Northern Breed Fun Match Photos

As promised, here are some more pix from the Fun Match!

Julie/Juno, Christi-Ann (our K9 Clinic Trainer/Nikko, Christine/Yukon

 Here we are (Christine and I) the odd balls at our Saturday morning class who take their cats, err, huskies to dog obedience. We convince ourselves that obedience is working for them. Here, they sit pretty. Sometime later, when Juno was in that orange ring behind us, posing, she bit through it to make some sort of statment about confinining a husky with such a ridiculous attempt. Do you know how embarrassing it is to suddenly fnd yourself and your dog at the opening of the orange tape that now is flapping in the wind?

I have to admit, this is why I fell in love with the Sibierian Husky. Look at those racoon faces. Those should be the tell-signs that they're always up to no good. This guy was being pulled all over the place having tons of fun with his sibes, UNTIL...I looked away and then looked back and found him face-planted into the grass, his cart straight upside down. Doesn't that want to make you get one of these little rascles?

Christi-Ann, our trainer and her Samoyed, Nikko. Nikko took Best in Breed for Spayed/Neuter Samoyed! Even with his shaved paws and belly. Seems he got into several HUNDRED foxtails and needed immediate medical attention earlier in the week.

Juno's first attempt at 300 lb pull. She was so freaked, she escaped her "full-proof" choke collar. The event host was tickled because she managed to pull the cart even without her leash attached. I, err, my stunt double --because there's no way in HELL my ass is that big--wasn't allowed to cross the line and reattach the leash. Hell, she had 300 lbs attached to her. Not like she was going anywhere too fast.

It was so fun each time a dog got ready to go, to hear the officials yell, "Yukon up! Hanna on deck! Juno in the Hoooolle!" But for the life of me, I couldn't find a deck or a hole so I had no idea what they were talking about!

I included this photo of Christine's dog Yukon and Christine's stunt double because this is exactly what a husky NEW to a harness and pulling does. They look back at the cart and think "what the HELL is that doing back there and how the HELL do I get it off of me?"

 Here, my stunt double gently coaxes Juno, who seems really happy at this point because she finally understands what she's doing and she'll get a piece of tri-tip at the end of it. That's 400 lbs she happily pulls.

Here Juno is pulling 500 lbs. She looks back and thinks, WTF? This was much easier last time. But she managed to pull the 500lb cart all the way across the line.

When I grow up, I want to be just like Deb, the other K9 clinic trainer, who showed up with her sable long haired GSD to show that any dog can pull a cart. Deb doesn't even need her leash, she just happily backs up and Hannah pulls it. Looks like Deb is the only one who did the cart pull without a stunt double.