Kerry Blue Terrier Performance Newsletter
February, 2006

By Jane Eno

This month, after attending a few trials, I was lucky enough to get to participate in an agility seminar taught by Erin Schaefer. The seminar far exceeded my expectations. I’ve attended a few obedience seminars in the past, but only one agility seminar, and it was a long time ago. While the one I attended before was fun, I did not come away feeling I had learned much, because I was too new to agility and not actively competing to really take advantage of the information.

Erin represented the USA twice at the World Champions with her sheltie Jag. She also had an American Eskimo, Stasch, who was a finalist at the National Agility Championship one year. Although she’s only trialed two dogs, she seemed to have a wonderful instinct for dogs of all types. Maybe this is because she teaches at her own facility and has worked with a wide variety of dogs there and at seminars.

When we arrived and saw the courses she had designed for us to run in the Intermediate group, most of us thought she was crazy. There was no way we could run these courses, with tons of changes in directions, obstacle discrimination traps, and other challenges you would be hard pressed to find in an Excellent Agility course in the AKC. But after she walked the courses with us, explained how to control the speed of our dogs, work them at lateral distances, and use front crosses to bring our dogs over different parts of jumps to set them up for the next obstacle, we were surprised to find we could often run the courses clean or close to clean.

She told me she had never met a Kerry Blue Terrier before, and so was very glad to have had the opportunity. She was very surprised how vocal he was on the course, and what a strong go-out he had. Of course after she made a comment that she now had “met” a Kerry Blue Terrier, I brought him over and told her that she had to do something before she said that. She was wearing gloves, because it was cold in the room, so I made her take them off, and then pat Jessie. He did his usual happy dance and rubbed all over her. Like most people, she exclaimed his coat was something like a lamb, something like a knotty coat and gave him a good rubbing, much to his joy. I told her, NOW she could say she had met a Kerry Blue Terrier! You just can’t say you’ve met a Kerry until you dig your hands into that soft coat! I think there would be more Kerry owners out there if the dog breed books had a sample of Kerry coat next to the photograph.

If you have Erin Schaefer come to your area to teach a seminar, I would recommend attending. It was a great experience and has given me many things to think about.

If you want to learn more about Erin Schaefer, click the link to her website: Erin Schaefer Website

BRAGS

From Natalia Samajova-Glover:
"Kelsey" aka Duvessa Cross the Rubicon passed another level and got Excellent A Jumpers (AXJ) in December 2005. "Kelsey" is now starting to accumulate MACH points.

She is 2.5 years old and the list of her titles include obedience- Companion Dog (CD) and agility- Novice and Open Standard (NA & OA), Novice and Open Jumpers (NAJ & OAJ-agility) and Excellent A Jumpers (AXJ). She only needs one more to move up to Excellent B. Kelsey is trained by her parents Eric and Connie Shannon livivng in Florida.

From Virginia Barishek:
Andy and Finn have had a busy couple of weekends recently. On Saturday, 2/18, at Staten Island Companion Dog Training Club's AKC obedience trial, Andy (Garryowen's Smarty Pants, UD, NA, RE, U-CD) was entered in Utility B and Open B. We qualified in Open with a nice score of 192.5, and a steady performance under judge Rich Strong. We came VERY close to qualifying in Utility under judge Louise Botko--he did everything beautifully but missed the "sit" signal during the Signal exercise. Apart from the NQ, we had only 9 points off, so we would've had a very respectable score. Maybe next time.

Finn (Finbar's End of the Rainbow, RN had a great day at Staten Island's rally trial. He got his second leg in Rally Advanced A, under judge Wilma Diehl, with a score of 97, and took third place in the class! (His first leg in Advanced A was also a third place in the class.) And we did this despite my missing the course walk-through, (because I was in the Utility ring at the time). He won a lovely rosette and a stuffed toy, which he is treating very carefully.

Both boys also had a good day on Sunday, 2/26, at Hilltown Dog Training Club's UKC (United Kennel Club) obedience trial, in Novice B under judge Janet Blair. Andy finished his U-CD, and took 3rd place in the class, as the result of a runoff, with a score of 192-plus. He was also HS Kerry Blue Terrier in trial, (that award was a bag of biscuits and tennis balls, which he shared with his housemates). In UKC obedience trials, a runoff consists of dogs and handlers performing a short, off-lead heeling pattern at the same time! By the way, the other dog in the runoff with us was a Golden Retriever, who didn't quite nail his about-turns and halts as closely as Andy did, (if I say so myself).

