I am happy to report that the obedience trial held on the 12th July 2008 at Durack Showgrounds was a huge success. We had 26 entries – 1 in UDX, 5 in UD, 11 in Open, 4 in Novice and 5 in CCD, so a brilliant entry for our trial. This is just an overview of the trial as full results are printed in this magazine.

The start was a little worrying as the rings we were to be in had been holding a National show (for another breed!), which was supposed to be finished at 2-2.30pm. We were waiting and waiting for the fences, gazebo’s etc to be pulled down and the competitors to move so we could set up the obedience ring but at 4.15pm they were still there. We improvised and used different rings beside them instead. After I nearly had a coronary as I realized I had brought the wrong base board for the upright jump and a very quick phone call to my other half who kindly brought the right one up, we were basically on track.

First up was Lynn’s Tess one of the sweetest dogs you could ever meet and I think everyone was on the edge of their seats and holding their breaths hoping she would gain that illusive second leg in UDX but sadly wasn’t to be. So very very close missing 1 directed retrieve.

UD was run next with 4 competing as I pulled Loki out as he wasn’t quite ready. In hindsight after the oopses he made in open I would have been better letting him run in UD!! At least he would have had an excuse of not really knowing what to do!!

A couple of hard luck stories with a couple of dogs just making little mistakes and naughty little Miss Gemma sitting up in her down stay. Boo is always comical to watch and if enthusiasm counts for anything he should go a long way!! All the UD dogs gave a lovely workout and were great to watch. The winner of this class was Lynn and Denver, a really great workout by both of them with a score of 194.

Open came next with 11 entries (there were 12 in the catalogue when it was discovered Ellie had entered Tully in open by mistake – he hadn’t done a novice trial yet!!) Open is a joy to watch as the dogs really enjoy it. True Golden form was apparent everywhere as the dogs seem to say OK I can do this my way – unfortunately not usually the way to get good scores from the judge. Jan Dixon’s Yogi was well on his way to his CDX title when he decided in the last exercise that he would rather just stay in the down position rather than the sit Jan had asked him for. Ellie Rivett’s Molly decided it was by far easier to come back around the jump than come back over. A couple of the other dogs not mentioning any names but one of them is related to Loki decided why bother working when there was things to smell, leisurely strolls to take, lots to look at, oh life’s just wonderful being a Golden….. Loki decided he really did know best and dropped himself on the recall – yes never done it before but decided he would tonight – he knows what to do….All in all the open dogs did really well.

We had a couple of qualies in this class Lynn’s Darling surprised us all by doing a beautiful workout and enjoyed being back in the ring. Denver did a fantastic workout with a score of 197 winning open as well as UD. Clever Boy.

Novice came next with some very nervous handlers and boy can’t we all relate to that. The dogs were lovely and showed great potential and I am sure won’t be long til they get their CD titles. Though Ellie Rivett’s Tully proved he should have been in open doing the most beautiful drop on recall, pity he was supposed to be doing one without a drop in it. Think he must have been watching Loki in open and decided that was the way to go!! The winner of this class was Lynn’s Clint (seems to be a pattern emerging here) gaining his first leg on a score of 181.
CCD now if the novice class handlers were nervous I don’t know how you would describe the nerves of the CCD handlers – terrified maybe an apt description. LoL

All of our 4 novice dogs passed as Henri decided that Bruce would be better off waiting a little while before he competed. We had a nail biting finish as Dee’s Cooper and Rebecca’s Angus (Denver’s son) both finished up on the same score and our judge Vyvyan could not separate them. Vyv decided to give them a run off for 1st place so it was a matter of who had the quickest sit which was only so marginally won by Angus.

Having all 4 CCD dogs pass was fantastic and congratulations to all the handlers.
The best and funniest part of the night was the Winner of Winners seeing four of the classes were won by Lynn so we told her not to worry about running her dogs off against one and other just pick one. Though in the end she decided to run them off!

