Agility in Hawaii...Our Amazing Experience

As you probably know, Dan is here to judge agility in Hawaii. He's definitely dressed for the part and is looking very...well, Hawaiian!

The club has been absolutely amazing. They greeted us at the airport with traditional Lei's, drove us to our hotel which has beautiful views of Diamond Head and of Waikiki Beach (just 2 minutes away), served steak for lunch, had 15+ workers setting up & doing course changes and everyone is so welcoming and nice!

I spent Saturday making good use of my camera and took over 1,200 pictures of the dogs. When you take into account that there were probably only 30 dogs entered, that's a lot of pictures! I'm in the process of uploading all of the shots and will make the pictures available for a flat per dog rate of $30, with all of the funds going directly to the Puget Sound Dalmatian rescue group. Enjoy a few sample photos I've included in this blog and stay tuned for the picture link and the Paypal link for the rescue organization.

Back to the dogs...I was very impressed. The handlers had wonderful skills and the dogs were well trained. There was a variety of dog breeds and the club is excited to be able to open up their trial to Mixed Breeds in just a few weeks. In preparation for that day, Dan and I measured quite a few dogs who have their Companion Partner Certificate from the AKC and will soon be competing!

For small clubs like the one here in Hawaii, opening up and including mixed breeds is an absolutely WONDERFUL thing. Now everyone can participate, which is great because trials are limited and it is expensive for handlers to travel from island to island. When I return in November, I'll be judging a larger group since mixed breeds will be joining us!

I'm so overwhelmed by how friendly and welcoming everyone in the club has been. I don't feel like I've done them justice in my blog, but suffice to say that I am so looking forward to coming back. This is an amazing group of talented and warm people. I feel very blessed to have been able to come and spend the day with them. I Dan was equally as impressed with the group as well.

Thank you for having us!!!