Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone!
  This club rocks!   Twenty-two people gathered for a Christmas festive luncheon at the BackCountry Restaurant in Cowley, Alberta paid for by their club.  Now that is worth every cent of our $20 per year membership for sure! 
 We shared our year's events with each other and our plans for the new year as well.  To show the versatility of the people and dogs involved in the club, let's just look at what the activities in which our dogs are involved:

Canine Entertainment Teams
Therapy dogs
School Reading programs
Parades
Conformation
Agility
Drill team
Obedience
Rally obedience
Scent Hurdle Racing
Skijoring
Draft Dog and Carting
Herding
Square Dancing
Disc 
Tricks
Tracking
Nosework
BarnHunt

These activities take our members all over Canada and into the United States where some of the performances have been of National Acclaim.  We are extremely proud of the fact that we in this group, we try to ensure that "everybody plays" and that we share our group activities with our communities in an effort to educate and entertain members of the public.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and the Best of the Best in the New Year.

The Prez 

C-WAGS and UKC seminar a great success

On November 22,  SAWHDA members attended a seminar on C-WAGS nosework and UKC obedience and rally obedience presented by Sarah-Jane Brenner-Petti.  The morning included an introduction to the rules and regulations of C-WAGS which is yet another nosework organization encouraging new members.  The dogs were introduced to the new scent of Cypress and most had no trouble transferring the knowledge from their previous organizations.  It was fun to watch the different breeds work through the mock trial with two hides, one of them Cypress.  C-WAGS is very encouraging because it is a Pass/Fail situation and the handler and dog teams are allowed one mistake so if the handler were to call a false alert, the judge would say, "Sorry, keep searching."  WOWWW!  Huge encouragement for those of us who are still learning to read our dog's alerts.

We came away with samples of Lemongrass and Cypress for all our teams so they can continue to practice.

We took a lunch break at the Cowley Backcountry Restaurant and then switched over to our new topic of the afternoon,  the UKC rules for Obedience and Rally.  There were 8 working dogs and the scoring for the UKC rally was somewhat of a cross between CKC and WCRL.
The signs are the same.  Sarah judged a  UKC Novice and an Open Obedience course for our working dogs and we really enjoyed ourselves.  Everyone like the idea that in the Novice class, the long down was done with the dog across the ring from the Handler during the heeling
part of the working dog's course. Everyone did well.

It is wonderful to be able to have options other than the CKC for our dogs to "play" at.
A UKC trial will be held this spring in the north part of the province so we will have to keep March open for the dates.

Thanks to Sarah-Jane for making the day informative and fun for all.

The Prez

New Titles for SAWHDA members

We have the following news to share!!!

Ch. Osar Justice Shines picked up his Rally Intermediate title with a High Score in Class at the LDKC dog show November 14.

Connemara's Drummer Boy, CD, CGN, RE, HIs SDIs, AgNs, SHDMX, WCRLIII, Am. RA, completed his CDX title with a High in Class score at the LDKC dog show.

Ch Asgoodasitgets at Mtn. High (Castle) and  Connemara's Drummer Boy came home from a great weekend at Boise, with their Am. Rally Advanced titles.  Once again, both dogs qualified for the U.S. Nationals to be held in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the spring of 2016.  Castle's score was 398/400 over the course of four trials.  O Canada!

Castle is also sporting a new RATI title for passing his Introductory class at the Barnhunt trials in Strathmore, Alberta, earlier in the month.

Keep the news coming.  And check our page on Facebook.

The Prez.

New way to read news

go to our SAWHDA Facebook page!!!
The Prez

Superstar in the making

I think we can all agree that Vector has what it needs to be a great agility partner for Denise McKay in the coming year. Love the smoothness through the weaves! AKC  Time to Beat should be fun with this youngster. Go team Doberman!

https://youtu.be/Yo5AvneV-hA

Fall Fair Days at Heritage Acres

September 19th from 1:00 to 3:00, members of the SAWHDA will be on hand at Heritage Acres near the Old Man River Dam at Pincher Creek to entertain the crowds with their canine friends.


And this year, there is an equine twist to one of our performances.  We will pair miniature horses and dogs in a timed event where each horse will barrel race, followed by its canine teammate who will run an agility course.  The fastest time will win!


Once again, we will be running our fast -paced relay sprints which are always a crowd pleaser. And there will be nose dog demo's and a scent hurdle demonstration as well.  Be on hand to join in the action!!!

