Pacific Northwest Briard Club Dinner

WHAT
An early dinner and informal meeting of the Pacific Northwest Briard Club

WHEN
Sunday, January 17 from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm - following the herding group judging

WHERE
Charlies Restaurant is located at 113 E Main Puyallup, WA. Phone: 253-845-0588

For more information contact Gabrielle

PNWBC has 1st AKC OTCH Briard!

PNWBC Board member Laurie Beck and Page DID IT! Breed history is made in Ridgefield Washington!

Thursday, December 4, they got the last points needed to earn the first AKC OTCH for a Briard - Page, OTCH CH Briardale's One For the Books de Lebec UDX2 (etc), bred by Jeanne Lorang, owned by Laurie and Justin Beck, completely trained by Laurie Beck. Page had earned the UKC Obedience Champion title (not sure if she is the first in that) a couple months ago, but Laurie wouldn't let Jeanne do any bragging until she got the AKC OTCH. She also is the only Briard with a UDX2. Page is 10 next week. Briards now have herding champions, agility champions, and an obedience champion.

Jeanne reports "this has been such a long journey for them both. Laurie made some mistakes early on, Page took advantage of them as only a dominant, smart Briard can, and she came very close to being euthanized for biting. But Laurie fought for them both to get better and learn, and they became a team. There were stretches where the points were just not coming, Laurie was hurting, Page was distracted, etc. Then this summer, Laurie called me in tears sure that Page's career was over, as she could no longer do jumps due to pain. It turned out an infection after dentistry had spread to Page's bones, and it took massive doses of antibiotic over a long period to get her healthy again. And they started picking up those last points, and today she reached 104, with a first place to boot! It's hard to understand how much work Laurie and Page put into this, unless you've followed the whole journey, and Laurie never would let me brag about what she was doing."

Last year Jeanne commissioned Carol Wolfram to make one of her beautiful glass pieces that said "First Briard OTCH", and Carol and friends have been carting it from show to show, waiting for the day. Today Carol was there to watch and give Laurie the plate. "I am so happy for Laurie, and so proud of Sassy's daughter. She'll probably be pissed I bragged before AKC confirmation of the title, but I don't care! No way I could wait! I just wish I could have been there to watch" said Jeanne.

According to Mary Weir a much more dramatic tale is in order......

Carol Wolfram said "the judge had 4 Q's out of the class all present in the ring. Laurie's obedience friends had figured she needed to get 1st or 2nd to finish. The judge announced the 4th place....... doggie walked up got ribbon. The judge announced 3rd place....doggie got ribbon. Drum roll!!!!!!!!!!! judge announced 2nd place... doggie walked up and Laurie had tears in her eyes as she knew she had gotten the title. THEN judge announced 1st and PAGE and LAURIE won!!! The crowd went nuts and the judge hadn't a clue what was going on."

"....and actually before that, the judge asked what legs people were working on. One team just got their 19th UDX leg (towards a UDX2), another their first X leg and a third their 7th leg. She then turned to me and asked what we were there for. I replied, 'oh, we're just here.' She didn't know what to say and everyone laughed" reports Laurie.

What a wonderful way to do it, with friends cheering you on. The judge marveled that Page was the first Briard ever for an OTCH. And Laurie is worried that she didn't comb her hair for the picture. Congrats to the team on a once in a lifetime win!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In retrospect, Laurie writes: "Page has been feeling so good lately that I didn't have a chance to get nervous before we showed. We were the last exhibitors in utility. We went into the ring, she worked with attitude and before I knew it, we were done. Going back into the ring for ribbons I got so nervous, I thought my knees might give out. "

"The commemorative plate that Jeannie had Carol Wolfram make is stunning. Now I understand why for the last few months Carol and friends were always asking how many points Page had. I didn't have a clue!" said Laurie.

