New England Regional CHAMPIONSHIP - Page 2

Congratulations again and again Julie...Fred rocks! AND he is a bi-color...sigh.....

 I would not care if his diaper made the helper pants look big as long as the talent matched the occasion. We need as many talented helper and track layers as we can get...Congrats to the helper in question...

I am part of the crew that hosted the trial. I know Alex very well and he can lay a track for me at any trial and catch my dogs at any given day (which he actually does on a regular basis !!!). I trust him because he is a "helper", he tries to help as much as it is possible for him ...... either as a track layer or as a protection helper !!!

Claudia Romard

 Alex is one of the best helpers we have.  Notice,  I did not say "best young helpers..."    I do not live in the New England region, but i have seen Alex work dogs and he is excellent.    The fact that he is yound simply means that not only will he develop more experience over the years, but (REALLY IMPORTANT), we have DECADES  of  good helper-work to get out of him, yet.    When the average age of our helpers is in the 40+ range, we need to rejoice at ever 'kid" who shows up with the talent, athletic ability and discipline needed to learn that we can lure, bribe, kidnap, or (literally) produce.    On top of that, he is a truly fine young man whose personal conduct evidences his excellent upbringing and does his parents (and the attendant "village") proud. 

The only thing Alex cannot do is out-run Chris Carr! 

This 20k dog you bought and don't want to "expose"  ---what bloodlines are we talking about, because that seems like a very familiar phrase.

It always seems as though you cannot make each and every person happy on the day they trial. Having actually witnessed EVERY competitor that tracked, as well as EVERY dog that competed AND I watched the Helper Tryouts, I feel compelled to comment.

The fields for tracking were NORMAL for a REGIONAL level competition!! There were FIVE VERY experienced track layers for this event. I would be happy to have ANY of them lay tracks for my dogs any time!!! Especially Alex, who is not your typical "kid" in regard to anything. Plus, with those big feet of his, I am sure the scent of disturbed earth was good. Some handlers and dogs have really good days, in the sport, and some days not so good. It is human nature to look for a cause or reason of why something went right or why something went wrong. There were a LOT of really good scores and some not so good. I was fortunate enough to ask a LOT of the competitors, as they came off the track what they thought was the problem. NOT ONE OF THOSE COMPETITORS said it was the track layer(s) fault. Or even hinted in that direction. The majority of the "issues" as reported to me when I ACTUALLY asked the competitor were either training related, or they said the dog just wasn't into it that day. I saw each dog at the scent pad and saw how they worked, or didn't.

I saw some dogs work the track extremely well, and I saw some dogs lift their head up, walk the track, lose it and return to their handler.

ALL the helpers that were chosen by the judge, based on what their try out looked like, did EXCELLENT work! The judge stated on Day 2 to all the spectators after protection, that NONE of the competitors could have asked for better safer helper work. He commented several times through out the weekend on what safe work they all did. Alex may be a young helper, but that does not mean he cannot do the work. If you had seen him catch Julie B's dog Fred, you would see that Alex was fully capable of doing the dogs he was selected to do. Fred comes like a freight train, and Alex made an excellent catch with that dog.  There were NOT 30-40 dogs in the SchH1s. There were 4. They were caught safely!!!!  Oh, and isn't it amazing how the CROWD CHEERED for Alex when he was finished!  We are very proud of Alex in this region. He works very hard, and knows he has more work, just like every helper.

Seems to me, if NONE of the competitors complained about the track layers or the helpers, no one else should!

Julie B, Ya know I love that Fred! Congratulations to both of you!

Congratulations to ALL the competitors! Some excellent performances!

 Dee,

It is not only the folks in the New England region that are proud of Alex J.  He has fans and boosters on this coast, too! 

I'm always hearing:

"There's not enough good helpers out there"

"We need more young people involved in the sport"

Here we have a young man who is involved in the sport.  What kind of message are we sending the younger generation when they see someone saying negative things about Alex?  Alex is one of the nicest people and he will do ANYTHING for anyone!  I trust Alex.  I have no problem with him working my dog!  He has in the past and I'm sure he will again!  I'd have no problems with him laying a track for me either!  He can probably lay a track better than I can! 

As CrashKerry said....The JUDGE picked the helpers.

Betty

do you no what is even about this event is that it was superb

everything was fantastic

imagine if Pia Blackwell (Masters)  Ron Fox, Ron Burmer (Masters) did not have to be at the WUSV Championships and they also competed. This is what is sureal.

Pat,

Pia, Ron et al are NOT competing in the WUSV Championship, which is not until October.  They are part of the FCI team.  

Still a major accomplishment, but just not the event you referenced.