2005 H.O.T. Tournament & NOC
June 23-26, 2005
By Robert Miller
Greenville, PA -This year’s trial was in Greenville, PA and hosted by the Penn Ohio Working Dog Club. This year’s overall entry was bigger than the 2004 H.O.T. trial, however the Malinois entry was down with only 3 entered. Mike Baker and his dog Varak du Chenil Victoire showed at the SchH3 level, Bessie Huneryager and Ulric du Belle Pratique (Ric) showed for a ScH2 and I showed my boy Ukon du Belle Pratique (Jack) in the National Obedience Championship as an OB1.
Thursday 6/23 was the National Obedience Championship. There were five OB3, one OB2 and one OB1. There were also two BH entries. I went with the OB2 dog and worked first. We had a clean and correct routine. The two judges were Nikki Banfield and Jakob Meyer SV. After we were done the judges said, “Nice Routine.” There was no critique and the score wasn’t given until after all the dogs went. The judges then averaged their scores. Then the PA announcer read the names and gave the scores. “Jack” and I received 97 and were declared the Champions. It was nice to back up our 2005 Mid Eastern Regional Championship performance under Mike Caputo. There we completed our SchH l with high Obedience 97, and Protection 98. Our tracking was 79 and we are working on this phase.
On Saturday, 6/25, Mike and Bessie had tracking. Bessie and “Ric” received 70 points. The tracking judge Nikki Banfield commented on how much grass “Ric” ate, “he must have been hungry.” Mike and “Varak” also did very good with a 94.
Sunday put the “hot” in the H.O.T. trial. It was sunny, hazy and humid. Bessie and “Ric” had a nice obedience routine with slight issues with downing on the send away and the returning to basic position after the long down. They finished with 88. Mike and “Varak” had a nice routine as well finished with 86. The Obedience judge was Mike Hamilton.
For the protection phase the helpers were; for the SchH 1 and 2s Brian Hendricks, the SchH3s front half was Pat Matarrese and back half Clark Niemitalo. Bessie and “Ric” had a good day showing under Jakob Meyer SV. They earned a 97 and new SchH2 title. By the time Mike and “Varak” went, the heat was more intense. They still had a nice routine earning a 93, that with an abbreviated blind search, remember I mentioned it was hot!
Another personal highlight for me was watching Ronnie Weiss, my helper who I’ve trained with since 1998, score a 98 in protection with his GSD “Dera” to go with his 96-93 to finish with 287 and second place overall. High in Trial was T. Floyd with 290.
