Well – it is hard to believe that our first WCFO competition in
Oklahoma has already come and gone. We had an amazing weekend with lots of
fun freestyle. First - a BIG thank you to Julie Flanery for coming to
Oklahoma and helping us through this process. Her feedback and encouragement
meant a great deal to so many of us.
Of the 14 teams entered – 4 were first time competitors and 3 were first
time competing in a live event. I was very impressed with not only the
quality of the routines we had at our event, but the support and camaraderie
displayed by everyone. We had a wonderful turnout of spectators that
included friends, family, and others just coming by to check it out. The
audience was full for the whole event. We even had a couple visitors from a
local senior community and were told if there hadn't already been an event
planned the same weekend - we might have had a whole bus load. We will stay
in contract with the group and maybe do a demo there - and will definitely
touch base if/when we coordinate our next event. The ones that came had such
a great time and wanted to meet all of the dogs after each routine.
Some of the highlights for me were some of our first time competitors –
Cathy McCormick and her Golden Retriever Audrey who had one of the cutest
moves I’ve seen. Cathy has Audrey in heel and when she stops, Audrey wraps
her paw around Cathy’s leg like she is holding onto her. Terri Wilson and
her Belgian Tervuren Angel who did an amazing Tango routine. I had helped
Terri select her music, but she really took the routine to a whole other
level.
Cindy DeClerk and little Bebe – when Cindy got into position to start her
routine, Bebe was ready to go and just started backing around, and around,
and around. It was fun to see Bebe so excited to do her routine that she
just couldn’t wait for the music to start.
And then Deb Abigt with both her dogs, True and Chance – a very different
combination. Chance was in the Sassy Senior division while True is just
barely two years old and still has a lot of puppy. Deb did a great job
especially since she had injured herself the day after she sent in her
entries and had limited practice time. Her medical costume for her routine
with Chance to Dr. Beat – along with scrubs and musical notes and
stethoscope was too cute.
Our other teams that had competed only via video also shined. Yvonne Koehler
and her border collie Aspen not only impressed us with Aspen sharp moves,
but I’m still wondering how she is able to spin a baton and do a freestyle
routine all at the same time.
Lynda SmithSchick and her corgi Iris did a very cute routine to Pennywhistle
Jig. I think Iris liked hearing the applause for her special move (she lies
on her back and waves her arms) so much she had to throw in an extra one.
And Janet Chadwick and her golden retriever Savannah and her lab mix Maggie
had a great time. Maggie’s collar was a little itchy – but you could really
tell that both dogs, and especially Janet, were having a really fun time
together.
Our “experienced” freestyle teams also did extremely well. Pam Sheehan and
Nike finished both their Novice MF and Novice HTM titles with wonderful
routines. Their routine to “Shall We Dance” is so much fun to watch. Nike is
so attentive and you can tell she just adores Pam.
Jane Wittstock and her sheltie Belle did a very cute routine to the song
“Fins” – with Belle running circles around Jane on the line “can’t you see
them circling around”. Belle can be very anxious in unfamiliar places, so I
know how hard Jane had to work to get Belle ready and it really showed.
Shelby and I had a really good time – although she was a little off,
everyone seemed to enjoy her happy attitude and fun approach to her routine
- she decided that prancing and jumping were the most important moves and
wanted to show off how well she did them… so she did them – a lot!
Then there was my little Bonnie. About half way through her routine, she
figured she had done enough and decided to go check out the audience. Then
she bounded across the room to try to smooze with Julie a little too (it
didn’t work). Although routine wise it wasn’t too good, it was so nice for
me to see her so happy and social. It is a long, long way from where she was
when I got her a year ago.
And as usual, one of the crowd favorites was Sue and Lizzie with their
routine to the Wizard of Oz medley. Sue and her family have been going
through some tough times, so it was just such a joy to see them out there
and dancing together and having a good time… We hope that they’ll be back in
the freestyle ring again soon.
Our competition was followed by a wonderful seminar that Julie presented for
us. We had a range of attendees with 17 working teams and 8 auditors. It was
so exciting to see so much interest in freestyle in our area. Hopefully
we’ll start to see a lot of up-and-coming teams. Julie showed us some new
variations on moves and also reminded us that perfecting moves can be just
as important as adding new ones... ☺
Here are the results:
BEG A MF
Deb Abigt & True 7.3 TM 8.3 AI LEG
Terri Wilson & Angel 8.2 TM 8.6 AI LEG, 2nd Place
Yvonne Koehler & Aspen 8.6 TM 9.2 AI LEG, 1st Place
Cathy McCormick & Audrey 7.5 TM 7.8 AI LEG
Cindy DeClerk & Bebe 7.8 TM 8.2 AI LEG, 3rd Place
NOVICE MF
Kris Hurley & Shelby 7.9 TM 8.4 AI NQ, 3rd Place
Pam Sheehan & Nike 8.9 TM 8.9 AI LEG, 1st Place, TITLE!
