My most passionate event with Trivet was in 1993 when he won the coveted Super Dog title in Memphis, Tennessee. I traveled to this event from a week long camp in Pennsylvania, where I was instructing, with 13 year old Widget and his younger cousin Juice as they were to be a duo performing for the first Freestyle Program at the Gaines Classic that year.
Upon arrival at the hotel, I settled the dogs and went to a local restaurant for a nice leisurely dinner with friends. As I entered my hotel room, it was apparent that Trivet had become sick to his stomach as evidenced by the vomit and diarrhea soiling the floor.
Being the special competitor that he was, Trivet performed to his absolute best losing a mere 6 points out of a total of 1200 for the combined 6 classes! Winning this coveted title at the Classic was a goal I had aspired to achieve. I had a quiet talk with Trivet, as I knew his inner struggle with his intestinal virus was plaguing him throughout the competition. I promised that if he performed at a level higher then ever before to take home the Silver Dumbbell, that this would be our last tournament performance together. It had special meaning for me to win at this time. You see, I had almost lost Widget that year with emergency surgery to remove his spleen. While Widget himself had won 2 previous Super Dog titles at Regional events, he was never given the center stage highlight for retiring due to an unforeseen incident.