USMRA 2010 News
USMRA Celebrates Ten Years of Trials
Congratulations to each and
every person and dog who have
helped build Mondioring in the
United States.
The dedication and perseverence of Mondioring enthusiats has
helped to make more trials than
ever before. The almost 30 trial
days on the books for 2010, seem
to dwarf the 5 days of trials in 2000.
By 2008, there were only 8
Mondioring 3’s trained and titled in
the USA. The combined years 2009
& 2010 alone look to double that
number.
The level 2’s also seem to be
multiplying at an amazing level,
AND we are close to the day when
USA reaches the TRIPLE DIGITS for
our titled Mondioring 1’s!!!!
While the majority of the USA
titled dogs have been malinois, we
are seeing many other wonderful
dogs including German Shepherds,
Dutch Shepherds, Bulldogs, and
“other” Belgian Shepherds besides
Congratulations and THANK YOU
to all the participants and supporters of this year’s “Military” Themed
Nationals hosted by Atlas K-9
and OJ in Oxnard, CA!!! It was an
education, a pleasure and an honor
to stand next to each and every
one of the people and dogs who
stepped on the field to play and
support this most excellent sport.
Judge Jos Helsen ( a favorite judge
among many USA folks:) prepared
a challenging and entertaining
championship with lessons to be
learned from and remembered.
The exercises had a quick flow
which allowed him to judge, I
believe 22 Level 1 dogs in under 8
hours.
MR 1 highlights included a lamb
loaf food refusal enjoyed by about
half the dogs, absence in a sand
bag bunker, a rain boot retrieve
which lured more than one dog to
retrieve at other times like during
the send out :o), a simple and long
heeling pattern, send out, positions, handler’s choice of jump and
protection work which included
a DOH that required the handler
and decoy to carry an injured fake
soldier on a stretcher. Mondioring
inspiration, Terill Isbell and his dog
“Rocket” stood on the top of the
Level 1 program that had only 5
qualifying scores.
With 5 competitors, yet no qualifying scores, Level 2 exercises were
ordered the same as level one,
with the addition of the little wood
exercise which was before the
retrieve of a set of chock (?) blocks.
The mandatory hurdle was complimented by handler’s choice of
palisade or long jump. Protection
had a more difficult DOH that built
upon the level 1 scenario and added a search with the decoy in the
“mess tent” a camouflage wrapped
topless trailer, and a plastic ball
strand accessory. Uber-dedicated,
independent Sandrine Clark and
Thor Loups du Soleil are now our
2010 MR2 Champions.
The MR 3 game had 5 players with
2 qualifying scores. Retrieve item
was a pair of boots roped together
and of course all jumps were re-
malinois.
2010 marked the 4th Annual
USMRA National Championship
hosted in Oxnard, CA. Additionally
we now have several new decoys
bringing the total to 17!
We were fortunate to have a
team of levels 1 ,2, & 3 to represent
us at Mondioring World Championships, held this year in the Netherlands.
Take a bow y’all!!!
2010 Nationals
quired. Object guard was a stuffed
soft travel bag/suitcase, with a
“Super Soaker” used as accessory.
The Defense of Handler built on
the MR 2 DoH and was even MORE
challenging, requiring the handler
“drop and lay on the ground” ,
run with dog, carry and drop the
stretcher AND preform CPR before
the aggression. Judge’s choice of
accessory was a traditional caution
tape pom-pom, and the call off,
unfortunately tempted more than
half the dogs. I am sure that breeder, and USA’s Mondioring Guru
Mike Ellis busted some buttons as
the MR3 podium was dominated
by Loups du Soleil dogs. Third time
USA champion Donna Matey and
Jackson led the pack, followed by
Lisa Geller and Mangouste LDS,
Mike Ellis & Pi LDS, Steve Garvin
and Bogan, and Jeff Oehlson and
Buko LDS.
Decoys Tim Bartlett, Dennis Bilik,
and Jeremy Norton provided some
challenging moves for the dogs as
well as entertaining moments with
their clownish antics in the DOH.
USMRA has grown enormously over
the last year with a 40% increase in
membership and about a 50% increase
in trials. More clubs are starting on the
East Coast which means more people
exposed to the sport and to trials. We
look forward to continued growth in
clubs, trials and membership.
Almost all the new programs are up
and running:
The MR3 club has been approved and
is accepting applicants;
A Sportsmanship Award, which has
been approved and will be announced
at the 2011 National Championship;
The judges’ Mini-College was held
at the 2010 Championship with Jos
Helsen giving the judges and apprentices great advice and suggestions.
We also have 4 new apprentice judges
almost ready to become fully certified;
Certifications for trial decoys were held
from coast to coast and we expect
more to move up a level next year;
The DVDs are selling well;
Training grants for decoys were approved in 2009 and the December
board meeting we will be discussing
the possibility of extending those for
another year, plus adding handling
seminars to improve handling and
knowledge of the rules.
We are working on getting a remake
for our website to make it more current and informative. The addition of
a Facebook page is yet another way to
build our community. We would like to
put more video teasers on Youtube for
The election results are in. The following
persons will serve on the USMRA Board of
Directors for a two year term:
Lisa Geller, President
Terrill Isbell, Vice President
Ann Putegnat, Secretary
Kyle Sprague, Treasurer
Kim Galvez, Director
Dennis Bilik, Director
There is one directors position vacant, which
will be filled by the Boardas per bylaws.
Thanks to the previous Board members for
their service to the USMRA!! Welcome to the
new members! -Ann Putegnat, Secretary
the public.
2010 is an election year. We had a
“contest” for president and there was
much interest in “platforms”. Getting
more people wanting to be involved in
the administration of USMRA is a wonderful sign of growth for our organization. I hope we will see people step up
to work on committees, as well, as it is
in committees that the heavy work is
done on developing programs, policies
and procedures. An announcement of
the winners will be mailed out by December 31 according to our bylaws.
The USMRA Board wishes all of you
a wonderful holiday season and a successful new year.
Augusta, USMRA 2010 President
Message from the Editor
It is always challenging and exciting to bring “Mondioring” together. Training, trialing, organizing, and “politics” with such an
ecclectic group of individuals can bring problems, but the possibilities of learning to work together can make us better people
AND better handlers.
Mondioring is a large house to build, so be sure to build a
strong foundation!!! - Sharon Novak USMRA News 2010 Editor
To the members, Thank you for selecting the new Board of Directors, for the next two years. Our team has put fast to work
the business at hand. This recent election although, complicated, showed us what good sense and strong organizational
foundation can offer. When we have an organization run by volunteers, sometimes it can be difficult to keep things in a
strict bureaucratic format. Sometimes things don’t get updated as they should, sometimes people are so busy thinking
about the task, they forget about the outcome. Following the election, it was discovered that some of the By-laws used were
from prior to 2008 and some of the current By-laws were used. There was a lot of strong discussion over how to handle this.
Decisions were made, amended and altered. Although it was unfortunate that things were not done to the current By-Laws,
I cannot see how the outcome would have changed.
Augusta Farley, thank you for all you have contributed shaping the structure of USMRA, through the years maybe
chairing or touching every committee. Thanks also to our departing Board of Directors, Sharon Novak (DVDmaker, Newsletter, International Chair, numerous committee positions), Tim Bartlett (Decoy Chair, National chair, plus over the years I’m
sure more), and Donna Matey (Experience of 3X national champion, numerous committees). Really the entire former board
has so much experience and time in the sport. Thanks for using it to help shape our organization. Thank you for putting
faith in our new Board of Directors. Let us move forward to building the sport that we all love.
Sincerely , Lisa Geller, USMRA 2011 President
Conversations with Jos Helsen
In March 2010, USMRA was honored
with having World Class Competitor Jos
Helsen as our 2010 National Championship Judge. 2009 FMBB World Champion,
WC Level 2 Champion, and WC Level 1
Champion are among the many podiums
Jos and Eboets have stood on. With this
amazing perspective as judge, trainer and
player, Jos shares some of his training
thoughts in an after trial chat written up
by Augusta Farley and Sharon Novak.
Q. What do you think about slow
entries?
A. Possibly the dog was introduced to accessories that were
too difficult too soon in its training. Be sure to teach the dog to go
through, eg, throw them at dog or
back up. Increase difficulty after
Level 1.
