# NVBK Championship Cat3 2010



## Martine Loots (Dec 28, 2009)

As promised the NVBK Championship video of Joâo and Fun. 
Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg8hfxEFHR8


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## Petra StrUbing (Dec 17, 2009)

Congratulations  . Very good work !


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## Tommy O'Hanlon (Feb 21, 2008)

Fantastic stuff Martine thank you for sharing and congratulations to all the team, Fun is in beautiful condition what weight and age is he?
Well done
Tommy


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## Christopher Jones (Feb 17, 2009)

Excellent. I have to say I didnt recognise Jao without his normal orange overalls


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## Bernie Cameron (Jul 24, 2010)

Wonderful video. Makes me wish I were training with you guys. BTW, I have a beautiful A'Tim grandson that I just adore.


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## Jake Brandyberry (Jan 24, 2010)

Great work. Anyway I could ask you for the break down of when he lost points? Just curious how things are scored. Congrats on the Vice Champ.


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## Martine Loots (Dec 28, 2009)

Thanks everybody 



Tommy O'Hanlon said:


> Fantastic stuff Martine thank you for sharing and congratulations to all the team, Fun is in beautiful condition what weight and age is he?
> Well done
> Tommy


Thanks!
Fun just turned 4yrs and he weighs 34kg
He's in good shape now but he's come a long way. He was a very early maturer and ready to start competition 2yrs ago, but then he only was 18mths so we wanted to give him an extra year of training experience.
Last year in January I noticed that there was something wrong with him. To me his physical condition wasn't as it should be and I found his respiration heavy. It was winter time so normally he shouldn't be exhausted and still he didn't look ok to me.
Had him checked and they didn't find anything. Said he was perfectly ok. I know my dog and didn't believe this so I took him to another clinic and had him checked thoroughly, saying that we live in the woods and I feared Lyme contamination because of ticks. They did a blood test and there was nothing wrong. 
Meanwhile the dog couldn't even jump up to me anymore, let go do the jumps on the training field...
I knew something had to be very wrong so I took him to my osteopath who also is a vet and knows my dogs very well and explained the situation. He took an ultrasound and saw that every organ inside was swollen as hell. His spleen was more then 2 times the normal size. He said the dog must have enormous belly aches and was working only on character and adrenalin during the training.
He checked him (don't know the word in English - it's checking the body's electro-magnetic fields with a computer) and this clearly showed reaction to all that had to do with Lyme.
He was treated immediately, but he went a very long way to recovery and it took him a whole year without training.
So seeing him in great shape again now really felt great and very emotional! 
We had a very depressing year with the dogs, with losing A'Tim and almost losing Fun too but last Sunday made up for that.
He worked in honour of his dad and while he was performing the whole time I was holding my talisman, Tim's collar, that I'm always carrying.



Christopher Jones said:


> Excellent. I have to say I didnt recognise Jao without his normal orange overalls


The last 2 yrs it's the black overall, combined with yellow and the jacket with our logo 



Jake Brandyberry said:


> Great work. Anyway I could ask you for the break down of when he lost points? Just curious how things are scored. Congrats on the Vice Champ.


In the obedience he lost 3pts:

2pts with the positions (when you listen to the video then you hear that Joâo had to command twice for the first position. The 1st time you hardly hear it with all the noises and I guess the dog didn't either. Then Joâo talks louder and it's ok)

1pt with the retrieve. He got caught in the object with his front paw when he arrived and put the object down before giving it to Joâo)

Jumps were maximum score

Bitework:

5 meters for the stopped attack = 5 pts
18/20 for the civil object guard (they took 2pts from the 2nd attempt for the force of the blow)
37/40 for the defense (they took 3pts from the grip)
32/35 for the 1st attack (they took 3pts from the grip)
31/35 for the second attack (4 pts on the grip)
He lost 2pts on the out of the first attempt of the escort. You hear the bell and then the dog outs just before Joâo whistles. A bit Joâo's fault because he waited too long after the bell and the dog knows he has to out, but then again he should wait for the whistle.
2pts on "overall presentation". This is quoted based on the total of yr achieved points and for a score between 371-380 2pts are deducted.


