With Constant Contact, GSDCA president Tish Walker has an easy and inexpensive way to contact all parent club members who have email. She was able to send out the latest information on the 2011 National which will now be held in Topeka, Kansas, instead of Lexington, Kentucky. Also a much needed explanation of just who can and cannot show under whom in the case of co-owning a dog with a judge. And then, of course, she sends out the Board-O-Gram after each quarterly board meeting.
Poor Fritz! Amanda had to take him in and have a split claw removed as it kept getting worse and worse. She was thankful they didn’t have to take the toe as well. When he’s recovered, he has to go to a chiropractor.
Amanda also volunteered to chair the club’s picnic we have in lieu of our August club meeting. Last year was the first time we tried having the picnic at our meeting place instead of going out to a park. We had gone to Wilderness Park a couple times in the past which was nice also, but problems arose with that location. And Kerry always comes up with some fun games to do with the dogs. All but one game included the dogs; the one that didn’t was an egg toss which we moved outdoors so we wouldn’t have to clean up the broken eggs from the floor.
I judged obedience in Gridley, California, the middle of June. Where is Gridley? Do you know, I had California people ask me that same question. It is about one hour north of Sacramento on old Highway 99. This was for the Nor-Cal Cluster (4 shows in 4 days). The clubs hire a 12-passenger van and one of the member’s husband (Chuck) was drafted to just drive it all week end – picking judges up at the airport, taking judges back to the airport, back and forth from the hotel in Yuba City to the show site and on and on and on. Melanie and I stayed an extra two days in Sacramento and Chuck was kind enough to take us to our hotel instead of the airport Saturday morning.
It was fun at the two shows where I judged and the two days in Sacramento – you know what was the best thing? Waking up to blue skies and sunshine each morning. The temperature was in the low to mid 80s each day. What a wonderful break after all our grey, cloudy skies, and rain.
Sacramento sure is a sports oriented town. On Saturday night we heard fireworks and looked out our hotel window to see lots of fireworks going off over by the river. The next day when we had lunch on the Delta King I asked our waiter if they had had the fireworks for a wedding there the night before. He said whenever the “Cats” win a home game they have the fireworks display.
Kind of like when we were in Arizona one time going through a street fair and there was a huge boom (this was not long after 911 so we were a little worried about things like that). Since we were the only ones who seemed concerned, we asked one of the vendors and it turned out when their team made a touchdown at their home games, they shot off a cannon (the field was near by). Those boys will be boys!
The Temperament Test is being held on July 10 this year, so plan on bringing out your dogs who don’t have a TC yet. They do have to be one year or older to go through the test. In fact bring all your neighbors and family and their dogs as well. Everyone seems to enjoy the test and some even end up helping. And speaking of helping, if you would like to help out at one of the stations, contact Kerry Southern (Vonsudlich@aol.com) and let her know. You do not have to have any prior experience. Ian Bond is our “weird” stranger and I’d say he’s one of the best in the country. Too bad we can’t talk him into going to the National for that Temperament Test. The test will begin at 10:00 AM so you don’t have to get up at 0-dark hundred.
Two old friends of mine died in June. The first was Mickey Gingrich from Portland, Oregon, who showed GSDs and bred a few litters, and was also a GSD conformation judge. It’s sad when someone lives so long that there’s no one left who knew him. But Connie, Sue Cox, Betty Winthers, myself, and my two daughters met for lunch at Calcutta Grill at the Newcastle Golf Course in his memory. Sue was the mastermind of it all, feeling a golf course was an appropriate place since Mickey liked golf so well. He also loved his cigars, so she brought each of us a chocolate cigar wrapped in foil.
I called another friend I have known for over 50 years from my time in Kentucky to wish him Happy Birthday on his 85th. His son-in-law answered the phone and told me he had died that morning. So my best wishes turned into condolences.
Back on a brighter note, plan on attending the club’s herding instinct test on Saturday, August 7. This is one activity the GSDs love. There is no age limit to go through the test so we often have very young dogs out there. Joe and Becky are very good at putting the dogs through (no, you don’t have to do it, just bring the dog into the ring).
We had a really good turn out at the June meeting to listen to Jordan Taylor talk about her new book “Wonder Dog” featuring 101 films featuring GSDs. She also brought some of her books and sold autographed copies. Thanks to Kerry for arranging for Jordan to speak to us.
On the cover of the latest Front & Finish there was a picture of a woman who has Goldens and she is the breeder of a litter of 6 OTCH dogs. That stands for Obedience Trial Champion. This is a first in dogdom. Most of the puppies went to people from New York to California so it wasn’t like she trained them all herself.
There was another article about exercises you can do with your older dogs to help keep them in condition. One of them was to walk them up hills, slowly at first and then faster. Funny, she never mentioned that the owners also have to be in good physical condition to do all these things with the dog. Up hills is definitely out for me. Aggie will just have to keep chasing her toys to keep in shape, then I only have to throw them, not run after then too,
Ashley finished Cole’s Rally Novice title at the Puyallup shows, plus an extra leg to boot. Cole is owned by Peter Cichon and Ashley is helping Cole get a few titles. They will be at the temperament test, and then she hopes to take Cole through Novice B obedience for his CD title.
Speaking of titles, maybe some of you don’t know what they are, so here’s a quick rundown:
CD – Companion Dog, normally called NoviceCDX – Companion Dog Excellent, normally called OpenUD – Utility Dog, shock – normally called UtilityUDX – Utility Dog ExcellentOTCH – Obedience Trial ChampionIn order to earn a UDX, a dog must pass both Open B and Utility at 10 trials. If you see something like UDX3 after a dog’s name, that means he has passed 30 trials in both Open B and Utility. A dog has to have the UD title before it can go for a UDX.In order to earn an Obedience Trial Champion, a dog must earn 100 points by placing first in Utility with at least three dogs in competition; a first place in Open B with at least six dogs in competition; an additional first place under the above conditions; and all three first places have to be under three different judges. Only one of the required first places may be won at a specialty show. There is always a schedule in the show catalogues showing how many points a dog can win at that show, which is dependent upon the number of dogs in competition that day. When earned the OTCH title may be placed before a dog’s name, all the others above will go after the dog’s name.DC – Dual Champion – a dog that has been awarded a Champion of Record (conformation) and Field Champion or Herding Champion.TC – Triple Champion – a dog that has the title of Dual Champion and then the title of Obedience Trial Champion (OTCH), Tracking Champion (CT), or Agility Champion (MACH).I’ll continue with more titles next month, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
….and the rat’s tail fell off…..
