82 Saber Tails Winter 2016
Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen Club of America
panicking in a pool. And it would really help if your dog will come to you when you call so
you can direct them back to the walk out point without diving in yourself. Also important
to note…you may not touch your dog to get them into the pool. They jump in on their own
or they don’t go. There are a number of dogs that run down the dock (like a runway) at full
throttle only to put on the brakes at the last second. For a lot of dogs, it’s a matter of unfa-
miliarity. Many dogs only practice outside or in a natural lake. They may never have seen
the equipment used for measuring distance and videotaping performance. They may not
have experienced an audience in the stands or dogs jumping next to them in another pool.
But it is a thrilling event to watch and looks like a lot of fun for both dog and owner. I hope
next year I can sit in the stands and scream encouragement for one of our happy hounds.
A
nyway…that’s entirely enough time spent on dock diving…but I REALLY hope to be
cheering on a PBGV in a future show. (I’d enter my boy Aslak, but he just doesn’t un-
derstand the concept of swimming. He tends to bob up and down without any instinct for forward motion unless he’s
chasing something).
T
his cluster of events also features Agility competitions at the AKC Agility Invita-
tional & National Championship. The Top 5 Agility qualifiers by breed from the
past year’s AKC competitions are sent invitations to participate in the invitational.
PBGVs were well-represented this year by Chili and Salsa handled by Megan Esher-
ick. Both performed very well and had clean, qualifying runs in several categories.
The photo below shows them with their ribbons.
S
aturday and Sunday include the AKC Obedience Classic in which dogs compete
in one of four levels of competition: Novice, Open, Utility or Master if they meet
the eligibility requirements during a qualifying period of July 1st to June 30th of the
previous year. We are very proud of Glee owned and handled by Mike Williquette
for taking home the medal for Highest Scoring Qualifying round for the b reed. Well
done Glee!
M
eet the Breed is a huge part of the show for public in attendance. Special
thanks to everyone this year who participated and made this a huge success.
With hounds competing in conformation on Saturday, it is always a big undertak-
ing to find someone who will stay and have their hounds available for the public to meet on Sunday. Most of us have
already started our travel home. This year, we thank Karen Clugston for staying to ‘man the booth’ on Sunday in spite of
a long drive ahead of her back to Indiana.
F
inally, I am blown away by Sue Smyth and her dedication to the breed
and to our club. (I also really want to know where she finds the time
to do everything she does…I need more hours in the day and she seems
to have an extra allotment. She can get more done than anyone I’ve ever
known.) Not only does she serve as Chairman of both the PBGVCA Special-
ties on Friday, she does most of the work herself without a huge host of
committee members. She also is in charge of the Meet the Breed booth
including setting it up, securing volunteers to staff the booth and making
sure everything is where it needs to be. I know there are a host of other
people that assist her, but Sue volunteers to do all of this every year. And…
she isn’t exactly a local! Sue does all the preparation work from her home
in New Jersey and then travels to the venue like all the rest of us. On behalf
of the PBGVCA, I extend my heartfelt thanks to Sue Smyth for all her dedica-
tion and hard work!
Glee with her Obedience Medallion
Chili & Sala with their Agility ribbons; Grommit
with his conformation ribbons
This looks like so much fun!
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