Entlefest Lake Tahoe 2009 Story by Amy Starost Photos by Jay Schuff Where can you go and see so many Entles in one place? Entlefest that s where!! This year our annual specialty was held in beautiful Lake Tahoe, NV at Zephyr Cove & Resort. The weather started out great, then on Saturday it got very windy and cold and it even snowed overnight! That, however, did not stop all our enthusiastic Entleowners from continuing to participate in all we had to offer!! Even the black bears didn t stop our gang! There were many activities everyone could participate in during the weekend. To start, there was a wonderful educational seminar called, Behavioral Seminar for Reactive/Over-excited dogs, which was presented by Greta Kaplan. This seminar provided our participants and their dogs with loads of information and they learned how to get their dogs to relax, focus and work off leash in different situations. There were numerous Comprehensive Entlebucher Assessment (CEBA) seminars and evaluations as well, which provided a whole dog evaluation experience, in a non-competitive, interactive and educational format. Throughout the weekend, CEBA offered Temperament Demonstrations; Structure/Conformation Demonstrations and individual evaluations and Laser Measurement. Afterwards, CEBA finished up the weekend with a presentation by Vince Mulligan regarding the movement of our dogs and how that affects their physical well-being.
Entlefest Hosts Jami and Amy Greta Kaplan presented an educational workshop followed by a Temperament Test
Participants this year had lots of fun as they competed in Entle Fun Games; Entle Olympics and the Talent Show. It s always so much fun to participate and watch how our dogs excel in these areas. Although I did not bring one of my dogs with me to Tahoe from New Jersey, I found one of the best parts of Entlefest was watching how our dogs have us humans trained to help them win as well! We also got to participate in the conformation handling workshop and of course, our Fun Match & Jr. Showmanship show! This year, we are proud to make history with our first AKC Sanctioned B Conformation Match and Obedience/Rally Match were a HUGE success!! Annella Cooper and David Denis were approved by the AKC to judge these events and they were very impressed with our owners and dogs!see Entlefest Show Results for the winners. Jan Vincent provided the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test and was proud to announce everyone passed the test!
Janis Miller was presented with the George Padgett Award for her efforts and research regarding the Entlebucher Utopic Syndrome (EUS). The George Padgett Award is presented to a NEMDA member for their contributions to the health and future of the Entle. LeeLee Stefanki and Becky Christiansen were this year s recipients of the Albert Heim Award. The Albert Heim Award is to recognize and award NEMDA members who have made a significant contribution to the enhancement of the Entle by supporting the programs of NEMDA. Jen Shaul and Great Earl of Duke v. Adhem (Earl) were presented with the Guthrie Award. The Guthrie Award is presented to NEMDA members and their dog who have earned titles in three different working venues. Congratulations! You all deserve these awards.
All our delicious meals were prepared by Ryan and Tori Devey (Jan Vincent s son and daughter-in-law) and Sophie Schuff. The gang never stopped working!! After Friday nights dinner, we went around the heated tent (it does get cold when the sun goes down in Tahoe!) and introduced ourselves, where we are from and anything special or interesting about our dog(s). It was a great way to get to meet everyone and hear a funny story. On Saturday night, the winners of the photo contest were announced (and boy did we have a lot of photos to choose from!), a slide show presentation/tribute to the founding members of NEMDA and our very own Kathy Marshall played her guitar and sang some songs off her CD, which were beautiful! We concluded the evening with our Auction and various raffles! I can t believe all the wonderful donations to the auction and raffle. I don t believe anyone left Entlefest this year without winning something. One of the best things about NEMDA s Entlefest s is meeting old friends and making new friends! I also want to thank all our volunteers for their help.without them, the event wouldn t have been such a success! I truly had such as fantastic time and met so many wonderful people and dogs that I
really didn t miss my family too much (don t tell them that though)! I enjoyed myself so much that I will be hosting Entlefest in 2010 (details will follow)! SO..I expect to see all my friends come to the East Coast next year!! Entlefest Tahoe proved that not only are the Entles tough, so are their owners! Despite wind and snow, the fest went on! An Entlefest compilation slideshow and photo CD is available for $20.00 of which $15.00 will go into the EUS fund. Send check or cash to: Jay Schuff Photography 131 Olympia Park Road Grass Valley, CA 95945
See you in the Poconos Entlefest 2010!