Super Sunday

Thanks to everybody who came out today to work their dogs at Cowley. We had members from Lethbridge and Calgary join us. It was so good to see Carol although I am sure the day was pretty tiring for her. We appreciate Maureen and Joan taking care of her and working Emily and Hank. Kim and Bosley did some excellent draft work and Sarah and her dog Kaleb were on hand to work at Open obedience. Rally was fun as ever with so many dogs entered (some of us have three or more) and all doing really well. Kipper did some nice dumbbell work today and Krissy did her jump. Mary Ellen worked Shaggy in conformation and did the best stacks ever. Nancy Lopaschuk from the Cranbrook area brought her papillon and worked the CD routine and stayed to do rally with us. She and her dog are going to be a force to be reckoned with when they head to the States in a week or so. Tubby didn't join us today as he is packing for his trip to the Carting Olympics with Simon and Lexi. Go gettem, Tubby. Safe trip. We missed seeing Lee and Hank with Bess today. Lee is under the weather and hating it.

We ended the day with a birthday cake as Fyre, Hunter, Mo, Swayze, and Shaggy turned 3 and Mesa and Ryder turned 9 this weekend. Where does the time go?

Congratulations go out to Denise and Jagged. Jagged was high scoring doberman at the Nationals in Edmonton last weekend and finished her CD requirements with a 194 and also picked up near perfect scores of 98 and 99 in Rally Advanced and Rally Excellent. What a super team!!!

We are all getting ready for Medicine Hat Dog Show and so we hope to rent the hall on more time before then. Keep reading the blog for

info on that.

Happy heeling.

Judi

Rescue dog?

Hi, everyone,

If you weren't able to join us at the Cowley Hall early last Sunday, you missed some real entertainment. Tubby has been practicing with his dogs for the Newfoundland Nationals Carting Olympics and he put Simon and Lexi through their paces Sunday. They were terrific! Hopefully, my movie will be accepted by the blog and I can share it all with you.

To those of you who were attending a clinic or show, we hope that you did well and that you brought home new information which will hold you in good stead.

Our "Due South" vests are in and they are beautiful. Louann says to wash in cold water, no fabric softener, hang to dry for best results from washing.

We have the hall for Sunday, April 25th from 9:30 - 2:00 p.m. starting with Draft Work and standard Obedience (novice and open) followed by Rally O (Novice and then a combined Advanced / Excellent toughie) around 11:00 or so. Members $5.00

Nonmembers: $10.00 for drop in. Hope you can make it. In the meantime, enjoy the movie.

The Prez

Successful Club Day : Thanks, everyone!

What a great day we had at dog club today. We had sixteen people and 30 dogs attend. Drummer, the sheltie puppy, found a new friend in Cava, Liz Saunders' new flatcoat baby. What a pair. We had great practice in calling them away from each other and having them sit and do some elementary 'heeling'. Cava got to meet some of the older shepherds and lots of people and she was happy and outgoing and confident throughout.

Twelve dogs took part in scent hurdle from beginners to those who already have titles.

Then it was on to an Advanced Rally course that really pressed people and pooches to stay focused and work closely as a team to avoid the pitfalls that come out of a 'heeling' course with many changes of position and pace. A good job was done by all.

Replacing a few signs brought us into the excellent course which, once again, pressed people to choose a pace and stay with it throughout the course without adapting pace to the dog. We had food bowls and jumps and 180' pivots and serpentines, spirals and a straight figure 8. There were many opportunities for a dog to bump into its handler or interfere with forward motion. I must say the handling was excellent even though a few of us were off course now and then.

The honor was a down in front of the handler but a few of us actually did a sit or down out of sight as our honor exercise. What better opportunity than today.

Lunch was great as usual although we really missed Maureen and her baking!!! Boo hoo. Feel better soon, Maureen.

