findon downs dog training club · findon downs dog training club newsletter january 2018 welcome to...

Findon Downs Dog Training Club

Newsletter January 2018 Welcome to Findon Downs’ newsletter, and a special welcome to all newcomers, we hope you have lots of fun learning with your dog. Newsletter January 2018 .............................................................................................................................................. 1

Chairman’s Chattering… ........................................................................................................................................... 2

Club Website ......................................................................................................................................................... 2

Forthcoming FDDTC Events, Shows and Term Dates ............................................................................................... 2

Heelwork To Music Show ..................................................................................................................................... 2

Term Dates ........................................................................................................................................................... 2

“Boyd’s” big adventure (He could have done without!) .......................................................................................... 3

Good Citizens Dog Scheme and Advanced Assessments ......................................................................................... 5

Bronze KC GCDS 1 ................................................................................................................................................. 5

Silver KC GCDS ...................................................................................................................................................... 5

Gold KC GCDS ........................................................................................................................................................ 6

Beginner AA .......................................................................................................................................................... 6

Novice AA .............................................................................................................................................................. 7

Leonberger................................................................................................................................................................ 8

Findon’s 50th Anniversary ....................................................................................................................................... 10

Christmas Party 2017 .............................................................................................................................................. 12

Emergency Contact Details ..................................................................................................................................... 14

Let us know… .......................................................................................................................................................... 14

Piper’s Progress ...................................................................................................................................................... 15

Cartoon Time – Guess the Breed! .......................................................................................................................... 16

Advertisement – Club Clothing ............................................................................................................................... 16

Chairman’s Chattering… Welcome to a new term at dog club, and a special welcome to new members! The committee would like to thank Bert Maynard for all his hard work for the club over the last 25 years! We would like to thank him on behalf of the club for being an excellent chairman for the last 6 years. Bert had made the decision to retire at the end of last year. He is going to be greatly missed and we all wish him the very best for the future. In the interim Marina Viney has kindly volunteered to stand in as Chairman until the AGM on 20 February 2018.

Sue (On behalf of the committee)

Club Website For further details of the club, our events, shows and news items please speak to our Chairman, Marina Viney, or see our club website; http://fddtc.weebly.com/

Forthcoming FDDTC Events, Shows and Term Dates

Heelwork To Music Show Saturday 24th February 2018 Venue: West Chiltington Village Hall Mill Road West Chiltington Near Pulborough West Sussex, RH20 2PZ If anyone could give us some help on the day, it would be greatly accepted. Chris Jones will be organising catering and Sue Jillett show administration, so if you can help, and would like to see what happens, please speak to them.

Term Dates Tuesday 9 January 2018 – New term starts Tuesday 20 February 2018 – Club A.G.M.

http://fddtc.weebly.com/

“Boyd’s” big adventure (He could have done without!) Hi Everyone I’m “Boyd Brown”, I am seventeen weeks old and a miniature schnauzer. I live with my 2 elder brothers” Billie aged 6 and “Baxter” aged 4, also a big border collie called” Bob”. Now I know that us puppies are supposed to have as many different experiences in our early months as possible, but I am sure you will agree that the one I am about to tell you is pushing things a bit far. Picture the scene, Janet the boss lady, invited my pals Arthur and his brother Alfie over for a playdate one afternoon (they are both miniature schnauzers and Arthur is only a little bit older than me). You can imagine the fun we had whist we were exercising our bodies and not much brain, Janet and Jacky were drinking tea and chatting. It was a super afternoon, but alas it had to come to an end, so we were all shut in the kitchen whilst Janet saw our guests out. After about 5 minutes Janet saw paper all over the patio, on investigation she saw it was the wrapping for the biscuits they had been eating, which she had left on the kitchen table whilst she saw our friends out. All the biscuits were gone, (about 3/4 of the packet) and they were chocolate biscuits which are poisonous to dogs. Now my middle brother is a great climber so she guessed he had got onto the table –but had he knocked them down onto the floor and we had all enjoyed them or had he eaten them all himself? Only we knew the answer to that and we couldn’t tell her, for what followed I wish we could have told her. Janet rang our vet at Grove Lodge, who said we all had to come over (bringing the biscuit wrappings with the analysis on) as the longer the chocolate (poison) was in our bodies the more harm would be done, principally to liver and kidneys. So we were bundled into the car and raced through the rush hour traffic from Steyning to Grove Lodge. When we arrived 2 nurses quickly appeared and took us down to the hospital, all Ok so far. However things got worse, we had a nurse each and were given an injection and then we could not stop being sick all over everywhere for quite a long time. It soon became evident (which of course I already knew) that “Baxter” had eaten ALL the biscuits himself and not shared a crumb with us!

