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" has been attending obedience classes since she was 6 months old. In the following 8 years, I learned, at obedience, to do exactly what she wanted. I am sorry to report that she died with cancer in September 2000. I still have a heap of nice friendly Akitas at home.
The three Clubs local to me are;
Warragul and District Kennel and Obedience Club Inc
West Gippsland Kennel Association Inc and
Tarago Dog Club Inc
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 for 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 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 "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. Our Club does award certificates to people who successfully pass through out training program though. We also do a little bit of "Herding". To be involved in this though, you have to have a Working Group dog ie a sheep dog of some sort or other. I tried one of my Akitas with the sheep, and they all ran off together!!!!!
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.
The Club is busy compiling equipment to allow us to conduct Agility work with the dogs. We have a purchased quite a good set from Murray Tyler. If anyone wants good quality equipment, I recommend him. I understand he's a bit crook at the moment, I hope he is coping well. Email me for more details about the equipment or Murray's email.
The Club holds 2 dog shows each year, one Open Show and one Championship Show. They're held on the same day, the Monday of the Labour Day weekend, here in Victoria, in early march each year. It either blows a gale and pours rain, or is scorching hot, never anything easy and simple for us tough Gippslanders. Last year we tried running extra "sweepstakes" in place of the Open Show. This seemed to work well for us. Champ Shows allow for scoring points toward a dogs 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" may enter the shows for only a few dollars.
Our dog Obedience Classes are conducted every Sunday morning. If you're a new starter, the time is 9.00 am for a half hour training program. This will last as long as you take to pass the testing and progress to the Intermediate class. This can be anywhere from 4 weeks to 4 months or 4 years depending on your commitment. The Intermediate and Senior classes commence training at 10.00 am for an hour. We then do a bit of Agility work thanks to Karen and a little bit of Tracking work, thanks to Cate and the herding gets done with the connivance of Phil and Karen and Judith who bought the sheep. 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. Fees start at three Dollars to join!!!!! To do Obedience, you need to pay an additional thirty dollars, in the first year, but that also gets you free coffee and bickies for the 12 months. Renewal for subsequent years will cost you 15 Bucks per annum plus the membership fee.
The office bearers of the Club are:
President (Greens Keeper) Geoff Price (banned from using the ride on mower) gkprice@sympac.com.au Vice President Judith French judfre@qec.org.au Secretary Karen Price gkprice@sympac.com.au Treasurer Yours truly elray@akitas.com.au Committee Yvonne Runs the "shop" Martine Analyses the Poo samples Phil Fixes the mower John Deer Deer Deer Chris Magazine proof reader John Pallot Editor of "Loose Leads" Life Members Dorothy John & Joyce Caldwell Fran Bickerdike We trained and conducted our shows at the Warragul Showgrounds for many years , but thanks very much to the Warragul Agricultural Society, who have changed their Show dates, we have 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 planning for our own premises at Darnum.
Anyway, that’s the Dog Clubs. I haven't said much about the West Gippsland or the Tarago Clubs. We all meet together, I'm a member of all three. We've all moved together, to Darnum. The other two Clubs conduct their own pair of shows each year, in February, over the same weekend. One holds their Open Show in conjunction with the others Champ show on the Saturday, and on the Sunday, they swap around. I'm the gopher on these days. I gopher this, and I gopher that…….
Anyway, 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.
