The Scramble. Worker Thank You By Barb Krynski. Election Results. Contributions to The Scramble: October 2007

Transcription

1 The Scramble October 2007 Contributions to The Scramble: Contributions are due on: March 15 (for April issue) June 15 (for July issue) September 15(for October issue) December 20 (for January issue) Send them to: Barb Krynski (Editor) 2403 Robin Lane Rolling Meadows, IL or Board of Directors Officers Aliss South, President Chris Eastwood, Vice Pres. Donna Wykowski, Secretary Lou Bogart, Treasurer Directors Paul Glombowski Synoma Hays Gail Kalina Sonja Lund Anna Ogawa Nancy Reyes Karen Schaubel Worker Thank You By Barb Krynski I would like to thank all the volunteers who helped at our July trial. It ran smoothly, and that is because of the great help we had! Thank you to (in no particular order): Nancy Kohlman, Karen Taylor, Dolores Valerio, Chris Eastwood (Trial Chair), Nancy Saia, Lisa Bataska, Jeff Wykowski (Secretary), Synoma Hays, Karen Schaubel, Nancy Reyes, Kim Markwell, Tom Francis, Jill Hillock, Aliss South, Sonja Lund, Sue Brennan, Kris & Tony Montagano, Pat Hussey, Kim DeBenedictis, Marianne Feissler and her sons, Sharon Freund, Loretta Marchese, Kim Markwell, Paul and Barbara Glombowski, Anna Marie Haden, Stephanie Marchewka, Lois Breslow, Jan Long. A special thank you to Anna Ogawa, who just about killed herself getting all the workers fed and to Kathy Bruno and Pam Trent for stepping up and giving her a much needed hand. Also, a special thank you to Cheryl Pyrek for handling our ribbons and prizes. This year, the supplier of the prizes LOST the order less than a week before the trial. Cheryl pulled it together and it all worked out. Chris and Jeff are stepping down from their respective positions for the November trial. Chris will still handle workers, so please contact him if you can help out. I am the Trial Chair, and Karen Schaubel is the Secretary. Neither of us has handled these positions before, so be patient! Thank you, again, for all your hard work. It couldn't be done without you! Election Results The results are in! We have a new Board member Synoma Hays! It was a VERY close race between all incumbents, with only 2-3 vote margin between them. We mailed over 80 ballots and received 45 from our club member voters. That is actually a great turnout, second only to one other year that had over 50! Thank you, members, for participating in this important club event. The Board is a very important entity within any club, and it was great to see so many new people running for director positions. Remember, anyone is welcome to attend any Board meeting. They are held the 2nd Friday of most months at For Your Canine (our Thursday training location) at 7:30 p.m. Anything relevant to WCAC (and some things not so relevant) is discussed and voted upon. This is how the club is run, so come out and have some input into what is, essentially, YOUR club!

