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Pooch Pentathlon proves a winner with dog owners
By Bob Jackson
BOARDMAN
On any other Sunday, Juanita Troisi would have been at the flea market.
But yesterday, the 72-year-old Youngstown woman and her family — which includes three Golden retriever dogs — was among the crowd of people who participated in the seventh annual Pooch Pentathlon at the Davis Family YMCA.
Dogs of all sizes, shapes and breeds participated in five events: Leap Dog, in which dogs were measured for how far they could dive into a pool; Fetch, in which they, well, fetched things; Doggie Paddle, in which they swam across a pool; Treasure Dive, in which the dogs dove to the bottom of a pool to retrieve a toy; and an agility course.
Troisi said she’d wanted to attend the event in past years but wasn’t able because she had to work at the Four Seasons Flea Market on Youngstown’s East Side. This year she persuaded her boss, Four Seasons owner Dennis Barr of Campbell, to let her have the day off so she could take her three dogs — Coco and Lucky, who are both 5, and their 3-year-old son, Ragu — to the Pooch Pentathlon.
“I had to talk him into coming,” Troisi said of Barr, who brought his two dogs, B.J. and Charlie, although he didn’t enter them into any of the events. “I think I deserve a day off now and then.”
Although she loves all her dogs, Ragu holds a special place in Troisi’s heart because of a birth deformity that left his front-right paw disfigured and unusable.
“I lost a son to neuroblastoma cancer 25 years ago,” Troisi said. “They never found the primary site, but it showed up in his right leg. When [Ragu] came out with that deformed paw, they said I should just have him put down, but I couldn’t do it. I said no way. It was on his right leg, just like what happened to my son.”
Neuroblastoma is a malignant cancer that develops from nerve tissue. According to the U.S. National Libary of Medicine’s website, most neuroblastomas begin in the abdomen in the adrenal gland, or next to the spinal cord, or in the chest. They can spread to the bones in the patient’s face, skull, pelvis, shoulders, arms and legs, or to the bone marrow, liver, lymph nodes, skin and around the eyes. It is most common in infants and children, and mostly in boys.
Troisi’s son, Michael, was 17 when he died. His friends had nicknamed him Ragu.
That’s where the dog’s name came from.
“He can’t walk on that leg, but he loves the water,” said Troisi, who had help handling the dogs Sunday from another son, Christopher, 33, and her 14-year-old grandson, Richard Troisi II. “I’m so glad we got to come out here today. This is great.”
She said Ragu has a prosthetic paw that he wears for walking and running, but he didn’t wear it in the water Sunday.
Chris Hughes, director of aquatics at the YMCA, said there were more than 70 dogs entered in Sunday’s contests, which was the highest ever for the event.
“Little by little, it does keep getting bigger every year,” Hughes said.
She said the outdoor swimming pool closes to the human public after Labor Day each year. Dogs can come and swim in the pool after that, until the Pooch Pentathlon takes place. After that, the pool is winterized and prepared for closing for the season.
Staci Wills, 35, of Canfield and her 9-year-old daughter, Maddie, were there with their Great Dane, Brin, who they said weighs in at well over 100 pounds.
“She loves to swim in lakes and things like that, but this is so new to her with all these other dogs and people,” said Staci. “She’s usually afraid of everything. She hides behind trees or whatever she can find.”
Shawna Bonacci, 26, of Boardman also brought her dog, a 3-year-old toy poodle named Hendrix, who navigated the obstacle course in less than two minutes.
Bonacci said she wasn’t sure whether Hendrix could swim when they arrived and therefore didn’t know how he’d fare in the water events.
“He got in the water and tried to swim, but then he just gave up so we took him out,” she said, laughing.
Jerry and Nancy Demetra of Boardman brought their 2-year-old black Labrador retriever, Tyra, who they said is named after supermodel Tyra Banks. Tyra was a defending champion from last year’s Doggie Paddle competition.
“It’s a really nice little event they have here,” Nancy said.
The event was sponsored by Invisible Fence of Eastern Ohio in Austintown, the Mahoning-Shenango Kennel Club, Steel Valley Spay Neuter Clinic of Girard, A Place for Paws in Columbiana and Pet Lodge USA in Boardman.