Jane Wittstock & Belle 8.4 TM 8.6 AI LEG, 2nd Place
ADV MF
Sue Young & Lizzie 8.9 TM 9.1 AI NQ
SASSY SENIOR BEG A
Deb Abigt & Chase 7.4 TM 7.8 AI LEG, 1st Place
SASSY SENIOR BEG B
Lynda SmithSchick & Iris 7.3 TM 7.9 AI LEG, 1st Place
SASSY SENIOR NOVICE
Kris Hurley & Bonnie 6.9 TM 7.0 AI NQ
NOVICE HTM
Pam Sheehan & Nike 8.0 TM 8.3 AI LEG, 1st Place, TITLE!
BEG BRACE
Janet Chadwick, Savannah & Maggie 7.0 TM 7.8 AI NQ
SPECIAL AWARDS!
High Scoring Team (Combined TM & AI) - Sue Young & Lizzie
High Technical - Sue Young & Lizzie / Pam Sheehan & Nike (MF) - Tie
High Artistic - Yvonne Koehler & Aspen
High Combined (MF & HTM) - Pam Sheehan & Nike
High Scoring Rescue Dog - Yvonne Koehler & Aspen
High Scoring Small Dog - Sue Young & Lizzie
High Scoring Medium Dog - Yvonne Koehler & Aspen / Pam Sheehan & Nike - Tie
High Scoring Large Dog - Terri Wilson & Angel
High Scoring Oklahoma Team - Sue Young & Lizzie
High Scoring Visiting Team - Yvonne Koehler & Aspen
High Scoring 1st Time In Any Competition - Terri Wilson & Angel
High Scoring 1st Time Live Competition - Yvonne Koehler & Aspen
Outstanding Costume - Kris Hurley & Bonnie
Outstanding Collar - Pam Sheehan & Nike (HTM)
Outstanding Routine Start - Sue Young & Lizzie
Outstanding Routine Finish - Sue Young & Lizzie
Outstanding Move - Cindy DeClerk & Bebe
Outstanding Use Of Props - Yvonne Koehler & Aspen
Outstanding Musical Selection - Terri Wilson & Angel
Happiest Team - Deb Abigt & Chase
Most Supportive Handler - Lynda SmithSchick & Iris
Most Animated Dog - Deb Abigt & True
Most Entertaining Routine - Janet Chadwick & Savannah & Maggie
And now for a few other "thank yous" - A big thanks to Sue Young who helped
connect us with Companion Dog School of Tulsa, and set up our host hotel.
The facility was amazing and absolutely perfect for our event - nice ring,
huge warm-up ring, practice ring, and crating area. The hotel was very nice
and conveniently located.
A very special thanks to Pam Sheehan who helped me with all the little
logistical details and handled coordinating our lunches – she even made home
made chili for us on Sunday! We'd also want to pass along a special
thanks to the Oklahoma Beagle Rescue who allowed us to use their sound
system when the one I purchased never arrived. It was extremely nice and
worked very well.
In addition, we had a lot of people jump in and help out. A big thanks to
all the Oklahoma Freestyle Dogs teams as well as our friends from Arkansas
and Texas who came to help set-up on Friday. We got everything set-up so
quickly, we had some time to relax and practice. A special thanks to our
event helpers – Janice Allen as our judges assistant/timer, Lyn Johnson as
our ring steward, Yolanda Hankins as our videographer, Amanda McCormick as
our music coordinator, and Toni Bailey as our announcer. They all did a
great job and made the event flow as smoothly as possible.
We’d also like to thank our visiting teams for making the trip to Oklahoma
and supporting our competition. Deb Abigt came all the way up from Austin,
TX; Cindy DeClerk & Yvonne Koehler came all the way from Little Rock, AR.
We’d also like to thank our teams from Oklahoma City who not only made the
trip to Tulsa – but also brought along family and friends to help out and
support the event. We also had a team from Missouri for our seminar – and it
was nice to share ideas with others from our region. We know how much is
involved in making a road trip to a competition – and cannot tell you how
much your support of our event was appreciated. Hopefully this will just be
the first of many more events for all of us.
And a big special thank you to Toni Bailey for taking Julie to the airport
and entertaining her Monday morning while she was waiting for her flight.
Julie was very generous and took a much later flight to help keep our costs
low.
And lastly, a big thank you to WCFO for giving us the privilege of hosting
the first freestyle competition in Oklahoma. It was a lot of work, but we
all had such a great weekend. We hope it will be just the first of more
events to come.
Shuffle