2002 Chinook Olympics

Chinooks New England!

An Affiliate Club of the
Chinook Owner's Association, Inc.

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Chinooks New England!

An Affiliate Club of the Chinook Owner's Association

4th Annual Chinook Olympics
York, Maine, July 27, 2002

The fourth annual Chinook Olympics was a Great Success! On July 27, over 30 adults, 6 kids, 21 Chinooks from 16 kennels, 6 honorary Chinooks enjoyed a day of fun as the 4^th Annual Chinook Olympics were held in the southern Maine town of York. The Chinook Olympics combines a variety of games with dog obedience to create friendly competition and a fun way for humans and dogs to work together as a team. The day is filled with laughter, cheers, and good sportsmanship.

Left to right: Nancy & Walker, Jess & Hunter, Stephen & Scout, Britain & Baxter, Janet & Bailey, Donna & Karelia and Alyeska, Joanne & Belfast, Jaimie & Cody, Bill & Jackson, Maria & Ande, Connie & Lucille, Sandy & Sunny, Deborah & Cooper and Marcia & Penny. Quite a handsome group!

At the start of the day, Connie Jones welcomed our "honorary" Chinooks with a special ceremony. This was followed by the singing of the Chinook National Anthem. WoodsRunner Lucille and her daughter Baxter stepped to the center of the room. Together they tipped back their heads and began the lovely howling, barking, wooing of the song that we love so much. Donna Canfield followed this with a demonstration of basic and advanced obedience exercises with her Alyeska and Karelia.

Then it was time for the games to begin. Chinook Says is really a test of how well Chinook owners can pay attention and follow direction. Slowly and methodically human attention span was worn down until only 3 humans and obedient dogs remained. These 6 outlasted the games trickery and walked away with ribbons and toys for the dogs.

Thank goodness for plastic eggs at a dog event! The Egg in Spoon Relay requires a human and dog to weave through a series of cones around the end and return to the start passing off an egg from one spoon to the next team pair's spoon. The trick is, the spoon and leash in the same hand! Three teams ran in this event, full of laughter, spills and lots of dog treats.

Musical Chairs is the full-body contact sport of the Chinook Olympics. Historically, Connie Jones and Mark Canfield end up fighting it out with one of their faithful canines in tow. This game of musical chairs calls for the dog to sit/down and stay before the human can sit in a chair. While "You Ain't Noting But A Hounddog" and the Peanuts tunes stopped and started, Alyeska (and Mark) prevailed this year, but not without a good challenge from Belfast (and Joanne).

Connie & Lucille (right) try to sneak back into the game after being eliminated!

While this event was a fight to the finish, Mark Canfield came out the victor, because, as you can see from the photo on the right, Belfast wasn't sitting while Joann was fighting Mark for the chair!

Puppy Class: This is always a treat with puppies too cute for words and obedience is secondary. The games include:

Recall Game: Which puppy will run most quickly to their human when released by a stranger? Answer- Sunny!

Wagging Contest: Which puppy has the most joy running out through it's tail? Answer- Coal!

Longest Stay: Which puppy stay in a sit or a stay the longest? Answer- Bailey!

The Sack Race is a spectator favorite. It is pure fun! The action is fast and filled with laughter and giggles. Youthful humans hop in sacks with Chinooks warily running alongside. This years winning teams came across in a tie! Molly and Cody were the winning pups in the pair.

Dogs Coal, Molly and Cody race to the finish line!

With 2 identical obstacle courses set up, human/Chinook teams jumped jumps, ran through tunnels (just the dogs), over obstacles and through tires against the clock. Sixteen teams ran the course and ran up impressive times.

Chinooks New England! provided the burgers, dogs and drinks for lunch while participants topped this off with salads, desserts and wonderful munchies. We never lack for good food. Lunch was followed by a raffle with some highly coveted items that brought some cash to defray the cost of such events. Thanks to all who contributed and bought!

Jaimie & Cody

The Costume Contest is a favorite event each year. Two teams entered and both were winners, with a bunny rabbit Cody looking way too cute and a little man Jerry, a cocker spaniel. They were plain old fun and truly adorable.

This year had some of the best freestyle tricks, led off by Cody who was able to sneeze on command. This was followed by Molly guessing which closed hand held the treat, Alyeska waving hello or good-bye and doing the weave through Donna's legs, and Bailey shaking paws and spinning round in a circle.

The Agility Course is a more traditional dog event in the Olympics. About 10 adult dogs or puppies and their humans ran through the course and did a great job. They were wonderful teams and good sports.

Two teams played a spirited game of tic tac toe. With the game constructed of tape on the floor, a human and dog pair from each team take turns trying to capture a square by successfully completing a down stay or sit stay for 1 minute. If successful, the square is marked by the team's white or colored bandana. Valiant efforts blocked each of the teams from winning quickly, but in the end stays that just could not be held and allowed Belfast, Oops, Scout and Karelia to take the win. It was a hard fought battle for both teams.

The Closing Ceremonies presented the awards to the Most Winning Adult Dog: Alyeska and the Most Winning Puppy: Bailey. Congratulations to the winners and to everyone who made this a fun event. It was wonderful it was so see old friends and meet new ones. There were special moments like having WoodsRunnerLucille sit for photos with generations of her offspring, breeders having their hearts filled at seeing their puppies and families again, families meeting Chinooks for the first time and those who owned Chinooks of yesteryear spending the day with this generation of this noble breed. This event underscores the gentle nature of the breed. If you can, please join us next summer. Listen to what other first time participants said:

“Today I took my mother who had a Chinook in the 40's and 50's to the Chinook Olympics in York, Maine. I haven't had so much fun in a long time. I was instantly paired with Great Mountain's Baxter who won a prize for me and taught me how to have some fun. My mother was so thrilled to talk to people who knew about Chinooks. What a wonderful group of people. Never have I felt so welcome, as did Ellen, my mother. The food was even amazing and it was a cool day to boot. A perfect day. Thank you to the elegant wiggles worthy dogs who made me feel just as welcome.”

“Just want to add what a FUN day the dogs have at this event (not to mention the humans)...but talk about a tired dog and one that will sleep for 2 days!!!!! They work so hard yet have so much fun.”

“I sure never knew that owning a Chinook would also bring us the friendship of a terrific group of people. We feel very lucky indeed!!!!"

“It was wonderful to see all the dogs together, and we know our puppy had a good time. It was also about as much excitement as one puppy could handle, and he never cracked an eyelid all the way home!”

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