WEST GIPPSLAND DOG CLUBS

I am a member of three Dog Clubs near my home. I have joined the clubs to generally support them and to allow me to attend obedience classes with my Akitas. My girl "Angel" attended obedience classes from the time she was 6 months old, until I lost her to cancer at 8 years. Since then, her daughters and granddaughters (and great grand daughters) have continued training at Warragul. During this period at obedience, I have learned to do exactly what they wanted. I seem to have specialised in being one of the Club Management team (and serf labourer) and I mostly undertake "Endurance Tests" with my dawgs. Doing this gives them "ET" titles.

Sadly, West Gippsland and Tarago are in "recession". They may amalgamate and continue on, that is in the future. The Warragul Club continues from strength to strength.

I am the Treasurer for the Warragul and District Kennel and Obedience Club. We exist to conduct dog exhibitions (dog shows) and to conduct obedience training of various types for the members. We tend to provide a service for the community with our obedience training. We have many many people who come along simply to teach the family pet a few manners. We operate from the Darnum Recreation Reserve where we share facilities with the Nilma-Darnum Football and Netball Clubs and some other Junior Footy Club that I very rarely see. We have recently constructed our own rooms at the Reserve and are busy fitting them out. All are welcome. Come and join us.

Our Dog Show is conducted on "Labour Day" each year, in early March. We are an affiliate of the Victorian Canine Association and this show is a largish country show. We get somewhere between 6 & 700 dogs entered. Here at Warragul, it either blows a gale and pours rain, or it's scorching hot, never anything easy and simple for us tough Gippslanders. Champ Shows allow for scoring points toward a dog's conformation "Champion" title. Everyone is welcome to come and watch these shows. There is no entry fee or parking fee or similar. People who own "Registered Dogs" (with the VCA) may enter the shows for only a few dollars.

We also cater for the serious Dog Obedience enthusiast (or, nutter, as I like to think of em), people who will compete in "dog trials" of various types and achieve "titles" for their dogs. These titles are things like "Community Companion Dog" (CCD) (charge coupled devices - as I call 'em), "Companion Dog" (CD), "Companion Dog Excellent" (CDX), "Utility Dog" (UD), then UDX. Tracking Dog (TD) Agility Dog (AD), Endurance Dog etc etc etc. I haven't listed all of them. Unlike the U.S. we don't have things like Canine Good Citizen, Therapy Dog or titles of this nature. The Club award certificates to people who successfully pass through the training program. Let me just add that my girl Angel was the highest scoring Akita at a trial I did enter in a few years ago. Shhhhhhhhhh. Who was that slanderous fiend pointing out she was the only Akita there. Furthermore, we failed miserably. Something about soiling the ring - not just once or twice either. She was just marking the whole damn thing.

We also conduct "Agility" training for those amongst us who have a desire to do that sort of thing with their doggies. The Club has a selection of equipment to allow us to conduct Agility training. The Club conducts an Agility and Jumping Trial during November each year. Agility is the stuff where dogs jump over things, through things, and run around a lot. The dogs seem to enjoy it, although my Akitas seem to turn their nose up at it.

We conduct Working Dog training - sometimes referred to as "Herding". To be involved in this you have to have a dog from the Working Group ie a sheep dog of some sort or other. I tried one of my Akitas with the sheep, they all ran off together!!!!!

On every Sunday morning, we can be found at our grounds. If you're a new starter, the time is 9.00 am for about an hour training program. This program runs for 6 weeks. The Intermediate and Senior classes commence training at about 10.00 am for an hour. At the same time, we have people doing a bit of Agility work with margaret and a little bit of Tracking work, thanks to Cate. The herding stuff gets done with the connivance of Phil and Karen and Steve and Geoff mainly. After training, we have coffee, tea and bickies and chat about the little darlings or gossip, whatever. It’s a very social environment, we all have a common interest in our dogs.

Membership of the Club is cheap. The firsy year will cost you either $50 OR $55 depending on whether you are an individual or a family. Renewal for subsequent years will cost you about 35 Bucks per annum, but that also gets you free coffee and bickies for the 12 months. We have a donation tin at the Working Dog complex to help defray the costs incurred by the sheep.

President	John Pallot	jlcpallot@bigpond.com
Vice President	Margaret Widelock	hawkinswidelock@yahoo.com.au
Secretary	Karen Price	karen@warraguldogclub.org.au
Treasurer	Yours truly	les@akitas.com.au
Committee
Andrea McVicar
Kathy Grass
Tresna Oakes
Dorothy Blakeman
Dorothy Sturgess
Bill Richardson
Phil James
Steve Sudero


Life Members
Roly Boxshall (deceased)	John & Joyce Caldwell	Fran Bickerdike
Dorothy Blakeman	John Pallot	Karen Price
Judith French		Me

We trained and conducted our shows at the Warragul Showgrounds for many years , but thanks very much to the Warragul Agricultural Society, who changed their Show dates, we had to find ourselves a new home. Big round of applause to the Aggie Society everyone. NOT. Anyway, we have commenced training at the Darnum Recreational Reserve. We'll be looking for a new name for the facility obviously. "West Gippsland Canine Centre". Who knows. A lot of money and work will be needed in the coming years. We have commenced building our own premises at Darnum.

Anyway, that’s all about the Dog Clubs. I haven't said much about the West Gippsland or the Tarago Clubs. I'm a member of all three. We've all moved together, to Darnum. The other two Clubs are in a bit os strife through the movers and shakers moving up through the years and getting a bit shaky. They may merge or they may close their doors.

That's the Dog Clubs. If you want to come visit with us, feel free, or send me an email for more information. All are welcome at Sunny Warragul.