B.A.S.E. (Berger Agility Sommer Event) is a very special annual competition for Pyrsheps, or more accurately, annual Pyrshep friends and family meeting. This year it took place in Austria and was very special for me for several reasons.
Some months ago I planned it would be Maupka's first competition and also Brego's last (that was in winter when I didn't even know if he would be able to compete again, as he was nearing 10 yo, is 44 cm at the withers and has started his agility career jumping first 65, then 60 cm. He is also prone to injuries, because he simply doesn't care and when he runs, he runs. If there is obstacle in his path, so much worse for the obstacle... he actually headbutted me unconscious once during walk when I crouched to tie my shoe. So at that stage I was just HOPING that he would be able to compete one more time on this very special event. Well, he not only went back to competing but actually qualified for AWC, so now I hope for a couple of more months at least 🤞 ).
Anyway, I was sooooo looking forward to this and then just before the competition everything started to go wrong: money was tight, Reksio limped, Brego got some problem with the tail and when on top of that Zelda started coughing on Tuesday, we though we couldn't go, as we were afraid she has kennel cough. But I rushed her to the vets - no inflammation, the lymph glands were normal, no fever, no secretion... so it was probably some irritation after eating something scratchy (she tears the burs from her fur sometimes and it has happened before) and indeed, she stopped coughing right after this vet visit ;), in the end we decided to go and I'm really happy about it.
The competition itself was fantastic - the best welcome back (I really love the idea of getting some regional gift, like last year it was Belgian chocolate and this year Austrian white wine), super organisation, great judges (Lisa Frick and Wolfgang Tieber), air conditioned hall (and thanks for that, as it was 30 degrees C outside) with a nice bar with snacks and drinks (Austrian white wine spritzer rocks!), some decent options to walk the dogs (although I ended up walking them at night, it was so hot during the day). The only downside was the obstacles - like I said so many times before I hate metal jumps with all my heart and I think they should be forbidden and rust in hell.
Well, anyway, Maupka's debut was awesome - it was not the easiest environment as the hall was quite crowded and the music was loud (ok, as someone who can be a bit oversensitive to certain sensory stimuli I mostly hated this as well, especially the sound that announced the end of coursewalkings and whatever happened after elimination, especially for some more sensitive dogs that was not the most considerate thing to do honestly) and she just totally ROCKED, was focused, happy, getting faster with every run and even got on a podium a couple of times. Suprisingly, she jumped ALL the A-frames and I have no idea why as she never did that in training and she also jumped most of the dogwalks (some of it was my fault as I was getting insecure and perhaps didn't cue what's next clearly enough), anyway, some more training is needed before we compete again, but see-saws were great (and actually lots of dogs struggled with that one), her searching for obstacles was also great, she did the weaves that she could do (some were a bit too difficult for a debutante ;)). She's an awesome little doggy and I'm just enjoying her so much 💚.
Brego was also absolutely freaking awesome, he is really one in a million dog with a heart of a lion <3 He had some great runs, including win in A3 and then had a super nasty crash on this horrible metal jump and came out on three legs... I was absolutely mortified as it was the leg in which he injured the knee before and I could just see all my dreams tumbling down for a moment and hated myself for even trying to run that run as he was already qualified to the final by then (but then on the other hand it was a cool course by Lisa and if you asked Brego, he is always up to rather running than not running). Fortunately as I had him checked first by Miriam and then next day by Laura (thank you both!) he was totally fine, apart from a little bruise and was allowed to run the final, although I pulled him out of the other run. In the final mommy was an idiot in a hurry (well, because obviously I'm not experienced in competing at all) who didn't notice jumps weren't lowered after the large dog, so poor little Brego jumped 55 cm instead of 50... but he didn't care and had a great clean run. I was offered a re-run, but since so many other great dogs ran clean I knew we couldn't beat their times anyway, so I decided not to. Little cherry on the top was that Brego's sister Babou has won the final <3 and Zelda came 3rd <3
Pucuś was Pucuś ;). I honestly love this dog to bits, but he is totally unpredictable and either a genius or an idiot and there's no rhyme or reason why or when ;). Fortunately he is always enjoying himself a lot and giving his all and also, he's absolutely prettiest Pyrshep on the planet, so whatever :D.
Mojo got to run a relay run on Sunday with super cool papillon from Mikulas Kocvara and out team got on the podium on 2nd place :D. Little aliens in a Pyrshep's world did great :D.
As usual the best part of BASE was meeting all the friends again! To many to list them all - but it's amazing to see all the Pyrsheps lovers from all over the world and share our passion and enjoy some time together!
Some family pictures below :).
Brego can succesfully clone himself. (I actually saw a great photo of Brego's running contact and was like "yes, finally the photo I've been dreaming of" only to realise a moment later that it was not Brego but Shenzi on the photo).
Not the best picture, but someone didn't want to sit stay anymore ;).
The face rase gang or two black Pyrsheps and a golden retriever, who can at least hold a sit stay ;).
Thank you Simone, Stefan, Sabrina and all the organising crew for this fantastic time!