"I've been so lucky to have had Jeanne to lean on whenever the chips were down, my trainer, Lori Drouin to call on when something broke (and believe me, when you're trialing for as long as we were, everything broke more than once), a friendly face outside the ring, Carol, to support us, and all of you to recognize our efforts" remarked Laurie.

PNWBC Honors Passing of Two Members

In an on-line vote, the Pacific Northwest Briard Club decided to honor the passing of two members. A donation has been made to the Briard Medical Trust in the names of Briarders Michelle Clevenger and Ray Ronell.

PNWBC Supports 2008 BCA National

The votes are all in! In a unanimous on-line decision, the Pacific NW Briard Club Board voted to send a check to BCA in the amount of $75 to be applied to trophy donations where needed for obedience, herding, agility or rally. For more information about the 2008 National in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky September 19 - 28, 2008 go to the BCA website.

Annual Membership Meeting

The Pacific Northwest Briard Club held its annual membership meeting, followed by a brief board meeting on Saturday January 12, 2008, 6:00 p.m. at Charlie's 113 E Main, Puyallup WA.

The election of officers was the first order of business. The following was the proposed slate.

Laurie Beck has had briards since 1991. Her focus is performance events - obedience, agility and tracking - although with the exception of her first two briards, they've all been finished. When she's not training, she does freelance writing and most recently, she's started quilting. Laurie is also an obedience judge, all classes, for the United Kennel Club. She's currently a member of the BCA and the AKC.

Gabrielle LaRoche has loved dogs all her life - Dachshunds, mixed breeds, a GSD, Dobermans, a GSP and last but not least, Briards - Bones (1995-2004) and Houlette (1997-2006). She enjoys conformation, obedience, herding and agility. She lives in Port Townsend WA with her husband Thom, Kittitas the cat, and Nash the Briard. Gabrielle was a founding board member of the Pacific NW Briard Club and served one term each as member-at-large and treasurer.

Patricia Simonet has been personally inspired by Briards since 1995. Her first Briard, Thomas Jefferson, taught her many life lessons during his short life, as have the following tribe of Briards; Trixie (1995-2007) a rescued girl was a patient herder who successfully herded cats, Foster (2000) also rescued overcame his fear of dogs, and Goodall (1999), who inspired the laughing dog research. Patricia participates in Rally-O with both her boys.

Sonia Thompson Briards have been a part of Sonia 's life since 1998, when she met several in France. A huge Briard who resembled Gabrielle's Bones, was in charge of a Bistro; she was hooked immediately. She searched for Briards and found Chancee, a rescue. He is a lovely boy, almost 10 now. She and her husband Bruce Barnbaum have had other dogs, over the past 30 yrs: Irish setter, Afghan, Briard-mix, 2 German Shepherds, Aust. Shepherd, Otterhound, Kelpie -- all rescues. Now there is Andre, 2 yrs. old, full of energy. He earned his Novice Rally Title in July 2007 and is working on Open. He has great fun living with 4 other dogs and 2 cats.

Tracy Thorleifson lives in Lake Forest Park, a suburb of Seattle with two Briards, Sammy (9) and Ellie (7). Tracy and Ellie play at Obedience and Rally. Sammy persists in the belief that he was meant to be a lap dog. Tracy previously served on the BCA Board of Directors for 5 years and has also served on the Board of the Pacifc NW Briard Club.

Kath Williams lives on the N. Oregon Coast with two 5-year old Briards, Rainy & Windy. Both "The Girls" do some obedience and rally; Rainy sometimes ventures into the breed ring. Kath has had Briards since about 1982 when Annie, a re-home, came to live with her. Annie was followed by Ginger, a rescue, then a few years later Rosebudd, the first puppy. Kath was one of the original Pacific NW Briard Club members and served on the Board since its beginning.

In a unanimous vote the members voted to increase the board size and seat the proposed slate with the addition of Carol Wolfram and Mark Strever.

Other suggested changes to the by-laws will be drafted by Tracy Thorleifson.