2 Page 2 Wags & Brags There s a new CDX in town! Pat Hussey s Quincy earned his AKC CDX (Companion Dog Excellent) title on July 8! He is now known as: Quincy vom Orkelsfelsen CD, AX, AXP, AXJ, AJP, RAE, and Pat is one proud dog mom! Quincy showed 3 times, qualified each time with an average score of 192, and placed 1st, 2nd, and 4th! Pat claims that patience IS a virtue, since it took her 1 year to get Quincy to take a dumbbell, and another year to WAIT until told to fetch it. Tilley and Tom Francis ran in their first ever agility trials at the WCAC trial in July, and with GREAT success! Tilley finished her AGI title and got a leg toward d her AGII. Bowie and Toni Ginnetti earned his AGI title, too, with TWO 1st places! In July, Klaatu reached a very important milestone. Klaatu, being a therapy dog, has touched the hearts of countless people over may years. She and her human, Aliss, made her 100th therapy dog visit. What a special dog! Vinnie and Gloriane Bork earned Vinnie s first ever title on Sunday, Sept. 2! He earned his CPE Level 1 Handler Games title CTL1-H. Way to go, Vinnie! AKC U-AGI Tilley! By Tom Francis The July trial was Tilley s first UKC event. She ended up completing three legs of AGI and the first leg of AGII. It was also a very colorful weekend as she brought home a full bouquet of ribbons with First, Second, Third, and Fourth place finishes, including her first clean run. She did have a fifth run (a fourth AGI-A run just for practice).but her people social skills took over and she spent her time socializing with the spectators for an NQ which I guess gives her the full range of possible outcomes for her first UKC event. It was a fun weekend, and one I will always remember but it never would have happened without the Windy City Instructors and members who have been so incredibly helpful to Tilley and myself. Thanks to all for making WCAC a great place for dogs and handlers!!! Remembering Missy by Toni Giinnetti The sad day came much too soon when I had to say good-bye to Missy. I had so hoped the surgery that had gone so well to remove the malignant tumor on her thyroid in March would win out over the vet s warning of recurrence. Missy was so much her old self that she was convincing me to be confident. And for the next four months, my almost-11- year-old collie was the spry, intuitive, affectionate friend she had been all her life. I m so grateful we got that extra time. On her last night, when my tears were about good-bye, I tried to make myself remember the special hello s she brought me, too. Hello to the wonderful volunteers of Collie Rescue, who took a scared and mistreated litter of puppies and found them homes and let missy become a part of mine. Hello to a new adventure called dog agility, something I hoped would help an already six-year-old dog have new fun and a little more self confidence. Hello to the challenge of actually competing and even winning a ribbon! And then finding another kind of fun in rally obedience and achieving a real AKC title to go with it at the age of 10. Hello to a special group of people of Windy City Agility, who became good friends. We learned so much from them. Love for a pet isn t something easily put into words though anyone who loves one understands anyway. A very wise and caring colleague of mine wrote this to me after I told him about Missy. His graceful eloquence is worth sharing. I was saddened to hear the news about your gentle companion. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to make the decision to put her down. We pet owners know that the word pet is inadequate in describing our relationships with them. They are true members of our family and our born companions, unflagging in their loyalty. They greet us at the door whether we ve been absent five minutes or during a whole work day (that s why so many dogs are called Fido from early Roman times up to the late 19th century). Fido in Latin means I am Faithful. A nice pat on the head and daily attention is reward enough to keep them at side or under foot. When we ve had it with our colleagues and so called superiors, one nuzzle from our pets or caress of the hand to these furry beings is the best tranquilizer we have. Even the grouchiest curmudgeon will smile and pitch their voice up an octave or two and baby-talk good boy or hello Kitty. I know you ll miss her, as I m sure I ll miss mine when the time comes to say goodbye.

3 Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Where? You (and your canine friends) are hereby invited to Windy City Agility Club s For Your Canine When? Saturday, January 19, 2008 Time? 6 p.m. until? Cost? $18 per adult, $10 per child under 16 for dinner and pop (BYOB) Sorry, only WCAC members & immediate family, please. RSVP by January 10 using the form below. Questions? Ask Barb Krynski ( /klevr-k9@comcast.net) or Donna Wykowski (djwykowski@prodigy.net) or Nancy Reyes (on Thursday nights) Name: Phone: # humans: # K-9s: Amount enclosed: (No WCAC Bucks, please) Mail to: Donna Wykowski, 5436 S. 7 th Avenue, Countryside, IL 60525

4 Page 4 Dino s a Star By Gail Kalina On the evening of Friday, July 27, Karen Schaubel, Lois Breslow and I went to see Kim DeBenedictis CH MACH Loteki His Royal Majesty CDX, RN (better known as Dino ) perform in the Wizard of Oz. This was Dino s second time playing the role of Toto. And he was AWESOME! During the opening scene of the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is sitting on a wooden crate holding Toto (Dino). As Dorothy began singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow, she sat Dino down on another wooden box next to her. Off stage, Kim signaled a down to Dino, as Dorothy stood up and walked to center stage for her solo. As Dorothy sand that memorable song, we saw a true Kodak Moment. Dino put his little head down and rested his chin on his paw, all the while watching his Dorothy. The audience loved him, all around us you could hear people whispering, Isn t that the sweetest thing? Those of us who have trained with Kim and Dino on Thursday evening know what a great agility dog this little Papillon is. Kim can stand in the middle of the course and direct him to the equipment. Dino is so enthusiastic and eager to please in his obedience classes, too It is evident he s and exceptional and well-trained dog and loves every minute of performing in agility or on stage. Kim s challenge for this play was to teach Dino to bark on command. They worked on it all the way to opening night before he would bark for Kim during rehearsal. Kim was worried, but Dino came thru and did his part once it was for real. During the performance, Dino took his cues from the cast members, as Kim sat out of sight in the back of the auditorium. Can you imagine your dog, being put in a covered picnic basked by the evil Miss Gulch? Dino hopped in the basket several times throughout the evening and sat quietly until his next scene. He was also picked up and carried by the Wicked Witch, the Cowardly Lion and kidnapped by a flying monkey! It never fazed him to have other people hold him and give him directions. He was given a command and responded with perfection,. What amazed me the most was Dino s attention to the other actors. Many times when you see a dog in a television program or commercial, the dog is watching the trainer/handler not the actor. Not Dino! Only once during the first scene did he look over to the side of the stage. The rest of the time, he looked out at the audience or at the character on stage with him. He certainly knows how to charm the audience. After a play, it is customary to present the actor with flowers, so Dino received a bouquet from his Aunts Karen, Lois and Gail. What an incredible dog! Great job, Kim and Dino, we really enjoyed his performance. Xylitol Alert! Xylitol is used as a sugar substitute in products for those people who are diabetic or watching their sugar intake. Humans have one way of metabolizing xylitol, but for our canine friends, it can be deadly. It is found in everything from gum, candy, muffins, pudding cups, etc. Xylitol stimulates a massive release of insulin in our furry friends and causes dramatically low blood sugar fatal if untreated. It doesn t take a lot to do it (1) pudding cup or several sticks of gum can kill a large dog. Therapy Dogs, Incorporated, by Joni L. Freshman, DVM, January 2007 That s Agility For You as observed by Tom Francis This was my first competition. So to me, at least, I thought the following was interesting: On Sunday of the last UKC trial the 2 AGI-A runs had 5 dogs. In the first run, one dog had a score of 199 and finished fifth. The other 4 dogs ALL had clean runs and took placements 1st thru 4th. In the second run, the same five dogs ran again. One dog had a score of 1876 and took first place. The four other dogs all NQ d. Did the dogs all go out and celebrate heavily after the scores of the first run? Did the handlers? You never know what will happen which is what makes the competitions challenging and entertaining.

