CLEAR owner and head trainer Caroline Strainig travelled south last month to put her obedience training to the test against the best handers and dogs in the southern states.
Caroline had what can only be described as a “ripper” run at the NSW Dog Obedience State Championships and Border Collie Nationals in Sydney with her border collie Adam and rescue border collie-cross Groot.
Caroline and her two dogs competed 16 times for 16 qualifications, which is an amazing strike rate!
Caroline’s older dog, Adam, was never out of the first two in fields of 30-40-plus dogs.
Highlights at the state championships included winning the championship in open obedience, a gold medallion for highest overall three qualifications in obedience and an award for excellence in heeling. Adam also won a state championship and reserve state championship in rally obedience.
At the Border Collie Nationals, they won open obedience, masters rally o and ex B rally O – scoring 197 out of 200 in open obedience and achieving two perfect scores in rally obedience. They also took home two seconds in Dances With Dogs.
Not to be outdone, young Groot, a rescue dog Caroline has had for only nine months, won a state championship in rally obedience and a medallion for excellence in obedience. He could not compete in the Border Collie Nationals as he was not a pedigree dog.
Caroline is available for puppy home visits, mind-your-manners sessions and behavioural troubleshooting sessions in the bayside and SE Brisbane.
She is also the national, state and EKKA champion in rally obedience and teaches rally o privately and at the Redlands Dog Obedience Club in Birkdale. Her older dog, Adam has already achieved 10 scores of 100 out of 100 in rally o this season, which may well be an Australian record.