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

Congratulations...thanks for sharing the vid


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## Candy Eggert (Oct 28, 2008)

Fantabulous Martine  And considering everything that Fun had to pull through this is a especially sweet victory!! I'm so glad that you were observant, insistant and pushed the point to your vets :smile:


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## Tommy O'Hanlon (Feb 21, 2008)

My God Martine you guys have been to hell and back, recovery from Lymes to this standard is spectacular to say the least, well done on having the strength of your convictions that the dog was not right and getting someone to listen to you, i get a bit cross when people ignore their instincts when they are told by the vet/doctor nothing is wrong](*,) and do nothing more, i loved Fun's stopped attack one of the most spectacular things in dog sport in my opinion, smashing job all round
Tommy


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## andreas broqvist (Jun 2, 2009)

Nice jobb. He looks realy nice.
Just a question about the muzzle work. Is the decoy alowd to protect himself like that with the arm? He kind of takes al the power away from the dog?

And i think I her somone cal him Chiken


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## Martine Loots (Dec 28, 2009)

andreas broqvist said:


> Nice jobb. He looks realy nice.
> Just a question about the muzzle work. *Is the decoy alowd to protect himself like that with the arm*? He kind of takes al the power away from the dog?
> 
> And i think I her somone cal him Chiken


That's the way it always is done. He's wearing special protection. 
The dogs wear a muzzle with a steel punching bar, so if the decoys wouldn't do it, they'd have to be taken to hospital every trial ;-)


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## andreas broqvist (Jun 2, 2009)

Ahh ok. I thaugt they wher wering a west and the dog hit the center of the man. Now im educated  That awsers aloot. Thanks.

Again nice going.

Do you have a picture of the muzzels you use?


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## Martine Loots (Dec 28, 2009)

andreas broqvist said:


> Do you have a picture of the muzzels you use?


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## James Degale (Jan 9, 2009)

That dog has got really strong character to come back like this! Congratulations, it was a joy to watch.


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## andreas broqvist (Jun 2, 2009)

Thank you Martine. looks nice.


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## Dave Martin (Aug 11, 2010)

Huge congrats, Martine; that was just awesome. Very very talented dog you have there and to think of what you both overcame.. inspiring to say the least


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## Christopher Jones (Feb 17, 2009)

Hey Martine,
I have a question if thats okay?
I see with Fun that he is more of an arm dog, while A'tim for instance was more of a leg dog. What dictates with you guys if the dog is going to be an arm or leg dog? I understand he will bite either, but chooses the arm first.
Do you have a preference for either, or do you find that some dogs naturally are better on either an arm or leg? Or do you just like to change it around every now and then?
Thanks


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## Harry Keely (Aug 26, 2009)

Congrats Martine, and cool video to watch, I enjoyed watching it and thanks for posting it, once again congrats


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## Shane Woodlief (Sep 9, 2009)

Nice work! Martine what line of malinois is your dog out of?


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## Martine Loots (Dec 28, 2009)

Christopher Jones said:


> Hey Martine,
> I have a question if thats okay?
> *I see with Fun that he is more of an arm dog, while A'tim for instance was more of a leg dog*. What dictates with you guys if the dog is going to be an arm or leg dog? I understand he will bite either, but chooses the arm first.
> Do you have a preference for either, or do you find that some dogs naturally are better on either an arm or leg? Or do you just like to change it around every now and then?
> Thanks


Our bloodline genetically is more talented on the leg. All our dogs are natural leg biters and so was Fun.
But leg biters are becoming rare in the BR program hence also the decoys with experience to catch them.
This means the injury risk is much higher on the leg.
Fun was basically trained on the leg like all our dogs, but with his speed it was dangerous and when he hurt his neck twice in a very short period, we decided to transfer him to the arm.
This was very difficult because he clearly prefers the leg and there still is work to do to get the perfect entry.

Here you see him at 11 months of age, working on the leg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGueOOlp-pM


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## Martine Loots (Dec 28, 2009)

Shane Woodlief said:


> Nice work! Martine what line of malinois is your dog out of?


Fun is an A'Tim son. His mother is Boscaille lines.


