Sunday's VST Test

I went to the PAFTA VST Test held at Evergreen Valley college, and had a GREAT time! The people were friendly, explained the rules and trial etiquette, then we were off to watch the first team give it a try. Unfortunately, this team (a lady and her Yorkshire terrier) caught a bad break. Their starting area was on a grass strip about 75 yards long; as we arrived to watch, we saw that there were about 30 Canada geese and ducks on the start. You could see the Yorkie pick up the scent, then lose it, pick it up, lose it, etc. Finally, the judges had to call them off. Hopefully they will have better luck next time. One thing that was interesting was this: I don't normally think of a Yorkshire Terrier as a hard puller, but this dog stretched the line when it was on the scent.

The second team was a lady and her Beagle. They started on a downhill sloped grass area, went through a landscaped area covered in English ivy, around a concrete courtyard in the center of a group of classrooms, down a series of terraced concrete steps, along another grass area, down a concrete sidewalk and around a corner to the end. This was all in the center of a typical community college campus, with buildings and trees and a hundred other things to stir the scent. this was another hard pulling dog; the handler had to RUN after him when he was on track! As we hung back about 50 yards and the dog rounded the last turn, we couldn't actually see the end of the track. But we knew the team had passed when a scream went up and the judges began to clap and call us in! It was a very exciting moment! the Beagle's handler (whose name I unfortunately but typically didn't get) said that they had tried the VST six previous times without success. The ladies whose names I did get, Bea and Linda, told me that passes are rare and that I was fortunate to have seen one. They asked me if this was something I might like to try. Oh HELL yeah! I am going to their club meeting next Friday, and will pass on the info as I get it.

This look like it would be a LOT of fun!