So three of us came home but “Baxter” had to stay in as his blood tests were all over the place. He had to have a drip and stayed there until the next evening when further blood tests revealed that all was normal again and the vet was sure the chocolate had left his system. Well I can tell you we were far from happy, being put through all that for nothing, so “Baxter got a mixed welcome home. So the moral of the story is:- 1) Don’t eat chocolate. 2) Learn to say ”It wasn’t me” Well that was one way to pass an evening I suppose, but I would rather have been at puppy class that evening. Janet says it hasn’t been a good party unless you are sick. I don’t know about that one!! Keep safe and happy

Boyd Brown. P.S. From Janet Seriously it was quite alarming for me, I felt totally responsible for leaving the biscuits accessible. This all happened in the space of about 5 minutes. I took my eye off the ball for a few minutes and poisoned one of the dogs. Dogs are not unwell immediately after eating chocolate but the damage is slowly being done so it needs to be got out of their system asap. If you think your dog has eaten chocolate, raw onions, raisins ring your vet immediately for advice as there is no time to lose and take any wrapping with you so the vet can see exactly what your dog has eaten. On a more cheerful note, have a good year and enjoy your dogs.

Janet, Boyd, Baxter, Billy and Bob!

Good Citizens Dog Scheme and Advanced Assessments Congratulations to all taking their tests last term.

Bronze KC GCDS 1

Silver KC GCDS

Gold KC GCDS

Beginner AA

Novice AA

Leonberger

His natural look after being in the garden or a walk is slightly damp, muddy with leaves stuck to his coat. That is then transferred to the floor, walls and furniture on his way through the house. His tail is the perfect height to clear tables of any items. And on the way, although he does not drool, he has a tendency to forget to close his mouth after drinking water or eating

and will dribble food or kibble across your freshly mopped floors and carpets. When arriving at his destination he proceeds to clean his mouth and paws on the nearest human towel. He has long fur that tends to be everywhere and sheds it 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in large quantities. It is quite capable of killing all vortex type vacuums as the airflow plaits it into rope and blocks filters in seconds. Yes, meet Oberon, my lovable 75 kg bear shaped lump. Obe is a 4 year old male Leonberger with a definite sense of humour. The first Leonberger to enter the UK came from Germany at the end of WW2 by a serviceman who bought it for 10 bars of soap. They originate from the town of Leonberg in southern Germany near the French / Swiss border. They were a farm dog that derived from St.Bernand, Newfoundland and Swiss mountain dog lines in the 1840's .Used to pull goods to market in dog carts as the area in which they worked was mountainous with tracks too narrow for horses with carts. This for Obe is quite relevant. When an 8 week old puppy, Obe was already nearly 10 kgs and grew rapidly. It is essential that giant breed dogs are given intensive training from an early age as their strength should not be underestimated and I would not recommend them as a first dog for this reason. If you reach 9 months, when you hit their first “whatever” stage with insufficient training, beware. A damned obstinate, 50kg, incredibly strong teenager. Now as a 4 year old he is a really lovable rogue with a huge sense of humour and loves to be with people.

As mentioned earlier regarding the carts. Obe and myself are members of the Southern Leonberger carting group. We are a group of Leonberger owners from all over the South of England who meet once a month to train our dogs to pull carts. All dogs will not pull carts until they are 18 months old and are then retired at 8 years old, purely for their welfare. The carts are as near to the original mountain carts as possible. From June to September we attended fairs and fetes in the South of England giving demonstrations at various locations. If we receive a donation then that money goes to the national Leonberger club health and rescue fund. Someone asked me once if it was cruel to have the dog pulling a cart. If you saw their reaction when the harness is put on it is similar to showing a Lab a tennis ball. Also if a 12 stone Leonberger does not want to pull a cart nothing on this planet will make him. Obe is my third Leonberger. Jethro was my first, seen pulling a cart above, sadly now passed. Evie, my nearly 10 year old girl who lost a leg to bone cancer 2 years ago but just gets on with enjoying life. Hug your dogs!

Tony

Findon’s 50th Anniversary

We celebrated our 50th Anniversary as a club on 23 September at Washington Village Hall. It was amazing to see so many throughout a very busy day. Some were friends we had not seen for a while so it was lovely to chat to them and catch up on what we had all been doing. A huge thank you has to go to everyone who made the day a very special one to remember. Wendy Ratcliffe very kindly loaned us her agility equipment and also stayed to help everyone who wanted to have a go or brush up old skills, she was kept very busy throughout the day, with lots of dogs having a great time. Everything from the Cavaliers to the Leonberger had a go and with huge amounts of enthusiasm. Thank you Wendy.

