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8th Annual Chinook Olympics
July 29, 2006 - "it's a dog's world," York, ME

Katie welcomes you to the Chinook Olympics!


"Chinook Says" competition

   Despite incredibly high temperatures, people flocked to the 8th Annual Chinook Olympics, making this Olympics the most well attended in our history! 54 humans brought 37 Chinooks from 15 kennels as well as 8 "Chinooks for a day" to compete in the games. As we've come to expect, all of the dogs came with sweet dispositions and interest in having a good time. And, they were not disappointed.

We hold this event at a great facility called "it's a dog's world" in York, ME. It's an obedience/agility training facility with all the equipment you could ever want and an owner that thinks of everything. We had four kiddy pools at our disposal to keep dogs cool, plus plenty of buckets for water. There were fans all over the room to keep air circulating. While there is no denying it was warm, the dogs all stayed pretty cool and never seemed to mind the heat that much.

 

After introductions, announcements and explanations of the day, we called all of the "Chinooks for a day" to the center of the floor for the special ceremony they must participate in before they can join the games. They have to promise to be gentle, brave and loyal, just like their Chinook friends. Then, they got dubbed an official Chinook for the day and got a special treat baggy! Immediately after, we sung the Chinook National Anthem (woo, woo, woo, woo - come on, sing along!) and the signal was given to "let the games begin!"  

The first game, Chinook Says, is the "ice breaker" for the day. It's a simple game of Simon Says, and your dog doesn't actually have to do what you ask of it, so it's a way to get everyone involved right away despite the level of training a dog may have. We have a few folks who are just too good at paying attention, but after about 10 minutes of play, most were out and it was down to two teams - Bonnie Gotto using GreatMountain Mahoosuc and Jamie Lane with Sischu X Cody. Despite my best efforts (I was Simon), there was nothing I could do to get them out! So, eventually a tie was called and both dogs earned a winning score.

After this result, we learned that ties and close seconds would be the theme for day. For instance, during Musical Chairs (again, a traditional game of musical chairs, only your dog has to sit or down before you can take a seat
and if your dog gets up before the official gets the music going again, the person has to give up the seat until the dog is sitting again). Unlike the traditional game, Chinook owners insist this is a contact game! There was a lot of slipping and running and pushing and jostling for chairs but all in good spirit. In the end, it came down to two teams - Jamie and Cody and
Sarah with her Malamute Allie Oop (a regular at our games). When the music stopped the first time, both handlers were at the exact same distance from the remaining chair and both dogs and owners sat at the exact same moment! It was something to watch. Instead of calling it a tie, we made them try again, this time with Sarah hitting the seat about a second before Jamie.

 


Janet Schaefer playing Chinook Says with two dogs!  Chinook is Hickory Hill Bailey.  Wild River Yukon is behind.


The egg and spoon races.

  


The final two competitors in musical chairs!

Wild puppy run		  

We had 12 puppies in attendance this year. The small puppies had a play area in the back of the facility and enjoyed each others company until it was time for the "puppy events". These games are specially designed for puppies - the best wag, the longest down and the puppy recall. There really is nothing more fun than watching owners and puppies being completely silly during the "best wag" competition.

Because there were 6 pups who were nearing a year, and 6 who were under 4 months, we split the pups up for the puppy recall - this is a game where the pups are at one end of the facility held by friendly strangers and the owner has to call them to the other side.  It was the young set of pups that were the funniest on the puppy recall. Owners got to stand closer to call the pups but had to run back to the finish line with their pup. While GreatMountain Tupelo Jackman came running
to me like a shot, the rest of the pups decided it would be more fun to play and stay in a crowd - so they did eventually come, but crossed the finish line as one herd of puppies all loosely aware that their moms were calling them. It was pretty darn cute.

The obstacle course is always a favorite of all of the Olympiads. There are two identical courses set up of basic obstacles - a traditional jump, broad jump, tunnel, and weave poles made up this year's course. This is a timed event and two dogs run together at the same time. This year there were some FAST dogs doing the course! The winner, Pippa Passes Callicoon with handler Maria Sommer completed the down and back course in only 13.12 seconds! Talk about close seconds - GreatMountain Mahoosuc and I finished just .08 seconds behind her at 13.15 seconds. The third place dog, Cody was more than two seconds behind. All of the dogs really enjoyed this event.

After this event, we took an hour break for lunch and to complete the silent auction (more on this in a moment). This is a great time for folks to get to visit with one another and to have extended "family" visits. We had three of the shelter rescue pups on hand - Lyle, Holly and Tavin - at the games and the owners were all pleased to be able to meet. Those pups are doing so well and Tavin even did very well in the games overall. Three of Susan Cunningham's pups from her last litter were in attendance - Wild River Yukon, Morning Glory and Katie. They were so cute I think everyone wanted to take them home. 		 
The sack race - always a favorite!


Shelter Rescue Pups - Tavin, Lyle and Holly enjoying the games.

   Because we had some exceptional donations for the raffle, and because we were donating half the proceeds to the Chinook Health Fund, we switched gears and held a silent auction instead. Thanks go to everyone who donated items to the auction, but especially Perry Greene kennels, GreatMountain kennels and Karen Hinchy for donating some wonderful original Chinook memorabilia. All of these Chinook items, including two original Perry Greene newsletters, a copy of Chinook and His Family, a 1952 True Magazine (Chinook on the cover with great article on the breed) and original Walden post cards, sparked fierce bidding and fetched good prices. In the end, the auction made about $470 and CNE was able to donate $250 to the Chinook Health Fund. As the COA announced a matching program last week for its members and affiliate clubs, this donation quickly turned into $500! We were pleased to have Cathleen Griffin on hand so we could publicly thank for her work in setting up the Chinook Health Fund. We were also thrilled to learn that the owner of "it's a dog's world" would be donating to the Chinook Health Fund herself. She loves our event and our dogs and wants to do something to show her appreciation for our breed.

