Are you familiar with the sport of mondioring? I sure wasn’t until I saw this news piece from Fox 13 in Salt Lake City.
As I understand it, you get no money for winning, and it can be expensive to compete, so of course, who wouldn’t want to get involved?!?!
The basic premise is that the competitions are used to grade dogs in three skills: obedience, agility, and bite work. Who would want a dog with these skills? Primarily police departments, who usually do not have any breeding programs of their own. By observing dogs in mondioring, they can purchase puppies from breeding stock with the right stuff.
As you might expect, the Belgian Malinois breed is the leader in this type of competition, and Idole Loups de Soleil (also known as Idol) is no exception. The world championships are being held this year in France, so maybe her French-sounding name will give her an advantage! Her one “fault” is that she’s female. Males are often thought to be the best at bite work because they are naturally more aggressive. Here’s hoping Idol proves them wrong!
Good luck to Idol and her handler, David Broderick, as well as to the other four US entrants. If you’ve just been looking for a reason to go to France, you might want to plan your trip for the beginning of October. The four-day competition begins October 1st.
Get more information at Mondioring.org.
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!