“First Season Competing, first time at Crufts as well…”
March 17, 2018 9:26 PM Subscribe
On day one of the 2018 Crufts dog show, Tinklebury “Tinks” Bingo the papillon took to the agility course with a distinctive set of moves.
I’ve always wondered if papillons were as much like chihuahuas as they seem. Apparently it’s true. The concept of being told to do something is so distant from a chihuahua. I miss them so much.
posted by Countess Elena at 10:02 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Countess Elena at 10:02 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
TINKS DOES WHAT TINKS WANTS
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:16 PM on March 17, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:16 PM on March 17, 2018 [18 favorites]
I feel so bad for the handler -- she's put in hundreds of hours training with that dog, but the poor dog just wasn't having it today. She had a great attitude, though.
This got me to watch the Crufts final competition -- so many great dogs.
posted by suelac at 10:17 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
This got me to watch the Crufts final competition -- so many great dogs.
posted by suelac at 10:17 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Tinks is my hero. And his handler is a good sport. Well done, all. We can go home now.
posted by tclark at 10:22 PM on March 17, 2018
posted by tclark at 10:22 PM on March 17, 2018
WE ARE ALL TINKS
posted by potrzebie at 10:27 PM on March 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by potrzebie at 10:27 PM on March 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
Before I saw this I had no idea why they're called Papillons!
posted by jamjam at 10:32 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by jamjam at 10:32 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm not so hot on the whole style part of the competitions, but I will watch the hell out of the Agility and Flyball trials because that's showing dogs being dogs, not models.
Plus the Rescue trials for agility are pretty damn awesome, if for no other reason, the relaxed attitude of them.
posted by drewbage1847 at 10:33 PM on March 17, 2018 [18 favorites]
Plus the Rescue trials for agility are pretty damn awesome, if for no other reason, the relaxed attitude of them.
posted by drewbage1847 at 10:33 PM on March 17, 2018 [18 favorites]
Oh man. I laughed so hard at the official in the suit giving it one last try--picking up the dog and kind of....bowling him? towards the jump. And the judges:
"I don't think that's allowed..."
"Did he throw that dog over?"
"I don't think that was legal."
"If I'm honest with you, Graham, I'm not sure it'll matter that much."
However, my heart belongs to Olly the Jack Russell rescue dog, who decided to freestyle on the Rescue Agility course last year and then did it again this year.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:44 PM on March 17, 2018 [49 favorites]
"I don't think that's allowed..."
"Did he throw that dog over?"
"I don't think that was legal."
"If I'm honest with you, Graham, I'm not sure it'll matter that much."
However, my heart belongs to Olly the Jack Russell rescue dog, who decided to freestyle on the Rescue Agility course last year and then did it again this year.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:44 PM on March 17, 2018 [49 favorites]
Oops, I said judges but meant commentators.
And do watch drewbage1847's Rescue Agility Trials link (of which Olly is a part); the commentators give a little background about each dog and how they were rescued, and it's quite touching. There's one dog that was surrendered at 10 months and is now doing these agility trials at 11 years old, so lovely.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:03 PM on March 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
And do watch drewbage1847's Rescue Agility Trials link (of which Olly is a part); the commentators give a little background about each dog and how they were rescued, and it's quite touching. There's one dog that was surrendered at 10 months and is now doing these agility trials at 11 years old, so lovely.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:03 PM on March 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
Olly is awesome. But the stories kill me in part because I always want to take the people who surrendered them and shake them. I know it's unfair, but since I'm rescue adjacent here in LA, I get twitchy about the number of poor pups I see getting surrendered because the family "doesn't have time for them" or "they're too energetic" - these are loyal, loving living creatures who will do almost anything in exchange for a meal and warm bed and a kind word.
The ones that always make me feel a broad swath of emotions are the owner surrenders because the family is moving to a place that doesn't allow dogs. I have to grind my teeth because I know that many people, particularly in a city like LA, don't have the financial independence to always move somewhere that pets are allowed, but I suspect (perhaps unfairly) some of it is an easy cop out for dropping a burden and my own determination that I'll sleep in my damn car with the dogs if I have to. Again, it's an unfair judgement, but it's still more deeply unfair to the dogs.
But hey - watch the dogs be dogs.. that's a much better thing!
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:29 PM on March 17, 2018 [9 favorites]
The ones that always make me feel a broad swath of emotions are the owner surrenders because the family is moving to a place that doesn't allow dogs. I have to grind my teeth because I know that many people, particularly in a city like LA, don't have the financial independence to always move somewhere that pets are allowed, but I suspect (perhaps unfairly) some of it is an easy cop out for dropping a burden and my own determination that I'll sleep in my damn car with the dogs if I have to. Again, it's an unfair judgement, but it's still more deeply unfair to the dogs.
But hey - watch the dogs be dogs.. that's a much better thing!
