Small But Mighty Crew

The weather, work, weddings,  and wandering the globe kept our numbers to a minimum at dog club yesterday, but those of us who were able to attend had lots of time to work and play with our dogs.

We began by letting T-Bear (ursus horribilus) the shiba puppy,  and Shar's German shepherd puppy, Justice, tear around the hall with toys  terrorizing one another and just every so often, doing some quick focus work and a few steps of heeling.... or was it? No matter. A great way to start the day.  All the puppies greeted every new person happily and confidently.

And they all learned the patience of having to wait in their crates without crying and carrying on.

Next, our scent hurdle team of Token and Drummer practiced finding their own dumbbells instead of the ones with my scent on them and they did very well.  We even let Mesa play the game and she brought back her dumbbell a couple of times but no matter which one she retrieved, she had such a good time that everyone cheered her on. It's always fun to watch a veteran play. Mesa will be 12 in April, and she still enjoys jumping the hurdles and fetching a dumbbell.

Deb had Beckett retrieving her dumbbell from the box and carrying it over four jumps and that was super. 

A novice rally course had been set out Friday evening and it was just right for the group that was gathered. 

Katherine and her Anatolian shepherd, Bobby,  held up to a "trial by fire" as they were still standing after obedience, rally, conformation and barrel racing. We will have some fun with Lad and Bobby joining us for square dancing and Due South Demos, like the one at Heritage Acres
on September 14th. 

We celebrated Tubby's Newfoundland dog, Lexi's birthday.  At 11 years of age, she is still going strong and we are thankful for that.

We all practiced some obedience routines with Drummer actually doing his signals, his glove retrieve, his go-back and directed jumping and his dumbbell work quite nicely.  His Open routine was much more polished and the broad jump seems to be coming together finally. 

Cagney and Lexi worked their Open routines with no hitches at all. Cagney and Drummer will hit the Open ring at Red Deer. 

Castle did his CD routine and although we could probably be ready in time for Red Deer, we will support the Lethbridge show in Coaldale in June and make our debut there.  Thank you to the Lethbridge Club for putting on a purely performance show and we hope to see many of our SAWHDA members there in support of this effort.............. right????   Hint, hint, hint.

Deb dropped in to visit and report that her three dogs, after picking up some kind of debilitating bacteria, were finally on the mend and were going to be able to join us in the next week or so for some canine capers.

We remind everyone that our next Club Day is March 2nd and we will be practicing scent hurdle, 
obedience, and rally O, with time left for Draft Dog work from noon to 1:00 p.m.

                                                AGENDA FOR MARCH 2nd

Scent hurdle  9:30 a.m. with relay sprint dogs running alongside.

Rally O Advanced course 10:15 

Obedience routines beginning at 10:15 

Individual heeling routines ...... ( Judge will be on hand to give directions and follow)

Group Sits/Downs  Pre-Nov to Open  
  
Group Retrieves.....on the  flat and over a jump 

Group Recalls and drops  

Group Signal exercises and Stand for exams 

Directed jumping

Scent discrimination 

11:30 .....  barrel racing

NOON....... Draft Dog work 

Hope to see you there.

The Prez