Central Florida Obedience Dog Club (352) August 1, 2011 Volume 2, Issue 8. From the President s Desk...

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1 The Happy Heeler Central Florida Obedience Dog Club (352) August 1, 2011 Volume 2, Issue 8 Of Special Interest RINGSIDE with Matt Twitty Seminar Opportunities Upcoming Trial Dates From the President s Desk... Thanks to everyone who attended the meeting, we got a lot accomplished. I dropped several items from the agenda when I saw how much there was to discuss. Next month we will address the premium for the next trial. Fran has agreed to be Chief Ring Steward for Rally again, I dragooned someone into being CRS for Obedience but she would gladly pass that on if anyone is interested. It would also be good for someone else to be Chairperson in the future, so if anyone is interested let me know. Several times I have had an that I passed on, and found out later that it had misinformation or was an outright fraud, so I am learning to be a little more cynical and to check out information. I was concerned when someone told at the meeting that Subway was supporting Michael Vick for the Sportsman of the Year award. Did this mean that I can t eat at Subway anymore??!!!??? Horrors!!!! Since I am not sure I can pass up my Sunday after church ritual of a subway and a cookie, I spent quite a bit of time on the internet today. Subway has for 2 years supported the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the year awards for BET (Black Entertainment Television) This sponsorship is one of many that Subway does through the year. Subway apparently had no advance notice of who would receive the award, they had signed up to sponsor it before anyone even knew who would be nominated. BET says its awards are chosen by an independent panel and Subway had no control in the process and is not associated with Vick. A representative for Subway has said that they Will most likely not sponsor this award again because there have been so many calls about people s outrage with Subway. Contents From the President Meeting Minutes 2 RINGSIDE with Matt Twitty 3 Seminar Opportunities 4 Spotlight 5 About Our Club Training Schedule 6 Upcoming Shows 6 There is a petition online and a boycott of Subway organized online, if you want to participate. It seems to be organized by animal rights groups, and some of them want subway to not offer meat or free range eggs or something like that. Difficult to pin down exactly who is sponsoring it. For myself, I feel o.k. with eating at Subway, but if there are those who do not want us to get Subway for our August meeting, let me know and we can get sandwiches from Publix instead. Perhaps it is more appropriate to boycott BET. If we are concerned that Vick got this award we could register our disgust with BET at or submit a comment on its website (as I did) or write to BET network, 1235 W. Street, NE, Washington, D.C Since NIKE has entered into a contract with Vick, if you want you can express your thoughts about this to NIKE at Nike, Inc. One Bowerman Dr. Beaverton, O or on the NIKE website. I have not had a reply yet from either NIKE or BET, but Subway did reply and I sent it on to everyone in the club by . Anyway I spent way too much time on this - just wanted to share with you what I found out. Looking forward to seeing you all next meeting. Betty

2 2 THE HAPPY HEELER Meeting Minutes July 13, 2011 Minutes Congrats & Happy Birthday Cooper! Shamrock Acres Rum Runner AKA Cooper and Candy Zimmerman achieved their CGC On Wednesday June 29 Cooper s 11 month Birthday! What a birthday present! The General Meeting was called to order at the 448 Club 448 by President Betty Van Dellen at 7:03PM. There were 13 members in attendance. Members present were Betty Van Dellen, Chris Jeffrey, Fran Brown, Candy Zimmerman, George Smallwood, Ann Shinkle, Jan Nagius, Ruth Hangartner, Ron Wallace, Marie Zaman, Deb Smith, Susan Bekaert and Susan Handy. A motion was made by Candy Zimmerman to approve the minutes of the June 14 th meeting as printed in the July 1 st edition of the Happy Heeler was passed. Seminars Jan reported on the AKC Show Committee Seminar that she attended. Jan will put together a summary sheet of all the significant changes and the new rules for AKC Shows. Chris indicated that working spots for the September Matt Twitty Seminar are sold out. Some audit spots are still available. Cheryl Knapp will conduct another workshop for our Club on Tuesday evening August 9 th. Agility Deb Smith discussed the activities that she is working on. She is working with AKC to get a Match scheduled between August & December. Unfinished Business Ann will check into getting a recent bidder to paint our trailer for $1200. Susan Bekaert volunteered her truck to pull the trailer to the painter and return it to Betty s place. New Business Bobbie has indicated she would like to buy the Club s Agility equipment currently residing at Harilyn s place. A motion was made by Jan to sell the equipment to Bobbie. The motion passed. We discussed what we should do with our old mats. It was agreed that we should either sell them or give them away. President s Report We need to form a nominating in the next few weeks. Be thinking about what office each of you would be willing to hold and if you would be willing to serve on the nominating committee. We need to discuss the fate of the Agility equipment currently residing at Harilyn s place. Also need to talk about what to do with our old mats and if we want to do a seminar and a match on the Friday before our March Trial. Vice President s Report No Report Secretary s Report- No Report. Treasurer s Report The current Checking balance is $6331 and the Certificate of Deposit is $2032 plus interest. Correspondence Several E- mails have been forwarded by Betty this past month. Committee Reports AKC All judges are lined up for our March Trial. We now need to get approval from the AKC and put the final assignments together. Fran Brown made a motion to approve payment of a filing fee for the event. Training Marie Zaman reported that the last class for the summer Basic Training will be on July 18 th. The current status, year to date, for the training activities is an income of $2200, expenses were $ and the profit is $ for the three summer classes. The Tuesday Training Classes has brought $33 this last month. Membership - Mary Jo Hyldahl gave the first reading of her application for club membership. Fran Brown submitted the first reading for Mary Ann Sanford. DOCOF Betty indicated that we need to form a committee for the 2012 DOCOF competition since some of our members are already being pursued by other Clubs to join their team next year. If we are going to field a team in 2012 we need to get started now! Brags Candy Zimmerman s, Cooper, earned his CGC in Orlando in June. Betty indicated that her dog, Knight, scored 190 and 185 in recent matches. Announcements The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at the 448 Club. The meeting was adjourned at 8:22PM. The dinner for the next meeting will be subs from Subway, etc. Open & Utility Workshop By Cheryl Knapp Next workshop August 9 6:30-8:30 pm 448 Club This is a follow-up session to the workshop presented last month. The following exercises will be the areas of concentration for this session: - Drop on recall - Retrieve on the flat - Signals - Moving stand Please let Chris know by Aug 4 if you wish to attend. We can allow up to 10 participants. Members & their guests may attend. Working or audit seat your choice! Fee: $12