Q. Do you teach the dog to bite
high?
A. Jos generally teaches the dog
to bite legs because the helpers
can “push” the dog away (here he
indicated a push with his hands at
shoulder level) with the accessories to protect themselves.
Q. What do you do if the dog is
unsure about biting in defense of
handler in trials?
A. Jos noticed that during training, helpers were agitating and
trying to trap all the dogs (including the young non trial dogs) to
bite before the hit. Jos thinks that
there was too much craziness, and
too close which made the situation unclear for the dog. In their
club they spend months working
on obedience and gradually introduce more and more distractions
before they even go to the biting
phase.
He has a 1 meter rule. During
training there is no crazy work by
the helper within one meter. If the
dog goes for a bite to the helper
within the meter he is allowed to
go with no correction. If the dog
goes away from the handler more
than one meter the handler will
correct back to his side, but not
nag the dog if it deviates less than
that during training. He believes
that the dog will begin to understand much more clearly with
the big corrections that the best
place is at the handler’s side and
that is where the bite opportunity
comes. This way no corrections
are associated with the bite phase
during training.
Once the dog is ready to trial, the
handler can ask for more precision
once the dog really understands
the exercise.
Q. How do you teach the escort?
A. The escort has the same foundation and philosophy as the
DOH except the helper makes the
correction back to his side.
Q. How do you teach the sendaway?
A. Young dog sits and watches
him set out big tug upright
against fence at short distance
about 3 meters. Do this in different places
Then put tug on ground at fence
and go to 20 different places but
still short 3 m distance.
Then go to 6 m and upright tug
and repeat 20 different places,
then tug down on ground.
Gradually increase distance in
many different places always with
the dog believing the tug is where
he is being sent.
Later Jos introduces the more ad-
vanced concept that tug is where
the dog is being sent unless Jos
calls him back and then Jos, the
“boss”, has the tug. He rarely calls
the dog back, maybe 5% of the
time. For Jos the key is practicing
in different places and making go
straight a very strong habit.
Q. How do you train the food
refusal?
A. Jos’s way of training the food
refusal is to start with the dog in a
“sit” position. Instead of throwing
food at first, he starts with a small
rock or bottle cap. The item is
dropped by the dog’s feet, and IF
they move their head towards the
food, they get a leash correction.
When the work is good, then the
dog is worked from the “down”
position, again with a leash correction IF they show interest in
the item. The next step is back
to the “sit” position with real food
and then after success there, from
the “down” position and then
building up to the formal exercise
with the handler gone.
Q. How often do you train?
A Jos trains obedience daily about
60% off his field for 10-15 minutes
and also bikes his dog for exercise.
Jos Helsen and his champion dog Eboets,
pictured above
European Modioring Decoy Adventure by David Bilik
A year after certifying as a decoy and
getting a few trials under my belt I was
eager to improve as a decoy in both
training and trialing. For me it was clear
that nothing could be more valuable
than spending some time in Europe and
looking back, the experience was indispensible. I would encourage any decoy,
trial or training to look for an opportunity to train in Europe. There are a handful of European decoys that come to
the USA on a regular basis to train and
if you are motivated and want to learn
they are generally just as eager to train
decoys as they are to train dogs. For me
it’s been my own club here in Vegas as
well as Lisa Geller and Robert Wademan
who have been most supportive of my
efforts as a decoy and have given me
exposure to that level of training with
European decoys. But there are many
clubs all over the country that bring in
talent from Europe. Every skilled handler in the USA knows the importance a
talented decoy serves in training his or
her own dog. I’ve found that if you are
willing to give back to the mondioring
community as a decoy it’s pretty easy to
find opportunities to train with some of
the best decoys in the world… even in
the USA.
After training with Fernando Dosta
at Lisa Geller’s place on two separate
occasions he invited me to come train
in France and last January I departed for
Paris and took the train to Fernando’s
home in Brest. Fernando is an amazingly
talented French ring decoy, one of the
best in the sport. I had never trained
French ring, I had never esquived a dog
on entry and there I was in France with
one of the best French ring decoys in
France training with one of the best
clubs in France and I got clobbered!
The dogs in France were fast and I had
nothing the dogs hadn’t seen a hundred times, after a few days I think the
dogs knew which way I was going to
move before I did. We trained about 15
dogs a day 5 days a week. After the first
few days I started running everyday in
between training sessions and after 3
weeks I was faster and in better shape, I
had better balance and had better control over my feet and my movements.
The training was challenging, physically
and mentally but Fernando proved to
be a great teacher it was a great experience. Although there are many distinct
differences between French ring and
Mondioring the techniques used by
French ring decoys in training are valuable for mondio too and for a decoy
with a full understanding of mondioring
they can be priceless.
I left for Switzerland to train with
Joaquim Dovat after spending 1 month
in France. I met Joaquim at Robert
Wademan’s place in California when I
was first learning to decoy before I had
even certified as a decoy. I had the opportunity to watch Joaquim compete
in the 2010 decoy super selection in
Rotterdam. There were a lot of talented
decoys at the selection. Personally, as a
decoy who would like to one day compete in the selection it was great to see
the process and how it’s judged and
what level of pressure I can expect from
that level of competition with so many
decoys in attendance critiquing your
performance from the sidelines. Joaquim had a great showing and won the
selection of course as most of his fans
here know.
The following weekend I was invited
to decoy my first international competition in Italy. Joaquim and I were the
two trial decoys, and the Italians were
great hosts. Like most trials in Europe,
the level one and two dogs were held
on Saturday and Sunday was all level 3.
Joaquim let me do the exercises that he
thought I would get the best experience
from. In the USA I am familiar with most
dogs, I generally know where they tend
to bite on the flee, face, etc. In Italy I had
to watch each dog whenever possible
to see where they bit, how fast they
were and so on in order to be best prepared when my exercises were up. After
the trial I stayed in Italy to train with
Kristian Mattiuzzi and his club, which included many of the dogs that competed
in the trial. He had some impressive leg
dogs, they were large and had crushing
grips and would go through anything.
There were a lot of things I liked about
the dogs in Italy and I was able to see
how they trained many of those things.
They answered any question I had and
I learned a ton in the short time I was
there. I had never met Kristian and his
family until the trial; they welcomed me
in to their home like I was a longtime
friend, not to mention I had great food
all week.
I can’t say enough about my trip
to Europe and the experience it gave
me as a decoy. I’m extremely grateful
to Fernando, Joaquim, Kristian and all
the many people who helped me out
in Europe. I hope I can use many of the
things I learned in Europe to give back
to the mondioring community here in
the USA and that other decoys will be
inclined to go to Europe and get more
experience as I did.
David Bilik, pictured above, brings his experience from Europe to USA trial and training fields! - photo courtesy of Jenn Marshall
Pictured above, Lisa Geller and Mongoose LDS maintain control amidst decoy panic at alien invasion at Area 51 , Parhump, NV
Mondioring, The Game, The Challenge, The Feel.......
“Why do you play this music?”
Me and my dog -- that’s it.
An executive I know was playing the
harmonica at an outdoor event. It was
a little strange to see this suit and tie
acting in a somewhat freelance style.
So I asked him, “Why do you play?” He
said, “Because I like the way it feels.”
Sometimes I go months on end without consistent support, and other
times I am half dead from playing too
much.
In the end, how I am with my dogs,
that’s what matters.
In my heart -- I do this for one reason.
Mondioring is not within the mainstream of a regular hobby, much less
in the dog training community. It’s a
pebble on the beach. So why do we
do it?
The smattering of clubs are spread
across vast distances in the United
States, and even so, there are usually
only a handful of the dedicated mixed
in with those wandering in and out.
To me, not really a village at all.
It is like music, like a melody or style
inside each person. Nobody owns
it or says what it is or is not. Clearly,
the rules are guidelines and yet we,
all of us, determine how we play. The
teamwork is between me and my dog;
it isn’t really a celebration of decoy,
outside trainer and the reigning bodies. Those people change like the rules
and fashion of the game.
village. There are people like me, that
will help anyway I can, you need only
call or write ;-)
Do Mondioring -- not to title a dog
(because what value is that anyway?)
