February 2008

By Jane Eno

February is a tough time of year for those of us into dog sports in the North East. We are on a constant search for safe places to train, when the ground is icy, and it is dark by the time we get home. I am lucky that in my area, right now, we have a couple lovely places we can rent. There is a huge training and boarding facility in Farmington, NY, called Boom Towne that has enough room for two obedience rings and an agility ring to be set up at all times, and they rent rings for only $12 an hour. Then there are a couple private trainers that have heated pole barns that they will rent out, when they are not using them. They teach in them all year round. Finally, and most important, is our Obedience Club building. My club, DOTCORNY (Dog Obedience Training Club of Rochester New York), has a lovely building that can have three large rings and one small ring always set up. It is big enough to hold trials.

In order to have such a lovely building that is available to members year round for training and practicing, we have to teach lots and lots of classes. I am currently teaching a Novice Competition Class, and last year taught two Open Competition classes and one Beginner Class. Teaching is a wonderful experience, since I have worked with many different breeds that I will never own, and have seen some of my students go on and win ribbons and finish titles. If you have a club in your area, offer to help by teaching a class or assisting with a class. Our club offers obedience, flyball, agility, conformation, freestyle, pet, CGC and Therapy classes. We also have mini classes on everything from Crate Games, to Tracking, to Conditioning dogs.

If you are not as lucky as I am and do not have a wide variety of places that you can rent, try getting a group together and seeing if any of the firehalls will rent space. Also check with your county fairgrounds to see if their buildings are available to rent off season.

Good luck and have fun training! The summer will be here soon.

BRAGS

From Virginia Barishek: After a hiatus due to the illness and, sadly, death of Bonnie, my Westie, as well as his own surgery in November,Andy (U-CD Garryowen's Smarty Pants, UD, RAE, NA) got the last leg of his RAE-2 on 2/16/08. This was at the Staten Island Companion DTC trial. Andy got 99's in both the Advanced and Excellent classes, and first place in Excellent B. He did this under 2 different judges, who set up very different courses, and under the new Rally rules. Incidentally, Andy is a chipper 11 years old. As he did for the RAE, Andy had 10 straight double-Q's, often placing in one or both classes. Thanks to SICDTC for their work in putting on a great trial. Thank you to all who have helped, advised, instructed, and laughed with us along the way. And thanks to Andy, who always puts his best foot forward on the journey we are taking together.

Last Updated: 03/09/2008, 7:38 pm