We wish Denise and Jagged a successful weekend at their specialty as Jagged completes her CD. She and Denise looked fabulous today. Lore and Daisy also did a super Novice routine! And Mary Ellen's Cheyenne was amazing considering the fact that I am sure she stays at home and reads the obedience rules and practices all by herself while Mary Ellen is at work or away on courses, because there has been no training since last summer with this beast.

As president of our club, I can't say enough about the wonderful difference having a fully matted facility makes in the training for our dogs. The footing is solid and we must thank Russell Lee for nominating us for the Shell grant which we received due to his efforts. It's been absolutely wonderful. We are able to do so much more in the line of events because of it.

Thanks to Lee for bringing Bess so I could 'play' at rally O with her. Thanks to Denise, Deb, and MaryEllen for working with Swayze and Hunter. What a difference in confidence in twenty minutes. You made my day!!! Thank you to everyone who brought goodies and who helped set up and take down courses and handle dogs for each other. It's this kind of cooperation that makes the day possible.

Good luck to Tubby and Lexi as they continue to practice for their 2010 Carting Olympics. I often wonder why Tubby's neighbors haven't gifted him with a straight-jacket after seeing some of the antics he and the dogs go through in the driveway as they practice ...... if I saw a Newfoundland dog racing joyfully up to a man-made mannequin and dragging it across a driveway by its hand, I would wonder about the fellow giving the commands.

Tomorrow night, we start our new obedience class at the hall at 6:30 p.m. with an eye to increasing our membership at the end of five weeks.

Thursday, Lore and Louann will have a rally O course set out for us at the Twin Butte Hall at 7:00 p.m. and the opportunity for us to practice obedience as well. Cost to attend is $5.00 for the evening.

I will rent the hall for next Saturday, April 17th from 10:00 - 2ish. Hope you can join us.

Judi

Enjoy your week.

Vest Logos

Hi, Everyone,

Just a little note to say that we have our logo chosen for our vests. We are going with the grey as it will look very nice on our black vests. Louann is taking care of all the orders and will let us know when things are done.

Scent hurdle takes place at Cowley Sunday, April 11th at 10:00 a.m. followed by Excellent and Advanced Rally and obedience.

Hope to see you there. The weather today is bright and beautiful with no wind at present. That could change in a moment.

Judi

Pet Expo

Remember Expo 2009? Well, here are pics from 2010!

Here are some pics of the SAWHDA Pet Expo Booth and a couple of shots of the carting. We were thrilled to have 30 ft. of space and we needed it.

We have the Cowley Hall on Sunday, April 11th from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. for scent hurdle, rally O and obedience.

If there is no snow on the parking lot (just kidding) those who wish to cart can do so there as well. Hope to see a good turn-out.

Just an update on us folks that trialed at the RDDKC. Joan Michaud's Dezi earned her CD and RA this weekend and Maureen O'Neill's Levi earned another 2 legs on her RAE (making that 8 in total towards her RAE). Congratulations to everyone.

Carol Solkshinitz is on the mend after some fix and repair surgery this week. Won't be long until she and Emily join us for summer fun in all things canine.

Sad news this morning. Sharon Smith has passed away after a long battle with cancer. Sharon and her pomeranians enjoyed rally obedience and drill with us and those memories we will cherish.

Condolences go out to Russell Lee whose brother passed away this week. We hope Russ and Marilyn have a safe trip to Fairview and home again. Mojo has to put up with Judi as his Rally O handler this week.

Tubby Miller returns to us from the west coast area we he judged at the biggest Draft test ever in CANADA . It STARTED AT 7:00 AND they were done at 5:15 . There were 24 dogs entered. 12 Newfs 12 Berners. 4 Newfs and 3 Berners qualified . There were 5 draft judges in the test. While one set was being judged, they started a second test with 13 dogs. What a huge entry. Too bad there weren't more qualifiers.

On this note, I guess we'd better make good and sure that we are really ready, ready, ready before we enter our dogs in a test. I'm certain Tubby will let us know who is ready and who should wait until later.