News Stateside

News from Nancy!

Hi Judi and SAWHA members.

Entered in Malibu & Shoreline Kennel Club shows in Costa Mesa CA (Anaheim) and had great weekend.  Had “Peter” in conformation and “Brie” in 2 obed trials on Friday. Long day as were in conformation early in morning then the obed trials in another building in afternoon.  Lots of entries here so one trial about noon and the other finished at 7:30 at night!   (OMG!)

Peter  took Winners Dog in all 4 shows so he now has 12 US points.  First 3 days - 2 pts per day and yesterday only 1 point.  On the first 3 days, the entry was 1 dog short for majors L…then yesterday a couple people pulled so only 1 pt.   Each Club had a Bred By Exhibitor class on one day.  He took that class both days and got a 2^nd and a 4^th in the  Bred By Toy Group.

They only held 2  Obed Trials… Brie qualified in both..scores ok at 187.5 and 185.  The second trial she was a 3^rd in  Nov B Class – 14 entries.  Second judge marked a little harder than first judge as she did much better in 2^nd trial but got lower score L  Anyway..she already had one leg to CD so the 2 qualifying scores finished her AM CD.

So..all in all, first shows this year in the south were very successful…   No  more shows till next year – Palm Spring Kennel Club  Indio beginning of January.

Seasons Greetings to everyone.

Nancy & Dick

              Safe travels, good times, & keep in touch, Nancy and Dick.

              The Prez

Send us your Christmas cards!

Hi, everybody,
 Please send us your Christmas cards so we can post them on our SAWHDA blog and share them with the group. 

We will kick off our Christmas cards with a Merry Christmas from John, Sylvia, Julie, Winston, and Bear (the reindog.)

Merry Christmas to everyone from Darryl & Judi

and the gang at Shadowbar.

Keep the cards coming and we'll keep adding them!

We have managed to catch up with Nancy and Dick Lopaschuk as they travel 
Stateside for the winter. Here is the latest report from Nancy.


We are currently in Anaheim CA. Traveled here the day after the big wind hit
the area.  Trip was interesting because we could not take the route planned
due to the high winds moving east, so we ended up driving though Los
Angeles, LAX, Beverly Hills etc.   Lots of damage in the areas we drove
through but nothing much on freeways.  We also had high winds in some areas
- kinda of scary.          After we left Ventura, we didn't see any RV's on
the freeways - too busy and too much traffic.  We are in a great RV park
with huge spaces, lots of grass...no one close by....like our provincial
parks.  It is in the Santa Ana hills right beside the Santa Ana
River..luckily have a hill to protect us.  

Spent first week in Bakersfield CA at Fairgrounds..great place, full
hookups, acres of fenced grass, 24 hour security etc.  Dog shows are held
there but when we were there, no one there except for the workers.  Was like
having our own private campground...dogs loved to run in circles on the
grass (supervised of course) Usually, we go there so Dick can work on
reports due by end of November.  Nice & quiet and close to shopping. After
leaving Bakersfield, we went to Paso Robles (wine country) near the coast
(mid way down CA).  There was a show there but we weren't entered so just
visited with dog show friends.  Stayed a week..lovely place - population
less than Cranbrook and there are 290 wineries and wine tasting places. No
we didn't visit them all...just one.

We are green with envy here in the Great White North.  Good luck at the upcoming shows with all the dogs and Brie in particular.  Take care.  And keep us in touch.
The Prez 

Santa Claus Parade

Our SAWHDA group looked so good in the Santa Claus Parade. Hard to describe, really.
We had a bit of everything.
 We led off with Sharlet and her brace of shepherds in backpacks. Mesa and Ryder looked super with teddy bears and snowmen peeping out of the side pockets on the packs. 

 Next came Janet and her Bernese Mt. Dog, Tucker, who was decked out in a winter scarf and Santa toque, and Maureen, with Joan's Belgian pup, Danny, and Darryl's sheltie, Drummer Boy.  Maureen actually brought her own sheltie, Levi, and her parents' dog, Lexi, along, but both dogs thought that Maureen was out of her mind asking them to walk in the parade and at the first chance, each of them hooked a ride in a cart, Levi preferring Joan's cart with Beau pulling, and Lexi trusting Carol and Hank to drive for her. We were concerned that they might jump out during the parade but no worries. They weren't prepared to trade a cushy ride for a long walk.  Even Drummer calling out "Merry Christmas" and leaping in the air to catch his leash along the entire parade route, couldn't move them. The tv crew on hand liked them so much they took shots of the cart dogs and passengers from ground level! 

 Nicole and Sophie did a great job of attracting smiles from the crowd as Sophie pulled her cart full of presents (some of them escaping due to the wind) without any concern about the crowds (five layers deep the entire route). 

Carol and Hank and Judi & Swayze were next in line with their carts. Hank was super confident and so mellow about the whole thing, bands, horses, and all. He even looked like he was smiling... and for sure Carol was !