-- not to win the worlds.
Please -- like the way it feels!
- Lisa Geller
Because I like the way it feels.
Sometimes I think we forget WHY we
started this dog training adventure in
the first place. How many of us bought
a dog and said “I want to be a high
level competitor in mondioring”.
We were, really just looking at having some fun and learning about dog
sports. Once in the training circles you
discover it is a small community, a political machine, grinding away. Forget
about all of that.
Train to learn about your dog and more
importantly yourself. Trial to see what
you have become.
To be a mondioring village, we only
need one person that will say “I will
continue to do this.” When you have
that commitment you will be surprised,
others will come -- and go -- and come
and stay. eventually you will have your
In order to really enjoy a dog, one
doesn’t merely try to train him to be
semi-human. The point of it is to open
oneself to the possibility of becoming
partly a dog.
-Edward Hoaglund
Sandrine Clark ~
Competitor in Mondio Ring Sport
USMRA News would like to thank
Suzanne Lavallee“Spoiled Bitch” for the
following interview from her website,
http://www.spoiledbitch.net
You know that feeling....when you
come across something so amazing that
you have to share it with everyone you
know -- immediately. Your enthusiasm
veers toward infectious and is even more
contagious when the subject is something personal. That is most definitely
the case with my gal pal and training
buddy, Sandrine Clark. I’m proud of her
amazing accomplishments... in fact,
wildly so.
The most striking achievement isn’t
the number of competitions she’s been in
(22), or the bragging rights she’s earned:
her dog, Ikoe, was the 1st German
Shepherd in the United States to earn a
Mondio Ring title handled by a women,
and in 2007 she set a national record for
the highest scoring dog/handler team
at Level 1. Nor is it the fact that her dog,
Thor, has won the honors of ‘Highest
Scoring Dog’ in 8 out of 10 Mondio Ring
competitions or that they won this year’s
National Championships in their division.
The most impressive accomplishment
that Sandrine has made is achieving
the perfect, blissful state of a healthy,
dynamic relationship with her dog. Thor
and Sandrine shine both on and off the
competition field. They’re inspiring.
SB caught up with Sandrine in the
midst of her busy Fall competitive
schedule and she shared the following:
SB: In 2003 you acquired your first
dog ever with the express intention of
competing in protection sports. What
would you say is your biggest mile-
stone?
I’ve come full-circle in my training
methods. When I first started out I
knew nothing. I relied on the veteran
sport trainers and competitors to
teach me. Under their guidance I used
compulsion-based training including
the electric collar and pinch collar. It
didn’t feel right and it didn’t produce
good results. That’s when I realized
how little I knew about my dog… or
canine behavior. I’m proud to say that
at 3 years old, Thor has never worn
either of those collars….nor will he.
We don’t need it.
SB: Mondio Ring is your dog sport of
choice. Can you tell us a bit about it?
Of course. It’s a fun, challenging, and
creative “protection” sport that tests
the dog’s ability to perform a variety
of tasks under extreme distractions.
Likewise, it’s a test of my abilities as a
trainer to teach my dog how to successfully work through the ever-altering situations and scenarios. In each
of the levels of competition, there
are three distinct phases: obedience,
jumps, and protection. No two competition fields look the same. They are
always different.
SB: Aside from winning “Highest Scoring Dog” in 8 out of 10 competitions
with Thor, your scores are consistent
which reflects some pretty dialed-in
training. To what would you attribute
this success?
My mind set and philosophy. I’m not
competing to win but training my
dog to be the very best he can be.
I’m building a relationship with him.
When you put your dog first and focus
on communicating with him in a positive, balanced way then success will
follow.
SB: This spring you and Thor became
the 2010 Mondio Ring National Champions (Level 2). What’s it like?
The best part about it – it allowed me
to see where our strengths and weaknesses lay. At a championship event,
the level of judging and expectations
is far more challenging than a clublevel event. So, it really exposed parts
of my training that needed improvement. Overall though, Thor showed
beautifully. I’m so proud of him.
SB: Before the world of dog sports you
were a professional cyclist. Has this
influenced you in any way?
Yes – discipline, dedication, commitment, and compromise. A life of
cycling and sports has also taught me
how to live a healthy lifestyle and the
value of both my dog and I staying
physically fit.
SB: How do you and Thor stay in peak
condition?
In a nutshell – we lead an active, wellbalanced life together. We have our
specific training regimen that keeps
him mentally and physically stimulated as it pertains to his “job”. For
instance, practicing the jumps (hurdle,
climbing wall, and long jump) combines a physical work-out with the
mental stimulation of obedience and
concentration. Each morning typically starts with a hike or trail run in the
foothills of Saratoga. Excursions to
the beach for swimming and running
all add up to keep us fit.
SB: Your next plans?
Compete at Level 3 and strive for next
year’s National Championship. Above
all though, keep enjoying my amazing
dog and our training together.
The Evolution of the Mondioring Decoy
By combining various European dog
sport traditions, Mondioring decoys
have developed their own system of
suit work. Much effort has been put
into the Mondioring rule book to guide
decoys from different dog sports into
developing a uniform decoy system.
The Mondioring system allows the
decoy to use a wide array of stressors to
assist the judge in evaluating the dog’s
working ability. The simplicity of the trial rules allow the decoy to remain true
to the core values of dog sport, to test
the inborn character of the dog, and
the quality of the dog’s education. However, the Mondioring program goes a
step further by aiding the judge and
decoy in evaluating the dog’s over-all
adaptability in changing circumstances.
In this article, I will describe the various
influences on Mondioring decoy work
and the development of Mondioring’s
own unique tradition.
A Level Playing Field
In order to understand the concepts
behind Mondioring decoy work, it is
essential to understand the multiple
traditions that came together to create
Mondioring. The Mondioring founders
combined elements from French Ring,
Belgian Ring, and Campagne into one
sport that can serve as a level playing
field for dogs from all systems including, IPO and KNPV. In order to bring a
competition based on the Ring Sport
tradition to the world stage, the founders of Mondioring added rules that
would ensure fairness and safety, and
allow sleeve-trained dogs to have an
arm presentation at the Mondioring
one level.
Some of the compromises that affect the decoy include prohibiting the
decoy from esquiving (dodging) the
dog on entry and striking the dog with
the baton. These compromises remain
controversial. However, rather than seeing them as limitations on the decoy’s
ability to perform his test, I see these
rules as an enhancement to the consistency of the test.
by Francis Metcalf
By prohibiting the esquive on entry,
you are encouraging the decoy to
remain on task and face the dog, rather
than trying to escape and avoid the
charging animal. By encouraging the
decoy to stand and fight, the Mondioring decoy is adhering to the core
principle of the exercise, which is to
test the dog’s courage, not to test his
reflexes. Since the Mondioring decoy
is prohibited from hitting the dog with
the baton, he is forced to find other
methods of intimidation rather than
repetitive baton blows. The Mondioring
decoy must learn to probe the dog’s
character using only his knowledge of
dog behavior and his force of character.
The Ring Sport decoy is all too often accused of crossing the line from testing
to abuse. Since the Mondioring decoy
has voluntarily given up the use of
baton strikes during public expositions,
he ensures the good name of the sport
and its participants.
Founding Traditions
Campagne
The word Campagne literally means
“country.” The sport has acquired this
name to articulate the environment
in which it is played. The Campagne
program never takes place on an official
ring field. Instead, the competition is
held in a rural environment. Campagne
utilizes elements of the landscape to
provide difficulties that the dog will
encounter. The basic thesis of the
Campagne program is to never use any
elements that have been developed on
the Ring field proper, but rather to use
natural elements found in the environment. Campagne dogs are asked to
swim through rivers, search forests, and
jump over pasture fences in pursuit of
the villain.
Campagne practitioners have developed the use of a trial theme, which is
used to give context to the competition. For example, if the trial is to take
place in a pastoral setting, the theme
of the entire trial might draw from the
daily lives of people in farming com-
munities. All aspects of the competition, from agility to protection, will
incorporate elements from the chosen
theme. From the theme, the judge
derives scenarios to choreograph the
decoy and handler into an exchange
that mimics real-life situations. While
theme and scenario run through the
entire program, the use of scenario is
most important to the Defense of Handler exercise. During the Defense, the
decoy must follow certain procedures
that are constant and never changing,
such as the friendly meeting of handler
and decoy and the eventual attack on
the handler by the decoy. The scenario
comes to life through the judge’s arrangement of variables. The variables
are almost limitless in their expression,
but once the variables are set for the
particular trial, they must remain the
same for each dog in the competition. Every competition uses different
variables, and thus the Campagne dogs
ability to adapt is tested over time.
