Butler Dog Training Association. Trainer s Tales BDTA Web Site: President s Message. July 2008 Volume 30, No.

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1 Butler Dog Training Association Trainer s Tales BDTA Web Site: July 2008 Volume 30, No. 04 President Betty Scarnato Vice-President Cheryl Youkers Secretary Jeanette Nestor Treasure Jean Duggan Director of Training Nancy Kieffer Board of Directors Cherry Sauer Barb Walters Bernie Abbot Georgia Slater Editor Georgia Slater 539 Sawmill Run Road Butler, Pa Dear Club Members, President s Message Where has the month gone? Here it is almost the end of July and before we know it summer will have slipped past. I guess because I like the longer days of summer it seems to go so fast. Speaking of fast I think we had one of the shortest meetings on record this month; sorry you missed it. We still need an Obedience Trial Chairperson; we are starting to gear up for the Fun Day in September; there are several events scheduled in the community where we will be able to show off our dogs and the work of our club. Check out the entire newsletter for all the happenings that are on the schedule. Bernie discussed the proposed dog law legislation and the need for every member to become involved in their community. Lately I have been reading that the law may get caught up in some political delays and not be voted on until after the fall elections; this is why it is important to contact your representatives and let them know you vote and what your position is on this matter. Most members have renewed their membership, there are a few exceptions, and if you are one of them you missed the discount but you can still renew for the upcoming year. Members are busy competing this summer so check out the brags to see how talented our canines are and how proud we are of their talents. Have a great month! Betty Yoda, Chewy, and Parker

2 Sit Happens Or So They Say... Sit Happens. Happy Heat Wave to one and all!!! All too soon we will be buying warm clothing, wondering what our heating bills will be and watching our daylight time shrink. As I write this, the long-legged dog is upside down in the living room keeping cool. The little white(?) dog is at her usual perch watching for a chipmunk to dash into view. As I take in the scene, I wonder how it is that Star will turn 13 years on Christmas Day and Maddie will be 11 years this October. It seems as if they just arrived and yet as if they have been home here forever. Maddie has just finished her course of antibiotics for Lyme s disease and quite possibly is feeling perkier.(she has always been a tick magnet!) And Star is certainly in the slow lane now with her paralyzed larynx.she s doing so much better though now that her mom has decided to relax and let her be a dog! She seems to know her limits better that I do. Maddie has been pretty excited since our members meeting this past week.she heard that the rats were coming for some Earth Dog fun!!! She even asked me if it was true that we could quite possibly rent a rat for a day..(yes, like she would give it back in one piece!) Anyway, not only are the rats coming, but so are many vendors and rescue groups, some good food and lots of fun!!!! We also just found out that we will be having Micro-chipping that day!!!! So as Maddie and many other canines start counting the days until September 14 th, we need to start working towards making this a truly fun day for everyone. There is now a sign-up sheet at the training building. It lists some very rewarding jobs that are available. Please don t pass up the opportunity to help at this all important event!!! We need people to load equipment and set-up and tear down. We need folks to steward in the obedience rings. Quite a few people are needed to help with CGC/TDI testing. Agility, Hospitality, & the Doggie Shoppe are just a few of the other areas where we desperately need help. The big Doggie Raffle which truly attracts people from the Tri-State area is in need of donations. Phyl needs items, big and small.baskets of goodies.and she has quite a few baskets that she would happily give out to anyone who would like to fill one!!! Hospitality is asking for monetary donations for food this year (this will be for the food that will be sold to the public.) For our judges and members lunch, we would like members to donate a dish to share with everyone. (Any questions, please see Verity Abbott.) So stop at the training building and sign up for something anything.(try it, you ll like it!) If you re not sure, but have some questions call me ( ) or me at dogpawscs@zoominternet.net and I ll be happy to find some perfect job for you..and now how about sharing some ice cream or frozen yogurt with that canine at your feet???? You ll both feel so much cooler! Nancy, Star & Maddie

