The Rip Van Wrinkler, XX, Issue 2, May 2016

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Training Conversation
Enduring quote: Lotte Hotaling, "I don't know about Basenjis being difficult to train, but it is not at all difficult for them to train their humans."

Scroll down for:

Masters FAST (AKC)
Westminster KC agility report


AKC Masters FAST - Click HERE to watch the video

Fern's Masters FAST title run. Most did a three jump lead out; called their dogs through that gamble. Handler can't cross the tape line. I serped it. 24 seconds. It was a rush to see her go out there on her own.

This was a real rush - super fun for us!



{Ed. I loved the Lucy the Borzoi at Westminster - Reserve Best in Show}


The Master Agility Championship at Westminster 2016
Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016

Holster, Masters Agility Champion Winner
Wendy Cerilli, Greenwich, NY, Handler, 35.10
WATCH THE VIDEO

 

"Holster's success in the agility ring is attributed to his consistency and his heart.  He's a dog that always tries to be good  and right.  His love for the game and his love for playing drives him to succeed.

"I don't think there was any part of the course that gave me a sense of relief once he got past it because he had a very  good competition.  I wasn't sure if I'd do my front crosses or not, so I didn't do any of them because he was good enough.  I was especially pleased that he was so fast tonight because he's a country dog, not a city dog, and he's a little nervous  being in the city.  It can be overwhelming and I wasn't sure it would impact his speed.  We're thrilled that it didn’t.”


From The Times Union, Albany, NY, by Cindy Schultz

Greenwich

Simply put, they were underdogs. It was Wendy Cerilli and her dog Holster's first time under the lights of the Westminster Kennel Club dog show in Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Cerilli tried to swallow her nerves. Her 6-year-old Australian shepherd could always tell when she was nervous, and she wanted Holster, also known as Holy Moly Guacamole, to stay focused. In front of them were the jumps and tunnels of the obstacle course they would have to navigate as quickly and as precisely as possible.

Cerilli knew Holster wasn't as fast as the other dogs. The partners had a chance, but only if Holster stuck to the plan.
Just over half a minute later, Cerilli and Holster finished what would be a ribbon-winning run, the surprising result of an outstanding partnership. "When you have a good agility run, you and your dog are like one mind, and that's an amazing feeling," Cerilli said Wednesday at her Greenwich home. Cerilli has trained dogs for agility runs for more than two decades. A former horse jumper, she adopted a rescue dog named Chukker in 1993. She began running with it and entered her first show in 1995.

Today, Cerilli is a full-time coach. She spends her days running with her dozen dogs and teaching more than 100 owners and their dogs in a hilltop training facility at their rural home in Washington County. {High Goad Farm}

Wendy with puppy Badger, S K-M photo

The sport is all about communication. Dogs must jump over bars, sprint through tunnels, weave through a series of poles, jump through tires, and walk over a teeter-totter. A fast dog won't win if it gets lost on the obstacle course, or if it botches an obstacle and gets hit with a time penalty.

The job of a dog's handler is to tell the dog where to go. As Cerilli explains it, she is Holster's co-pilot, telling him what's coming next so the dog can focus on running as fast as possible. Cerilli runs with the dog, pointing out the next obstacle using her body language, her eyes and her words.

"The dog that knows where to go wins," Cerilli said. "Someone is always going to be faster than you. It comes down to who can explain the course to the dog the best."

Cerilli and her dogs have traveled all over the country for competitions, but never to the Westminster Kennel Club. She almost didn't want to go. Holster was a country dog, after all, a dog who didn't like traffic and elevators.

"These are pets first," David Cerilli, Wendy's husband and No. 1 fan, said. "These dogs love it."
"If he had known he had to take a bath and go to New York City, he'd have thrown the competition," Wendy Cerilli said.
Their day began at 4 a.m., with two preliminary rounds to trim the field of 330 dogs down to 50 who would race in the finals at 8 p.m.

All eyes were on Gitchi, a golden retriever from Pearland, Texas, who blazed through the preliminary rounds.
Some dogs, like Holster, are muscle cars. Holster loves to jump, his powerful legs springing him into the air, where he hangs for what seems an extra beat. Other dogs are sports cars, quicker and more agile than Holster, who is prone to wasting time by taking wide turns, David Cerilli, said.

Gitchi was both quick and agile, weaving through obstacles and turning on a dime. Gitchi earned the top seed in the final rounds. The other dogs in the top three were incredibly fast too, and Holster, ranked fifth. His partner hoped for perhaps a fourth-place finish.

The plan was to be under control, fast but not too fast. No need to try to rush Holster into something he can't do.
Then Holster's run began.

The course at the Westminster dog show was full of winding, tricky turns, and Holster flashed through them.
Then, early in the course, Cerilli took a risk. She directed Holster through one obstacle while moving herself in the direction of another obstacle. If she succeeded, Holster would run through the chute and Cerilli would be in position to quickly direct him through the next obstacle. If she failed, Holster would follow her uselessly toward the wrong obstacle.
It took some trust, but Holster made the right choice.

The rest of the course was a piece of cake. Holster flew over hurdles. A slow-motion video shows him weaving through the poles like a needle through cloth. He finished in 35.1 seconds with no faults.

Holster and Cerilli then sat back and watched the other dogs. Gitchi the golden retriever loomed.
The other top dogs seemed to press, Cerilli said, as if they knew they were not as fast as Gitchi.
They took shortcuts and made mistakes like knocking over obstacles. Before Gitchi's run, Holster was in first.
The beginning of Gitchi's turn was as fast as everyone expected, and Cerilli was ready to accept second-place. Then, a mistake. Gitchi jumped and knocked over a bar. A small mistake, but one unlucky moment can doom a dog in the agility run.

"It can go so right, and the next second it can go so wrong," Cerilli said. Gitchi actually finished one second faster than Holster, but because of the mistake and the resulting time penalty, Holster won his division.

When Cerilli found out Holster won the overall agility run title, she said, "I kept expecting them to tell me it had all been a mistake and I hadn't won."

She received a massive ribbon to bring home to the friends, family and fans who had been watching Holster and her on TV.

David Cerilli photo

"I just tried to enjoy the moment," Cerilli said.
After all, win or lose, Wendy said it was fun to run around with Holy Moly Guacamole.

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