5 Page 5 Freecyle for Pets! Freecycle for Pets is the brainchild of our very own Lou Bogart. If you have something pet) related that you would like to give away, send the info tome and I ll put it in this column. If you re looking for something, you might just find it here! No charge items only. So, here s the first installment: Two (2) Washable Dog Bed COVERS for foam beds similar to photo. (Original brand: Lazy Pet) Inside bottoms are oval; approx. 40" x 24" (may stretch to a bit larger). Side walls approx. 7.5"h. Inside walls and bottoms are fake lambs wool (off-white). Outside walls are woven cotton- one is solid black w/blue plaid insert, the other is solid red. One (1) Jolly Teaser Ball This ball is green plastic with a smaller, blue rubber ball inside. Approximately 10 in diameter. Tough plastic, showing signs of some serious play, but only scratched and scuffed, not cracked or otherwise damaged. Lots of fun left for a big, energetic dog. If you are interested in any/all of the above items, please contact Lou at class, or by wcaclou@earthlink.net. 10 Gal. Aquarium w/stand Set up also includes rocks. Contact Barb Krynski at klevr-k9@comcast.net or A Bit of History by Lou Bogart Windy City was officially incorporated in July of Prior to that time, for over a year, classes were privately offered in Rogers Park, then Evanston and also Forest Park (at the now defunct Altenheim Nursing Home). Dennis Damon used his personal funds to have the first entire set of equipment built. The specs were provided by the NCDA, (later known as Trans-NCDA, and finally, UKC Agility). Some time in 1989 we were approached by Ken Tatsch, owner of USDAA, about holding an agility demo at a major obedience event, the Gaines Classic, at the Odeum in the fall of that year. Members of the group (students.. there was no club yet) built some major pieces of equipment to USDAA specs, and we did the demo. We invited anyone/everyone from anywhere to participate...some members of the newly formed Milwaukee Dog Training Club came down and joined in the demo. The involvement with USDAA led to our group presenting their first Midwest regional competition at the IKC Show in the spring of That s when we realized the need to reinvent ourselves as a non-profit club. (Editors note: WCAC is one of the OLDEST agility clubs in the United States, and hosted our first USDAA agility trial in the first year they were offered!) Oh, Baby! Vicky MacKay is celebrating the arrival of a new baby in her household! No, not a human baby but a puppy! Little BC Tevi is getting along well with big sister Shira and getting ready for a life of sheep, a-frames, and fun! Long time WCAC member Marietta Huber has a new Beagle, Ricky! He s an adorable, stocky little guy.. Toni Ginnetti has a new girlie Collie, too. is a beautiful, unique girl who will, I m sure, bring much joy to Toni s household. The Krynski/Woepse household has added yet another foster failure. Zap is a 1 year old Rat Terrier who can clear a 36 gate from a sitting position. Scary! He also gives new meaning to the word stubborn. Can You Read This??? fi you can raed this, you have a sgrtane mind too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not r aed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