3 Obedience Day/Time Length Cost Puppy Class BDTA Club Building Thursday 6:30-7:30pm 6 Weeks $60.00 BDTA Bldg Beginner Class BDTA Club Bldg. Monday & Wednesday 7:00-8:00pm 8 Weeks $80.00 BDTA bldg. ($10 discount if attended BDTA Puppy Novice Class Tuesdays 6:00-6:45pm 8 Weeks $75.00 (No discounts) Advanced Class Tuesdays 7:00-8:00pm **No Advanced class on meeting nights All Month MEMBERS ONLY Agility Class Family Sports Center Mondays 7:00 Beginners 1 8:00 Beginners 2 9:00 Practice/ Competition 8 Weeks Beginners 1 & 2 $85.00 Practice & Competition $80.00 $10.00 discount for members ****Senior Citizen Rates - $10 discount for any class Obedience Classes All BDTA Members: You must register for all BDTA classes by sending the applications and deposits to: Obedience - Sande Winters, 430 Mushrush Road, Butler, PA and Agility Linda Arnold, 102 Coverdale Road, Butler, Pa If you have any questions or need Application forms, call Sande at or Nancy at Classes fill up very quickly and applications are taken as they are received. Deposits required for class registration will be half of the total class fee (this applies to members also). The Training Building is available to all members. If you need a key, please see one of the board members. With the privilege of using the building comes the responsibility of cleaning up after use. It's very difficult for instructors and assistants to come into the building and discover that a room needs cleaned before students arrive. So please use the vacuum cleaners and also the other cleaning supplies for spilled drinks, etc. Please wipe the mirrors clean. Our customers deserve a clean place to train and so do our members. Please be sure to turn lights off, leave the furnace setting on low or off during the warmer months and make sure all doors are locked! Don t forget the sign up sheet for Clean-up duty posted on the door to the Training Room to take care of our facility at the end of each Advanced Class and the Meeting Night. Everyone is responsible for keeping our facility clean and this will help spread the duties among us. BDTA Meeting Notice The next Membership Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 19 th 7:30PM There is no Advanced Class on Meeting Nights!! We encouraged all Provisional Members to attend meeting nights. It s a good way to meet others in BDTA and we get to meet YOU!

4 Therapy Visits FACILITY CITY DAY OF THE WEEK TIME Irene Stacy Mental Health Center Butler 1 st Tuesday of the Month And 2 nd Wednesday of the Month 10:00 am 3:30 pm Sunnyview Butler 1 st Thursday of the Month 6:30 pm Sunrise Assisted Living Cranberry 1 st and 3 rd Thursday of the Month 10:30 am VA Hospital Butler 2 nd Thursday of the Month 1:00 pm VA Long Term Psych Care Butler 2 nd Thursday of the Month 2:00 pm Valencia Woods Valencia 2 nd Thursday of the Month 6:30 pm Shelbourne Assisted Living Butler 3 rd Wednesday of the Month 6:30 pm Butler Memorial Hospital TCF Butler 3 rd Thursday of the Month 6:00 pm Passavant Retirement Center Zelienople 3 rd Thursday of the Month 6:30 pm Concordia Adult Day Care Cabot Last Tuesday of the Month 10:30am Lowrie House Butler Last Wednesday of the Month 6:30 pm Outlook Commons Saxonburg Last Thursday of the Month 6:30 pm If you would like to learn more about Therapy Dogs or how to become a Therapy Dog, please contact Nancy Kieffer ( ) or Frances Cashdollar ( ). Therapy visits to group homes in the Butler and Saxonburg area. 133 Williams Road (3 clients) - 4 th Monday of the month 6:30pm 426 Pittsburgh Road (4 clients) 2 nd Thursday of the month 6:30pm 100 Charles Dr 3 clients ) 4 th Thursday of the month 6:30pm 280 Holyoke Road (2 clients) - 1 st Monday of the month 6:30pm 49 Old Plank Road (6 clients) 1 st Wednesday of the month 6:30pm 154 Crosslands (3 clients) -2 nd Wednesday of the month 6:30pm 100 Penn Ave (3 clients) 2 nd Monday of the month 6:30pm 189 Constitution Ave (3 clients) 3 rd Monday of the month 6:30pm If you are interested in assisting or would like more information, please contact Georgia Slater at or her at Chocomistmom@zoominternet.net.

5 Submissions for the next newsletter will need to be in by the Friday following the meeting (August 22 nd next deadline) Submissions should be sent to or sent to: is the Georgia Slater 539 Sawmill Run Road Butler, Pa BDTA Canine Ambassador Program Please contact Bernie Abbott, Public Education Coordinator at , for more information concerning the Canine Ambassador Program. There are local Boy Scout, Girl Scout, YMCA and Elementary Schools that need to learn more about dog safety, pet management and dog training. Bernie can help arrange the dates/times necessary to meet with meet these groups. WE NEED TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC AND PROMOTE OUR CLUB Special Announcements Welcome Our new Provisional Member(s): Current Provisional Member(s): Sarah Sanders, Jeanne Glaser, Marie Geibel, Jose Bermudiz Welcome new members: Sarah Neff ( Junior Member) and Kerry Hornyak Please take time to get to know them and welcome to our club. Jodi Johnston is our provisional member s liaison for the Club. She will be keeping in contact provisional members so they can make an easier transition to Club membership. If you have any questions call: Brag Time (brags are published for a dollar to be paid to the building fund!)

