![]() When the border collies were about to go into the ring, an enormous bloodhound was standing next to them and he began to violently shake his head and if you know anything about bloodhounds, it’s that they really know how to drool. Pam then described a scene that would horrify any show dog owner. “They’re gorgeous, they get blown-dried, they get moussed, they get sparkles put on their white coats we do everything imaginable to gussy these dogs up.” “Our border collies are so groomed they sparkle,” Pam said. While not necessarily illegal, Coblyn told me a story that could easily have been an outtake from Best in Show. “When the bitch is in season, or in heat, as it’s called, she’s very attractive to males in fact they go out of their minds,” Pam said, “You’re not supposed to allow females ‘in season’ to compete but I knew of someone who brought a female in heat to a show and put the dog next to his rival’s dog, effectively scrambling the rival dog’s mind.” Other hijinks ensued when an owner brought in a dog to compete that was in heat. She was banned from ever going to an AKC event for three years.” “Apparently,” Pam said, “a very famous trainer had the urge to go and went in and lifted her skirt and squatted in the dog pen and someone spotted her and reported her. She explained that they have a little pen in the ring that’s full of wood shavings where dogs can go potty if they need to. “Speaking of Westminster,” I said, “I just watched the movie ‘Best in Show’ and I wondered if the actual experience was anywhere near as crazy as the movie depicted it.” “Actually, more than you might think,” Pam said, “it can get pretty nuts out there.” He would go on to compete and win AKC medals in Maryland, Virginia, and Massaacusetts, and while he didn’t win at Westminster (didn’t even come close), he was an AKC Trick Dog Elite Performer, which Pam described as “a very big deal.” But as it turned out, Fenway was a natural. To learn about showing Fenway in agility events, Pam joined an AKC club in Maryland, where they were living at the time, so she and Fenway could practice with obstacles, and Chip built a little agility course in their backyard using materials he got from Home Depot.īetween working out at the AKC club and working out at home, it took Pam about a year and a half before she was comfortable enough to step into the ring with Fenway. “If the dogs just go out to the ring by themselves,” Pam said, “they will probably run amuck, and do what we call, ‘zoomies’ where they just run and run, having fun and goofing off.” “The dogs can’t run the course by themselves,” Pam said, “they depend on the handlers to run around the ring giving the dogs signals.” Pam credits the sport with keeping her in shape as well. But it’s not only a workout for the dogs the handlers get a big workout as well running around the ring putting the dogs through their paces. It’s a major workout for the dogs and Pam says that while he’s competing, Fenway goes to the chiropractor and gets adjustments and has laser treatments. ![]() There are jumps, ramps, a set of poles a dog must weave through, tunnels and even a seesaw that tests the dog’s balance. The courses typically have between 14 and 20 obstacles. You may have seen videos of agility competitions and to put it mildly, they’re mind boggling. To make matters even more complicated, she decided to show him in the highly competitive and difficult “agility” category. While Pam never had shown Logo, and initially didn’t intend to show Fenway, she somehow felt that by not showing him she would be doing a disservice to his heritage. But his call name, the name people would use to call him, became “Fenway” or in some cases, “The Monster,” as in the Green Monster. The dog’s official name is AKC Champion Tarton Bay (the name of the breeder) Green Monster. When driving down Storrow Drive in Boston one day, a sign caught Pam’s eye and she screamed out, “Fenway, that’s it!” nearly scaring the daylights out of Chip. “His mother was the 2005 Border Collie Bitch of the Year and his brothers had all sorts of titles and championships.”Īnd Pam had already given the puppy-to-be a name. “It turned out that the new puppy was royalty,” Pam said. It took a couple of years to find the right match but when Pam got the call from the breeder to come see her new puppy, she was highly impressed.
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