"I truly feel that the Beardie teams
have improved over the last few years - there were a lot of fantastic
runs to watch. How much more fun can you have judging in persistent
rain with wet Beardies? Beardie folks have that special dedication
and humor that it takes to trial in this type of weather. It makes
you WANT to be out there with them. O.K., maybe out there with
an umbrella.
I believe the National's greatest moment was when we were able
to hand the High in Trial to Jack Buhite on the last day. This
was for BOTH Standard and JWW! The runs were superb and that team
always has you holding your breath as they race around the course.
There were also a lot of other gorgeous awards handed out to a
very deserving group.
A huge thank you to the wonderful group of Beardie folks and their
pups. I left feeling that it had been an excellent Nationals event
and that everyone had a lot of fun and enjoyed themselves immensely."
Judge Kera Holm
Betty Winfield
Congratulations once again to everyone....and thanks so much for the superb volunteers that made it possible to offer two days of agility at the National."
Betty Winfield, Agility Chair
"Jack and I are finally home after a delightful stay with longtime Scottish dancing friends on the MacKenzie River, near Eugene, Oregon. We are still flying high from our nearly 12 year old Caper's HIT for both Standard and JWW at the nationals. This has been Caper's best year EVER and we were really hoping for at least a double Q and maybe a placement against such wonderful Beardies!
I was happy to see ALL of the BADsters in competition and to welcome new members, Debbie and Glenn Alexander and Lucie Campbell-Gracie and her Junior Handler daughter, Anna.
It was a thrill to see Leslie Dawson-North running so many of her Beardies, including Chase, who was in recovery from chemotherapy and back in Novice Preferred. I was also thrilled to see Star back to her old self, also running in Novice Preferred until she regains all of her strength. Both were in fine form! Of course we were all hoping for Patti's Spice to get her MACH, but as can happen in high pressured situations, Patti had a senior moment on the course. We are hoping that Patti will be sending us the good news SOON!
Zoom had the fabulous runs I was expecting from this youngster and Jeff has every reason to be proud at such excellent performance at the beginning of Zoom's agility career- already a MACH, the Denia Award, 2nd in the AKC Invitational, and two HITs at the Regional!
It was fun pairing Caper and Zoom for the "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom" relay! A youngster and an oldster took the banner together, something like last year's pairing of Caper with Miller and Dru! We sent Jeff home with the banner this year and hope that he has a place large enough to display it.
Our BAD dinner was tons of fun and we really enjoyed sharing it with Kera and Ann, both such wonderfully personable and fun judges, not to mention their courses, which all enjoyed. As a surprise, each person received an iced beardie cookie in their favorite beardie color. I'll send out more about the dinner and awards later.
Congratulations to Sarah Halsey and Wizard for winning the highest AKC and BCCA Awards again this year. Wizzie showed his stuff with three fabulous runs this week.
Many thanks, too, to Betty Winfield, to the agility committee, and the agility ring crew for such a fun and expeditious trial!
I know this post is about agility but I also want to thank Mary Lott for an exceptional herding trial. We had so much fun at a very beautiful spot. The theme was Scottish! If I'd known, I might have brought Jack's kilt for Ceilidh's trial runs and his dress kilt for the Awards Banquet. We were very happy that Ceilidh earned her PT on her second birthday. We gave her treats that night and bits of roast beef during the week." -- Libby
Betty Winfield, Agility Chair
" Hi Libby, I'm glad you made it home safely. Thanks for the nice words...it was so-o-o much and I really enjoyed seeing BADsters from around the country. It was a 'jolt of reality' to leave the Resort--it seemed like the rest of the world just didn't exist because the days and nights were so busy with Beardie stuff. The BAD dinner was lots of fun...and the cookies are/were just too cute. Thanks for making all the arrangements."
