MayaLu Dogs

We rode the wave of Pumifest 2014

Pumifest 2014 Juniors Class

As Pumifest co-chair my goal this year was to maximize participation. With everything from freestyle to agility seminars, our first ever obedience and rally trials, conformation, grooming instruction, nosework, 2 dinners, the auction, and of course herding, I think we succeeded! After working on details for many months the most gratifying thing was to see the smiles on people’s faces when they won their first ever ribbon for qualifying in Rally or Herding or for them to negotiate the challenges on an agility course and realize just how far they have progressed in their training. The highlights for me were to work with the crop of talented new agility dogs and their handlers who will be the future AKC National finalists and Invitational winners and to see the expertise of our high in trial Pumi work at the Utility level in obedience.

This weekend I had a couple of personal bests in competition – Bella with her first ever score of 100 in Rally Excellent and then I took first place in all 3 Rally classes. In addition to Bella in Excellent, young Ben (who turned 1 last week) won Advanced, and then the biggest surprise of all Aria won Novice B. I can tell you that must have taken a lot of self control on her part 🙂

On the family side, I’m very proud of the kids for working hard in the juniors competition with Ben and Knixa and showing the dogs so well. Apparently Jim was so busy helping the girls in conformation that he almost forgot to get Krieger out. Once he settled down they came in as Reserve. Knixa also worked really well for me coming in Reserve Bitch.

Now that all the ribbons and tiles have been collected, the agility and obedience equipment stowed away, and goodbyes said to friends from far away it’s time to take a deep breath. I feel thankful for all the incredibly hard work from co-chair Tammy Hall, who made sure everyone and everything was where they needed to be, and our club president Chris Levy as well as all the other volunteers who contributed in large and small ways.

Obedience on a Saturday – 7Qs, 3 Titles

On the weekend we had the rare opportunity to do 2 obedience trials in the same day at Peninsula Dog Fanciers. Needless to say I took advantage of the chance to compete multiple times with each dog rather than driving back and forwards 1.5 hr again the next day. The day started well with a qualifying score for Bella in Novice Obedience and her Novice title. Next she got to try Excellent Rally for the first time. We struggled a little with one of the stations and I stepped over the line in the send to the jump so we just managed to squeak in with a qualifying score. Knixa was up next and managed a 93 in her Advanced Rally course. Ben followed next with his qualifying score in Novice rally despite finding the floor had some interesting smells in certain spots. In the afternoon show Knixa did her long sit and down perfectly for the first time in a while in Novice Obedience. However she got disconnected during off-leash heeling so we didn’t get enough points on that exercise to qualify. Then Bella went into her 2nd Excellent Rally exercise. Despite having 4 stations that required stands and despite it is still a skill we are working on we managed to qualify again. Knixa then followed with her Advanced Class. This time she got a 96 and her Advanced title so I guess she’s ready for excellent. Last to compete was Ben in Novice Rally with a final score of 95 to finish his title. In between courses I had a fun time catching up with friends old and new. This is a show I hope to return to next year.