 
After lunch we all got to sit back and enjoy the show - the costume contest followed quickly by the freestyle tricks contest. This year, the costumes were really fun - Cody & Tavin were pirates, Mountain Laurel Tug was devil dog Johnny Damon, and Katie was the Fairy Dog Mother. My personal favorites were Allie Oop who was wearing a bag on her torso that said "Take Out" - she was a "doggy bag"! Better yet, Laura Morgan and her daughter Risa brought their four dogs Hurricane Mina, Ditch Creek Suki, and Rivertrail Chimera and Sylvie out wearing doggy hoods - a black one, a tan one with up ears, a tan one with down ears and a spotted one. What were they? A black Lab, a yellow Lab, a Dalmatian and a German Shepherd. Tricks included Tug ballroom dancing, Laura's dogs skateboarding, Tavin playing dead, Cody sneezing, bowing and backing up, Katie crawling, Wild River Timber pulling a boy on skates, and GreatMountain X Ande doing a fun routine with Maria of Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear go to Sleep - where Ande prayed, twirled, weaved through her legs and laid down to go to sleep. It was all very fun!  


A real "doggy" bag


Yellow Lab, German Shepherd, Black Lab & Dalmatian


GreatMountain Kusko Kwim goes through the tire jump

   Maria Sommer did a great job laying out a tough but doable agility course. This was late in the day and outside in the burning sun, but remarkably, most of the dogs were up for the challenge. The course included three jumps, three weave poles (spaced far apart to be easy), a small teeter (you could choose a board on the ground instead), a tunnel, an A-frame, a barrel, a short dog walk (which you could skip for a second deduction) and a pause table. RainMountain Moxie of BearCreek blew all of the competition away, turning in a blistering 28.97 run. The closest competitor was Cody with 35.21 seconds and Moxie's daughter following in her mom's footsteps (although far less under control!) with 39.28 seconds. The average time was about 43.89 seconds.


Moxie on the A-frame


Ryan & Tug winning a square in tic-tac-toe		  
Maria Sommer had a tic-tac-toe team comprised entirely of her dogs -
here, Ande wins a square
While the day included a few other games, these are the highlights. All day long, teams of dogs and individual dogs are awarded points for their placement in the games. All of the "placing" dogs get ribbons and toys for each game as well. At the end of the day, all of the points are tallied up and the top three puppies and top three adults are crowned the "medalists" for that year. This is where we ended up with one more tie - a tie for first place in the puppy category between Tug and Katie. That's right, a dog who is just shy of his 1st birthday was matched point for point by a 14 week old puppy! There can be no denying that Katie had reached her limit for the day and she was hardly awake when she had to participate in the tie-breaking competition - a quick stand, sit, down. So, Tug walked away with the title for this year, but I'm guessing that Katie will be aiming to take it all next year as an adult! Third place puppy was GreatMountain Passaconaway.

In the adult category, Sischu X Cody walked away with the title again this year. This is the second year he's claimed victory in the Olympics, but maybe the third. He is just a fantastic dog and his handler, Jamie, is so great with him. He is happy working by her side and the two are just wonderful to watch together. Second place adult was Calli, followed by Mahoosuc in third. 		 


Bill, Rose & Jamie Lane with winning dog, Cody


Miranda, Debra, Bob & Ryan with winning puppy, Tug

   By all accounts, all participants and dogs had a great time and are looking forward to the next opportunity we have to get together. CNE will have a booth at the Northern New England Sled Dog Trade Fair & Seminar on Sept.30 & Oct.1, 2006 in Contoocook, NH at the Hopkinton Fairground. We hope to see many of you there! We're also planning a fall rigging event in New Hampshire, so watch for info on this event.

We couldn't have pulled off such a successful day without the help of a bunch of volunteers. Bruce Yeamans needs a big thank you for coming especially to help run games! Jen Johnson, Maria Sommer and I were the other folks running games. Bill Lane and Chuck Sommers were our grill masters. Penthea Burns, Rose Lane and Cathleen Griffin helped with the auction and selling merchandise. So many people came early and stayed late to help set up and clean up, and still more people were involved in all of the preparations leading up to the event. It takes a lot of folks helping to make these events run smoothly and CNE thanks each and every person who helped with this event.

Thanks to all of them and their owners for making the day a great success!


Wild River Yukon

  
A rare opportunity - three presidents together at one time!  Here are Jen Johnson, new CNE president, Penthea Burns, new COA president and Karen Hinchy, new MACC (Mid-Altantic Chinook Club) president. 

Doggy participants included: Aspencreek King's Ransom, Apine Foinn of Aspencreek, Moonsong Beach Comber (BC), Rivertrail Liberty, Scout, Phoenix, Chimera, and Sylvie, Ditch Creek Suki, Hurricane Mina (and Nankoweap, who made a brief appearance), Lakeside Run's Indiana Jones and Arwen of Rivendell, Hickory Hill Bailey, Mountain Laurel Tug, GreatMountain Bailey, Atlin, Mahoosuc, Willowemoc, Jack, Kusko, Yukon Charley, Conaway, and Ande, RainMountain Moxie and Tatla, Pippa Passes Callicoon, Kodiak Tundra and Amarook, Wild River Yukon, Katie, Glory and Timber, KVHS Lyle, Tavin and Holly, and Sischu X Cody.

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