Patti Bott, Lexus, Spice, Stix
"Jeff and Jack deserve incredible applause for their HIT's on Thursday and Friday. We ran in very soggy weather, many times it was really raining...very strange coming from Southern California. We are almost all willing to pay Libby NOT to publish any pictures due to the lovely rain drenched appearance of the competitors. The dogs loved it!! An awesome National!!!!!!!!! --
Dick & Cindy Nellipowitz
"Congrats to you both. Libby, you looked great out there in RN! Way to go. It was great to see and visit with you both. Jack, you guys still have it. It was a pleasure to watch the teamwork!!!" --
"Had a blast doing agility, in spite of the continual rain. Rachel did not fare as well in this venue, I'm afraid, as she did in herding (finished her championship) due to the place oozing energy only Beards can exude. Mix that with some wet weather, and I'd say you have one setting for some "over the top" runs :-) It was wonderful watching Jeff and Jack with their boys (consummate competitors in my book) as well as so many other competitors who did rally to the course and environmental challenges. It was also nice seeing Jana's Star run again, and I am inspired by the more 'mature' competitors like Iris Berry and Carl Widell. It was also great having the behind the scenes expertise and cheerleading from Karen Barrett and Ann Chadoha - you gals are the best ! And of course, I cannot leave out Libby, whom without, these trials would not be possible. Thanks for a great time!" Until we all meet again, Elaine & Rach Robinson
"I have to second Rachel's remarks!! It was great to see all the great runs, and a big Congratulations to Jeff & Zoom and Jack & Caper. I was especially pleased to have my friend, Jana running with her "Star"!! Also, it was great to see both Patti & Spice and Kim & Grendel again and of course Iris with her Tag. You guys are all great! Thanks to Ann and Karen for all the great "cheerleading"! It was greatly appreciated. Also, a big Thank You to Kera and Gillian for fun courses!" -- Pam Harris
"DITTO ! Oh yeah; thanks Pam because I forgot about Patti, whom I rarely see, and Kim, who came so far to be here; both her girls are great fun, and it was nice to meet her fiance Jeff (I think we have another one that's caught the Beardie bug :-) I did regret not being able to make the agility dinner (a first for me) but I was entertaining a friend who came to visit from out of town. And yep - hard to beat those judges....and they really liked the Beardies !" -- E & R
" I just wanted to send a separate Congratulations to Pat Coreris and Chipper. At 12 1/2 Chipper is known for "discussing" everything with Pat. She always takes it in stride and consistently qualifies. It was great to see them not only in Agility and Rally, but as a Veteran in the conformation ring. As a breeder, I couldn't be more proud! At the same time she has her 10 month old, Roger obtaining his RN. She is amazing!" -- Pam
"I couldn't agree more, Pam; another trooper team I forgot to mention, although I did get the opportunity to talk with Pat awhile - what a neat dogmom and agility competitor." -- Elaine
Kim, Grendel, Delilah and Bronte
"I thought the specialty was absolutely
wonderful. Everything was so well run and put together. I am really
impressed with the club.
Libby you did a wonderful job with the BAD dinner. Everyone LOVED
their cookies. My 13 year old really enjoyed hers.....
Agility was a blast. I was a little worried about running Grendel
in the rain. She LOVED it. She also loved hanging out with her
really cool sister, Spice. I love that dog! It was great hanging
out with everyone again. It was wonderful to see Spice run. I
will always be in awe of Patti and Spice. They are such a great
team. Jeff and Zoom were wonderful and did such a great job. But
one of the best things was to see Jana out there running Star.
Star is one of the coolest dogs ever. I am so glad to see her
out there again.
Jeff (fiancé) had a great time. He took Delilah to her
agility class tonight and had a lot of fun. I agree. He is a convert.
Grendel has enjoyed manipulating him to get what she wants. Which
was blueberry scones at the specialty!
Hope everyone made it home safely. What a fun time! Cheers!"
Patti Bott, Lexus, we called her the German beardie. Spice and Stix
" I've attended many Nationals, Bedlington, Standard Schnauzer and Beardie. I've got to say that this was by far the best I've ever attended. I don't think there is anything that could have been improved upon. All right, I would have held off on the rain for a few days, but...
The breeders need to pat themselves on the back for maintaining the integrity of the breed. There were dogs that did herding, obedience, Rally, agility and then stepped into the breed ring. It seems that we are only limited on the amount of time we have to train, not the lack of talent by the dogs to do the jobs they were developed to do.
There were so many herding Beardies that just knocked your socks off watching them work!! The ranch was wonderful, Mary Lott and one of her boys worked the sheep for the Instinct test and got about 18 dogs through the test. How nice to see the sheep being changed by a Beardie instead of another herding breed. It was awesome!
The regular obedience and the Rally rings were filled with working Beardies. Once again watching some of the finely trained obedience dogs takes your breath away. Mary Lott working both her boys as a brace in obedience was mind boggling. I can't even walk all my dogs on lead from the room to the car. A huge entry in Novice Rally was wonderful to see as well as the excellent Rally dogs. What fun to see Joanna's Flash work Rally, obedience and agility all at the same show.