The Prez 

          
                                             Dayton and her rider race to the finish line!!!

Daisy May Rocks the Rally Ring At Cranbrook

Congratulations to Lore Bruder and her Cardigan Corgi, Daisy May, on their fabulous weekend at the Cranbrook and District Kennel Club Dog Show last weekend!
Daisy May qualified all 8 runs, four in Advanced and four in Excellent and took 7/8 High in Class rosettes.  This should make Daisy May the first ever Gold Versatility Cardigan Corgi in Canada.
She has titles in Conformation, Obedience, Rally Obedience, and Sheep herding, plus a CGN to her name. This completes the qualifications set out the by CCCC.  Good on you, Lore, and you wonderful dog.

The Prez

West Kootenay Brags!!

Huge Congratulations to Jeff and Cheryl Popoff on an amazing weekend in the conformation ring at the West Kootenay Dog Show in Castlegaar. 

 Tazha is now CH. Noble Spirit Tazha V Tawnashee!!!

Friday, she won a Best of Breed award in each of the two shows that day and took a Group 1 win and Jeff won the Best Owner/Handler in Group Award.

Saturday, in show Number 1, Tazha took a group 4 and Sunday a Group 3 and again Jeff was awarded the Best Owner/Handler in Group.  

Very proud of this young girl and her handler.

                              Love the photo with the RCMP officer. Stylish!!!

AKC Results

Hi, Everyone, 
 Time to give huge congratulations to those SAWHDA members that did so well at the AKC show in Calgary last weekend.
 Sharlet and Justice completed the Rally Novice title with 97/100 and second in class. And then they tried the next level and got a qualifying score at Intermediate with a third in class placing.

Shar and Justice 

Nicole and her Bernese Mt. dogs, Sophie and Bailey had the best time!! 

"What an unbelievable day at AKC. The girls and I were entered in Rally and Obedience, as well as the Bernese Sieger show. I spent the majority of the day running back and forth between the obedience and Sieger rings but amazingly made it through everything without being too much of a burden to the stewards wink emoticon My wonderful old Sophie dog qualified in both Advanced (94) and Excellent (98) and received the prize for highest qualifying Bernese. Thank you Judge Michel Calhoun! She also showed very well in Sieger. The judge was very impressed with how sound she is structurally at 10 years old. So impressed that she awarded us with Best Veteran in Sieger. Thank you Judge Rose Tierney! Over in the obedience ring, Bailey qualified for the second time this weekend to earn her second Open leg with a 191. This earned us high in class as well as the prize for highest qualifying Bernese. A few hours later, I was shocked to learn that my amazing and wonderful Bailey dog had accomplished a feat I never thought I would see. Today, Bailey earned High In Trial. Thank you so much to Judge Sandy Briggs! And thank you to the Obedience Stewards for letting me know ahead of time so that I was able to burst into tears of joy OUTSIDE the ring lol!! I am of course over the moon and still not entirely certain any of this happened. "

 


The boys, Drummer and Castle, did well at their Nadac agility. Castle qualified in two out of two regular introductory runs and Drummer picked up one Q.  We brought home many maps of various courses so we can practice here at home.
Joan and her dogs were amazing..... great runs in all events. Here is her hoopers run. 

Our scent hurdle team, Due South, was awarded First Place on Friday!!! And we ran just as hot on Saturday, too.  Thanks to all our team members and to Shar for making the evening fun! 

And there was time for some fun, too.  Drummer has always been afraid of the bison statue at Spruce Meadows and it was super that someone covered its head with a coat while we were racing, but....... then...... the coat came off!!!!  Vicious, vicious. vicious.

Waiting to hear more results from other SAWHDA members as they find time.

The Prez 

Competitions split Scent Team

Good luck to our Due South Scent Hurdle Team as they head to Balzac June 20th to compete against four other teams and pick up some extra dog points before the LDKC Agility Trials in
July.  Luckily, we were able to borrow a sheltie from Ann McMillan to round out our team as we shall be missing three of our team members, Julie, Max, and Jagged.  
Good luck to Denise and Sylvia as they compete at Sit Happens! in Calgary to gain more titles and points in WCR with all their dogs.  We shall miss your presence.  
Also good luck to Jenn and Abby and Spencer. 
Keep tuned !!!! 
The Prez.

