# Pimg goes to Superdogs!!



## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

At the Indiana State Fair this weekend, I went to the Superdogs show. They said that they had sent out some info requesting local dogs to participate, but got a poor turn out. After the (very fun) show, I spoke with the person in charge and asked if I could still get Pimg in there. She said to send pics and video showing her skills and she would let me know.

The show is heavily agility based. There are also agility sprint races (racing kids from the audience), frisbee catch competition, and high jump (up to 6'). Pimg doesn't play with frisbees, but I'm hoping she will do quite well in the other areas.

I got a callback today, and have been invited to bring her in! I'm so pumped! She has to "apprentice" for three days which really just means that I have to help out during the shows with setup/teardown, and Pimg gets to practice in between shows. If she shows promise, she may be able to participate in the show itself.

For those who have never seen a Superdogs show- it really is pretty exciting! Here's a really good video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fU619lWgCo

There's lots of lights, CRAZY crowd noise, and loud, loud music. It's really unlike any dog sport experience I've ever seen. I'm excited to see how Pimg does!


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## starburst (Jun 9, 2012)

congrats , keep us posted : )


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Have fun and you better take pictures/video!


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

Go Pimg!


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

MaggieRoseLee said:


> Have fun and you better take pictures/video!


It will be really hard to get pics/video since I don't have a better half to take the video for me. Also, because I won't know very far in advance if we'll be in the show or not, it will be total chance for me to find someone to film. Of course I will do my best! I'd like video just for myself, you know! I mean- this is a national act!!


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

She'll knock 'em dead!


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## Good_Karma (Jun 28, 2009)

Wow, how exciting!!! Good luck!


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## ponyfarm (Apr 11, 2010)

Way to go Pimg..be sure to let us know when she performs!


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## ksotto333 (Aug 3, 2011)

That is so neat...congratulations...


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

sooo exciting!!! Just take your video cam with you and maybe you can get someone there to do it for you, would LOVE to see it!


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Very cool!! Go Pimg!


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## ozzymama (Jan 17, 2005)

wildo said:


> I mean- this is a national act!!



Technically they are an international act. I've seen them at the CNE, it's an amazing show. Congratulations.
We didn't get them for our fair this year - not sure why, not my committee, but they are a huge draw wherever they go, not to mention all the good they do when they visit different Relay for Life sites and other charitable organizations drawing more people in and helping bolster donations.
What an amazing group to be affiliated with, hopefully it turns into even more for you and Pimg.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Yep ozzymama, quite right. I did know that they tour in Canada as well (and maybe are actually from Canada?). Not sure why I wrote national act. Woohoo- international act! haha!

And I have to admit, I was shocked and happy to hear them tell everyone about the atrocities of the corporate Humane Society of America. What a stand! I'm really pumped to hook up with these people. We start Thursday, and will likely stay involved through the weekend.


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## kbella999 (Jan 6, 2012)

That is awesome. Congratulations!


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## Anastasia (Oct 7, 2011)

Very cool, have fun and let us know how it goes.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Thanks so much everyone! 

I'm back from Day 1 and I have to say- it kinda sucked. I worked as setup/teardown crew for the first show. The show still made me smile big time, even though it was more/less the same as the show I had seen last weekend. The dogs really are really incredible. There's so much drive and focus there, even when the crowd gets crazy and the music gets loud. Really neat stuff...

But then- after the first show, it started raining. And it didn't really stop raining for the rest of the day. So show #2 and 3 were cancelled. I did get to do a little bit of practicing though. We ran what they call "relay" which is essentially a flyball course with a tunnel at one end to turn the dog around for the return run. Pimg was pretty fast at that, and I am really pleased that she was bounce jumping the whole way. Also, I wasn't sure if she would "get" the jumps since they look nothing like agility jumps. But she showed great value for them and went right at it.

We also got to practice some weave poles. One big part of their show is a LONG line of 24 weave poles. Right now, Pimg is only used to six poles, and in fact I've been revisiting her weave pole training right now. Currently, we've only been working on four poles, so asking for 24 poles was beyond a stretch. She gave it her best though! She wasn't overly fast, but she had very nice form. Single stepping each and her head was quite low. Her best run was 22 poles-- not bad at all!

The shows today (at least the one that happened) didn't have the full agility course- they call it "knockout" where two dogs are racing against each other through mirror image courses. Given how Pimg took to the jumps and tunnel for relay, I think she's going to do quite well in that.