We are not sure if Tubby would approve of our tactics, but Swayze was a last minute (and we do mean, twelfth hour) stand in for Token, who can easily pull the cart but is miserable doing it. 
The night before the parade, Deb, (shaking her head at the bravado ... or stupidity of 
Swayze's owner... that would be me) Shar, (trying hard to believe it would work, but clenching her teeth) and I, (who had no doubt the dog would do it...uh, wouldn't he?) hooked up Swayze (who has never had a cart harness or cart behind him before) in the garage and walked him forward 20 feet, unhooked him, and repeated this about five times without a wreck. "Good enough," I said.  "He'll do it." And why not? He pulls a dog sled. The only diff was the shafts which were a bit scary as they confine the dog's movement, especially in a turn, but I knew I only had two turns on the entire route. He could do it.


And he did. And everytime Drummer leaped in the air and barked, Swayze did this "Hi-ho Silver routine",  only he was attached to the cart. We lost our brake half way through the parade and I had to double wrap my leash around the inside shaft so I could stop the cart from riding up on Swayze, but he was super throughout it all. Trust is a wonderful thing. 

And bringing up the rear was what I, personally, consider to be the best exhibit in the group.  This year the fifth-wheel wagon was a bright Christmas red with greenery around the wagon, and poinsettia wreaths around Walker and RoZe's necks as they towed the Christmas wagon with Mojo riding in it. It took both Russell on one side and Deb on the other to hold the dogs back. They had no trouble with the wind or the wagon, that's for sure. And the amazing thing. They were in step with each other walking or standing through most of the entire route. Check out the picture. Is there one dog with four ears or two dogs?


And we were so lucky to have Marilyn on hand to zip into Luigi's Restaurant and hold a table for all of us so we could enjoy a pre-Christmas luncheon together and discuss some cool seminars for the new year.

It's days like this that make me so thankful for all our SAWHDA members because this activity has nothing to do with certificates or titles for our dogs. What it shows is that we care enough to share the wonder or what we do so others can enjoy our dogs, too.


What a great day!!!  Thanks to all. 


the prez








SAWHDA at the Fort Macleod Parade

New Obedience Rules for 2012

All set.   SAWHDA is pleased to say that CKC obedience judge, Jeff Lunder, has agreed to travel to Cowley, Alberta, Saturday, January 7th,  to review the rule changes for CKC obedience for 2012.  

The presentation will begin at 10:00 a.m. followed by lunch and then a fun match for practice!!!  The club is asking for participants to donate $10.00 towards the cause.  Everyone is welcome to attend.

Please email shadowbr@telusplanet.net if you intend to join us so we can use the numbers to best plan our day.

So far, we have had 15 affirmative replies within the past two hours of posting.   Wonderful!!!!

The Prez 

Good weekend for all

Lethbridge Dog Show was terrific.  We had members take High in Class in both Obedience and Rally rings.  Sarah and Gyp and Tina and Jethro did especially well. In Scent hurdling, our Due South team, with Betty running her first scent hurdle race ever, picked up 30 points with no errors.  We ran clean and had no cross-overs or time faults and came away with two new titles!!! Liz's Lupine now has her Scent Hurdle Excellent title and my Token now has her Scent Hurdle Championship title.  We were missing two of our crew, with Wicca and Jagged being a bit under the weather but we look forward to adding them to the team roster at AKC.
We have contacted Jeff Lunder who will be traveling to Cowley to go over the changes in obedience rules with us and we invite Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, and Cranbrook club members to join us.  As soon as we know the official date, we will send plans to everyone.
We hope to see everybody at the Fort Macleod Santa Claus Parade this coming Saturday.  Meet the gang at the A&W by 10:00 so we can get in line.
Safe traveling.
The Prez

Last practice until the new year

Today was the last practice for Due South scent hurdlers before the Lethbridge and districtKennel Club dog show next weekend and we are happy to report that except for a few minor glitches, all is well in The 'South' and we are looking forward to the races. the Lethbridge judging schedule is online at Canuck dogs. Obedience is in the morning and rally takes up the afternoon. Team members are asked to meet at the show grounds around three p.m..at the rally ring. Look for Deb. Bring your dog, dumbbells, and jacket if you have it, and dress in a white top.

In obedience we had some really nice runs with all the dogs. and the two rally courses were challenging but fair. We discussed the marking of the Honor exercise in Excellent because depending on the judge, what is a fail in one ring is points off in another. It was the consensus of the group that a judge should take the time in the Excellent briefing to explain his expectations clearly to the competitors before the class begins so everyone is of the same understanding.

I must say that it is a pleasure to have qualified competitors on hand to help with course set up and give valuable feedback and in site to the course designer. And, as usual, everyone played, even if the dog wasn't quite at the level of the course set. Sixteen week old pups and RAE dogs took turns doing the exercises they could as the rest of us cheered them on. We even worked each others dogs!!

All in all, it was a good way to end our hall practices for this year.

Remember,to check in with Judi to let her know whether or not you will be attending the November 26th Fort Macleod Santa Claus Parade. So far, we have four braces and four carts and a wagon as our exhibit. We meet at the A & W at 10:00 a.m.

Hope to hear from you soon.

The Prez