In a quest to bring the difficulties of the
Campagne tradition to the Mondioring
field, the founders of Mondioring have
borrowed many elements from the
Campagne decoy. Both systems utilize theme and scenario. Both systems
utilize accessories in the Face Attack
and obstacles on the Escort. By adding
a second decoy, the variables in the
Mondioring Defense of Handler are
increased. While Mondioring derived
its Defense of Handler from Campagne,
the Mondioring program has developed this exercise to a greater extent
than its ancestors. In my analysis, the
Mondioring decoy and the Campagne
decoy have more in common than
decoys in any other sport.
Belgian Ring
The similarities between Belgian Ring
and Mondioring have less to do with
the decoy’s work and more to do with
the obedience phase of the trial.
Since this article focuses on the bite
work exercises, some of the major
similarities between Mondioring and
Belgian Ring will not be discussed.
Belgian Ring and Mondioring are similar in the use of the obstacle in the Face
Attack, but in Mondioring, the decoy
is expected to barrage the dog with
his baton and then vigorously defend
himself from the attacking dog. The
Belgian Ring decoy works the dog methodically to allow the judge to view
the quality of the grip while the dog
is being stressed by choreographed
environmental events. The Belgian
Ring decoy wears a costume that has
jute cuffs on the arms and legs. The
jute bite surface is more advantageous
to the dog when trying to fill his mouth
compared to the Linen costumes worn
by Mondio decoys. The jute cuffs allows
the dog’s bite quality to be showcased.
The jute on the Belgian suit also slows
the decoy down by making movement
more difficult. The Mondioring rules
specifically state that the decoy should
be active and realistic. This comment
I believe is aimed at decoys from the
Belgian tradition who work in a much
calmer fashion than Mondio or French
Ring decoys.
Belgian Ring and Mondioring both use
environmental factors to test the dog,
but in different ways.
In Belgian Ring, stress is calculated by
watching how certain environmental
events effect the animal’s bite quality, while in Mondioring, environmental stress is applied primarily in
the Defense of Handler scenario and
manifests itself by causing confusion
and conflict. One sees this confusion
and conflict affecting the dog’s ability
to focus and respond to cues. Unlike
Belgian Ring, Mondioring has no point
deduction for bite quality, but the decoy is expected to test the proficiency
of the bite by fighting the dog as if he
is not wearing protection. Both Belgian
Ring and Mondioring utilize obstacles
on the Face Attack. Belgian Ring obstacles are typically more elaborate than
Mondioring obstacles. This is because
Belgian Ring relies on the obstacle as
the sole stressor in the Face Attack and
Mondioring divides the use of stressors
between the obstacle and the decoy.
In Belgian Ring, if the dog goes around
the obstacle, the decoy is allowed to
esquive the dog. Once the dog has
bitten, the decoy becomes passive
and allows the judge to evaluate the
dog’s grip. The Mondioring dog incurs
severe point loss for going around the
obstacle, but the decoy is not allowed
to esquive on entry. Instead the Mondioring decoy must use his baton or
accessory to barrage the dog and keep
him from biting. If the Mondioring dog
bites and then loses his grip, the decoy
is allowed to esquive the dog.
Belgian and Mondioring share many
partial similarities. Both systems use
other hiding spots besides the traditional blind for the Search and Escort
exercise. Both systems use the accessory on the Object Guard and the
obstacle on the Face Attack. However,
during these exercises there are key
differences between the two sports.
The Belgian Ring Escort gives the judge
another view of the dog’s bite quality,
while the Mondioring escort tests the
dog’s vigilance. The Belgian Ring decoy
must always present an arm and a leg
for the attacking dog. The Mondioring
decoy is instructed never to present a
target for the dog, but rather to behave
as if he were not wearing protective
gear and fight the dog off. The decoy’s
behavior during the Object Guard in
Belgian Ring is aimed more at seeing
if the dog will defend his object, while
the Mondioring Decoy behaves more
like a French Ring decoy and uses
cinematic behavior to try and steal the
object. One can almost think of Mondioring as a combination of Campagne
decoys working on a Belgian Ring field.
French Ring
French Ring is the largest and most
competitive of all the founding traditions of Mondioring. The French Ring
program specializes in selecting dogs
through decoy pressure. The use of the
esquive in French Ring is a technique
that allows the decoy to slow the entry
of the dog. The dog, once deprived of
his velocity by missing the initial bite,
is then forced to face the decoy without the aid of inertia. The French Ring
decoy is a specialist in the use of the
baton. His exquisite timing in barrage
and esquive techniques allow him to
peer deep into the animal’s character.
By prohibiting the decoy to esquive
and hit the dog with the stick, Mondioring has distanced itself from French
Ring. By switching from hits with the
baton to the accessory, the Mondioring decoy causes maximum amount
of mental stress on the dog and the
minimum amount of physical stress.
Just like French Ring, the Mondioring
decoy is required to use barrage and
lifelike movements to defend himself
from the attacking dog. If, after biting
on the entry, the dog lets go, the decoy
is allowed to use esquive , barrage,
tricks, and menaces to keep the dog
from biting and thus test the animal’s
resolve.
In Mondioring the obstacle is designed to do the job of the esquive in
French Ring. As the dog approaches
the obstacle, he is forced to alter his
gate and navigate the obstacle. Once
the dog has landed, he is confronted
with a decoy wielding either a baton or
accessory. Since the decoy risks behaving differently from one dog to another
while attempting to esquive, using
inanimate objects to break the dog’s
entry speed lends an air of impartiality
to testing the dogs. The French Ring
judge relies solely on his decoy’s ability
to help him evaluate the dogs. Mondioring is not so heavily centered around
the decoy as French Ring. While the
Mondioring decoy plays an important
role, the environmental factors arranged by the judge and the difficulty
of the scenarios have a strong effect on
the outcome of the trial.
Even though the Mondioring program
has seemingly borrowed more from
the sports of Campagne and Belgian
Ring than French Ring, a similarity
remains that is very important. This
similarity is the use of increasing levels
of difficulty throughout the echelons.
French Ring and Mondioring share the
use of the Brevet as an entry test and
then progress through echelons one,
two, and three gradually increasing the
number and difficulty of the exercises.
Both Campagne and Belgian Ring jump
right into the whole Ring Three program, making these sports less accessible than French or Mondioring.
The Mondioring program was specifically designed not to conflict with the
French Ring program, so that trainers
could easily compete in both sports
with little extra training.
Conclusion
Mondioring’s detractors cite as the
sport’s weaknesses the regulations that
prohibits esquive and stick hits. We will
be better able to evaluate the removal
of these two techniques on the selective process when we access the future
generations of dogs produced by
Mondioring. It is my position that the
removal of stick hits and esquive on entry will not have a significant impact on
the character or working ability seen in
subsequent generations of Mondioring dogs. I believe the addition of the
accessory, changing environment, and
scenario will have greater selective
effect than the removal of esquive and
stick hits. Environmental stability is of
more practical importance to a working dog than entry speed. Moreover,
the Mondioring accessory makes up for
the use of stick hits as a testing device.
Besides viewing dog sports as a breeding test for working dogs, one can
make an assessment based on which
sport is more entertaining to compete
in--and train for. Mondioring’s use of
variation makes it a clear choice for me.
Anyone who has trained a dog in the
higher levels of any sport can confirm
that, after you do your foundation
work, you spend most of your training
time polishing details. If these details
become boring for you or the dog, they
take fun out of your experience. The
same thing is true for the decoy. But
since the Mondioring training decoy is
Ann Putegnat’s on the Canadian connection:
A year or so back, a group from Canada contacted the USMRA
to see what the chances would be to help them get started in
Mondioring. Tim Bartlett went and did a seminar there. The
question was first put to the AWDF and FCI connections, and
after a yes nod, we proceeded to investigate the possibility.