Also at the Hilltown trial, Finn got his first leg in UKC Novice B, with a nice score of 188.5, and a very collected performance, including a solid Group Sit and a nice straight Recall over High Jump. While we waited for the judge to finish tallying her scores, Finn celebrated the end of the class by rolling around on his back outside the ring, and waving all four feet in the air. People asked how old my "puppy" was, and are startled to hear he will be 6 years old this year.

Good suppers and crunchy treats were had by all, (the dogs, that is), after both trials.

From Jane Eno:
During February, Jessie got his second Open Jumpers Preferred leg and his first Open Preferred leg in standard Agility.

From Barbara Catalano:
My Kerry, Jack finished his axj this weekend.. coming in first place both days! His head is so big, he could hardly make it through the door... thanks and stay well.

From Carol Pizzino:
Mason, (Ch. Fralin's Public Defender, RN, R1, CGC) competed in some APDT trials here in Michigan, and he entered 3 and qualified 3 and got his R1 title with them. He also cut almost 1 1/2 min from 1st to last run and improved his score by 8 points. I will be trying for 10 more legs to get his R1 Championship, while we continue for our CD and RA -- not a lot of shows here for that.

From Lisa Frankland:
After taking the hot summer months off, show season here in New Mexico resumed Labor Day weekend. Katie Rae, (Ch. Casey's Rae of Sunshine CD, RN, OA, OAJ), had a case of mommy-itis during her stays and did not qualify in Open, as I had hoped, but she did pick up her first Rally Advanced leg the one day I showed her in Rally, at the Santa Fe Dog Obedience Club's trial here in Albuquerque. Then, in October, at Pikes Peak Obedience Club's trial in Colorado Springs, SUCCESS!--Katie held her stays and earned the first leg towards her CDX with a 188 and 4th place. She followed that up with a second leg, and 2nd place with a score of 192, at the Southern Colorado Kennel Club's trial in Pueblo a month later. Both times she lost points for barking, but had the audience and the judges in stitches with her can-do attitude and backtalk! My current plan is to continue practicing stays and building Katie's confidence, before trying for that last leg towards summer. If there's anything I've learned from this experience, it's to never rush training the stay exercises, particularly the out-of-sight ones. My goal is to have Katie finish her CDX looking as happy and confident during the stays as she does during the individual exercises.

In agility, Katie steadily picked up the legs she needed for her open titles over the last few months, completing her Open Agility title at a local trial in October, and her Open Jumpers title in Colorado Springs at the end of January. For both of her title runs, Katie was one of only three dogs in the entire Open division to qualify, and the only one to run "clean," i.e., complete the course with a perfect score of 100. I am really looking forward to playing with the big dogs now, as we compete for Katie's Excellent titles. Katie Rae's most excellent adventure has just begun!

In the "golden oldies" department, those who remember my Lav (Casey's Lavish Mischief UDX, NA) might be interested in hearing that he turned 16 years young on January 11th! Although nobody would mistake him for a young dog anymore, Lav still enjoys a good quality of life, with daily walks and an occasional attempt to play with Katie. He was my introduction both to the breed and the incredible world of obedience, and I consider him one of the best things that ever happened to me. Lav retired from obedience competition in 1998, and agility in 2000, and has thoroughly enjoyed being spoiled rotten ever since!

Finally, I can't resist a quick brag about my 13 year old daughter, Meghan, who has literally grown up around Kerries, tagging along with me to classes and shows, and more recently, showing Katie in Junior Showmanship and Lav in the veterans sweeps at GWTA last summer. The good news is that the kid decided that she wanted to train and compete in obedience and agility with me. The bad news is that she really loves little dogs. So in December, we added a 1 year old Papillon named Ripley to our pack, who even our cats don't take seriously! Meghan is estactic however, and she and Ripley are not only zipping through their introductory obedience and agility training classes, but earned two of the three first place wins that Meghan needs to move from novice to open in Junior Showmanship in February, the very first weekend they competed together! I'm definitely looking forward to having my daughter training and showing with me, as my "partner in crime" for a while yet.

Last Updated: 03/02/2006, 11:31 am