6 Calendar of Events Dates for your calendar: ****The Paws to Read a Tale program at the Butler Public Library has been cancelled for August and September due to scheduling conflicts. The program will start up again and we will visit the library on October 11 th, November 8 th and December 13 th. **** August 1 st (Friday)..A Prancing Paws presentation (freestyle) for the residents of the Passavant Retirement Community at 7:00 P.M. in Zelienople. We will be also visiting with the patients, so please join us for the evening! Come join us on Sunday morning, August 3 rd, at the Regatta at Lake Arthur. We will be doing a public educational presentation at the Lakeview area on the North Shore starting at 10:00 A.M. We will talk with children and their parents on the importance of dog safety, good manners for the family dog, and care of our pets. This will be a great chance to promote our organization. We will be there from 10:00 AM-Noon. (The Lakeview area is the swimming area on the North Shore.) ****There will be an Instructors Meeting on Friday, August 8 th, at 6:45 P.M. This meeting is for instructors, assistants and anyone interested in getting started as an assistant.**** August 14 th, a Thursday evening, is another important date for your calendar. It is Butler Community Night at the Highfield Community Center. We will be there from 4:00 PM-7:30 PM to meet the public (last year there were over 1,200 people attending!!!) We will have an area set up to meet and talk with people. Come join us for a fun night with your dog!!! September 14 th Fun Day- Look for more information to come. MEMORIAL PLAQUE There are many places available on our Memorial Plaque at the Training Building. Please remember, this is a wonderful way to remember our dogs that have left us for the Rainbow Bridge. If you would like to purchase a spot on the plaque, you can pick up applications at the club or contact Cherry Sauers at Our Loss On Monday July 7, 2008 we let our last Doberman, Trevette go to the rainbow bridge. He was one of my pups that was born into this crazy house of dogs and kids. Kasey wanted to keep him. So he stayed. He was a beautiful red boy! He was always a gentle dog and never gave us any trouble. He loved his brother George and running the front yard with him. After George and his dad passed away he felt it was up to him to protect the house and make sure everyone was safe. One of his favorite things was to roll on his back right in the middle of the yard. There was always such pure joy in that act! The other thing that made us laugh every day was when Sam was at the kitchen sink he would sneak up and give Sam's butt a big old sniff and Sam would say" it is the same butt you sniffed yesterday" and I swear Trevette was smiling as if it was the biggest joke he ever heard. So we are at the end of an era in this house.we know that all of your family met you at the bridge and that we will all meet again there. We love you Sam, Bernie, Verity and Kasey

7 Condolences Our thoughts and prayers go out to the following members who have sadly had to say that final Good Night to a beloved canine: Sam and Bernie Abbott who bid farewell to the last of their Dobermans as their faithful Trevette crossed to the Rainbow Bridge. With eye upraised his master s look to scan, the joy, the solace, and the aid of man; the rich man s guardian and the poor man s friend, the only creature faithful to the end. ~Anonymous Maggie Toth who said a sad goodbye to her loyal Siberian Dancer.Dancer was within days of his sixteenth birthday. If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans. ~James Herriot We also extend our condolences to Cheryl and Ralph Youkers on the passing of Ralph s mother this past week. What we have enjoyed, we can never lose.all that we love deeply becomes a part of us. ~Helen Keller. Thank You Thank you for all your support with cards, words of comfort, hugs and prayers. We don't have adequate words to express how much Brady meant to us and our family. He lived a life of Love, Peace and Harmony. He was truly a gift from God. Dawn and Bob Ecklund and Family Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers on my loss of Ryan. Sheri McCormick

8 Legislative News Bernie Abbot reported that there are 3 dog related bills out at this time and House bill # 2553, if passed, will allow a community the authority to make dog rules. She encourages all of the members to go to your township meetings and go on the websites to read about the bills. We are also being encouraged to write our legislators to prevent bills that would be detrimental to our dogs. Sandi Winters also shared some information she received from the MAY 2008 AKC Board minutes.secretary's page Incorporating AKC Registrable Dogs into AKC Registry Chapter 3, Section 6 of Rules Applying to Registration and Discipline grants AKC the authority to register dogs of AKC registrable stock. Dogs or litters may qualify for registration if pedigrees show no break in AKC lineage and all dogs and litters originate from AKC registrable stock. Staff advised the Board that without objection it will begin registering dogs of AKC registrable stock lacking litter registration papers provided that the dogs are otherwise deemed registrable by staff. The majority were in favor of this proposal. Miscellaneous Information Shirts, jackets etc Cheryl Youkers found a new person to do shirts etc. with our logos on. The woman who previously did our work passed away recently. The prices are very reasonable and Cheryl will be investigating further. We have the newsletter posted on the web site. You can access it by taking the following steps: 1. Go to the BDTA website : 2. Click on the "Members Only" button on the left hand side 3. Log In with the credentials a. Username: bdtamember (these letters NOT your name) b. Password: bdta07 4. Click on the "July" link. If you need to download Acrobat Reader there is a link at the top of the page. Acrobat reader is a free application for reading special non-editable documents. There is an excellent chance that you already have this application. You can also arrange to have the newsletter left at the club to be picked up. Just send an to bdtanewsletter@zoominternet.net letting us know your wishes and beginning with next month s issue, you can pick yours up at the club. We are trying to save postage and either of the above will assist us in that endeavor