On August 9th, 1997 our NCBCF Agility Weekend with Nancy Gyes and Jim Basic was a huge success! In the mountains overlooking the Santa Clara Valley, once known as the Valley of Heart's Delight, 27 Beardies and 13 Honorary Beardies gathered with their 45 People for a variety of Agility activities, including a Saturday Introductory Workshop, a Sunday Intermediate/Advanced Workshop, a Sanctioned "A" Agility Trial and a Fun Match. Guests came from as far North as Eureka (Kathy Pavlich), as far East as Bloomington, Indiana (Cynthia Mahigian Moorhead, who came West for a brief vacation), and as far South as Fresno (Iris Berry, Beth White, Cathy Hardman, Vivian Vidoli, Nancylynn Kirkes and Summer). Several also came from the Sacramento area (Sharon Prassa, Pat Palozzola, Mary Edner, Bobby and Jeff Olwell), the East Bay (Carter Pratt and Chris Sassetti), and Santa Rosa (Beth Tilson). But our greatest number came from San Francisco south to Santa Cruz (Diane Behling and Steve Soskins, Doris Blete and Guy Powers, Bobbie Bokelund, Jerry Brainard, Bob Ewing, Richard and Ann Fiorio, Crystal, Dan and Judy Graves with Sorbet, their Pavlich puppy, Scott Mandell, Karen Mickleson, Kathleen Rosaria and Susan Kirschbaum, Bunny Tully, John and Bert Wilkins, and Libby and Jack Buhite). Two of our guests lent a special international flair: Valerie Clerc from France and Enrico Alessandrini from Italy. We also had two guests interested in seeing Beardies doing agility and four friends from agility classes with Nancy and Jim who came for the Trial and to enjoy their Beardie friends
In planning this weekend I had three goals in mind: providing an exciting learning experience for those Beardies and handlers being introduced to Agility for the first time, giving individual attention to our Intermediate/Advanced Beardies and handlers in our Sunday Workshop, and learning "how to run an Agility Trial" by actually doing it with our National Specialty Agility Committee, all of whom are members of both of our Northern California Clubs. Looking back on the weekend, all those goals were met as well as one unexpected one. When the original flyers went out, we were planning two Fun Matches, back to back, so we could have a lot of training as well as two chances to run our Beardies. In the process of applying for AKC paperwork, we were encouraged by Mary Rauso of AKC Performance Activities to apply for a Sanctioned "A" Trial. She met personally with AKC Club Relations and recommended that we be allowed to host a real AKC Sanctioned event in preparation for holding licensed (real) Agility trials in the near future. Since a Sanctioned "A" Trial requires the exact paperwork and conduct of a Licensed Trial, I learned a lot fast!
17 Beardies, 2 Aussies, and a Tibetan participated in the Saturday morning Workshop and were introduced to all the agility equipment, surprising their owners with their quick mastery of the obstacles and their enthusiasm. Some told me later that they had tried this before but had never gotten such an eager, happy response from their Beardies. Many enquired about returning to Nancy and Jim for regular classes. Almost all stayed on for the afternoon events. I was particularly happy that we had members from both of our Northern California Clubs participating, since we have been sharing many events with each other during these last two years. (Two clubs, twice the activities!)
After a short lunch break, a drawing for door prizes (Sharon Prassa won a "soft" water bowl and Bob Ewing a handy bait bag, which attaches to a belt or pocket) and club meeting, Nancy called all the course builders to give instructions on how to build an agility course. Those preparing for the Specialty found this extremely helpful. Jack Buhite learned how to be a Chief Course Builder with help from Sharon Prassa, Iris Berry, John Wilkins and many others who lent willing hands. Nancy suggested setting up the fence poles at regular intervals, such as every 10 feet. Most judges draw course designs on a graph so the poles can be used as measuring devices for setting up sight lines and placing the equipment. She also suggested that we learn how long our strides are as a quick way of measuring how far apart to set up the equipment. She taught about angles and planes and we quickly learned that course-building is an art! Many of us have arrived at early morning hours for our Trials only to discover that the courses are still being built! Nancy gave us clues as to how to set it all up the night ahead, if in a safe area, so that in the morning all we have to do is lift up the contact equipment, stretch out the tunnels, set the jump bars, and voilà! a course that is ready to be run! She also taught us that it is always quicker to remove an object than to add one, hence the usual running order from Excellent to Novice. A good judge also knows how to modify her designs from Excellent to Novice with minimal time required between levels for course building.
