Local Dogs Bring Home Silver

Medals were on Barb Davis’ mind when she arrived in Helsinki, Finland, during the Olympics this fall.

She was no spectator. Barb was one of the highly tuned participants in sneakers and red, white and blue jackets. She’d just finished sessions with the team coach and a psychologist who counsels the NFL. The butterflies in her stomach told her she was ready to compete.

Helsinki is far north of Australia, but it better suited the dozens of dogs that were competing as well.

“It was really clean there and well laid out. And you can take your dogs anywhere,” Barb says. She teaches math at North Idaho College between training her four fluffy shelties to race agility courses.

Two of Barb’s shelties, Shimmer and Aspen, were among 10 dogs selected to represent the United States at the World Agility Championships in Helsinki this year. Twenty-eight countries participated.

Half the U.S. dogs were large, jumping 26-inch-high obstacles. The other five, including Shimmer and Aspen, jumped 16-inch-high barriers.

Barb, who lives in Newman Lake, was the only U.S. trainer with two competing dogs. Shimmer and Aspen traveled well and had a few days to adjust their biological clocks to Finnish time before the race began.

Both dogs were used to outdoor American agility courses - tire swings to fly through, bridges to cross, hurdles to jump, a series of poles to weave through, and tunnels, all for time and in a certain order.

Helsinki’s course was on a carpet. The obstacles were placed close together. Barb studied the best way to lead Shimmer and Aspen through.

Aspen hit the course first, as an individual competitor. She raced according to Barb’s verbal commands and body movements. But she entered the wrong end of a small tunnel and was disqualified.

“I knew I’d miscommunicated to her. It was tough,” Barb says. “Aspen and I went for a good walk and I had a good cry.”

The four dogs on Shimmer’s team each raced alone, but their times were added together. After their first run, the team was in third place and thrilled about their medal possibilities. They had one more run.

Shimmer slipped slightly weaving through poles on the second run and Barb’s heart lurched, but the sheltie caught his balance immediately. The team held onto its position and American supporters in the stands thundered their approval.

Then second-place Italy competed, followed by first-place Finland. When the final numbers came up, Barb’s team had won second place. The audience’s excited pounding was so loud that Barb had to hold Shimmer to calm him.

The coach grabbed an American flag to wave. The big dog team ran onto the course. Barb, holding Shimmer, crowded onto a compact awards stand with the three other team dog trainers and their dogs. They were awarded crystal vases instead of medals.

The American Kennel Club gave the team silver medals a few weeks later, and jackets embroidered with their accomplishment. Barb’s smile still hasn’t faded.

“It’s pretty neat to be able to go and compete with the best people in the world,” she says.

Midwest monkeyshines

Forget winter for a few hours and mosey into the comfortable Midwest summer about to sprout at Coeur d’Alene’s Lake City Playhouse. A production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein favorite “Oklahoma” opens Dec. 1 and plays weekends through December.

What a nice diversion during the holidays. “Oklahoma” goes back to simpler times a century ago, when handsome cowboys and winsome farm girls were the norm.

The show starts 7 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m Sundays. Tickets cost $6-$12. Call (208) 667-1323 for reservations.

Where is your favorite Idaho spot in winter? Thaw your mind for Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID, 83814; fax to 765-7149; call 765-7128; or e-mail to cynthiat@spokesman.com.