Weekend to Remember

On the May long weekend, SAWHDA members, Lore Bruder and I, Judi Snowdon, with my friend Sharlet Caroe, drove to Hope, BC, for the DownRiver Farms CKC Herding Trials.  What a weekend.
For those who are not 'in the know' when it comes to the classes offered in CKC herding, there are two classes offered; Stockdog and Arena.  There are three levels of herding in each of the classes,  beginning with Started, then Intermediate, and last of all, Advanced on the way to earning titles.
A team has to earn three qualifying scores at each level in order to gain a title in that level.

The Stockdog class is comprised of various 'chores' that a dog would do around the ranch.
Things like gathering stock and putting them through footbaths or into pens or trailers or through chutes and then sorting them into various groups, gathering or driving 7 sheep here and there in as straight a line as possible from one area to another without losing control of the sheep or upsetting them.

The Arena herding is more prescribed than Stockdog and it has a defined number of activities that the dog must carry out.  The dog gets the sheep from a Take Pen and then, depending on the level of competition, it must fetch or drive the sheep in as straight a line as possible from one point to another. At some point, the dog must exhibit a 'call off' the sheep and it has to put the sheep through fence line and free-standing obstacles and it has to repen the sheep, after holding them back from the gate.

Lore had Remi and Daisy-May and I had my husband's dog, Drummer all entered in the Intermediate Stockdog (on sheep) and Arena (on sheep) classes.

At the end of the weekend, Remi had completed his Stockdog Intermediate title with two 4th place ribbons.  He had also gained a 3rd place in Arena work.
Daisy-May picked up two Q's  towards her Intermediate Stockdog title with a 1st place ribbon and a Reserve High In Trial. She also gained 2 Q's in Arena work with a 4th place and she won the award for having both Beauty and Brains!!

Drummer received three  High Combined Shetland Sheepdog awards  and one High Scoring Shetland Sheepdog. He finished his Arena Intermediate title with a High in Trial,  and took a Reserve High in Trial & two Q's towards his Intermediate Stockdog title which he could have finished  as well, if his handler had hustled and shut the gate sooner.  TIME!!  Five seconds.... lost it by five seconds.  Grrrrr.

Goes to prove that Sheepherding is not for sissies!!! Plus we get to play at Lore's Cardigan Corgi trials in July!!!

A professional photographer was on hand to take some pretty impressive photos of the dogs working. Lore's photos have some explanation to them so here goes:

                                     Remi working 7 sheep in stock dog. Good distance.

                                                 
                                                      Remi taking sheep through y-chute

Getting ready to put sheep into foot

bath, slow and steady, lots of gate work.

Daisy holding sheep to the trailer 

Daisy holding sheep in a chute. Lambs are not people friendly so they can pop out easily. A fine line to hold sheep just right.  Reserve High in Trial for this run. 

Daisy taking sheep through the y-chute

                                                  Lore's loot.   What a great weekend!

                                                    Drum and I waiting for the sheep to be sent out.

Impaired Driving !!!!

     
                               Drive done....phew!
                      Ready to gather, lift and fetch to post.

             Thank you to everyone who made the weekend so memorable.  To DownRiver, to the judges, to the stock handlers, the clubs who offered the trials, the sheep, and of course, to our dogs.

 "That'll do, Babe.

That'll do." 

Agility seminar April 25,2015

Perfect Pooches agility training presents instructor 
Ramona Stirling from Calgary to teach from a NADAC perspective of agility. 
This is a great chance to kick off your agility year. 
The PREZ

Sunday, April 26

9:00 - 11:30 - for our more Advanced Agility students.

12:30 - 3:00 - for our more Beginner Agility students

 

For those of you who are already attending classes (Sundays & Mondays) there is NO CHARGE except that we ask you to bring a food item for a Pot Luck Lunch to be held on that day 12:30 - 1:30.  Perfect Pooches will provide beverages, buns, plates, & cutlery.

 

For those of you who are NOT attending agility classes currently the fee is $50 plus an item for the Pot Luck Lunch.

 

EACH PERSON NEEDS TO REGISTER IN ADVANCE!!

 

Complete the enclosed Registration Form and return to me NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, APRIL 24.