Meanwhile the rest of the Agility Committee were taking their stations. Each entrant also had a job to do, since this was to be a job learning as well as a handling experience for all involved. Mary Edner and Bert Wilkins signed in handlers and dogs for the Sanctioned "A" Trial in which 25 were entered. Kathy Pavlich, our Specialty Chair, was given the job of Chief Ring Steward, keeping everything running smoothly, and Timer. Beth Tilson did a great job as Gate Steward, helped out by Dale Nakashima, a Springer owner who delivered our first Beardie litter. Dale is so enamoured of Beardies that she wants to help out with the Specialty, too! Beth White did a fantastic job scribing as did Iris Berry. This is the hardest of the agility jobs, since it requires an accurate knowledge of what constitutes a fault as well as a quick recognition of all the judges hand signals. The scribe may not take her eyes off the judge even after a dog has left the ring, until it is clear that the last signal has been given. A dog can disqualify even as it leaves the ring, if it is not under control or does not cross the finish line. Nancylynn Kirkes and Valerie Clerc helped with pole setting. Pat Palozzola and Cathy Hardman translated the scribe sheets at the Recording Table and even filled out the back of ribbons before they were awarded. (The nifty pink-edged green qualifying ribbons for a Sanctioned Trial were reminiscent of ice-cream!) Meanwhile, I was making sure that everyone had the correct paper work in their hands for all the various tasks, recorded and posted the scores and timings, made sure the Judge signed the catalogue in which all scores and timings had been recorded and signed it myself, indicating the number of dogs which had qualified. This was subsequently sent to the AKC along with all the entry forms, premium lists, course designs, Chairman's Report (Jack's) and Secretary's Report (mine).
At about two we were ready to begin our Sanctioned Trial in which 15 Beardies and 10 "Honorary Beardies" (including 2 Keeshonds, 2 Shetlands, 2 Springers, 1 Aussie, 1 Bulldog, 1 Chihuahua, and 1 Golden) had been entered. For most of the Novice Dogs, this was their first run ever.
At the Excellent 20" Sharon Prassa's Annie qualified with a 91 and a 2nd place.
At the Open 24" level Libby and Jack Buhite's Skyedance qualified with a 95 and a 1st place.
At the Novice B and Novice A levels no Beardies qualified, but we are looking for great things in Davis this weekend!
Brig and Blackie (Springers), Peppy (Chihuahua), Justy (Golden), and Jazz (Keeshond) qualified and placed at levels from Nov B-Excellent.
When the Sanctioned Trial was over, the strictly controlled atmosphere gave way immediately to the rather carnival atmosphere of the Fun Match. Everyone relaxed. Since it was getting late, Nancy suggested that all Open and Excellent dogs run at Excellent and that weave poles be added to the Novice course for an extra challenge. All readily agreed. At that point about 10 ran up wanting to change their jump heights, too, and a few who had not run in the Trial wanted to run in the Match. After some amount of pandemonium, I finally referred all to the Scribes and the Gate Keeper to get the running order straight. Everyone had a great time and was allowed to do some amount of training in the ring, which is not permitted in a trial. Meanwhile, not knowing when to relax, I was still trying to record the whole event! In the end we gave out two ribbons, one to Sharon Prassa's Annie, who was the only dog to qualify (a 95 and 1st place), and one to Bobbie Bokelund's Shawna, who was the only other entrant who got a quantifiable score (not eliminated)! A great time was had by all!
Perhaps not so surprisingly many of the morning participants stayed through to the very end to see how much fun it is to see a Beardie run.
On Sunday, the whole Workshop was in Nancy's and Jim's hands as they led our more experienced Beardie handlers (Iris Berry, Sharon Prassa and Jack Buhite at the Intermediate/Advanced level and Bobbie Bokelund, Valeric Clerc, Mary Edner, Nancylynn Kirkes, Pat Palozzola, Kathy Pavlich and Beth Tilson at the Novice level) through a personalized Workshop with special emphasis on the 12 Commandments of Agility (Keep your eyes open for Nancy's book, which is in the works!) and Training Contacts. They also taught a lot about switch overs, pivoting, and directional commands which many found to be useful, new tools. They gave hints on how to speed up dogs and slow down dogs, two problem areas in any breed. Those few seconds can make a huge difference in whether one qualifies or not! With fast dogs one worries about fly-offs, skid-offs, and possible lack of control.
Our 10 Beardie Agility enthusiasts who attended the Sunday workshop felt that they really profited and are eager to try out their new skills in Davis on August 23rd and 24th! We also enjoyed having 5 honorary Beardie friends enjoy our workshop with us. We are sure to see them at Davis, too! We missed Pam Harris and Jana Dozet, who are doing such a splendid job. They were busy supporting their local club in Carson City, NV and putting on NADAC legs and titles! One of our lovely Beardie girls, Mirage, was absent due to being in heat, so we missed seeing Beth White's outstanding agility technique! You will see it at the Specialty, though! (Beth won three agility trophies at the Specialty!) Nancy and Jim really enjoyed conducting our workshop and found our Beardie handlers attentive, receptive, and talented, not to mention graceful! As for our Beardies, words fail to describe their incredible abilities!
Libby Myers-Buhite NCBCF Agility Chair
Last updated: 3/29/99
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