Where the big bucks and big dogs run!

Few things get you by better than experience, and if any group has that experience it's Black Mask canine in Los Angeles, Ca. Louis Williams, his girl friday and HOC inductee Pat Hairston, and our very own west coast rep. Ilona Wade definitely got the know how!

The original idea behind a K9PS trial was education AND entertainment and no one knows that better than this group. Ken Humphreys was judging and he said the crowds both days were excited and all had a good time, especially in the hardest hitting.

That's right I said BOTH days, because when Louis does it, he uses up every minute of the weekend. He ran the K9PS trial on Sat. and then his very own creation the GLADIATOR DOGS on Sunday. What is Gladiator Dogs, you ask? let me see if I can explain, according to judge Kenneth Humphreys description, it is sort of a mix of K9 PRO SPORTS, with a wild west shootout, and a UFC match thrown in.

A few years ago it became quite the fad in the US to start up your own dog sport (makes it a lot easier to win that way) and when every other K9PS competitor had competed in a few K9PS trials they jumped out on their own and started their local dog sport of the week. Not Louis, Louis is a little smarter than that, he's also a better competitor.

Louis competed in every one of these he could, he competed he watched, and he learned. What did he learn? He learned that you dont have to have a flourescent Humvee, with neon headlights flashing, decoy standing atop the gun turret, right side of their suit coveed in rainbow colored sequence, left arm supporting a boom box held high with a two inch gold target drawn on the inner bicep as the only acceptable target for the dog to hit, all this while the Humvee is driving at the dog at forty plus miles an hour waiting to see if the dog has the "nerve" to make "The Hit!"

Seeing no reason for all these theatrics (except to make the vets richer) Louis kept competing and learning, he also kept working with solid dog people like Ken, and Pat and came up with a competition that has the practical aspects of K9PS, with a solid judging system that scores the dog, instead of the props and theatrics, and still keeps practical application, with room for a lot of surprises, a sort of free style K9PS. And that is GUARDIAN DOGS.

Now the favorite part for Louis has always been the money!! and so when he did his trial he definitely put the emphasis on the MONEY! I don't have the exact figure but he was able to pay out over eight thousand, thats right 8 Thousand dollars this weekend. Now That's Entertainment!

And all of this happened before he even got to his Hardest Hitting portion of the trial. More on that later.

Decoys were there, both apprentice and experienced, Ken was impressed with the decoys athletics, and ability to follow instructions. He said they gave the judges all they needed to give a really accurate assesment of each dog. So thanks to all you decoys, when I get the names I will put them up.

I did hear that a our newest apprencitce from the championships last year, young Tim from Oregon, put on a realy improved and impressive performance,
really good at bycycle rideing in a suit. Looks like I'll be taking a Decoy certificate to the Oregon trial at the end of this month.

Sorry to put all this up without the names of all those that deserve so much credit, but I was so exciterd after talking to Ken, I had to get something up.

I did hear that the Hardest Hitting, with the dogs going about 80 yards, was definitely exciting, if you were the crowd, NOT the decoy. And with all the prize money involved Godzilla would have been easier to catch than some of the dogs that showed up. But more on all that when I get names and placing info. Also need to ask Louis if he wants to put Gladiator on the road in the future. HHhmmm? now there's a thought.

See Ya'll in Oregon.

Listen Well, Bite Hard!