Angus our CCD dog gave us a little demo as well and he worked beautifully. The Winner of Winners was Tess. Just to prove that the oldies can really stick it to these young dogs. She was just outstanding. And might I add the only girl in the Winner of Winners line up!!!!!!

As to the social aspect of the evening it was fantastic and it was lovely to see some non-obedience and non-competing spectators as well giving everyone a big cheer or a big ohhhhh depending on the case of the dog doing it right or not. Thanks for coming along it was appreciated and for those supporters that came along to see what obedience was all about, I am sure you too enjoyed yourselves and that we will see all of you in the obedience ring in 2009. – Perhaps!!

We had a wine and cheese tasting which was kindly donated by Lynn. This was quite popular with everyone who participated donating a gold coin to the club. We also had a tub full of prizes, which were drawn by catalogue number over the night, even our judge and steward received something.

At the end of the night we had 4 prizes left which went to Ellie with Tully’s lovely drop on recall – funniest dog, Andrew’s Boo for being the Goldy with the most zero’s onya Boo!! , Sue’s young girl (don’t you hate that when you can’t remember her name!) for being the happiest dog and Yogi for the hard luck story of the night. Our raffle went well and thanks to Brett for wandering around selling tickets though some of the names on the stubs were rather interesting – up the duff – mmmm wonder who’s that was???? plus I also heard apparently we were raffling a trip to LA – apparently!!!

Everyone bought a plate of food along for a lovely social dinner together as we had no canteen facilities available. So Thank you to all who bought a plate, as Leigh said where else would you get great food like this in the middle of a paddock! And how true the meal was great with heaps for dessert cheesecake, carrot cake, chocolate cheesecake, mmm yum surprisingly there wasn’t much left at the end of the night.

But the biggest mentions must go to our judge and workers. Vyvyan Mannion who is one of the loveliest ladies you could ever meet, I think she put everyone at ease though she wouldn’t let me clunk Loki on the head with his dumbbell – why ever not is beyond me!! Just kidding! Thanks Vyv for a wonderful night and to let you all in on a little secret after the Goldy trial Vyv was driving to Grafton to judge their ET at 6am the next morning. (An ET is a 20km endurance test for dogs which the judge gets to ride along for the 20k’s as well). So I think a double thank you is in order here.

For Eileen Pickles our wonderful Trial Secretary, Eileen kept everything running smoothly with a big smile on her face all night. Thanks Eileen things wouldn’t have gone as easily as they did without all of the hard work you put in and Eileen also stepped into steward as well.
To Andrew and Sue Holmes who also stewarded for us during the night Thank You both so much. Lynn Fergusson who was an inspiration for the wine and cheese plus the Guess the Name competition of the stuffed dog – it was Goldy – very original.
Lynn worked very hard towards making this trial a success so Thanks Lynny.
Mel and Hilary for dropping the raffle up to us after a hard days showing at Laidley.
And to one of the obedience’s biggest supporters so a huge Thank you to Cherree Munro who organized us the loveliest trophies and prizes. Thank you Thank you Thank you, Cherree for your efforts they are appreciated more than you know.
Also to the people who donated towards our trophy table Thank You so much. Without your support trials like these would never be available to our sport.
Rod Scott The Petographer who braved the cold and came along to take photo’s of our dogs and handlers. Thanks Rod you are great. If you want to have a look at the photo’s go to www.thepetographer.com.au and have a look. You can also order any photo’s you want on line.

Ros for diligently staying in the kitchen and baking lots of doggy treats to include in our prizes. Thanks Ros, Loki would like to order some more please!!!

Also to the people on the night that helped set up the ring, change jumps and help out in general thank you all so much.

My last BIG thankyou goes to our competitors for entering. I hope you all had a good night and enjoyed yourselves. From what I heard during the evening everyone was having a good night regardless if their dogs qualified and that is what we wanted to make it a fun social evening for everyone so I am hoping we succeeded. So thanks again for coming along and supporting the club.

Helen Tanfield