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:29 PM on March 17, 2018 [9 favorites]
Tinks was the hero I needed this evening.
posted by monopas at 11:57 PM on March 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by monopas at 11:57 PM on March 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
Also.. this EPK for Isle of Dogs, which I recognize has some problematic elements - also contains a very relevant part to the idea of Tink at the end with MeFi hero Tilda Swinton saying "the heart of a dog is a bottomless thing" Amen.
posted by drewbage1847 at 12:40 AM on March 18, 2018
posted by drewbage1847 at 12:40 AM on March 18, 2018
Oh gee. I have embarrassment anxiety, so that was actually a little horrifying. But the owner managed to have a smile, because really, what else can you do?
posted by happyroach at 12:43 AM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by happyroach at 12:43 AM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
"I don't know how he turned around in there" (Answer: dog must be part spaghetti) Another great Crufts video.
posted by freethefeet at 2:44 AM on March 18, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by freethefeet at 2:44 AM on March 18, 2018 [14 favorites]
This is the first I've heard of dog show agility courses. They're marvellous - thanks OP!
posted by colin.jaquiery at 4:26 AM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by colin.jaquiery at 4:26 AM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
OMG, people doing marching band formations with golden retrievers instead of instruments. I am sobbing.
posted by merriment at 5:38 AM on March 18, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by merriment at 5:38 AM on March 18, 2018 [13 favorites]
I bet he made up for it in the apartment yapping event
posted by thelonius at 5:55 AM on March 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 5:55 AM on March 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
I find dog shows problematic and off-putting at best, but if the big dog shows were rescue-only, I would be their biggest fan.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:19 AM on March 18, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Dip Flash at 6:19 AM on March 18, 2018 [9 favorites]
Would the handler have been allowed to jump over the bar herself to show Tinks what to do?
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:36 AM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:36 AM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
Would the handler have been allowed to jump over the bar herself to show Tinks what to do?
at 0:56 in the video, one of the commentators says, 'it doesn't look as though he [the dog] actually wants to know about this...' and haha that appears to be 100% accurate, from my perspective at least; tinks appears to be sweetly but determinedly ignoring the jump's existence entirely. even if she had been able to jump over first, tinks appears to be in a mood where he is Not Having It.
posted by halation at 7:16 AM on March 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
at 0:56 in the video, one of the commentators says, 'it doesn't look as though he [the dog] actually wants to know about this...' and haha that appears to be 100% accurate, from my perspective at least; tinks appears to be sweetly but determinedly ignoring the jump's existence entirely. even if she had been able to jump over first, tinks appears to be in a mood where he is Not Having It.
posted by halation at 7:16 AM on March 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
I find dog shows problematic and off-putting at best, but if the big dog shows were rescue-only, I would be their biggest fan.
There was a rescue dog show on the Hallmark Channel last month. I haven't checked it out, but I bet there is some great video.
During the Best in Show presentation at this year's Crufts, protestors from PETA invaded the pitch to hold up CANINE EUGENICS signs. They were not there to hurt the dogs, but no one could know that, and the way the prize-winning dog's owner snatched up her pup struck a chord with me.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:10 AM on March 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
There was a rescue dog show on the Hallmark Channel last month. I haven't checked it out, but I bet there is some great video.
During the Best in Show presentation at this year's Crufts, protestors from PETA invaded the pitch to hold up CANINE EUGENICS signs. They were not there to hurt the dogs, but no one could know that, and the way the prize-winning dog's owner snatched up her pup struck a chord with me.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:10 AM on March 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
Bartleby the papillon.
posted by idiopath at 8:18 AM on March 18, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by idiopath at 8:18 AM on March 18, 2018 [15 favorites]
Mais NON!
posted by The otter lady at 8:40 AM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by The otter lady at 8:40 AM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
I know it's unfair, but since I'm rescue adjacent here in LA, I get twitchy about the number of poor pups I see getting surrendered because the family "doesn't have time for them" or "they're too energetic"
One of the founders of Detroit Dog Rescue once said something that really stuck with me: "Where there are dogs in distress, there are people in distress."
posted by praemunire at 8:55 AM on March 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
One of the founders of Detroit Dog Rescue once said something that really stuck with me: "Where there are dogs in distress, there are people in distress."
posted by praemunire at 8:55 AM on March 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
One of my dogs, Kenda, competes in a sport called Barn Hunt YouTube. In Barn Hunt, dogs sniff out the locations of (live, safely protected pet) rats in a barn full of hay bales. All levels of Barn Hunt competition are timed, and the faster the dog clears the barn, the better your score.
We were in the ring during last month's trial when Kenda entered a tunnel and just... stayed there? I started laughing and looked at the judge and asked, "Did she take a magazine and a lamp in there with her?" The judge started cracking up, too. Eventually Kenda emerged and finished her rat roundup. At the end of the five-day trial I won the Judge's Choice ribbon for happy dog handling (I'm on the right; my friend Lori is on the left. She volunteered during the entire trial even though her dog wasn't competing while she recovered from her spay surgery.)
Watching these Crufts videos is incredibly heartening. No matter how good you are at your sport, your dog is an individual being with their own agenda. Some days, they just aren't having it, and it's good to keep a bit of humility.
