Bryna's Trip to Dog Camp II

We had a wonderful beardie bouncing time at Camp Gone to the Dogs (in Putney, Vermont) this year. For the 1st time, the 265 dogs at CGTTD included 5 beardies and a beardie wannabe. Bryna brought me; Duncan brought Karen; Cadence came with Duncan and graciously allowed himself to be shared with his former kennel human Jody; Dropshot (who travelled with Bryna from Washington) brought Marsha; and Sally brought Ted and Susan as well as her soul-mate/buddy Pippen who looks like a puli mix and barks like a beardie. I only hope the beardies enjoyed each other as much as I enjoyed all of their humans. It was a great group, and they kept me laughing almost the whole week.

Some of us laid eyes (or nose) on each other for the first time on the day camp started, but within a very short time, we became a pack, if not a well-organized one. "Beardies rule!" appeared on bulletin boards, and we travelled as our own multi-dog cheering section as required. Among us we split up and tried nearly every activity that camp had to offer, though I believe that all of us took a pass on "coat stripping in terriers" and those sorts of things.

Beardies as a group signed up immediately for herding lessons, and they all loved it, even Sally and Duncan who had never seen a sheep before. Our teacher was Roy Johnson, a marvelously kind and gentle man who showed great patience with our wild bunch. He worked to get better downs on Bryna, Cadence, and Dropshot. Bryna was her exuberant self, especially in the face of these very light sheep. We tried to learn "walk up", "down", "walk up", "down", "walk up", "down", etc. We got better than we had been. I think the rest of camp enjoyed seeing our beardies enjoy themselves so much. Roy lives a few hours away from me, and we might go down to his farm for some training.

Other beardies tried flyball, lure coursing, costume contest, swimming lessons, dog counselling, terrier trials, really reliable recall class, and more. There were counselling sessions for dealing with specific problems, and many others. Tracking was lots of fun, though I think Bryna was beginning to wonder why mom's socks were strewn about the landscape with cheese and Rollover bits in them. It was fun, but I kept having to remind the teacher that we couldn't handle a track near the sheep pens.

Jody Workman and I, with Cadence and Bryna, took beginning agility lessons. On Friday, the advanced and beginning dogs had a competition, and we beginners had one too: "senility agility." For this competition, the handlers had to go through, crawl through, or jump over, any obstacle their dogs would not do. You can imagine the laughter and screaming and yelling. It really got the dogs charged up, and we had a great time. Team Beardie got a 2nd place, but the important part was that neither Cadence nor Bryna required their handlers to submit our heads or behinds to the tender mercy of Marsha's lens that followed us around every step of the course. Whew!

I was pleased that my shy, submissive Bryna learned to stand up for herself a bit in this bratpack, and even defended her milk bone from Dropshot. But the cutest thing was Dropshot, who decided that Bryna was "his dog", and was very concerned when the other male beardies played with her, even though all 3 were neutered. He made sure he was present if Duncan and Cadence began to play with Bryna. ("Look, dudes, this beauty is mine, heh, heh, so be nice to her. Unnerstand?")

I know that Bryna would give CGTTD 2 paws up. We plan to go back next year. Any of you beardies and beardie buddies want to join us?

We ended camp Saturday morning as we began--with a beardie bounce. They careened around the pen, though not as fast nor as long as that first night. And they all went to their cars, barking back something that probably meant "have your people contact my people" and hopped in. And then they all crashed and went sound asleep.

We had a very good time, all 12 of us.
Bryna & Lynne