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## Christopher Jones (Feb 17, 2009)

Martine Loots said:


> Our bloodline genetically is more talented on the leg. All our dogs are natural leg biters and so was Fun.
> But leg biters are becoming rare in the BR program hence also the decoys with experience to catch them.
> This means the injury risk is much higher on the leg.
> Fun was basically trained on the leg like all our dogs, but with his speed it was dangerous and when he hurt his neck twice in a very short period, we decided to transfer him to the arm.
> ...


Thanks for that. Why is it you think that more people are targeting their dogs on the arm? From the videos I have of older trials there was deff more dogs going into the legs. I would be interested to know why people have moved away from that.


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## Tommy O'Hanlon (Feb 21, 2008)

Neck and spine injuries with us, we find our decoys are more skilled with the arm and it is possible the dogs have got faster or we are training better and the speed contributes to the injuries
Tommy


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## Martine Loots (Dec 28, 2009)

Christopher Jones said:


> Thanks for that. Why is it you think that more people are targeting their dogs on the arm? From the videos I have of older trials there was deff more dogs going into the legs. I would be interested to know why people have moved away from that.


For a decoy it's much more difficult to catch a dog properly on the leg then on the arm. Also the fear for injuries makes people choose for the arm.

Did that with Fils too. He was fully trained on the leg but then transferred to the arm because of injury.
He competed his whole career as an arm biter but still I prefer a lot more to see him bite on the leg.

Look at the pics below to see why we decided the transfer to the arm. The way his whole body behaves on the entry of the leg bite...you hardly can tell where head or tail is and this was on a decoy who does very good catches... Can you imagine the blow his neck and back get at this speed?


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

that looks pretty dangerous to me for the dog for sure..


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## Martine Loots (Dec 28, 2009)

You can see very well how the decoy is trying to prevent damage by going backwards while catching the dog: look where he is standing just before the entry (almost next to Joâo) and when he catches the dog. Also he isn't putting any body weight on his leg.


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

Martine Loots said:


> You can see very well how the decoy is trying to prevent damage by going backwards while catching the dog: look where he is standing just before the entry (almost next to Joâo) and when he catches the dog. Also he isn't putting any body weight on his leg.


oh yeah I saw it...
not blaming the guy....things happen even if you are very skilled, and know the dogs well...and that dog looked real fast coming in.....


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## Zakia Days (Mar 13, 2009)

Hello Martine. Congrats on the trial success. You guys put A LOT of hard work into your dogs and training and it shows. Keep up the great work. Can't wait to see you and Hit trialling!


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## Christopher Jones (Feb 17, 2009)

Thanks for that info Martine, it does make sense.


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## Timothy Saunders (Mar 12, 2009)

Sorry Martine give my congrats to Joao . Very happy for the three of you and the club. I love how Fun calms down and focuses on the object guard. I know Joao likes a chance to win and I can see he will have that for a long time with that dog


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## Martine Loots (Dec 28, 2009)

Timothy Saunders said:


> Sorry Martine give my congrats to Joao . Very happy for the three of you and the club. I love how Fun calms down and focuses on the object guard. I know Joao likes a chance to win and I can see he will have that for a long time with that dog



Why the "sorry"? :lol:
Of course I would have preferred Fun to win, but now one of our best friends and training partners did and this feels good too.
Both dogs are very good, but our friend's dog is a natural arm biter and has an advantage on the grip so we knew that in case both dogs did a perfect job, he would win. 
Both dogs did and he won with the better scores on the grip.

The end result was fair and we all were happy with it


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## Martine Loots (Dec 28, 2009)

Video of the winning dog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCSKVs3UaXA&feature=player_embedded#!


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## Timothy Saunders (Mar 12, 2009)

Martine Loots said:


> Why the "sorry"? :lol:
> Of course I would have preferred Fun to win, but now one of our best friends and training partners did and this feels good too.
> Both dogs are very good, but our friend's dog is a natural arm biter and has an advantage on the grip so we knew that in case both dogs did a perfect job, he would win.
> Both dogs did and he won with the better scores on the grip.
> ...


hey Martine I didn't explain my sorry very well. The sorry wasn't for the 2nd place finish ( I think that was great). I was saying sorry because I was teasing that I wasn't congratulating you . I was saying congrats to Joao. ( everyone on the board gave you congrats). I was just showing Joao some love (an American saying).


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