The Specialty Agility Day in Monterey was everything we could have hoped for. It was a delight to work with Judge Kera Holm, who designed challenging courses for us and has become quite the Beardie aficionado, though her heart still belongs to her Shelties, Hanna and Zeus. Our trial site, the Monterey Fairgrounds, was lovely and close to the hotel, encouraging participants and spectators alike. The weather was mild. Enthusiasm was high. Our hosting club, the Bearded Collie Club of the Golden West, gave us a full day for agility, accommodated all of our requests, and went all out in every detail to give us an outstanding agility experience. The beautiful ceramic boxes of Beardies doing agility were commissioned by Carole Desmond, our incomparable Trophy Chair, and drew constant comment. Kudos to Carole and thanks to Sarah Halsey who suggested that we use "Works of Art by Jennifer" for the trophies. All loved our high in trial bronzes and participant gifts, as well. Many thanks to Michele Ritter, Chet Jezierski, and Joanne Williamson who made a gift of Versatility t-shirts with Chet's energetic design and to Sharon Prassa who made a gift of teddy bears to all of our participating Beardies.
It's hard to believe that this was our seventh BCCA Agility Trial. As in our six preceding years, we can still boast, "This was the largest Specialty Agility Trial EVER!" Of the 62 Beardies entered, 59 ran. Out of 112 runs, 30 qualified. A full quarter of the conformation entries also did agility, which must be a first. For those of you who are history buffs, you can find accounts of all seven trials along with scores and pictures on the BAD website at: http://www.BeardieAgilityDiehards.org/BADagility/BCCAn.html
This fun-filled day would not have been possible, however, without the hard work of our agility committee, chaired by Jack Buhite. Both of us greatly appreciated all of the help and ideas from Sharon Prassa, Carol Colavecchio, Tammy Domico, who supplied our equipment and was Chief Course Builder, and Jana Dozet, who was our Chief Ring Steward, which means that she organized all of the workers and kept our trial moving along nicely! Many thanks to all who pitched in with course building, sign-in, score table, and ring help. You made the day perfect and fast paced!
So many congratulations to our two MACH Beardies who both took Highs in Trial. Karen Barratt's Jet won HIT for Standard and Sarah Halsey's Wizard won HIT for Jumpers with Weaves. Sarah with Wizard and Ann Chandoha with Arbi also captured the Strategic Pairs banner with their flawless course strategy and zippingly fast time!
Doug Halsey caught it all, including Strategic Pairs, on Video, which he will make available to all who wish. Craig Chatterton took more than 500 photos, roughly 3 photos for every run, some with film, others digital. All of the pictures in this article are by Craig. The complete set are on Craig's website and several are on the BAD website. Let us know if you want copies.
We thank Kera for judging and for leaving us with her exceptional motto:
"Agility is full of E's:
Enjoyment, Exuberance, Excellence"
Libby Myers-Buhite, Trial Secretary
Agility is full of E's.
Enjoyment: I have been involved with agility for 6 years with competing, helping to train and judging this wonderful sport. I am currently working on a MACH with my sheltie, Hanna, and facing ALL of the challenges in competing and training with my very high-drive puppy-brained Zeus.
Exuberance: This sport has taught me much patience and the joy of working as a team with your dogs. Judging allows me to see the teamwork and the joy on the team's faces (trainer and dog) as they run with each other. Designing a course and then seeing the team maneuver the challenges with fun and exuberance is what I enjoy the most about judging.
Excellence: Our dogs reflect us when we run with them. We always yearn to be a better teammate for our dog, thereby making us better trainers and coaches.
-- Kera Holm --
Just a quick note to say how much fun the Beardie
Nationals and how much I enjoyed them. The Nationals made everyone
feel very special with its rewards, beautiful prizes, recognition
and in such a great locale!
I must truly say now that I love watching beardies. This trial
has changed me - they frolic, they love life, they bark (worse
than Shelties I might add :-), they love people and each other.
(Maybe a bit much as they ran out of the ring to greet each other
all of the time - and it is not just a handshake either - it is
a HUGE HUG to one another! There are some great working Beardies,
also.
However, the best thing about the Beardies and their owners are
their sense of humor. The Beardies definitely have one as they
zoom through life, however, as seen from many of the runs, the
owners must have a great sense of humor to own one and work with
one. They are just fun!
Thank you for the experience.
Sincerely,
Kera
Judge Kera Holm
MACH O'Duinnin HMT Sonic Boom
2008 - Jet - Handler: Karen Barratt
1st/54
100
54.30'/65' - 180 yds - 3.65 yds/sec
Bearded Collie. Dog. DL703758/03. 8/9/97.
Breeders: Karen Barratt and Eileen Dinneen
Ch Hermosa MTN Colquhoun McDuff x Ch O'Duinnin Picabo Streak,
MX, MXJ
Owner: Karen Barratt
MACH Anasazi Secret of the Wizard
2001 - Wizard - Handler: Sarah Halsey
1st/58
100
32.06'/41' - 152 yds - 4.74 yds/sec
Bearded Collie. Dog. DL746874/01. 4/9/98.
Breeders: Kathleen Flanagan and Paul Lower
Ch Simi Gone West Desert Magic x Ch Anasazi Luci Manybeads
Owners: Sarah and Doug Halsey
Last updated 8 June 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