3 3 Ringside with Matt Twitty Do it Naturally... Seems like everything these days boast Natural on their labels. Slogans like Made with 100% Natural Man Made Materials seem to pop up all over the place with companies trying to cash in on the consumers quest for products that are Natural. Sadly, while the world is turning to more Natural products, dog trainers and their dogs seem to look more and more Unnatural. There are many areas of training dogs where unnatural is present both in the ring and simply what we ask of our dogs. When I was thinking about this article and what I thought would be helpful to competitors the most obvious unnatural thing I see in Obedience was the dogs head in heel position. We have all seen the teams where the dogs head is so cranked up it almost looks painful to walk with that much angle of neck and RARELY is this team able to sustain this unnatural position for longer than a leg of a heeling pattern before the dog must take a break and drop the head into a more natural position. It is going to be assumed in training this dog will be corrected for the head drop the question is, is this fair? Years ago I watched someone train a miniature horse to pull a wagon. After the little stallion learned to accept the cart and his reins, the harness was tightened to bring the little horses head up. Each week the horse basically had to learn to pull all over again as the head was brought up higher and higher. It reminded me of the chapter in Black Beauty where the horse was taught to pull a wagon fashionably the worst part was the bit and reins were tightened which didn t allow him any relief from this very unnatural position and it wasn t fair. Natural heel position for your dog is the one you should use. You can see by the photos below the difference in a Natural Heel Position (one where the dog was placed in heel position and looked up in a position that was comfortable for her as it was the position she chose) Looking at those two photos spoke volumes to me in terms of fairness to our dogs and in my head I am hearing, Pick your battles! The natural position has several good points: Natural Position Pros - 1. It will be easy to build value to. 2. The dog will default to it. 3. Being comfortable will mean longer periods of sustained attention during heeling. 4. It will not create long term training battles. Natural Position Cons - 1. May not be as flashy. Ok, so I couldn t think of any Cons other than the flash, but let s be real flashy gets attention and we all at some point wish we could get that flash in our own dog. The downside, we chase rainbows. We work and work on the flash rather than appreciating and working with what our dog could easily give us naturally, comfortably and happily. We also tend to focus so hard on the flash we forget about the driving force behind it attitude. When you forget to reward attitude, it s the first thing to go and the first thing you will miss. Now don t get me wrong, I want my dogs head up and watching me when we heel, but I want the dog to tell me what is comfortable and easily attainable for them, that is what I am going to choose to reward, rather than attempt to create an artificial look that will require MUCH higher standards for the dog. Try this: Ask your dog to sit, hold his favorite toy or food treat in your hand close to your chin. Move yourself into heel position. How long can your dog hold this position? Does he move? Move the desired object down your body and watch your dogs head, neck and eyes he is looking, but doing it where he is comfortable. His attention is just as focused, but he is telling you what works for him. Now try this: Stand up. Lean your head back and look at the ceiling and count to 100. Now, look at the same spot on the ceiling by just looking up. Which was easier on you? If we allow our dogs to tell us what is natural for them, we can easily tell them what we want and you will speed up your heeling training and be much less frustrated in the long run. and an Unnatural Heel Position (one where I used food to create a position that would be a lot of work for the dog to maintain). Remember, life s stressful, training your dog shouldn t be. Matt For additional info see Matt s website and blog:

