In December of 2001, Lone Star Mondioring Club graciously hosted a Mondioring
Trial at the spectacular Triple Crown Dog Training Facility. I traveled with
my dog O'breons Ysha Rose, Kathy O'Brien and her competing malis Bomber and
Dyna of the famed Ot Vitosha Kennel and a few of Kathy's secret passion, French
Bulldogs.
After, almost missing our flight from Oakland to DFW and the stress of changing
flights with the dogs in cargo, we arrived in Austin. We got the dogs, luggage
and rental car, and headed to the Host Hotel, The Baymont Inn. After driving
in Seattle where they change the street names from town to town and then Italy
which doesn't even have street signs, we were very glad that the roads in Texas
were clearly marked and the directions easy to understand. On this adventure,
we only got lost once or twice, which I believe is a record for Kathy and myself,
since we often get lost while we are jabbering. We did a bit of shopping, had
a burger at the bar by the hotel and turned in early. Friday, the next day,
we went to the Triple Crown and were treated to a private tour of the Facility.
We got to relax and exercise the dogs, then Ann, Francis and Sam showed up with
two trucks and a trailer full of Safari Stuff.
The decoration/distractions included bamboo fencing material which we made into
a backdrop for a throne that was covered in a leopard skin, plants and tarp
which were made into a pond, camping tents, a stuffed turkey which was put into
a wire crate and mounted on a pull cart, some stuffed geese, a two foot aluminum
antelope head, my personal favorite, a two foot aluminum elephant, and "normal"
Schutzhund blinds. In addition, the field already had the Schutzhund jumps on
it. Things were arranged, configured and re-arranged. In addition, Francis and
Sam had set up a filming by National Geographic for a dog segment on Mondioring
and the video staff and equipment would be another distraction. Marki, Jim and
the judge Gerardo Straterman arrived and then one of the decoys, Chris Moody.
M. Straterman confirmed the field and was very friendly and helpful to the competitors
who arrived early to get in a few moments of last minute training.
There was trialing on Saturday and Sunday. Since I was bestowed with the honor
of being trial secretary both days, I unfortunately didn't get to take notes
or video, so my observations are from memory. So if you were there and see that
I missed things or get anything wrong, please let me know and I apologize for
my mistakes.
The brevet with three obedience exercises, one jump and two protection exercises
followed the order as prescribed by the rules. It was relatively simple and
went pretty fast. First was a simple heeling pattern with the competitors electing
to take the option to work with leash. The absence was with two people walking
around the dog. For the retrieve, the handler may use their own object which
was usually a rolled up sock like in French Ring. The hurdle at .8 meter was
the jump. A simple point A to B movement was the defense and a normal face attack
with stick was done. All the brevets passed with very respectable scores.
Level one started with food refusal being done right away at the presentation
point. A slightly more difficult heeling pattern was next followed by a retrieve
of a brown boot. Then, the send out which had brown stuffed geese as the marker
points. A majority of the dogs were confused by this sequence and decided to
return with one of the geese. It got to where we were betting on which goose
would come back with the dog. Having the greater experience to draw on, M. Straterman
usually won the bets and I think that I still owe him some bottles of champagne.
He did tell me his solution on how to work this problem, which is in training,
to very securely post the article down and not allow the dog to take the article.
Positions was straight forward and the absence distraction was the "turkey
mobile" pulled in a circle around the dog. Jumps were preformed with a
varied degree of success on the part of the teams competing. Protection exercises
were face, flee and defense. The defense was again a slightly more difficult
point A to B to A movement.
At Level 2 and 3 the exercises were similar with more difficulty for level 3
and the two additional level 3 exercises of the object guard, which was a soft
travel bag and the call off/stopped attack. Heeling was through the pond and
at the advanced level, the dog had to sit in the pond which had been gifted
with water from the rain. The boot retrieve however didn't trick the advanced
dogs on the send out. Distraction for the advanced absence was several gunshots.
The little wood was placed by and then behind a bench. The jump obstacle was
large barrels with the accessory being water. For the search, the decoy was
hidden crouched down in a tent and I believe he was happy that the dogs found
him fast. The defense got a lot harder. Along with the point A B A movements,
the handler sat with other people on a bench behind a table facing a decoy The
decoy made drinks and then spilled/tossed the drinks towards the people on the
bench.
It was a pleasure to play the role of trial secretary. As a beginner, it was
very educational to be able to follow an experienced judge and learn from him.
M. Straterman is originally from Belgium and in addition to Spanish, and quite
good English, he is fluent in French. He chose to use his own Score sheets which
were in Spanish and it was fun to learn the exercises names in that language.
During the trial it was my responsibility to follow him around and write down
the scores and his comments. We communicated in French, Spanish and English
and I was very happy that he understood my French and Spanish. At the breaks
and after the trials, I had to transcribe the score sheets, check and triple
check the scores, write down the results in each persons scorebook and additionally,
log the trial in the decoy books and then get the judge to stamp and sign them.
Even though this responsibility was a little bit stressful, I knew all the teams
worked very hard to get to this point and I wanted to do a good job. It was
a lot of fun though because the trial was interesting and there is a wealth
of knowledge held by a Mondioring judge. Additionally, M. Stratteman is a charming
person with a great sense of humor and I was glad to be there. I would recommend
to anyone interested in Mondioring to take an opportunity to play trial secretary,
deputy judge or field helper if presented. It is a very useful way to understand
Mondio from another perspective.
At this trial the first Mondio 2 title in the US was earned by Francis Metcalf
and his dog Turbeaux. Additionally, Kathy O'Brien and Bomber earned their best
score ever of 328 points, which I believe is the best score earned by a Level
3 in the US. Ed Reynolds spunky "Nemo", the first SBT to compete in
the US, earned his Brevet and the affection of all who watched. Francis and
Sam exquisitely represented the east coast and Kathy and I the West. The rest
of the folks were from Texas, which to me, at this point in time appears to
be the heart of Mondioring in the USA. It was great to be there and from the
enthusiasm and kindness shown by the Texans, I must say that their hearts are
as big as their state. Thanks to all!!