In the beginning of Mondioring here in the United States, we
existed under the auspices of the Canadian Ring Association.
Our books, cards, etc., came from them. Canada was good
enough to help us in the beginning, so we felt that we needed to repay the favor! The Edmonton Ring Sport Club was
formed and we agreed to help them for one year, and then
review. There have been some changes in the original group,
but Mondioring is still coming along in Canada. We certainly
hope to see the group grow, hold more trials, and give us a
place to go trial!! :-) Mexico is coming on board. Venezuela is
in it’s fledgling state. Brazil is organizing Mondioring. There
may be more that I am not aware of. I think that Columbia has
expressed interest recently. Hopefully, some day, there will
be Pan American Games with countries from this hemisphere
in multiple countries participating!!!
responsible for providing a well-rounded foundation by constantly exposing
the dog to new training environments,
these variations can be a breath of
fresh air for decoys and trainers tired of
the minutia of their sport.
Mondioring is the latest evolution of
the Ring Sport tradition, as this tradition evolves, I am convinced that the
Mondioring decoy will perform with
fairness and selectivity to create the
working dogs of the future.
Francis Metcalf pictured above, can
be seen on you-tube via http://www.
youtube.com/user/masterofhounds
Pictured above, Alli du Ciel Rougue, RIP, photo courtesy of Anne Simpkins
2010 USMRA Level 1 Champ - from flat score to first place
- Terril Isbell , 2010 USMRA Level 1
Champion, tells his story about what to
do when you have no where else to go
but up...
Could you tell a little about your
road to the 2010 Nationals?
“I had 2 older aussies that died the week
of getting Rocket. My friend said a coworker has friend with a breeding of farm
mals needing homes.
The mom killed some and 5 of 9 survived.
Rocket fixed on me and picked me and
I started helping to take care of Rocket
& sibs for 3 weeks and Rocket was the
first name to come to me, and there
you go. We found homes for all with no
knowledge of sports and started at Hutto
Texas’s Triple Crown in Basic 101 with
3 malis and friends. The trainers there
knew the breed and suggested that we
look at sport. We did some basic protection at Triple Crown and after about 2
months, ring was mentioned again. It
sounded good and I started to research
local clubs, finding that the local Schutzhund club was closed and the nearest
club Mondioring Club looked to be Lonestar in San Antonio. So, I started with
some private lessons and read the ruled
on 12 December 2008 and went to the
Lonestar trial the next day.
Jos Helsen was the judge and it was a
disaster. We scored 5 points having NO
control. (NOTE - “eat hurdle, packages”
can’t remember??) I came off the field
and vowed to never again go through
that. Realizing that I needed more, I
found Dave Kroyer of Canine Headquaters before Xmas and Dave said we could
maybe bring Rocket to Brevet and “we’ll
see..”
Continuing with a Michael Ellis seminar
in April and another California Seminar
in April, all the while continuing with
Dave. A year from our first trial, we
competed under Margaret McKenna and
earned a 94 pt Brevet with the points lost
by the handler and not the dog! We kept
at it and earned both of our MR1 legs the
following February at Daves. I wanted to
try the nationals for more experience and
the rest is history.”
It was your day. Congratulations!
Could you talk a little about the
unorthodox training session you had
just before the nationals?
“To prepare the dog, I knew I wanted to
have him charged, but knew that I would
be nervous. The dog was jacked and
ready to go and control was essentially
important. So, I asked to walk through
my handling without the dog. I wanted
to know where to stand, where my feet
should be, when to say and so on. To
prepare me for the handling, I needed
training for “correct” handling. I knew if I
could walk through in my mind it would
be ok. People saw then and may have
thought I was crazy, but now they might
have second thoughts.”
And your training?
“Dave gets the credit for building up the
dog. He was honest about his weaknesses and willing to work to overcome
insecurities. We did a lot of harness and
drag ins for confidence, jambiere work,
up close work, fun attitude, letting the
dog win, building confidence for about
a year. It was the right thing to do for his
temperament and the club support was
great for us! Rocket was a bit stick shy, so
we had to build that up little by little with
a lot of handler support that was slowly
phased out, so the dog could work on his
own.
Advise for others?
“I don’t think I’m in a position to give
advice to anyone about handling or
training. Please don’t forget Ann and all
the folks who helped me train. It really is
a team sport!”
Well, that said how about sharing
your “training ideas?”
“Learn your dog, find a great coach,
and don’t give up! Don’t be afraid to do
imaginary dog handling walking patterns like the Blue Angles practice their
flight patterns. Take care to learn the
prep and departure, when to move/
command on the horn, and memorize
sequences of heeling and Defense of
Handler. I want my handling to not steal
ANY points!
You’ve gotta love the dog and the dog
must want to work. You need a coach.
Don and Dave taught me to let the dog
win, play acting, rolling, pushing, take
down build ups and so on. Leave the
ego and anger out of it. With Rocket,
we never used e-collar, didn’t need it as I
had to be careful to make it fun and build
confidence. At first he didn’t even like the
retrieve, we had to learn to train with motivation vs. harsh corrections. Train in different places and go for fun, not failure.
What do you see in your future?
“Our next goal with Rocket is to trial at
Level 2 to see how he does with the pressure. Next dog I know I can train better
because now, I know more. Working
with Rocket teaches me to pick the next
dog with a different temperament and
stronger. I also want to learn more about
being a training decoy.”
“ Rocket’s parents are still on farm
chained out. He was the unwanted pup,
small, skinny, and fearful. He has a
focus on me and wants to please and this
help, but nobody wanted him but me.
With good training, we won!!!
My FIRST Mondioring Trial - Cindy Rhodes
My first MR trial
­For the last couple years, I’ve been
dabbling in Mondioring training. I was
a slow convert over the last 5 years
or so, after becoming disillusioned
with some of the other competitive
dog sports. I competed in AKC OB and
Schutzhund from the mid 80’s to early
2000’s. I tried agility for a while, but
had a hard time committing to a sport
with no bitework. After moving to
Wisconsin in ‘03, I continued working
my own dogs at home. Ed and I met
Michael Ellis in ‘ 04 while I was still
occasionally training in Schutzhund.
After awhile, I started to see that the
fun and challenge was there for the
taking if I decided to pursue Mondioring. I also had my eyes opened to a
training system that made sense to
me. Up until I met Michael, I only had
bits and pieces of the type of training
program that I felt were good for both
me and for my dogs.
I didn’t begin really training for
mondio until late in 2007 when I kept
a puppy from one of my litters. I bred
my Fontaine D’Or bitch to Jackson
LdS and held back a male I named
Rush. He was a quick study and once I
understood the steps to teaching the
exercises he made great progress. I
was limited by my lack of experience
in this sport and my lack of motivation at times. I didn’t have anyone to
train with regularly, so staying with
the program was difficult. The fact
that I wasn’t even sure I knew what
the program was made it doubly
difficult. I received a lot of phone and
email coaching from my mentors, Michael Ellis and Donna Matey. It’s their
fault that I’ve now passed the point of
no return.
I did all my training at Michael’s
seminars up until Rush was about 14
months old and he would go months
between bite work sessions. I began
training with other decoys around
this time and continued to train with
Michael at every opportunity.
Fast forward to summer of 2009
when I began training with a core
group of people here in the WI/MN
area. Without them, I never would
have been able to get my dog ready
to trial. Ed Frawley, Donna Matey, Jeremy Norton, Robin Larson, Maureen
Haggerty and Aida Flick have given
their time, energy and experience to
helping Rush and I grow as a team.
I was aiming for summer of 2010
for my first leg of MR1 but I had a trip
planned to Michael’s School for Dog
Trainers that was 2 weeks prior to the
2010 USMRA National Championship.
After a family meeting it was decided
that I would attend Michaels school
and also prepare Rush for showing
in the nationals for the first leg of
his MR1. Keep in mind that I’d only
watched one or two trials a couple
years ago, so I had a lot to learn about
rules, horns and handling. I was hoping that if I was not ready, my friends
and coaches would tell me to pass
on the Nationals and just continue to
train for June.