Meanwhile in the hall Barbara was doing Heelwork to Music and had people who had never tried it before doing short routines. Everyone who entered into it had great fun whilst trying out something new with their dogs. Thank you Barbara. Marina ran a tricks class using Luna and Phoenix to demonstrate how to get your dog to ring a bell by clicker training. Other dogs then had a go and a certain Briard got the idea very quickly and hit the bell so hard.

Marina also had a variety of cardboard boxes with the aim of getting your dog to sit in a box by clicker training. Several people had a go and showed how much fun you can have with a clicker, some treats and a dog. Thank you Marina.

Sue set up a rally course in the hall, and explained what rally was about and the various signs and stages and demonstrated with Rags. A lot of people then had a go and some people were interested in exploring this sport further. Please let any of us know if you would like to know more about HTM, Tricks or Rally and we will try and arrange some training days/ mornings. After all that exercise is was time for refreshments. The small hall had been transformed into a wonderful café by Chrissie. Lunch was available, homemade soup and a superb variety of cakes and pastries and even homemade biscuits for the dogs. It looked stunning and Chrissie and her helpers were kept very busy all day. Thank you Chrissie.

On behalf of Findon Downs, I would like to say a very big thank you to everyone who came and helped and made the day such a success. For more photos please see the gallery page on our website.

Sue and all the committee

Christmas Party 2017 We had our (almost) world famous Christmas Party in December. There were over 30 dogs of all ages shapes and sizes in the hall and not one cross word from anyone. Chrissie and her team did a fabulous tea for all the people. The dogs were also well fed with lots of home-made biscuits.

Pat made the lovely Christmas cake which was beautifully iced and decorated by Barbara. A big thankyou to everyone who donated raffle prizes, the table full of prizes looked simply amazing.

And finally thankyou to everyone who came and joined in the games and helped us clear up afterwards, greatly appreciated.

As you can see from the photo we take “elf “n safety seriously.

Sue (on behalf of Findon and the reindeer…)

Emergency Contact Details Just a reminder that you can give details to us of someone you would like to be contacted on your behalf in an emergency. Just ask for a form and complete as much information as you wish, then return it in a sealed envelope with your name and first contact number on the outside. All information will remain confidential. The forms are kept at the hall in a secure container to which only Committee Members will access in an Emergency.

Let us know… Please let us know if there is anything you would like to do with your dog, maybe a sponsored walk? Cream Tea and walk? Heelwork to Music or Rally Taster sessions or maybe even a fun day with your dog trying out some different things or maybe you need help with recalls or something else??? Please remember it is your club and we are here to help.

Piper’s Progress Hello everyone.

The sweet little Golden Retriever puppy of 8 to 12 weeks, I wrote about in the club’s last newsletter, has now grown to almost adult size and is now 6 months of age. But I must admit that this puppy called Piper has turned out to be a fun lovable obedient and very adorable puppy, so much more than I could have hoped for. Okay he does have his faults, like jumping up to say hello, but with time and patience I am sure we can control this. Clicker training has been responsible for getting the behaviour and attention to my commands quickly and knowing that treat will follow.

If you would like to know more about clicker training please see your instructor. He loved his first term of obedience training and soon I will be training him in heelwork to music, knowing he is still growing, a lot of moves such as rolling over, jumping, twisting of body are not suitable as his bones are still soft, but he loves to watch Connor our other Goldie trot his stuff. Heelwork to Music is a growing sport, giving a really close bond with you and your dog. Again if you would like more information on the subject contact your instructor and come and watch at our next show on February 24th at West Chiltington Village Hall.

Barbara Bigg (Piper’s mum!)

Cartoon Time – Guess the Breed! New cartoon below and the answer to the last newsletter’s cartoon

Thanks to Chris Jones

Advertisement – Club Clothing The following items of clothing are available complete with the Club logo: - Body warmer - with fleece lining. This is reversible with separate pockets accessible from each side. It is embroidered on the outside only so you can wear it ‘incognito’ £22. - Hoody - with or without a zip £20. - Polo shirt - £12 (These can also be obtained in any colour without the logo at the same prices). - Sweatshirt - £16. See Pat O,Shea to place your order and for further options. (All items can be ordered in a range of colours, with or without club logo). Every item is sold at a small profit to benefit club funds.

findon downs dog training club · findon downs dog training club newsletter january 2018 welcome to...

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