Both my dogs are rescues; we adopted Kenda from a local Humane Society. All types and sizes of dogs are welcome in Barn Hunt. And I finally figured out what Kenda was doing in that tunnel; she was scenting a rat that was hidden on top of the tunnel. So now I know, if she pauses in a tunnel, have her check on top. And she did pretty well in last month's trial... we're entered in April's event too. Learn more about Barn Hunt here.
posted by workerant at 8:57 AM on March 18, 2018 [11 favorites]
We were in the ring during last month's trial when Kenda entered a tunnel and just... stayed there? I started laughing and looked at the judge and asked, "Did she take a magazine and a lamp in there with her?" The judge started cracking up, too. Eventually Kenda emerged and finished her rat roundup. At the end of the five-day trial I won the Judge's Choice ribbon for happy dog handling (I'm on the right; my friend Lori is on the left. She volunteered during the entire trial even though her dog wasn't competing while she recovered from her spay surgery.)
Watching these Crufts videos is incredibly heartening. No matter how good you are at your sport, your dog is an individual being with their own agenda. Some days, they just aren't having it, and it's good to keep a bit of humility.
Both my dogs are rescues; we adopted Kenda from a local Humane Society. All types and sizes of dogs are welcome in Barn Hunt. And I finally figured out what Kenda was doing in that tunnel; she was scenting a rat that was hidden on top of the tunnel. So now I know, if she pauses in a tunnel, have her check on top. And she did pretty well in last month's trial... we're entered in April's event too. Learn more about Barn Hunt here.
posted by workerant at 8:57 AM on March 18, 2018 [11 favorites]
I'm going to be thinking of Tinks tomorrow morning when I have to get in the car to go to work.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:06 AM on March 18, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:06 AM on March 18, 2018 [12 favorites]
What I don't get is how this hugely popular dog show is still a thing, given that it has a name that sounds as though it should belong to some kind of horrible skin disease.
we had to euthanase him, he was suffering terribly from crufts
posted by flabdablet at 9:06 AM on March 18, 2018 [6 favorites]
we had to euthanase him, he was suffering terribly from crufts
posted by flabdablet at 9:06 AM on March 18, 2018 [6 favorites]
Some kinds of dogs are better suited for agility courses than others.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:34 AM on March 18, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:34 AM on March 18, 2018 [9 favorites]
Some kinds of dogs are better suited for agility courses than others
Oh, yes. A friend of mine does agility with a French mastiff: he's a bit smaller than the one in the video. And there's a rottweiler in my class: he's a very happy guy, but easily distracted.
I have seen a Great Dane in an agility trial: he has to do the Army-crawl through the tunnel.
But the dogs generally love it, even if they're not speedy or agile.
posted by suelac at 10:52 AM on March 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
Oh, yes. A friend of mine does agility with a French mastiff: he's a bit smaller than the one in the video. And there's a rottweiler in my class: he's a very happy guy, but easily distracted.
I have seen a Great Dane in an agility trial: he has to do the Army-crawl through the tunnel.
But the dogs generally love it, even if they're not speedy or agile.
posted by suelac at 10:52 AM on March 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
All these fantastic videos are making me think I need to get our dog into agility--he's a rehomed Jack Russell terrier like Olly; we had a JRT for many years, and after he died we purposely started looking for JRTs who needed rehoming/rescuing since we can meet their needs and know how to work with them. They are tremendously appealing dogs but can also be stubborn little perpetual motion machines, so unfortunately they are often surrendered as puppies.
Our new little guy is very loveable and smart, and knows lots of commands, but also has a propensity for losing his mind and getting the zoomies when he's excited. I'm pretty sure his trials would look a bit like the Crufts Fails videos, but that's why we love him.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:01 PM on March 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
Our new little guy is very loveable and smart, and knows lots of commands, but also has a propensity for losing his mind and getting the zoomies when he's excited. I'm pretty sure his trials would look a bit like the Crufts Fails videos, but that's why we love him.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:01 PM on March 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
We got our dog because my youngest daughter needed an activity and really, really wanted a puppy. The idea was that she would go to agility classes with him. That never happened — as in so many families, he became my dog. Looking at these videos, I'm thinking why didn't I go to agility classes? Maybe I should start now. He's the perfect dog for it, a border-something mix, and he loves learning and running and jumping. I'm not the perfect human, but I guess it would be good for me ;-)
posted by mumimor at 12:22 PM on March 18, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by mumimor at 12:22 PM on March 18, 2018 [6 favorites]
I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but one of best days of my life involved being on acid and watching the pups do the agility course at a dog show. It was great, and I'm a cat person!
At any rate, Tinks is a good dog.
posted by talking leaf at 11:51 PM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
At any rate, Tinks is a good dog.
posted by talking leaf at 11:51 PM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
However, my heart belongs to Olly the Jack Russell rescue dog, who decided to freestyle on the Rescue Agility course last year and then did it again this year .I love the commenter as well: "My word, he's a happy little chap!" and "By now, I think Karen is training him to run into the wings *delighted laughter*".
posted by Harald74 at 12:20 AM on March 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
Olly! I'm so glad Olly hasn't changed one bit.
Additionally, Tinks is now my hero. God, I love Crufts.
posted by kalimac at 9:15 AM on March 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
Additionally, Tinks is now my hero. God, I love Crufts.
posted by kalimac at 9:15 AM on March 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
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