4 4 THE HAPPY HEELER Seminar Opportunities... LORI DROUIN OBEDIENCE SEMINAR Hosted by Imperial Polk Obedience Club www. IPOCLAKELAND.ORG August 13 and 14, 2011 Day 1: Basic progression on gaining attentive commitment, proofing, problem solving, heeling skills, stays, signals, and recalls. Day 2: Retrieves, shaping, play skills, structured hold progression teaching you need to do this correctly without resorting to an ear pinch, all Open and Utility exercises. Lori has been in the sport of obedience for 39 years having earned 2 OTCHs, 1 UDX, 6 UDs, 1CDX on 6 Shelties. #7 has 2 UD legs, an RA and working in Agility. She has successful students at Oakland (CA) Dog Training Club with non-traditional breeds (Lhasa Apso, St. Bernards, Pharoah Hound, Bulldogs., Min Pins and Siberians). She is an AKC judge and columnist for Front and Finish. Working Spots SOLD OUT Auditing Spots one day $75, two days $125 For additional information contact Jean Rodoski at or ipoc@ipoclakeland.org Central Florida Obedience Dog Club Presents MATT TWITTY PROBLEM SOLVING SEMINAR a canine performance seminar for the Novice, Open and Utility Competitor September 17-18, 2011 Working Spots 1 day $85 2 days $150 Sold Out! Audit Spots 1 day $60-2 days $95 only a few seats available! Matt s Problem Solving Seminar uniquely dissects each exercise from Novice to Utility. As dogs are worked trying to find the exact link missing in their progression of steps, his methods of teaching each exercise are explained in a step by step format. Seminar Location: Fast Friends Training Building 1753 Lexington Avenue - Deland, FL Note CFODC members will have first choice of working spots till June 25. After that date, remaining working spots will be opened to all others. Contact Chris at For additional information

5 5 Spotlight of the Month She Got It! We traveled up to NC for 3 tries at that elusive final gamble leg. Friday and Sat's gambles looked doable on paper... Friday's ate everyone up... I think 10 Q's total. Sat's looked better, but we still didn't get it. I was keeping my fingers crossed for Sunday... until I saw the course map. Ugh! I figured there was no shot at it. I was bitching and moaning all morning about the course. We had to run steeplechase finals first, which was going on in the other ring at the same time. I think that helped take the edge off the adrenaline and get us warmed up. The other thing, which was I think the biggest factor, was my plan to run to the gamble tunnel even if the buzzer hadn't gone off yet, figuring I could always put her back in the exit of the tunnel if I needed to loiter. CH MACH ADCH Echo Run Hoot-N-Holler XF (Hootie) Hootie is the third Beagle to earn an ADCH, and only the second to earn both a MACH and an ADCH As luck would have it, the buzzer went off when Hootie was only a few feet from the tunnel, so no loitering needed! I pulled her back over the line at the tunnel exit to redirect her to the weaves.. and holy smokes!! She got it!! Thanks Rhonda, for your great tips!! from Jan Weiler... Fast... Fast... Fast... Fast... Fast! DACOF 2011 is history! The Dog On It teams placed 6th, 10th and 29th out of 55 teams. Would sure love to field an AKC team next year... hint hint... Burst held his own and kept the team in 6th, what a boy!... Stunn helped her team to 10th and got a second place trophy for FAST! That she is! Deb Smith Stun and Burst

6 6 THE HAPPY HEELER The Happy Heeler Chris Jeffrey, Editor Oak Prairie Circle Sorrento, FL Club Phone (352) Club CFODC Officers 2011 President Betty Van Dellen Vice President Fran Brown Treasurer Susan Handy Secretary Bobbie Kurivial Board Members Ann Shinkle. Jan Naigus Harilyn Adler About our club The purpose of the Central Florida Obedience Dog Club is to promote the training of dogs. To disseminate knowledge regarding obedience training. To conduct classes for the training of all dogs and their handlers. To encourage and cooperate with individuals and other groups with similar purposes. To encourage the training of judges. To hold and Upcoming shows Indian River Dog Training Melbourne, FL Aug Closing Date: Aug 3 Sarasota Dog Training Club St. Petersburg, FL Aug Closing Date: Aug 3 support all AKC events including but not limited to obedience trials, tracking tests, agility trials, under the rules and regulations of the American Kennel Club. To promote cooperation and good sportsmanship among its members in the training and exhibition of dogs. Training classes for Basic and Advanced Novice Obedience are Dog Training Club of St Pete St Petersburg, FL - Aug Closing Date: Aug 10 ODTC Orlando, FL Oct 8-9 Closing Date: Sept 21 held on Monday evenings. Call for a class schedule, pricing and additional information Training Schedule 2011 Training Schedule June 06 July 18 August 01 September 12 September 26 - November 07 Nov 08 Dec 31 Holiday Recess K-9 Obedience Club of Jacksonville Jacksonville, FL Oct Closing Date: Sept 28 Central Florida Obedience Dog Club THE HAPPY HEELER OAK PRAIRIE CIRCLE SORRENTO, FL Next General Meeting: Aug 10, pm 448 Clubhouse CR 448 Tavares, FL We re on the Web! See us at: www. cfodcinc.com The Happy Heeler is published monthly by The Central Florida Obedience Dog Club, Inc. The views and opinions listed herein do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of The Central Florida Obedience Dog Club, Inc. or the editor.