6 Page 6 There s Always Next Time. By Chris Eastwood "I didn't end up taking anyone with me on Saturday (to the WCAC trial in July). I felt that they were still too "iffy" in the gastro intestinal dept. to be able to trust that they'd be OK while I did 90 minute stretches of being Mr. Trial Chairman, dealing on business, especially after Susan spent about four hours on Friday brushing, bathing, and blowing undercoat out of all four of them. They look and smell WONDERFUL!! so I didn't want to risk someone having diarrhea in a cabana crate and having to clean up a soft crate AND a "fresh" dog. Sunday Susan was able to come a bit later and brought all of them. Abby pooped on the course (AFTER he'd had a good walk and had pooped outside... sheesh) the first run and then had a beautiful second run going with Susan when he popped the second to last weave pole. At his level (AG-III), it had to be perfect to count, so we're still sitting, as we have for the last two years(!!!), on his last two legs for the U-ACHX (Agility Champion Excellent) title, but we may get there before I die, haha. Lea was her usual steady self, seemed happy, and she and I ended up with two perfect scores and two first places. I ran Splash and, well, he really hasn't had all that much training and not much experience around trials and he's still quite young, so it wasn't surprising when he got to the fourth obstacle and took off for the sidelines. I pulled him and called it a wash. The second run with him we only got to the second obstacle. Which brings us to Zel. I had NO expectations with her, as she has still proven unfocused and runs off, like Splash, for many of the same reasons. Susan had her going off and generally paying no mind at the CPE trial only two weeks ago. I caught a glimmer of attention from her, lined her up at the start line and just took off, and it was a blast!! She stayed with me and I had to use an extraordinary amount of mental energy keeping focused on her to catch her in the nano-second of time when I could direct her to the next obstacle. But we finished the course!!! Susan's face was priceless. Her jaw was hanging open and I think she was near tears, she just couldn't believe I had pulled that off with the little mis-bred ferret!! And holy smokes is she FAST!! I gunned her at the end and she faulted on the dogwalk (the third obstacle from the end), not hitting the yellow contact zone on the down ramp. In the "novice" level of UKC (AG-I), you can go back and "correct" a mistake like that, so I said "whatthehell", got her attention and led her back to the dogwalk, which she did in reverse, then turned her around and re-did the dogwalk and the last jumps. I'm telling you all that to give you the picture that she actually did the last three obstacles on the course THREE times, and here's the punch line: the standard course time was 56 seconds. Zel did the course in 35, and, like I said, that's with repeating the end of the course three times(!!!!!!!!!!). And then we went out and did it all over again for the second trial, so she Q'd twice... hope springs eternal that we can make a competition dog out of her yet and can avoid sending her to the horse-food factory! ;-))" Movin On By Barb Krynski I have been a member of WCAC since the lat 1980 s, and served on the Board of Directors for about 15 of those years. This election, I decided it was time for a break. WCAC has so many newer, active, enthusiastic members that I felt it was time not to run for Director this time around. I have 2 young dogs that I am having a blast training and showing, and want to take more time for that, too. I wish Synoma the best and am confident she will fulfill her position with the good of Windy City Agility in mind. Good luck to the re-elected and newly-elected Board of Directors! REAL Classified Ads! FREE YORKSHIRE TERRIER 8 years old. Hateful little dog. Bites. FREE PUPPIES 1/2 Cocker Spaniel, 1/2 sneaky neighbor s dog FOUND DIRTY WHITE DOG Looks like a rat Been out a while. Better be a reward. FREE PUPPIES Mother, AKC German Shepherd Father, Super Dog able to leap tall fences in a single bound WEDDING DRESS Worn once by mistake. Call Stephanie. JOINING NUDIST COLONY! Must sell washer and dryer $2300

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8 Class Schedule and Upcoming Events THURSDAY EVENING INDOOR CLASSES (Held at For Your Canine, 4233 United Parkway, Schiller Park) Session 5: August 16, 2007 October 4, 2007 Session 6: October 11, 2007 November 29, 2007 Session 1: January 10, 2008 February 21, 2008 Class Times: Beginner: Class Times: Beginner 6:45 to 7:30 pm, Intermediate I 7:40 to 8:25 pm, Advanced 8:35 to 9:20 pm, Intermediate II 9:20 to 10:05 pm WCAC BOARD MEETINGS Meetings are at For Your Canine, Inc. on the second Friday of each month. Members are always welcome. Quiet and well behaved dogs are also welcome. For more information, call , ask any Board member (names are on the cover page), or visit our website at Windy City Agility Club c/o Barb Krynski 2403 Robin Lane Rolling Meadows, IL 60008