Malinois Nationals

Dazzle and I attended our very first Malinois Nationals hosted by the American Belgian Malinois Club (ABMC).  It was held at the Purina Farms show facility near St. Louis MO.  We arrived about 4pm on Wednesday and stopped by the host hotel to drop off the Raffle Basket.  Then went to the show site.  

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I got the van set-up, then took Dazzle for a walk to the vendor area... 

Spoke with the vendors about the really bad weather that rolled through before our arrival (very high winds, hail, etc.) that took out a transformer and left everyone without power till shortly before I arrived. So glad I missed that! Though I did drive through some really rough weather on the way there.

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Due to the lack of power, none of the food vendors were set-up, so I drove to KFC to eat.

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Settled in for the night after a stroll around the RV area to visit.

Dazzle made some friends during our stroll and had a play session with a Terv and a Golden.  It was about 80 degrees with 80 percent humidity, so very sticky.  As the evening progressed, the humidty dropped, but it was still uncomfortable for sleeping (even for me).  I kept hitting the remote start button through the night to run the van's A/C :-)  So we didn't get much sleep. A cell phone ringing outside the van woke me at 6 (which I didn't realize till I got to the agility field had actually been 5am local time.)

Thursday-

I got a really good parking place for Agility though :-) While I waited for others to arrive, I tidied up the van, tried to get Dazzle to eat breakfast (unsuccessfully) and ate my own breakfast as a storm rolled in and winds picked up.  About the time others arrived to set-up the field, the skies opened up and dumped rain. Thankfully it was only a brief deluge and then cleared up for awhile. And there was a permanent structure to hide/crate under when it rained :-)

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Agility Field on Thursday...

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I tried to check in, but needed to get Dazzle measured and there was no measuring wicket. One showed up later, but I didn't end up getting him measured till the next day. While waiting for our run, I saw Judy H. and we chatted for awhile. She agreed to video his run for me, but we had a miscommunication about the level of zoom to use :-)  It's not bad Judy and I'm thankful to have his first competition run on video!

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Dazzle did fantastic on his very first Agility competition run.  I entered the FAST class so we could make our own course :-)  It's a points game, where each obstacle has a different point value.  Part of the course is required and the handler has to remain a certain distance away from the dog to get the points for that part.  A total of 50 points is needed to Qualify, but our score was 49.  Missed it by 1 point!  If I had been able to run just a hair faster (to avoid time penalties) or if he hadn't knocked the bars on the double bar jump we would have Q'd.  But I was VERY happy with how well he did.

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VIDEO: FAST run

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45B5AyAWu8w

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Photos from the video:

After the Novice class, I had intended to go sightseeing, but found out I was scheduled to volunteer for the rest of the trial.  I figured I could do the touristy stuff the next day, so I spent the rest of the trial being the assistant scribe. The weather alternated between cloudy, rain and sunny all day. Thankfully we were sitting under an umbrella out of the sun and out of the rain (except for the occasional cold drip down the back of my neck.)

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After the trial, I attended a seminar that was good, but all the talk about food and proper nutrition made my hunger even worse.  So at the break, I cut out to get some dinner.  I drove to TGI Fridays to use a gift card and just as I got in the door, the skies opened up and a bad storm rolled through. Thankfully it was passed by the time I left the restaurant.

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We had another rough night because of the storms that kept rolling through.  I put Dazzle's Mutt Muffs on, which helped him settle, but there was still an occasional really loud boom that would get him pacing across my body again and shaking the bed with his panting.

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Friday started with rain (after rain all night) and it lasted all morning almost non-stop. When we arrived at the Agility area, the sprinklers were going to add a bit more water to the course :-) 

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LOTS of people were wiping out and falling and dogs were sliding dangerously off non-rubberized contact equipment, so I decided it wasn't worth the risk and pulled out of the run for that day.  It was a hard decision because I think we could have Q'd on the course, but there will be many more trials and I didn't want to risk getting me or him hurt.

    

So instead of hanging out in the rain, I decided to do the sight seeing I didn't get to do yesterday. I also used another gift card I had and ate a nice lunch at Ruby Tuesdays instead of "show food" :-)  We went to the arch, but I only briefly got out of the van to look at it since it was raining pretty hard.

As I was driving around the area, I looked out in the river and saw a weird statue.  I never did get the story on it, but realized it was actually in a parking area but the water was so high, it was much deeper than usual. 

 

I drove through the little "pub" area with shops and very uneven brick streets.  Dazzle didn't care for the really rough road (even though I was creeping along), so I only went on one of them. Then I decided to head back.

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Parking was a challenge by the time I got back. But it was only lightly drizzling. 

I mostly wanted to see if the agility photos of Dazzle were ready (they weren't) so I didn't stay too long. I did get distracted by some photo ops though :-)

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Like this Malinois party...

And these siblings playing as another sibling (I think) looked on...

When I got back to the RV area, I found new neighbors had pulled in and I went to say hi.  I ended up hanging out with them for awhile under their awning. I knew I should have written down their names because now I can't remember them. :-( 

Dazzle (in the blue harness) had a fun time visiting though...

 Eventually the rain did stop. I took advantage of the sun to get some photos of the area (seen above) and some of Dazzle by the big Purina Farms sign.

