2019 Junior Nationals and Southeast Regional Championships

This year has been special for Canine Extreme and the Twin Oaks Dog Club. On November 15-17, Twin Oaks hosted their inaugural event the Junior Handler Nationals and the South East Regional Championships at the Canine Extreme Farm! We are proud and honored to have been able to host a national level event like this.

The show was a great success, with a turnout of over 100 entries to compete during the weekend. We were accompanied by our Canine Extreme team and volunteers and felt extremely happy to see everyone give it their all. We feel so thankful for the support of everyone involved and our Canine Extreme team. We look forward to what the future holds and more outstanding opportunities.

Twin Oaks Dog Club Experience:

The show was set to start on Friday, November 15th, but the real preparations started months in advance. This consisted of tasks like setting up the catalog, mowing and preparing the fields, coordinating the food and drinks, organizing the awards, setting up tents, making sure all of the classes went smoothly and the countless loads of paperwork that is involved with running a trial/show. With the help of the Canine Extreme team, Rebecca Underwood and Charlie Starr we were able to accomplish these tasks. We’re extremely delighted with the turnout and how the event proceeded.

The morning of Friday, November 15th marked the promising beginning of the show. As always, it can’t be a dog show without a little bit of rain and cool weather and for us “Floridians” 70 degrees is cold. Lucky for us, the bad weather parted leaving grass was a bit dewy, which made a wonderful condition for tracking. By the end of the morning, all dogs entered passed the tracking and a few with excellent scores in the high 90’s.

After the tracking and a few hot chocolates, the show went into obedience starting with the BH’s followed by IGP. Among the competitors were a few Canine Extreme favorites, Hulky vom Holtkamper Hof and Nona Canine Extreme who both passed their BH at the guidance of Raul Hernandez. After the BH and IBGH were over, we went into the IGP where competitors were competing for their IGP1, IGP2, and IGP3. We’re extremely delighted at the effort put in by the competitors. After the hard work that was put in by the competitors, it was time for lunch.

After lunch, we began the protection work for the IGP’s. The helper in the Protection was Manuel Servio who did an outstanding job and he worked each dog to its potential. Once the protection phase began you could see that these competitors came to play at the Twin Oaks inaugural event. With many scores in the high 90’s and one perfect 100 that went to handler Joe Galan. Needless to say, the protection went well and with the completion of this phase, we went into the award ceremony to finish out day one.

Saturday, November 16th started with the AD. This was a wonderful 12-mile ride around the property. We could not have asked for better weather for this portion of the show. It was a nice cloudy day which was great for the dogs as well as the riders. A few of the competitors were Colby Hernandez who was riding with Hulky, Alex Hernandez and Raven, Raul Hernandez with Nova, as well as one of Canine Extremes Junior handlers, Lucas Moxley with Maple. Overall the bike ride was enjoyable with beautiful scenery and weather. All the competitors did very well with their dog and passed the AD. After the ride, they were greeted with warm drinks and food, then it’s off to the subsequent event.

Now on to the Junior Handler National, it initially began with Austin Underwood competing with Xago vom Drache Feld for their IBGH-1. Austin and Xago worked marvelously together and passed with flying colors. Next on the field was Natalie Moxley with Ellie Canine Extreme competing for their BH. It was impressive to observe Natalie and Ellie seize the ring with confidence and show what they have worked on passing their BH superbly. After Natalie, we had Lucas Moxley and Keule vom Holtkamper Hof. Lucas had put in countless hours working with Keule, and it clearly showed. They worked together flawlessly and passed, receiving their Jr-BH. The next to enter the ring was Alaura Brown with Xeno z Folinku. It was splendid to see these two enter the ring and you could recognize the connection between them. You could see the smile as they exited the ring after passing their Jr-BH. The final junior to enter the ring was Richard Milam with WDR Chauncey Von Wolfie. As these two entered the field with comfort and confidence. Both Richard and Chauncey worked together as a team and passed with their Jr-BH. We’d like to give a special congratulation to Richard for earning the title Universal Champion at the Junior National Championships. To watch so many future handlers learn and progress in the ring was extraordinary. They all competed and handled their dogs like professionals. We look forward to seeing what the future holds for these up and coming handlers.

After a nice lunch break, we entered one of the highlights of the show which the Junior Seminar. This was an amazing opportunity in which Jürgen Maibüchen and Helen Gleason worked directly with the juniors. This event began with a light introduction from the judges and then went into a few educational games. The first game included a way to advise the juniors about the anatomy of the GSD breed as well as the terminology of dog anatomy. After the game was explained, the juniors were tasked with labeling them on a poster. Watching the juniors talk and work together to label the poster correctly showed their teamwork skills. Working in tangent with each other and helping to relax and improve communication was one of the main tasks. The sense of accomplishment that the juniors showed when finished was a sight to see.

The next game involved working on handling skills of the juniors before they went into the ring with the judge. To break the ice, there was a small game to prepare the juniors to go around the ring. The juniors needed to work together to skillfully gait around the ring without spilling water. The smiles and expressions on the faces of the juniors could be seen from the sidelines. After this warm-up, the juniors went and got their dogs and entered the ring again. To be able to watch future handlers work directly with the judges to better improve themselves was outstanding. A special thanks to Jürgen and Helen for everything that they did. They gave the juniors all the time in the world and truly made this a day to remember for all of them. The smiles and joy seen on the juniors were something to remember.

Sunday, November 17th was the last day of the Twin Oaks epic weekend in dog sport but the first and only day for the SE Regional Championships. This day was all about confirmation starting with puppies as young as 3 months and working our way up to the working class (2 years and older with a working title). It was amazing to see everyone give it their all and the quality of dogs was top notch. One of the highlights of the day was to watch all the junior handlers from the day before entering the ring and compete against the seasoned pros. Judge Jürgen Maibüchen said it best, “yesterday they were all kids and today they are all competitors”.

It was a cold weekend and most the days were covered in clouds, mist and even rain. On Sunday the weather didn’t let up, but as the last competitor entered the ring the sun emerged shining a beaming red across the field as it set beyond the trees. It was truly the perfect ending to a perfected weekend in dog sport. After the completion of the last class, competitors climbed the podium to get their last pictures for the sunset. It was great to see the smiles on everyones face and the victory in their eyes. Big thank you to everyone that made this possible. Now it’s time to do what we “dog people” do best … start preparing for the next one.

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