In mid March my friends and I drove
the 2100 miles to California and attended a week long course at the
school, and in the evenings I worked
Rush on the mondio exercises. I met
an incredible group of people over
the 2 weeks of training and the help I
got was amazing. Local decoys came
out and worked the dogs getting
ready for nationals, the support and
sportsmanship was outstanding. I
had a wonderful time visiting with old
friends and making new ones.
I was extremely stressed and nervous in the months leading up to the
California trip, mostly due to fear of
the unknown. I never thought I was a
very competitive person but I wanted
to show well and make my “people”
proud of me. I didn’t want them to
think they had wasted their time
on me so I felt increasing pressure
to present Rush in a way that didn’t
scream “look at the nervous newbie!
She’s falling apart!” I didn’t want to
choke on the trial field and make mistakes that took points from my dog.
I was assured by everyone that I
would do fine; that my dog was ready
and that we would look like we knew
what we were doing. I had my doubts
but tried to remain positive and confident. A good friend told me that
by the time the trial rolled around I
would no longer be nervous because
I would have depleted all my stress
hormones. I would have a bad case of
‘adrenal fatigue’. I think that is exactly
what happened.
Trial day rolled around quickly and I
woke up at 3:30 AM and couldn’t go
back to sleep. I was excited for the
day to begin and nervous because
I wasn’t sure what to expect. The
MR 1 competitors were to meet early
Saturday morning and I was anxious
for my first official Mondioring trial
experience. I had my notebook and
2 pens ready during dog in white
and tried hard to focus on the task
at hand. I am embarrassed to say
that I don’t remember much about
dog in white, and when I look at my
notes, I don’t even remember writing
them down. One of the more nerve
wracking things about a Mondioring
trial is the way the competitors draw
to determine trial order. It’s not like
other sports I’ve competed in where
you draw your position and know
when you are expected on the field,
they draw the first two and then each
competitor to report in draws the
next handler. First on the field draws
the number 3 dog/handler team,
second handler draws number 4 team
and so on. I feel incredibly lucky to
have been the third team to hit the
field. The waiting around for the competitor draw is as much a test for the
handler’s nerves as anything out on
the field. There were 23 MR 1 dogs so
many of the competitors had a very
long day of waiting!
“My First Trial” by Cindy Rhodes (cont-tinued from previous page)
Once I hit the field my nervousness evaporated. It was a series of firsts for Rush
and I and it was a great experience. I saw the weaknesses and strengths in my
training and hope to come out again next time with improved performances
in those areas. We ended up with 188 points and second place. I am extremely
proud of Rush and how he handled being on the road for 3 weeks leading up to
a big trial. I hope we have many more mondio adventures in store for us in the
future.
I want to thank everyone who made the 2010 USMRA possible; you all did an
amazing job pulling off a big event. Congratulations to all the first place teams,
Terrill & Rocket MR 1, Sandrine & Thor MR 2 and Donna & Jackson MR3 (for the
third year in a row!). A big congrats to everyone who participated, it takes guts
to get out there on the field. Last, but certainly not least, thanks to everyone
who helped me get Rush ready, it’s been said over and over that it really does
take a village. Ed Frawley, Michael Ellis, Jeremy Norton, Mark Keating, Robin
Larson, Maureen Haggerty, Donna Matey, Aida Flick, Jill Fryling. You guys are the
best!
Through new eyes, we are reminded
that Mondioring contains many layers of
complexity and challenges...
“I decided to go on a little weekend adventure down to SoCal to watch the MondioRing Nationals and
Schutzhund SW Regionals. I could go on and on about the stuff I saw and learned but don’t feel like typing that
much ;-) Suffice it to say that it was a study in contrasts - the relatively popular, well-established sport vs. the growing, newish sport. It seemed obvious in almost every way which was the better funded group - from choice of venue,
number of vendors, quality of program and PR materials, organization of the event, etc. Having said all of that - both
were really great to watch with some really neat dogs and some fantastic performances. I will admit up front that
although I compete in Schutzhund I spent significantly more time at the MR trial. This has more to do with frequency
and availability of trials than any reflection on my interest level. There are just a lot more Schutzhund trials to go watch.
This was the first Mondio trial that I have ever been to.
... The MR trial was fascinating. We saw about half the MR1 dogs compete and all of the MR2 and MR3 dogs. I saw 4 dog
and handler teams whose performances were really beautiful - regardless of what their final score ended up being.
Plus, I got to see some very well known dogs in the sport.
I came to the conclusion that MR is unlike most other dog sports that I have observed because I don’t think there is
any way that you could truly prepare the dog for what they are about to experience in a trial. I had heard all about it
from Michael [Ellis] and his group but really couldn’t appreciate it until I saw it with my own eyes. It really is like trying
to get your dog to work in the middle of a 3-ring circus in which the clowns will occasionally require that you interact
with them and join in the fun. It’s not like Flyball where everything is so chaotic and noisy that the dog almost has to
focus on you or totally lose it. It’s just chaotic and distracting enough that the dog really feels the need to explore the
environment during the OB exercises in ways that I never would have expected. Things that I have seen Michael train
for over and over took on a whole new complexity in that environment - even relatively easier OB exercises like the
retrieve. I have seen Michael work the retrieve with his dog, Pi, hundreds of times. And his dog did 1 of the best retrieves of the competition but nothing like what he can do in a more normal environment. The scent articles exercise
took on a whole new meaning to me compared to what I have seen in AKC. It was crazy and there was not a single dog
that was able to go directly out, choose the right article, and come directly back. Again, this is an exercise that I have
seen Michael work on hundreds of times with different dogs, including Pi, and I never would have expected it to be as
difficult in trial as it was. Fascinating stuff from a training perspective. “
- Thanks to Kate Hogan for permission to reprint her Working Belgian Tervuren Owners Yahoo group post on the
new eyes upon Mondio perspective.
THANK YOU USMRA DECOYS!!! - You all are the BEST!!!
USMRA Decoy List - 2010
Level 3: Tim Bartlett
Level 2: Chris Moody, Jeremy Norton, Dennis Bilik, David Bilik
Level 1: Todd Dunlap, Sean Miller, Arturo Terrazas, Josh McCleary,
Dwayne Baker, Jason Farrish, Michael Hill, Scott Dunmore,
Michael McCluskey, Jake Schneider, Josiah Neuman, Chris Dunlap,
SIN CITY MONDIORING CLUB -* Theme:
Area 51
January 16 – 17, 2010 * Pahrumph, NV
The Sin City Mondioring Club hosted an
event in Nevada that made Mondioring
history in America. For starters, the event
was held exactly TEN YEARS after the first
USMRA event that was held in San Antonio in the year 2000. Next, for the history
books, the trial had 41 paid entries who
were signed up and ready to go weeks
before the event. Forty one dogs is a lot
of dogs in Mondioring, anywhere in the
world!!
The theme of this trial was Area 51, so
as you can imagine the invasion included
hordes of aliens, a space ship, and a rocket
ship. The exercises were developed by the
judge around the various props that the
club constructed. Mondioring is meant to
be entertaining, and it lived up to the expectation this weekend.
The Brevets were done on Friday evening,
in the interest of time. Brevet is an optional
entry level category that is offered in some
countries, including America. Several teams
were successful, and others will try again
soon! The Brevet level is often an entry
point for crossover dogs from other sports.
The event was split into two days, with
each day being a separate trial. Saturday’s
entry included 11 dogs in Mondioring 1, 7
dogs in Mondioring 2, and one Mondioring
3 dog. On Sunday, there were 11 dogs in
MR 1, 5 in MR 2, and one in MR 3.
The two exercises in this particular event
that provided entertainment for the spectators were the Absense of Handler and the
Defense of Handler. Several creative minds
helped to design the two exercises. The
Absence ‘diversions’ revolved around the
area of the obstacle, a line of straw bales. At
level one, a pair of carnival goers (there was
a carnival in town) had fun with a bean bag
toss at the aliens standing in a row. At level
two, a Frisbee game took place on the edge
of the ‘diversion line’– which is 10 meters
in MR1 & 2. At MR3, the game got serious,
and a pair of ‘dogs’ (disguised as people),
had a fast paced and noisy game of flyball
at the 5 meter point. Each set of ‘players’
got more and more dramatic. By the end
of Sunday’s event, we were sure we were
ready for Broadway!