Since the weather was good, we had the potluck picnic that had been planned.  Some really great food was shared!  Dazzle slept through most of the gathering as I ate and chatted.

Once the sun went down, it got too chilly for me, so I got to bed early (9pm local) to try to take avantage of the dry weather to get some sleep.  That worked till about 6am when the thunder started again. I was so tired, I put Dazzle's mutt muffs on and went back to sleep.  If he walked on me, I didn't know it!  He did seem to be doing better with the storms though.

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It rained solidly at least till I left (and I was driving in rain till about 1 hour from home). I slept in for a bit since Rally didn't start till 9.  It was colder today than the other days, so once I got wet I had a hard time warming up.  But that didn't seem to bother Dazzle. 

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I was worried that with the layout of the rings, with obedience right next to rally, that if a dumbell was tossed, he would be in the next ring! But the timing worked out so that the person in the obedience ring was doing their heeling during our run.  He did BEAUTIFULLY and we scored a 99 and took first place!  We got a really nice bag, a leash and nice ribbons.  That helped make up for not running agility the previous day and I was on cloud nine with the win.  As you can see from the standing water in the photo above, it was REALLY soupy.  So I was glad he was willing to sit and also glad there were no downs on the course (even though he was willing to lie down outside the ring in the puddles).
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VIDEO: Rally
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paJFjw2AZJg
Thank-you Susie M-W for taking the video!
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Conformation took place in the bigger ring after I left...

But I needed to get home. I'm sorry I couldn't have stayed longer. There were some amazing items in the rescue raffle (at least 3 tables crammed with stuff) and I'm sure the state baskets were impressive too.  I hope my basket wasn't pathetic compared to others.

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Overall, a wet but enjoyable show.  Everyone was SO nice and I LOVED seeing so many Malinois all together.  I got to meet people from many states that I had only chatted with on-line, but with so many new faces, I only recall a few names. I'm so bad with names and I can mostly only recall the names of those who posted photos to the Mals4fun yahoo group prior to the show because I had a chance to "study" those and commit them to memory.  :-) Dazzle seemed to have fun too and that's really what it's all about.  I was very excited to learn that Nationals next year will be in Indiana!  Other side of the state, but that's still relatively close!  So I guess I better start saving now :-) Entries, gasoline, hotel, food, raffle items, vendor items...

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Thank-you to everyone that helped us have a wonderful experience at this event!  I'm looking forward to seeing photos taken by others and the pro photos as well.

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Water fun

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Well, you wouldn't know it by todays temps in the 50's with high wind, but last week was in the low 80's and beautiful!

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Dazzle and I went to Cross Creek Farm and did some Dock Diving practice.

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He did LOTS of jumps and really enjoyed it.  We were trying to get him to jump higher (so he could go farther) but he tends to jump kind of flat.  I might take an agility jump next time to give him the idea :-)  After jumping off the dock, he spent quite awhile running around and playing off leash games with the other dogs there.  A fun time was had by all!

This dog, Lincoln, wasn't too sure about the water, but really wanted Dazzle's toy, so we used Dazzle's jumping in the water and standing just off shore with his toy as a "lure" :-)

Once Dazzle got out of the water, Lincoln latched on to the toy and tugged with all his might.  Dazzle only had to work a little to keep from losing the toy :-) I thought I got their tugging on video, but I guess I only got still shots.

After all that jumping, swimming, running and tugging he slept for the hour drive home, but when we got home he spent 2 hours trying to get me to throw the ball (and chasing it when I did throw it).
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VIDEO: Dock Diving
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmmREWHkj4Y
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Yesterday (when it was 30 degrees warmer than today!) I filled the dog's pool and Dazzle spent some time playing with the hose, so I had to get it on video.  The 1 minute video includes some slow motion clips at the end.
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VIDEO: Hose fun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYm-wPcAMLQ

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C-wags photos

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Here are the three photos I ordered from the C-wags competition in March:
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Even though it's a "butt shot" I like how it looks as though we're having a conversation.

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It was hard to choose because there were several photos I really liked. But budget dictated that I had to only pick 3.  I liked these for various reasons, including the unique perspectives.

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A new killer in the house

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Last night, Mike caught Coyote bringing in another dead, half-eaten rabbit through the dog door.  We were both wondering how the blind dog caught a rabbit at night in the dark!  He was congratulated and traded treats for it while we bagged and disposed of the body. 
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Then Bear came in the house and I noticed he was covered in blood (on his face, down his neck/chest and on his paws) but thankfully he was not injured.  So based on the evidence, I would say Bear was the killer and consumer of the rabbit, while Coyote likely wandered out and stole it from him and brought it in to get the prizes in trade.  We don't condone the rabbit killing, but we would rather have him bring in the fresh kill to be traded for treats than to consume it or fight over it.  Bear got lots of treats too for apparently not fighting with Coyote for possession of the catch, though I'm sure he had no idea WHY he was getting treats. But he wasn't complaining!  Now I'll have to keep an eye on them for tapeworms.
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Dazzle seemed to want nothing to do with the incident and even seemed a bit spooked.  I don't know if maybe he saw Bear kill the rabbit and was freaked out by that or if someone growled at him for getting close.  But thankfully he had no desire to possess the rabbit and was happy to stay outside while we cleaned off the floor (and Bear).

Such an innocent looking killer!

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