Libby, of course, outdid herself on the BAD dinner. She really is the"baddest" of the BAD. Kim mentioned the cookies...brown and black Beardies at each place setting. I didn't share mine with the dogs! The seminar on conditioning our performance dogs before the dinner gave us terrific information.
Getting to meet so many of the dogs that we recognize on line was fantastic! I had my guy Stix, watch his half brother Max work on course with Molly. I told him some day he might be that good if he would only focus! There is tremendous talent in the upcoming handlers and the dogs. Of course, it does help is you have legs as long as Jeff's to keep up with the speed of Zoom. This breed does not lack talent in any area.
I still find myself smiling over some little thing during the day that comes to mind after spending a week in Oregon. The gas prices were pretty nice-one day we only paid $2.49 a gallon. Such a deal!"
Karen Barratt, Boo, Jet, Budweiser & Miller
"Ditto to Patti's observation. I hope this trend continues. It's a breath of fresh air to see so many breeders competing in the performance arenas. Congratulations to each of you. Hopefully, with this trend, our breed won't succumb to the pressures and politics of the conformation arena as so many others have done and lose sight of its primary reason for existence."
Molly (wondering if we really could drive to MD) and Max (road trip!)
" I can only second and third and fourth what everyone else has said. Agility was fantastic, the courses were definitely designed as beardie courses, our judges were a riot, and it was wonderful to spend the time with everyone, both the beardies and owners we knew and the ones we finally got to meet. I can't wait for the next time we do this again" :-)
Tammy Moody
"I just got back from doing massages at the 2006 Bearded Collie Nationals and wanted to congratulate Jack Buhite and his Beardie, Caper, for taking both HIT Jumpers and Standard today. What a great win! I wasn't present yesterday, but I believe a dog by the name of Zoom took both HIT's. There were many other fantastic runs. Congratulations to all of you. It was wonderful to be around so many great people and dogs. I am now an official Beardie lover, what a wonderful breed and truly lovely group of people."
Sheila Franklin and Cheaney ( a very hairy mutt!) and Bracey Blue (bouncing blue girl!)
"I just read on the Agiledogs list that
Jack and Caper took HIT in both Jumpers and Standard on Friday.
The woman (who did canine massages at the Specialty) also said
that Zoom took both HIT's on Thursday. She also mentioned that
she is now 'an official Beardie
lover' and commented on what a wonderful breed they are and what
nice people they have. Many, many congratulations to all who ran
at the specialty and particularly the HIT folks! I am already
looking forward to my first Specialty next year...in Maryland."
:-)
Wade, one of the over 70s
"Congrats to Jeff and Jack on their HITs. I too am looking forward to next year with my white beardie, Shadow. I am hoping there is a trial in CT the week before so my grandkids can see me run."
Lori Weinberg
"Congratulations to Jack, Jeff and everyone
that competed at the National. I sure wish we could have been
there to be a part of it. We'll be there next year for sure!"
-- Terry Johnson
"Congratulations Jeff and Jack. It looks like Zoom and Caper
had a great showing at the National Specialty. I know it meant
a lot to me last year to get the HIT with Rocky."
|
Excellent B Preferred - Score of 100 - 4.368 yds per second - 1st/53 |
Excellent B Preferred - Score of 100 - 5.095 yds per second - 1st/56 |
56 entered, 53 ran, and 21 qualified
Windrose Dark Star
Kinlesyn's Mollie Mae McMuggins, NA, NAJ
CH Wigglesworth Make No Mistake, NA, NAJ, NAP
MACH5 Anasazi Secret of the Wizard, CGC
Spindrift Risa Up and Over, AX, AXJ, HT
CH Skyedance Lord A-Leaping, AX, MXJ, AXP, AJP, PT, RE, CGC, VX
Ch MACH Spindrift William Rikker, AXP, AJP, PT, CDX, RE, VX
60 entered, 56 ran, and 19 qualified
For those of you who are history buffs, you can find accounts of our nine earlier trials along with scores and pictures at:
BCCA Agility Awards - 2004
BCCA Agility Awards - 2003
BCCA Agility Awards - 2002
BCCA Agility Awards - 2001
BCCA Agility Awards - 2000
BCCA Agility Awards - 1999
BCCA Agility Awards - 1998
BCCA Agility Awards - 1997
BCCA Agility Awards - 1996