 

OWNER'S NAME_______________________

ADDRESS, PHONE #, & EMAIL ADDRESS

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

 

DOG'S NAME____________BREED(S)_______________

 

DESCRIBE WHAT SKILLS YOU WOULD LIKE HELP WITH (e.g. focus, forward motion, weaves, tunnels, jumps, contacts, speed, etc.)

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

 

Dress for the weather and because there will be times when your dog has to wait their turn, bring a crate so your dog can have a comfortable place to relax.

 

If you have any questions or concerns contact me.

Evelyn

You can text me at 403-315-3262 as well as email info@perfectpooches.com or phone 403-381-6890

Congratulations

Congratulations MaryEllen Whyte and Tessa on their group 2 win at the Battle River Dog Show first time out in 2015

Thanks to Judge Michael Hill for finding this bitch from the Breed ring.

What a weekend!!!  Back-to-back seminars!  Southern Alberta Working/Herding Dog Association, you have done it again.

Amazing instructors with so much information and the ability to make every participant feel encouraged and supported.  
Thank you, Amanda Labadie, for explaining what nose work is  all about and showing us the steps that go into building a solid foundation for the sport.   Pixel was the best demo dog, indicating her find with a solid down. All the dog/handler teams were successful and entertaining as each dog had its own way of "telling" us that it had, indeed, found the "find".  Tails wagging,  ears forward, ears out to the side, tail wag stopping,
feet on box, nose pushing on box, and not to forget Noelle's raised right eye brow... don't know how Sheena could miss that. 

We loved the games and enjoyed each other's company a whole lot.  The fact that lunch was included was also appreciated by all participants, some of whom came from as far away as Grand Prairie, Red Deer, Calgary, and Cranbrook to "play" hide and seek with dogs.

Carolyn and Ben (the destroyer) 

Lore and Daisy May 

Donnie and Soleil

Darlene and Ben (7 seconds from start to find)

Laura and Sir 

And, thank you Sheena Malone for taking us through the various methods of weaving that are out there for dogs to try.  The gates and the wires and the 3x3's were really fun to learn and went from easy, easy, to a challenge.  Big and little, newbies and dogs that already had a good 
weave ethic were all on a level playing field when it came to the new approaches.
We got to try the weave-a-matics and found that while some dogs took to it naturally, others were not  impressed with the method.  Same with the wires.  They took some getting used to for the dogs that were touch sensitive.  

Throughout the entire day, we were given all kinds of pointers on handling and set-ups so that our dogs could be successful and pumped about weaving.  

When time ran out (boo hoo) handlers interested in learning more about the 2x2 weaves were told to google utube 2x2 weaves k9 dancer, for the absolute best video and instructions for introducing and proofing the 2x2 weaves.  This video, attached at the end of our blog, is stellar! 

Thanks to all those who were able to stay to help clean up.  As usual, the work was done in short order.  To the SAWHDA organizers, you rock.

Working with wires

Weave-a-matics

                                                             Gates 
                       

2X2 weaves 

      Now all that is left is setting up practice times so we can help each other. And isn't that  what we are all about?

The Prez 

AKC Scent Hurdle Rocked!

First of all, let us congratulate our SAWHDA scent team, DUE SOUTH, on placing second at the AKC Scent Hurdle Races last weekend at Spruce Meadows!  What teamwork.  Thank you all for pulling together and working at the event as well.  Deb says it ran smoothly and efficiently, thanks to all the team members being ready to race when needed.
Congratulations to the dog/handler teams that now have new titles. I love that Kelly has already send the Certificates from CSHDA to us. If you wish to get the formal certificate from the CKC, it costs $20 & gst. This is a CKC recognized title. If you are happy with our CSHDA certificates, that is fine.
Our next race is in Calgary on February 14, 2015.  

Congratulations to Castle and Drummer on being invited to attend the USA Rally National Championships at Grey Summit, Missouri,  in March of 2015.  Good for you, boys.

Our SAWHDA Nosework seminar is February 7th starting at 9:30 a.m. at the Cowley Hall.
A small lunch will be provided. A reminder to participants that payment is due by January 
31st to SAWHDA, by cheque or money order.  $50 for members and 75$ for non-members. 
All material is provided.


This workshop will be followed by a Weaves Workshop on February 8th at the Cowley Hall starting at 9:00 a.m.  Five different methods will be demonstrated and participants will have the opportunity to try their dogs on each.
Cost is $35.00 for SAWHDA members and $50 for non-members.

The Prez