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ARTICLE ONE: 2008 ASTC National Agility Trial – A Record-Breaking Success! ARTICLE TWO: National Specialty 2008 — Obedience

2008 ASTC National Agility Trial – A Record-Breaking Success!
by By Barb Cunningham
reprinted with the permission from the author

The 2008 ASTC National Specialty Agility trials were held on April 14 & 15 in Conyers, Georgia. The show site was the Georgia International Horse Park, built and used for the 1996 Summer Olympics. It remains one of the only sites built for the Olympics which is still being used for its original purpose – equestrian events.

Chris Danielly served as our judge both days. When contacted about the assignment, she commented that it was the closest agility trial she would ever judge, as she only lived a couple of miles from the horse park.

Many of the competitors stayed at the local hotel – Hawthorn Suites, which included comfortable rooms with kitchenettes. Others commuted from the official specialty headquarters in Atlanta, while others enjoyed the camping which was available on-site at the horse park. It was not unusual to see groups of agility Shih Tzu hanging out with their people at these places!

The trials generated a record entry for our national specialty agility trials – 36 Shih Tzu competed during the two days of agility trials for a total of 67 runs each day. Entries represented twelve states and – for the first time – Ontario, Canada as well.

The weather was not typical May weather for Georgia. Monday was cloudy and cold! Even though our show site was a covered arena, we still wanted to finish before the rain started, and we got done just in time. Tuesday’s weather was absolutely perfect – couldn’t have asked for a nicer day. We were all very grateful that the hot weather did not arrive until later in the week.

Tien Tran was the official agility photographer and not only caught many fabulous action shots but also skillfully captured our “traditional poses” – a group shot of the dogs and handlers and a photo of all of the dogs with the judge.

Twenty dogs qualified on Monday and nineteen dogs on Sunday. Several dogs earned new titles during the competition.

These trials would not have gone smoothly without the assistance of everyone who pitched in during the show. To everyone who volunteered as a bar setter, course builder, gate steward, leash runner, timer, scribe, score sheet runner – THANK YOU! Without your help, the show cannot go on!

Special THANK YOU to Trial Secretary Beth Scorzelli. Being the trial secretary involves a lot of work before, during, and after the show. Having an organized trial secretary is essential to hosting a successful event, and we are extremely fortunate to have that in Beth.

Start planning now for next year’s agility trials in Oklahoma City! We hope to again break our entry record! If you missed the fun this year, be sure to catch the action in OKC. See you there….

National Specialty 2008 — Obedience

At this year’s National Specialty in Atlanta there were 19 obedience entries and 25 rally entries. This is a pretty good showing for obedience and rally. The most impressive thing to me is the Novice A obedience entry. It had the largest entry with 6. That is huge for a specialty for a “non-obedience” breed. Most all breed shows barely draw that many Novice A entries. For those of you that don’t know the obedience rules, handlers are only allowed to show in Novice A with their very first obedience dog. It is the class for people that have never put an obedience title on a dog and for dogs that do not have an obedience title. Obedience people hear it all the time, this is the class that is the future of obedience. Based on this year’s entry, the future looks bright for obedience Shih Tzu. The 6 people that entered Novice A at this year’s specialty chose a Shih Tzu for their first obedience dog. They chose this wonderful breed of ours to forge that special bond that only comes with your first obedience dog. I am so glad to see that when obedience entries are down all over, the number of Shih Tzu doing obedience seems to be growing.

I have heard people say that they don’t do obedience because it is boring, not fun for the dog. I have said it myself. Yet, I still keep going back. Since my Novice A dog (a Shih Tzu), I have put CD’s and CDX’s on two more dogs (another Shih Tzu and a Beardie). I am training my newest Shih Tzu in obedience and have plans to show her in obedience in addition to rally and agility. I have to wonder why. What makes that Novice A handler keep coming back? What makes you choose a Shih Tzu to take this journey with? What about a Shih Tzu makes it unique? I asked our High In Trial winner from the National Specialty these questions. High in Trial was won by a dog out of the Novice A class. I personally think that is wonderful. My opinion is that that win is going to hook Janice Cooper and Jake on obedience for a long time. Here is what Janice had to say.

What made you get a Shih Tzu? Have you had them before Jake?

I have had Shih Tzu for twenty-three years. I was just taken by their delightful personalities. I am a psychologist and have always brought my dogs to work with me. Sometimes, I think the dogs are the reason my patients come for therapy. There is nothing like a warm, sensitive Shih Tzu snuggling up to you to make things feel better. When my female, Sadie, was fifteen, I got a little male, Jonah, who is just a sweetheart and a superb snuggler. He and Sadie were very close and I was worried that he would be despondent when she died. Therefore, two years ago I got Jake to be Jonah’s friend. Little did I know what Jake was going to get me in to.

Did you plan to do obedience when you got him? What made you start competing in obedience?

Jake was a little charmer from day one. He was very attached to me and very smart. Amazingly, he was my first Shih Tzu that was motivated by food. One of my dear friends, Barbara McGarvey, had a Golden Retriever Schooner who had just received his UD. She showed me a tape, I went to a dog show and Jake and I were hooked. Barbara and her dog, Schooner, were our inspiration and encouraged us to start taking classes at Allentown Dog Training Club. We started last July and have really enjoyed it. We have been gifted with wonderful trainers, Phyllis Broderick and Mart McClosky, who have gotten a kick out of Jake’s impish ways; they also have the patience of saints. I have found that training a dog forms a very special bond that is different than the bond I had with any of my other dogs. Jake and I became a team.

Has Jake been difficult to train? What has been your hardest training challenge so far?

Jake has not been hard to train. He loves going to dog school and has many friends there. He is always wonderful at dog school, but he quickly learned that in competition he could improvise and save himself extra steps. The first seven times we competed Jake would start the off lead heeling with me and then politely watch me do the rest of the pattern by myself until he eventually joined me at the last halt. Somehow convincing him that during competition he was required to do the whole exercise was our biggest hurdle.

How did it feel to win HIT at the National Specialty?

Jake and I really enjoy competing and it was so exciting to just be at Nationals. We were so thrilled to just qualify at Nationals and to finally get our last leg of our CD. When they announced we had received High in Trial, I was so excited. I really couldn’t believe it. I think my feet left the ground and didn’t resettle for at least a week. That was definitely one of the most special days of my life. It has also really motivated us; Jake and I are busy working Open. Our goal is to be ready to compete in Open at next year’s Nationals. Jake loves the jumps, has mastered the drop on recall and is really enjoying retrieving his dumbbell. I just wonder what he is going to do with off lead heeling.

Would you train another dog for Obedience? If so, why? What would make you keep doing it?

At this point, I’d like to take Jake as far as he can go with Obedience. I have been told repeatedly that Shih Tzu do not do obedience, but we are out to prove them wrong. It has been such a wonderful experience for both of us that I cannot imagine choosing not to train a Shih Tzu to do obedience. I really enjoyed meeting all the wonderful people and Shih Tzu at Nationals. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly. Jake and I never see another Shih Tzu when we compete, so it was such a treat to see all the Shih Tzu compete at Nationals. I wish the 2009 Nationals were not a whole year away. I have to say I agree with Janice on why I keep doing obedience with my Shih Tzu. It is the challenge of proving that they can do obedience to all those people that tell you that they can’t. It’s also the special bond that exists when you train a dog. I would like to congratulate not only the obedience and rally winners but also, those that didn’t come home with green ribbons because we are all winners. We choose this wonderful breed because we love breed and know that they can do anything a “traditional” breed can. They just sometimes put their own twist on it, but that is what makes it fun and challenging. It makes you be a better trainer.

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