Navio and Barbara have a blast at Roaring Fork Dog Show

Barbara Giancoala and her Portuguese Water Dog Navio had a real blast at the Roaring Fork Kennel Club Dog Show in Eagle Colorado in July, 2013. Navio showed in Open A Obedience Class for the first time on Saturday. He qualified for his First Leg and received Second Place with a score of 188. He also showed in the Amateur Handler Class in Conformation and received a First Place ribbon. The next day Barbara showed him in the Open Class of Conformation, where he received Second Place.

Barbara Relates to Us The Bear Story:
I took Navio out for the last time before retiring for the evening. We walked around the parking lot of the hotel, trying to find as many grassy spots as we could (not realizing that there was a grassy area on the other side of hotel). There was a woman walking her two Irish Wolfhounds who had stopped to talk with a gentleman who was also staying at the hotel. As I was standing at the bottom of a wooded hill, it occurred to me that there could be wolves, coyotes, bears or other critters on this wooded hill. With that in mind, I decided to move away from the hill and go over to the other side of the parking lot. We got half way across the lot, when I suddenly heard the woman yelling at one of the her wolfhounds. I looked in her direction, just in time to see her one wolfhound dragging her and the other wolfhound across the parking lot… she had lost control, and he was making a beeline for Navio! Navio was 23 feet away from me on the retractable leash. I tried to pull him back in as fast as possible to avoid any conflict. I pulled so much of the leash back in, that I ended up stepping on it. By that time, Navio saw the other dog heading toward, him so he headed in his direction. I gave the leash another good pull, but ended up pulling too hard. I fell backwards with my butt hitting the ground first. The next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground with Navio and the other dog nose to nose over top of me!! The woman apologized profusely and explained that her dog was on high alert because there was a bear on the hill!! I couldn’t believe she and the gentleman were standing around the parking lot chatting, knowing there was a bear in the area!! I decided it was time to go back into the hotel. For the rest of the weekend Gail referred to my hind end as the “bear butt”! It was a long ride home sitting on my aching bear butt!

Warning sign posted at the hotel in Eagle, Colorado