82 Saber Tails Winter 2016

Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen Club of America

panicking in a pool.  And it would really help if your dog will come to you when you call so 

you can direct them back to the walk out point without diving in yourself.  Also important 

to note…you may not touch your dog to get them into the pool.  They jump in on their own 

or they don’t go.  There are a number of dogs that run down the dock (like a runway) at full 

throttle only to put on the brakes at the last second.  For a lot of dogs, it’s a matter of unfa-

miliarity.  Many dogs only practice outside or in a natural lake.  They may never have seen 

the equipment used for measuring distance and videotaping performance.  They may not 

have experienced an audience in the stands or dogs jumping next to them in another pool.  

But it is a thrilling event to watch and looks like a lot of fun for both dog and owner.  I hope 

next year I can sit in the stands and scream encouragement for one of our happy hounds.

A

nyway…that’s entirely enough time spent on dock diving…but I REALLY hope to be 

cheering on a PBGV in a future show.  (I’d enter my boy Aslak, but he just doesn’t un-

derstand the concept of swimming.  He tends to bob up and down without any instinct for forward motion unless he’s 

chasing something).

T

his cluster of events also features Agility competitions at the AKC Agility Invita-

tional & National Championship.  The Top 5 Agility qualifiers by breed from the 

past year’s AKC competitions are sent invitations to participate in the invitational.  

PBGVs were well-represented this year by Chili and Salsa handled by Megan Esher-

ick.  Both performed very well and had clean, qualifying runs in several categories.  

The photo below shows them with their ribbons.

S

aturday and Sunday include the AKC Obedience Classic in which dogs compete 

in one of four levels of competition: Novice, Open, Utility or Master if they meet 

the eligibility requirements during a qualifying period of July 1st to June 30th of the 

previous year.  We are very proud of Glee owned and handled by Mike Williquette 

for taking home the medal for Highest Scoring Qualifying round for the b  reed.  Well 

done Glee!

M

eet the Breed is a huge part of the show for public in attendance.  Special 

thanks to everyone this year who participated and made this a huge success.  

With hounds competing in conformation on Saturday, it is always a big undertak-

ing to find someone who will stay and have their hounds available for the public to meet on Sunday.  Most of us have 

already started our travel home.  This year, we thank Karen Clugston for staying to ‘man the booth’ on Sunday in spite of 

a long drive ahead of her back to Indiana.

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inally, I am blown away by Sue Smyth and her dedication to the breed 

and to our club.  (I also really want to know where she finds the time 

to do everything she does…I need more hours in the day and she seems 

to have an extra allotment.  She can get more done than anyone I’ve ever 

known.)  Not only does she serve as Chairman of both the PBGVCA Special-

ties on Friday, she does most of the work herself without a huge host of 

committee members.  She also is in charge of the Meet the Breed booth 

including setting it up, securing volunteers to staff the booth and making 

sure everything is where it needs to be.  I know there are a host of other 

people that assist her, but Sue volunteers to do all of this every year.  And…

she isn’t exactly a local!  Sue does all the preparation work from her home 

in New Jersey and then travels to the venue like all the rest of us.  On behalf 

of the PBGVCA, I extend my heartfelt thanks to Sue Smyth for all her dedica-

tion and hard work!

Glee with her Obedience Medallion

Chili & Sala with their Agility ribbons; Grommit 

with his conformation ribbons

This  looks like so much fun!

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