Just a quick note about the retrieve in
Mondioring. The retrieve item is selected
by the judge from a presentation of 6 items
provided by the club. On Saturday, the
MR 1’s retrieved a bowling pin, the MR 2’s
retrieved a water bottle (full), and the MR
3 retrieved an inflated alien attached to a
water bottle for weight. Sunday’s retrieve
items included a Frisbee, a coiled length of
1” tubing (which of course uncoiled when
thrown!), and a stuffed penguin.
rattling of the craft.
The Defense of Handler on Sunday included searches and encounters with aliens
in the area of the rocketship. MR one handlers circled the ship, looked into the ‘hold’,
and were hit fairly early on in the process.
MR 2 handlers did not get their handshake
until they put their head into the ‘hold’ with
the decoy to check for aliens. After shaking
hands with the friendly alien, handlers and
decoy transported a deceased alien across
the field to the cemetery. Once there, the
decoy, Joaquim Dovat, enlisted the aid
of the handler to make sure each alien in
the row was in fact deceased. Pulses were
checked carefully by decoy and handler. As
handlers approached the end of the row
of aliens, the second decoy, Jason Farrish,
rose up from the dead and put in a convincing act as a truly ugly alien creature. He
had been lying on the ground, completely
stationary. He had on an alien mask, and
a pair of enormous hands. Decoy number
one, Joaquim, feigned fright and hysteria as
Jason rose up and stood menacing nearby.
Handlers were hit from behind as Jason attracted the dogs’ attention toward him.
The scenario for MR 3 Defense of Handler
took into account that the rocketship posed
a threat to America if it actually took off and
helped aliens escape. Consequently, the
decoys elicited the aid of Lisa Geller and her
faithful Mongoose to help pull the rocket
ship down. The fall of the ship revealed the
last of the aliens (alas Decoy Dave) hiding
inside. The sight of such a menacing creature sent decoys Jason and Joaquim into
a frenzy around Lisa and Mongoose. The
Goose was PERFECT, and waited until one
of the two whirling decoys actually spun
close enough to hit.
Hats off to the members of the Sin City
Mondioring Club!! Their first mondioring
trial was a huge success! In appreciation for
the outstanding job done by Tina Williams,
the ‘trial stick’ was signed by the decoys and
presented to her at the end of the trial. This
gesture continues a tradition that began 10
years ago in Texas, at the first Mondioring
trial.
Thanks again to all of the decoys, field
personnel, deputy judges, judge’s secretaries and especially to the participants who
drove from far and wide to take part. The
Spirit of Mondioring lives on, and continues
to demonstrate good sportsmanship, camaraderie & support for fellow competitors!
The Defense of Handler on Saturday revolved around the idea of searching for
aliens in and around the space ship. Each
level got progressively more difficult, with
the MR 3 dog having to deal with a frantic
Joaquim flinging himself to the ground in
fear of the approaching alien. Just as he
screamed and leaped into the air to fall
and roll about 3 meters away, the second
decoy approached and struck from behind.
Bogan, the MR3 entry on Saturday, was not
fooled by the distraction!
The Search and Escort in Mondioring is a
‘free search’, with the dog being sent away
from the handler to search the field for the
hidden decoy. This exercise is executed in
MR 2 & 3. On Saturday, at MR 3 level, the
decoy was hidden inside of the rocket ship.
All the dog could see, if he was even looking, was a pair of legs. Bogan had to enter
the small space to alert and then the decoy
was required to duck down to exit the ‘ship’.
Bogan showed us all how this exercise was
supposed to look! He was clean and powerful. Once the ‘find’ portion of the exercise is
compete, the decoy makes three attempts
to escape from the dog that is escorting
him. The first attempt was made on the
straw bales, where Jason attempted to fling
himself away. Bogan caught him just at the
start of his escape and flung JASON to the
ground convincingly. No meters lost there.
On Sunday, in light of the many aliens that
lost their lives during the day on Saturday,
we decided that the ‘mini’ theme of the
day was An Alien Funeral. As might have
been mentioned, there were creative minds
at work!! With the help of the apprentice
judge and the decoys, Day Two evolved into
a very entertaining set of scenarios.
During the Absence of Handler, at MR
1, aliens were studied thoroughly in the
laboratory by two able examiners. By MR
2 time, the carefully studied aliens were
transported on gurneys to the staging area
awaiting burial. The diversion for MR 3 took
a different twist, and it was discovered that
there were still aliens inside the spacecraft.
A long line of little people were pulled out
of the craft and drug in front of the dog.
Once those were disposed of, three persons
assisted with checking the spaceship for
- THANKS to Ann Putegnat for her
additional aliens amidst much shaking and “trial report” from a judge eyed view!!!!
USMRA NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2007 Nationals
MR3 1st Place - Sharon Novak & O’Bre-on’s Ysha Rose
2nd Place - Carrie Silva & Zurco ot Vitosha (“AJAX”)
3rd Place - Augusta Farley & Zulu du Ciel Rogue
MR2- 1st Place - Andrew Ramsey & CULPRIT Ramsey du Ciel Rogue
MR1- 1st Place - Tim Bartlett & Loki du Loups du Soleil
2008 Nationals
MR3 -1st Place - Donna Matey & Jackson du Loups du Soleil
2nd Place - Lisa Geller & Mangouste du Loups du Soleil
3rd Place - Tim Bartlett & Feist du Loups du Soleil
MR2 - 1st Place - Paula Lind & Ciko von Joefarm
MR1 - 1st Place - Ron Geller & Red Star Bacchus
2009 Nationals
MR3 -1st Place - Donna Matey & Jackson duLoups du Soleil
2nd Place - Andrew Ramsey & Feist du Loups du Soleil
MR2- 1st Place - Michael Ellis & Pi du Loups du Soleil
MR1 - 1st Place - Jill Fryling & Malik von der Heulhin Haus
2010 Nationals
MR3 -1st Place - Donna Matey & Jackson du Loups du Soleil
2nd Place - Lisa Geller & Mangouste du Loups du Soleil
3rd Place - Michael Ellis & Pi du Loups du Soleil
MR2- 1st Place - Sandrine Clark & Thor du Loups du Soleil
MR1 - 1st Place - Terrill Isbell & Rocket
About Mondioring in the US
“In the year 2006, my first time I came to judge in Bulverde TX , and before at the World Cups, I saw a few American handlers at work.
In 2008 I was honored with the judging the US Nationals. This year 2010, I was in TX for the second time, and it was always a pleasure to
come to the US. Each time I establised a real sportsmen mind, I could see the progress in handling, training, the quality of the dog’s and very
important the evolution in decoy work which explains part the progress. I saw handlers who made with different dog’s a great progress and
some of them already reach the competition level of the top in Europe, than I mean the level of the selected competitors of Belgium, France,
Switserland, Italy . For the future I expect US teams who will compete for the podium on World Cups. Any way for all those competitors who
maybe not have the intention to go to the top, and those who want to compete and succeed on high level, I wish them all a lot of pleasure and
satisfaction with their dog’s in this wonderfull dogsport Mondioring.”
“You ask me to give a hint - Never forget the basic’s you gave to your dog in training, if something goes wrong later in his competition career it’s the only possibility to make things OK again , going back to his basics. Hope to see a further positive evolution in club’s, competitors,
and trials in the US.” - Best Regards, Valeer Linclau
USA World Championship Mondioring Teams
- Thank you for your efforts to represent us!