And finally, we also didn't get to practice the high jump. I'm really excited about this because I think she has the potential to be decent enough that the crowd will enjoy a "hometown" dog doing it. There is an Ibizan there who apparently holds the world record at 74" so there's no way we even stand a chance at winning. That's fine. I just think it will be fun. I'd like to see Pimg get up to about 4' of clearance. I think that would be quite good for a big, heavy, middle aged dog. I did setup the high jump equipment so that I will have the opportunity to practice it first thing tomorrow morning.

______
Ok- so all that said, I just have to say that I am continually amazed by high drive dogs. It's really interesting to me because in my head, I think Pimg has pretty decent drive. Really, I do. I feel like I've brought out a lot of drive in her, and I'm beyond proud of it. But honestly, events like this can't help but magnify the difference between a dog bred to be a "pet" and a dog bred for drive (that happens to also be a pet).

I'm really interested to see if we even will get a spot in the show. The show producer guy asked me to show off some obedience with Pimg to him. (Uh oh!!!! We don't _do_ formal obedience! I've never actually _trained_ her to heel!) I'm really not sure he was impressed. Heck- I wasn't. Why would I be; it's something I haven't trained. So when he asked me to do a "simple obedience pattern" down and back, I was beyond lost. Hopefully Pimg wins him over with the agility stuff though, because she is faster than a few of the dogs there.

But like I said, take a "pet line" dog and throw it in the ring with a bunch of uber high drive sport dogs, I can't help but see the difference. It really will be interesting to see if Pimg can hang with the others once in the ring with the crowd going crazy, the music blasting, and the pressure of it all. I really don't know... I really don't.


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

That's awesome for you and Pimg. That show must get a lot more interesting at it goes on, because we were there the first day of the fair and it was really disappointing. I drug my poor DH and kiddo to it all the way across the fair from where we were at the time it was going to start and it was a waste of a walk... all they did for over 10 minutes was run dogs in a circle over 3 or 4 fences, and every single dog knocked down at LEAST one rail if not more, and they weren't that high at all.

It must be a long show or something because sitting there for over 10, maybe closer to 15 minutes, watching dogs knock down rails in a circle jump pattern was not very "super doggie."

right at the end (of when we were leaving the show that is), they started to do dog dancing and it was very basic obedience, at best. We left after they started that, it was just terrible.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Perhaps you should audition, Rerun- you might show them all up! :thumbup:

They do have three different shows (maybe more) so maybe the one you saw was just a warmup show or something.


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## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

That looks like a lot of fun and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Pimg.

All I could think about at the beginning of the video, when they were marching out waving the flags about, is that Shasta would be going crazy, thinking she had died and gone to flirt pole heaven!


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

--Removed-- Wrong thread.


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

wildo said:


> Perhaps you should audition, Rerun- you might show them all up! :thumbup:
> 
> They do have three different shows (maybe more) so maybe the one you saw was just a warmup show or something.


haha no, it's not really my thing but what you described sounds much more interesting than what I saw. I was just surprised to read here that they are an international show. I really thought it was a local thing because I guess I just think of "international show" as something more...well trained for lack of better wording. They also used a lot of little dogs - I really expect to see some malinois or more border collies or something of the sort.


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

Personally I think Pimg on an agility course would be more interesting than what I saw!


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Rerun said:


> Personally I think Pimg on an agility course would be more interesting than what I saw!


Well, of course that WOULD be more interesting... :wub:

*Day 2*. Actually a pretty fun day! Pimg still isn't in the show, but we've gotten to practice most of the events that we could potentially take part in. Today she practiced the high jump (puissance) and more of the relay. She continues to be decently fast at the relay (this is basically a flyball course with a tunnel in place of the box turn) and did ok at the high jump.

The high jump is interesting because I really wasn't sure how she'd do. For one, she's a very flat jumper in general, and for two- she's never shown any real interest in jumping over really high things. I worked up from one bar and was able to get her to a best of six bars, or about 40". I was hoping she would clear 48" (just because it's a nice round number at 4') but she couldn't consistently do the 40" jump. I didn't pursue anything over six bars at that point.

The cast members are all quite nice and are giving me training suggestions. Some of the suggestions confuse me, but a lot of them are good suggestions. A confusing thing is that they wanted me to blind cross out of the tunnel on the relay because it gets me further ahead than if I did a blind cross. But in practicing both, we found that Pimg ran consistently regardless of my cross. Even so they kept pushing for a blind cross. Weird. But it's pretty minor detail. 

