SAWHDA Fun Match

The Southern Alberta Working/Herding Dog Association held a fun match at its club day on March 22nd at the Cowley Hall.

We started the day with some pretty nice scent hurdle dogs, some in training, and some already competing on the Due South Scent Hurdle Team.

 

31 dog/handler teams were entered in the SAWHDA fun match at Cowley, Alberta with teams coming from as far away as Jaffray, Lethbridge, and Calgary to attend.

 

In the Rally ring,  Judge Lore Bruder awarded  High in Novice RallyClass to Liz Saunders and her flatcoat retriever, Cava and a score of 99/100.  Advanced Rally High score went to Joan Michaud and her Belgian shepherd,  Zsuree with a score of 97.  And High in Excellent Rally was won by Sylvia Howard and her standard poodle, Julie with a score of 93.  Lore pointed out some common handler errors that we weren't thinking of at the time.

 

                                                   
                                               Carol and Hank winning High in Novice Obedience

Hank, who hovered close to homelessness due to his rather exuberant display of nonsense in the Excellent Rally Ring, WON the Novice Obedience hands (or should I say paws) down.

In the obedience ring, Judge Deb Girvin, who travelled from Cranbrook to officiate the festivities, had some encouraging comments for each of the teams. 

In particular, Deb reminded us to take advantage of all fun matches and rather than view them as a test of our dog's progress, we were advised to use them as an opportunity to help our dogs be right. In other words, we should be pro-active rather than reactive in a fun match situation. 
For example, if we knew that our dog would anticipate a finish, we should praise him for doing a nice front, and forget the finish, thereby ending on a positive note.

She reminded us to be careful not to step into our dog when we halted in order to cover a wide sit, and to give our dogs a command/signal before moving.  She told us to talk to our dogs in order to keep them engaged. 

It was a super SAWHDA Saturday and we thank everyone who came out to play.

The Prez

SAWHDA members rock!!!

All kinds of congratulations are in order after this weekend

Let us begin with Laura and Wayne's poodle, Sir.  

Sir has passed his PALS  evaluation and will now join the PALS program as a visiting therapy dog. He has earned his blue scarf and will be visiting at the Foothills Hospital with seniors.  All of us know what a wonderful effect therapy dogs have on residents of hospitals, senior lodges, long term care facilities and schools. We are all so proud of Sir as he and Laura give back to the community in which they live.

This weekend a World Cynosport Rally Obedience Trial was held at Sit Happens! in Calgary.

The entries were well-supported by our BC members and southern Alberta members, some of us entering two dogs.

On Saturday, Denise McKay and her dog, Jagged, received the honor of being the first Doberman in Canada to achieve the ARCHX title.

This is huge as it involves multiple double and triple qualifying scores in  two or three levels at each trial.  In addition, Denise and Jagged are the number 1 WCR team in Canada. This pair has certainly set the bar for the rest of us.

Two of Denise's rally students, Jenn Williams, with her border collie, Abby,  and Sylvia Howard with her standard poodle, Julie, received their ARCH titles.  

Julie was so much fun the morning of the first day.  She was so spunky and happy.  She got her 1st 210 on her Level 3 run.   Julie Q’d on 10 of her 12 runs.    Oscar was so silly and boyish.  Sylvia was proud of him as he had 4 good runs.  On the 1st 2 runs, they went over time.  Sylvia got him to speed up a little and he got his 1st 2 Q’s in Level 1, 170 and 192.  What a great weekend we all had, so much fun.

Sylvia and Julie are ranked #2 in Canada for WCR rally.

 

 

This weekend was also a great weekend for Sylvia and John's parti-colored poodle, Oscar, as he managed to pick up two 4th place Qualifying scores in Level 1 A  with 170 and 192!

Jenn Williams and her dogs did a great job racking up points for higher titles.  She had a fantastic run with Abby with a blistering time of 1:34 and a perfect score of 210/210.  We love watching this team as they are both so happy.

Last but not least Judi Snowdon and Drummer and Castle had the "Rally Ride" of the weekend!  

On Saturday, both Castle and Drummer finished their Level 1 A titles (despite rusty handling on the part of you know who). Drummer received 2 first place finishes and High Score in Level 1 A for the day and Castle picked up two third place scores. 

On Sunday morning, Judi left Castle in Level 1 B  for the practice and he qualified nicely with a 200 score which would have been a perfect 210, had his handler not touched him on his head before leaving him on the bonus exercise. This gave him another third place. 

Drummer moved on to Level 2 A and qualified with a 210/210 score, picking up  first place in Level 1A. 

Sunday afternoon, Judi moved Castle to Level 2 A and had a great run with a 207/210 score which placed him second to Drummer in the Level 2 class in points and a time of 1:49.

Drummer took first place in the class with another 210/210 score and a time of 1:47 and High Score in Level 2 for the day. 

Plus….. found out later that Drummer had won another High in Trial award and a portable jump as a prize.

What a wonderful organization!!! Thank you, Sit Happens! for giving us this opportunity.

 

DON'T FORGET THE FUN MATCH THIS WEEKEND.

SEE YOU ON SATURDAY AT 9:45 for registration. 

Due South Scent Hurdle Dogs …. 9:00 sharp if you want a chance to practice. 

         The Prez 

Dr. Karen Becker Discusses Turmeric

WCR National Results

Congratulations to Denise McKay and Jagged for their first place finish in WCR results in Canada.
Second place goes to Sylvia Howard and Julie and third is Jenn Williams and Abby.  Jenn's Jack Russell, Spencer, came in 12th place.  Super work on everyone's part.  So proud of you.

My gosh, Drummie and Castle, you do have huge shoes to fill if you want a piece of this in 2014.

Sit Happens! next trials are March 15/16, 2014.  See you there!!!

Time to step it up if you are entering the Red Deer Dog show, April 4-6. Join us in Cowley tomorrow and March 22nd for some practice time in obedience and rally o. 9:30 a.m. Two rings going at the same time. 

Sport Dog Detection Tests are being held in Red Deer on April 26/27.  Good luck to everyone who managed to get into the tests.  Practice, practice, practice.

The Prez