USA Mondioring World Championship Teams
2010 MR1-Marki Barta & Black Bosin, MR2-Melissa Mims & E’Lycos von Donnertal MR 3-Lisa Geller & Mangouste du Loups du Soliel, TC - Ann Putegnat
2009 MR1-Melissa Mims & E’Lycos von Donnertal MR2- Steve Garvin & Bogan les Ombres Valuereux, MR3 Lisa Geller & Mangouste du Loups du Soliel, TC - Ann P
2008 MR3’s -Tim Bartlett & Feist du Loups du Soleil, Sharon Novak & O’Bre-on’s YSHA Rose, Lisa Geller & Mangouste du Loups du Soliel , TC - Ann Putegnat
2007 MR1 – Don Lee & Real de San Carlos ODIN , Team Captain, Marki Barta
2006 MR1 - Risa Hunnicutt & Real de San Carlos BaraKUDA, MR2 Kathleen O’Brien & DYNAmite ot Vitosha, Sharon Novak & O’Bre-on’s YSHA Rose, MR3- Lisa
Maze & Feist du Loups du Soleil, Team Captain, Tim Bartlett
2004 MR1 Ann Putegnat & Ocar du Ciel Rougue (“Smokey”), Team Captain, Marki Barta
2003 MR1’s Augusta Farley & Julia des Tuetones (“Jesse”), Kathleen O’Brien & DYNAmite ot Vitosha, Team Captains, Ann Putegnat & Sharon Novak
USA Mondioring World Championship Team 2001, 2000, 1999, & 1998 MR3
Kathleen O’Brien & Brawney Bombadier ot Vitosha (“Bomber”)
1998 Team Captain, Ivan Balabonov, 1999 Team Captain- Kelly McCulloch, 2000 TC
-Sharon Novak, 2001 Team Captain -Sharon Novak
Kathy O’Brien USA’s first Mondioring Competitor
When I first saw Mondio, in the winter of 1998
I flew out to Canada with Bomber (Brawney Bombadier ot Vitosha CD) who was already a FR3.
Rene Sagarra did a seminar with Bob Billiard and
some other folks. They were super nice and had
lots of good information.
Then in the fall, I went to Belgium with Ivan
Balabonov. We stayed and trained with Andre
Vandergeten. Andre took us to the Hoboken
Club, where we met Bart Bellon. I was amazed
at the level of the training, and the friendliness
and willingness to share information by Bart
and his club.
The competition was held in the city of Brugge
with a medevil theme. Before we even got to
present ourselves to the judge, we had to ride
onto the field on a two wheeled cart pulled
around the field twice - FAST!
I was terrified, but Bomber who had never even
SEEN a horse at that point thought it was great!
The driver kept telling me to “relax Madam, relax” The horse was huge and was raising his legs
like the Lone Ranger’s horse. Terrifyed, I clung to
Bomber and finally got down to be escorted to
the field by two young children in medevil peasant costumes.
Everyone was so friendly and helpful especially Nicki and Bertrand from JoeFarms. The
trial was fun and exciting even though I had no
clue about what was going on or how the rules
worked. On the longjump it was wet and slippery
and unkown to me at the time, Bomber broke a
bone in his back. Ivan was yelling to “pull” but
I didn’t hear him so we ended up finishing the
whole trial. You can see us in the first “commercial” Mondioring video filmed by Ed Frawley for
Leerburg. (http://leerburg.com/444.htm)
When we returned to California, Bomber was
having problems moving and peeing, so I ended
up taking him to Sacramento to an Orthopedic
Specialist who performed surgery to repair the
bone. After six months rehab, Bomber came back
and went on to play at 3 more Mondioring World
Championships - France in 1999,Switzerland in
2000, and Italy in 2001 as well as playing and
winning in the “off-sports” of the time - NAPD,
Pro-k9, Mexican Perro de Proteccion. Our Mondio
training helped us do well . We also played with
Bomber’s daugher, ”DYNA,” Dynamite ot Vitosha,
in 2003 and 2006.
It’s alot easier to do Mondioring now then
before. Some rule changes have made it a bit
safer and easier for the dogs. Brugge WC ‘98 by
Leerburg was the first, and for quite some time,
the only Mondioring video to hit the states. The
Internet and youtube, and USMRA now have
many great videos of Mondioring trials and Mondioring training. With many new decoys, USMRA
judges, and new clubs, we have so many more
possibilities to title our dogs than the handful of
trials in 2000.
Several of our Euro judges like Louis Quadroni,
Jos Helsen, Margaret Mckenna, Geraldo Stratermans, and more have given us their vacation
to make trials AND help us do better and learn
more!
I’ve had a great time over the years, learning
new things about dog training and making
friends. We’ve been so lucky to have met and
learned from such great European trainers who
took us beyond the compulsion training that
I learned when I was 9 years old into working
with drives and motivation. We worked with
people like Andre Vandergeten, and Bart Bellon,
both in Belgium, Michel Valladan in France, and
Rene Sagarra in Switzerland. Stephan Burri and
Harry & Maya Turetchek opened their homes for
us to stay at while we were getting ready before
the Championships. Great translation help from
Security Dogs friend, Marion Zanker. All these
people helped us in Europe and many also came
to the states to help us learn and sent us some
great dogs.
Many Euro - Decoys like Phillipe Moguez, Rene
Sagarra, Stephan Burri, Daniel Boulais, Joaquim
Dovat , & Julian Selz have come here and helped
us improve our dogs training.
I’m also very grateful and enjoyed working with
the USA trainers and decoys who have helped
me bring Bomber to MR3 and Dyna to MR2 - Ivan
Balabonov, who also bred Bomber and co-bred
Dyna, Frank Bliatout, Jean- Jacques Jurado,
Sharon Novak , Michael Ellis, and Felix Sunga.
In the future, I hope we can continue to make
new friends and learn more about Mondioring
and dog training!!!
MONDIORING TRIAL - Event Check List
c Submit “Bid/Proposal” & contract or Club Trial Paperwork to USMRA
Judge Decoys Date/s LocationJUDGE
c Confirm date/s
c Plane/travel res. - Flights/Dates/Confirmation # c Hotel/lodging c Call/email judge to confirm before event & arrange transport if needed c Transport to hotel, field, food etc., DECOYS
c Confirm date/sc Plane/travel res. - Flights/Dates/Confirmation # c Hotel/lodging c Call/email decoys to confirm before event & arrange transport if needed c Assign person for transport to hotel, field, food, & problem solving etc., VENUE
c Location confirmed w/ reg field & parking, water, restrooms, etc.
c Field fenced and trial items planned and brought to field day before trial
c Helpers to assist judge w/ trial set up day before or day of trial c VIP/guest parking, “break-spot”, warm up area, etc. locations clearly marked day before trial
c Sport Drinks and Snacks for Decoys
c Beverages and Snacks for players/guests
LODGING
c Arrange hotel/lodging for Judge/Decoy & “block” of rooms for players c Assign person to make sure hotel potty area has accessible bags & field/food
info/directions/maps for players/guests c Publish “host hotel” info asap and other local hotels info
JUDGE'S DINNER / MEETING SPACE
c Arrange Saturday Nite “Judge’s Dinner” & “Meeting Space” c Publish Dinner/Meeting Location, directions, & cost
c Take reservations and confirm with restaurant before event
REVENUE SOURCES
c Trial entries – publish event & entry deadlines – on-line registration & payment if possible
c Trophy Sponsors – publish available trophy sponsor slots, contact past sponsors, & post sponsors on website & in catalogue
c
c
c
Vendors - % or fixed price Catalogue paid ads/sponsors & purchase price
T-Shirts Person to coordinate with publicity & get t-shirts -
c Raffle – Solicit & Collect Donations Person c Raffle Sales Person/s -Event” website c “Event” logo – coordinate with “T-Shirt” person
c
News release to local newspapers, television, internet, local clubs, etc
c
Provide event program and/or Mondioring information
OTHER JOBS
c
c
Deputy Judge Judge’s Secretary -
c
c
Table Secretary Field Helpers- (Adjust jumps, food refusal, absence distraction)
c
Chien en Blanc Handler/s & Dog/s -
EVENT
c Check -in
c Player Order Draw
c Chien en Blanc/Walk through
c Teams on field & “on – deck”
c Scoresheets tabulated and posted
c Breaks & next starting time announced
c Raffle awards throughout day and/OR after players/ before awards
c Scorebooks & Decoys books filled out and signed
c Awards, speeches, “VIP” gifts, thank you’s & so on
AFTER EVENT
c Tourist outing w/ Judge/Decoys if possible
c Bring Judge/Decoys to airport
c Post “un-official” results and short trial summary, and public “thank-yous”
c Check-in on return, and “thank you’s” to VIP’s
c Complete and send in USMRA trial summary paperwork WITHIN ONE WEEK!!!
c Thank-you’s note or complimentary catalogue to sponsors, advertisers,
c Post photos & video, if available