Another exciting part of today is that I made sure to bring Pimg out immediately after each show so that she could be part of the "meet & greet" with the audience. It amazes me that even though she clearly wasn't in the show, people would swarm around her as soon as I brought her out. It's like socialization on steroids! Lots of little kids just loved giving her treats and tons of adults would tell me about their 31" tall shepherds...  But seriously, it was great socialization for her.

I'm hoping we get put into the show tomorrow. At least in relay and the barrel chase (pretty much just like horse barrels). She seems to be doing well enough in both of those. It would be neat to do the weave poles, but that's really asking a lot of her. It would also be cool to be part of the high jump, but for such a big dog to only jump six poles (the "good" jumpers are around 8-11 poles) might not be exciting enough for the audience for her to take part. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.


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## ponyfarm (Apr 11, 2010)

Pimg leads the most interesting life. Have fun tomorrow!


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## Jag (Jul 27, 2012)

I'll have to look up where the fair is. We didn't go to the camper this weekend (which is by Indy), but we probably could go over there... I hadn't heard of this before. I hope your dog makes it into the show!


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Pimg and I made it into the Superdogs show! We start in eight minutes!


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## wolfstraum (May 2, 2003)

Cool!!!!!!!! Sounds like fun!!!!!!!!!!! Hope she wows them!!!!!!!!

lee


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## Jag (Jul 27, 2012)

How did it go?? Very glad to see you made it in!


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

*Day 3* 

Very fun day today. Pimg was in the show for the 12pm and 2:30pm show. She didn't make it into the 5pm show, which I was bummed about. She did the relay (flyball like event) in both shows and a barrel run in the first show. I think that I got video of the barrel run, and one run of the relay. It's really hard to get video because all of the crew are working on setting the stage, and all of the cast are in the show. So there isn't really anyone who can take video for me. But she did quite well! 

For the barrels, she ran around all the barrels without missing any. Unfortunately, I ran with her tug in my hand for some reason so instead of a long send back to the table, she kind of ran in a heel position trying to get the tug! haha!

In the first show for the relay, she had three total runs. In the first and third, she ran fine and completed all jump (though she was a little slow). In the second run I was trying to speed her up so I got WAY out in front of her coming out of the tunnel (jumps down, tunnel 180, jumps back) and she pulled off after the first jump on the return trip. Still, not bad at all for her first showing. In the second show, she did not miss any jumps. In fact, there was a very slow chow mix right in front of us who would practically come to a stop on the fourth jump of the return trip-- right in Pimg's way. It would pull Pimg off her line every time. I'm lucky that I was able to put pressure on her line to get her back over the jump without missing. Most of the cast came up afterwards and told me it was really impressive that I was able to do that. And I have to agree (*pats himself on shoulder*) it was neat to be able to push her back onto the right line!

Finally- after all the shows Pimg got up on the table and had TONS and TONS of kids flocking around her trying to pet her. I mean- it's seriously overwhelming. I took video at the end of show #3 today, and it's 8 minutes of endless kids reaching for a pet. I'm so proud of Pimg for handling it like a champ! She even gave a few kids kisses...

Just got back from a pizza party with the cast/crew. Overall, a very fun day. I'm looking forward to tomorrow!

Here's Pimg chilling right before the show started


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

I delayed updating yesterday for our fourth and last day because I wanted to edit the small amount of video I managed to get. It's not really great video, but at least it's something... Unfortunately, the only video I got from Sunday was the knockout (a small agility-like course) and Pimg didn't do all that well in it. She missed the last line, and she really didn't get the round tables. She's used to square agility tables. But it was still fun- and the dog she was running against also missed a large part of the course (which is why she bet me by so much).

Anyway, I wish I could have gotten video of the relay because Pimg REALLY got amped up by the crowd and only got faster. She ran three runs in all three last shows, and ran them perfectly. I wish so bad you could have seen her hollering and barking as she was being held by the holder. I've never seen her so amped up. Maybe we _should_ give flyball a shot...

The show really was awesome, and I really did have a great time. As usual, Pimg continued to prove that she's an exceptional dog-- at least in my book. I'm extremely proud of her! :wub:

[EDIT]- I forgot to mention the meet & greet at the end of the show! I just had to get video of it because I was so proud of Pimg in how she handled the endless amount of little hands all over her!!!!! I included just a bit of it at the end of the video. After each show, there was at least eight mins of this! Talk about the need for socialization! Pimg did fantastic. Look at her ears; look at her eyes. She holds them tall and bright! I love this dog...

Enjoy the video!


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## ponyfarm (Apr 11, 2010)

Thats great! Loved it!!


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