Mid Valley Dog Show

Dog show at KL’s premier shopping mall, premier location plus airconditioned comfort, cool! For once, we didn’t need to sweat and toil in the park under the hot sun, with our tongues frantically working overtime.

OBEDIENCE TRIALS

9am and trialers were already gathering at the Mid Valley Exhibition Centre. Was swell to see many familiar faces and 4-legged friends. Even had time to flirt with the 3 sisters – Faith, Chloe and Amber, which surprised our owners as I certainly didn’t show much interest in our earlier encounters.

Must be because we were all ball fanatics and I don’t fancy others playing with mine. That’s me, usually am less friendly when meeting new acquaintances but after a few sniffing sessions, I can be your best pal … if, and only if, you leave my toys alone. My owner thinks I’m eccentric … I prefer ‘one of a kind’.Event kicked off with OB trials. With cool air conditioning and a freshly laid blue carpet in the trial ring, conditions were ideal. Pre-Novice class was tight with 10 teams recording > 90 points, and a tie-breaker was needed to separate the top 2 who recorded identical scores. Novice class saw an inspired performance by Scruffy (Mixy) who upset the regular favourites to claim top spot.

My performance in Novice class was less than inspiring and couldn’t even manage a qualifying score. Messed up the stand stay exercise when I thought the Judge wanted to groove with me and proceeded to shuffle my legs when he approached. That’s OB, 1 wrong move and you fall into the ‘disobedient’ category. No room for errors and butt scratching antics are frowned upon, which is why I don’t fancy this sport. But my owners can be quite stubborn and so I foresee further OB trials for the rest of my natural life … help.

Whilst the K9 Games was running on the stage area, Intermediate class got under way and the audience were suitably impressed by the ‘retrieving’ and ‘distance control’ exercises. Tar (BC) and Quinssie the GR from Penang displayed nifty and precise heelwork to take the top 2 spots.

In Open class, the crowd were treated to exemplary displays by Whizzle the Poodle from Penang and Tar (BC) in the demanding ‘send away’ and ‘scenting’ exercises. The Penang teams showed that they were a real force in OB by making the top 2 in each of the Open, Intermediate and Novice classes. KL MKA teams followed suit with a win in Intermediate class and together with Puppycom, dominated the lower classes.Given that the huge audience at the trials arena did stay for lengthy periods to follow the OB trials, is surely good news and very encouraging indeed for the sport. Was 3pm when the Agility trials commenced and by then, the crowd had ballooned to grand numbers. Certainly, the organizers did not foresee such a massive turnout and they even had to close the turnstiles for a moment as space was at a premium.
AGILITY TRIALS
Majority of teams produced entertaining ‘Clean Runs’ in the Elementary class but these were harder to come by in Novice class. Archer (Min S’zer), Cami (Cairn Terrier), Junior (AST) and I kept the PetnYou flag flying high in the mini category for Elementary and Novice agility by bagging all trophies in both classes.

Course layout was fairly straightforward for all classes with a couple of tricky sequences thrown in. Yet, my Novice runs were laced with faults and could only manage 3rd spot. My owner says I get too excited whenever I’m on the agility course … hey, I’m a JRT and I thrive on excitement! That’s what you get for crating me just before the start of the trials, all that pent up energy just waiting to go! Me mate, Pacco was similarly crated, got way too excited and blessed the ring with a casual pee and poo … how considerate of her.

Competition nerves were apparent in the Basic Jumpers class as 1st timers and beginners had to come to terms with the indoor carpeted arena and many came unstuck at the tricky horseshoe tunnel obstacle. Nevertheless, Brandy and Money (Mixys) produced decent clean runs to make it a clean sweep for PetnYou mini dogs in the agility trials.

In maxi agility, PetnYou team - Angel (BC) gave a near faultless performance to record her maiden clean runs in Novice and Elementary classes, claiming 1st place in Novice. Trials ended with Basic Jumpers for maxi dogs and Pacco with her long slim legs, blazed the course in record time to scoot away with the title. Ginger (Mixy) and Faith (Dalmatian) followed suit to take 2nd and 3rd spots with much improved clean runs. Swell to see all my pals making it to the podium to bring home trophies.
END OF SHOW
Was 6.30pm and show was scheduled to close. As there was still a fairly large audience hanging around the arena, we decided to slip in a late demo on heelwork to music to thank the public for staying on. With our favourite tune, ‘Save The Last Dance for Me’ playing, we twisted and turned, wiggled and woggled, and the applause at the end of the routine was grand. We took our bows and performed an encore. End of show.

Someone from the crowd downloaded the dance clip in YouTube and here's the video of the 2nd half of my routine. Thanks davidfranklingomez for sharing the vid, groovy!

Having spent almost an entire day at the shopping mall left me totally exhausted and I indulged in a major snooze session once back home.

What a show it turned out to be! With > 80 entries in the PetnYou 4th Obedience and Agility trials, tremendous crowd support and overwhelming public response, Petworld 2008 at Mid Valley Megamall ranks amongst the top dog events ever staged. Glad I made it!

Petster Magazine launch

This post is late ... have been a real busybody with a fair number of dog events and trials to partake in since the beginning of the year.'Check out the cool backdrop'

In conjunction with the launch of Petster magazine, PetnYou Dog Squad have been invited to add spice and variety to the evening's proceedings at Ikano mall. Event also includes a charity drive for SPCA, PAWS and WWF. Cool, we get to go to a shopping mall and perform, even if it is only the outdoor courtyard area. The set up for the magazine launch was elaborate with attractive backdrops and billboards, curved inflatable canopy, complete music machine with spinning disco lights and churning out tunes. Was a pity that the stage and courtyard could only accommodate a small crowd as the set up was impressive.

First time we had an OB routine lined up and we were joined by seasoned OB trialer, Venus (Min S’zer). Sissy (Mixy), Bank (GR) and I gave a short and simple OB heeling exercise. Bank must have caught sight of several alluring female GRs at the event and decided that he had better things to do then heeling. The limited space meant limited exercises which was fine with me, as I was already getting a stiff neck from all that ‘Watch me and pay attention whenever you are doing OB’ mode. Let’s continue to keep this short and simple.

'Tai Chi masters' 'Cami giving heeling lessons to her owner ...'

This was followed by Cami (Cairn Terrier) who has developed a fine repertoire of jumping and weaving tricks which were well received by the audience. Pacco (Mixy) came on next and was partially blinded by the flashy disco lights on stage. But she recovered her composure in the end to complete her signature 'Jump over back' move. I too had a close encounter with the spinning lights which appeared to be dancing and bouncing off the canopies and stage, during my Heelwork to Music routine. Threw me off guard and was like pretty dazzled by it all. No worries as MC Susie made sure that my owner had a thorough workout by requesting for an encore dance performance. 'Night fever, night fev ... errr'

'I like this part of the routine ... bout time he did some work.'

Also had time for my football header act, which is my favourite cause I get to headbutt my biggie ball. Was aiming for the disco lights to knock those pesky things out but my owner performed well to save the ball from inflicting any damage.

Last on the agenda was the dog parade cum fashion show and numerous small to large breeds strutted on stage with their proud owners. 'Hey, u ok mate?'

Evening ended with group photos on stage and the Dog Squad were suitably calm and composed. We managed impressive and lengthy down stays and appeared as if we did this for a living. Well, all that training at the YMCA field finally put to good use ...'Models n posers'