to all!
We wish to thank Washington’s two USA judges who were present to
enhance the training and discussion of trial rules and experiences. This was a great addition to the Regional event and experience.
As a close to the weekend, TCSC hosted the additional regional meeting. There was a quorum and the meeting was successful in conducting the region’s business.
Thank you all for making a great
finish to our weekend.
