Butler Dog Training Association. Trainer s Tales BDTA Web Site: President s Message. March 2009 Volume 37, No.

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1 Butler Dog Training Association Trainer s Tales BDTA Web Site: March 2009 Volume 37, No. 4 President Betty Scarnato Vice-President Cheryl Youkers Secretary Jeanette Nestor Treasure Jean Duggan Director of Training Nancy Kieffer Board of Directors Cherry Sauers Barb Walters Bernie Abbot Georgia Slater Editor Georgia Slater 539 Sawmill Run Road Butler, Pa Dear Club Members, President s Message Isn t it great! Two months in a row with a quorum at our meeting. Information was shared regarding the Agility Trial; however the details of our income from this event were not available. The upcoming obedience trial is going to be here before we know it and committee chairs gave their updates. If you carefully read the newsletter you will see all the ways you can help the organization for this very important event. Donating to the basket raffle or awards, signing up for food for hospitality, and of course your time and talents helping steward in the obedience or rally rings, in the kitchen, or loading and setting up and tearing down would be greatly appreciated. We will have one more meeting before the trial to finalize plans for this event. The slate of officers was presented at the meeting; Bernie gave a report on an upcoming bill in Pennsylvania that could potentially be devastating to small kennels and breeders; announcements that the agility classes would soon be starting; and two new members were voted in to the club. Nancy reviewed upcoming events we have been asked to participate in by various community groups. The Rally signs have arrived and we will soon be learning skills to help compete in APDT rally events. The good news is that spring arrived officially and the weather is starting to feel like it, the bad news is that the ticks are everywhere. Many dogs and people have had to remove them almost daily. A daily check of your dog can t hurt, as there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to what areas those pesky ticks are found Keep safe and tick free! Betty Yoda and Chewy

2 Sit Happens.Or So They Say.! Happy Spring!!!! What a long strange Winter we ve had! The little white (?) dog is busy adding ticks to her extensive collection. (Where are these little critters coming from??) The long-legged dog is trying her hardest to frolic in the yard like a puppy.until those legs of hers go out from under her.not a pretty sight!! She s determined though to enjoy these sunny days. Greyhounds love to sunbathe the ground is almost warm enough! Silly dogs!! Speaking of silly,.i found a few more Top Ten lists this week. This first list is the top 15 breeds of the Most Alert Watchdog Barkers in order from the most alert to the least alert in terms of letting you know someone or something is threatening their property: Rottie, German Shepherd, Scottie, Westie, Miniature Schnauzer, Yorkie, Cairn, Chihuahua, Airedale, Poodle (both Standard & Miniature), Boston Terrier, ShihTzu, Dachshund, Silky Terrier, Smooth Fox Terrier & a Wire Fox Terrier. There are 12 breeds that are the Least Likely to Succeed at Watchdog Barking (in descending order of least to never even raise an eyebrow): Bloodhound, Newfoundland, St. Bernard, Basset, Bulldog, Old English Sheepdog, Clumber Spaniel, Irish Wolfhound, Scottish Deerhound, Pug, Siberian, and Alaskan Malamute. Last, but never least, are the top 15 breeds most reliable for Security Work due to their presence, massive build, persistence, loyalty, and deep commitment to guard their own (again in order of most sought after for this job): Bullmastiff, Doberman, Rottie, Komondor, Puli, Giant Schnauzer, German Shepherd, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Kuvasz, Am. Staff, Chow Chow, Mastiff and the three Belgians Sheepdog, Malinois, Tervuren. So if your breed isn t on one of those three lists, I ll bet he or she has some other special job that needs done.ratting out moles, shaking tiny garter snakes until they go belly-up, roto-tilling the garden, helping you pick up the dead branches and sticks that need cleared away, or maybe just fertilizing the lawn in their own special way. Whatever they do they do with that joy that comes from just being a dog!!! They are so good at being dogs!!! More true to themselves that any of us ever could be so enjoy the special little quirks and personalities of each one!! We can never keep them long enough!!! Keep Smiling!!! 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, April 21 st at 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) 2 nd Monday of the month 6:30pm 426 Pittsburgh Road- NT I- (3 clients) 3 rd Monday of the month 6:00pm 426 Pittsburgh Road-NT II- (1 client) 3 rd Monday of the month 6:30pm 100 Charles Dr (2 clients) 4 th Thursday of the month 6:30pm 49 Old Plank Road (6 clients) 2 nd Wednesday of the month 6:45pm 154 Crosslands (3 clients) -2 nd Wednesday of the month 6:00pm 100 Penn Ave (3 clients) 2 nd Monday of the month 6:00pm Abba House Whitestown Road 2 nd Tuesday or Wednesday of the month 1:00pm 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. April 24 th deadline) Submissions should be sent to or sent to: is the next 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 these groups. WE NEED TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC AND PROMOTE OUR CLUB Special Announcements Welcome Our new Provisional Member(s): Current Provisional Member(s): Kathleen Davis, Mary Ann Fuhry, Lori Palmer, Susan Topick; Mary Ann Pribis Welcome new members: Charles and Carolyn Glendening 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!) The nominating committee of Georgia Slater, Dari Harding and Dave Pistorius submit the 2009 Slate Of Officers. Voting will be held during the regular April monthly meeting. Betty Scarnato President Sam Abbot Vice President Jean Duggan Treasurer Jeannette Nestor Secretary Nancy Kieffer Director of Training Board Members: Cherry Sauers Barb Walters Dari Harding Adam Edwards

6 Calendar of Events Dates for your calendar: May 3 rd, Sunday Second Annual Blessing of the Animals Alameda Park, Masonic Shelter, Butler 1:00 P.M. 4:00 P.M. BDTA has been invited to set up as a group. We will be able hand out information, talk to people about classes, etc Bring a chair and a canine who could use a blessing!!! May 9 th, Saturday Safety Walk in the Park Butler Memorial Park, Butler 11:00 A.M. 3:00 P.M. This is sponsored by the Butler County Safety Council. BDTA has set up an area the last few years where we can hand out information and talk to the public about how important it is to have a well trained dog. Bring a lawn chair and maybe a mat for your furry friend join us for a nice sunny relaxing afternoon!! Important Updates: Therapy Dog visits to the Butler V.A. will start this coming April. Our first visit will be Thursday, April 9 th. The visits start at 1:00 P.M. We will also be visiting the LTSR psychiatric facility directly afterwards. Barb Taylor, the Activities Director at the V.A., has asked that we bring a copy of the latest updated vaccination record for our dogs. **************************************************************************** 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

7 Miscellaneous Everyone needs to be aware that Bradford Hills Veterinary Hospital is no longer open for emergency hours. Most of our choices for emergency veterinary care are the following: Northview Animal Hospital (Dr. Bebe), 223 Seibert Rd (off McKnight Rd) Allegheny Veterinary Emergency Trauma & Specialty, 4224 Northern Pike, Monroeville, Pittsburgh Veterinary Specialty & Emergency Center, 807 Camp Horne Rd. Pittsburgh (off of Rt. 279) Keep those phone numbers in your cell phones and taped to your info center at home. It is always advisable to call ahead if possible. 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. Please remember to look at the up-to-date Members List on our website. Check to see if any corrections need to be made and send those to Georgia at chocomistmom@zoominternet.net. Georgia will be updating the listing as often as possible. (You might need to Refresh your screen (F5) in order to get into the members listing.) Agility Trial News The 2009 Agility Trial went very well this year NO SNOW! The weather cooperated, the exhibitors had fun (you could only laugh sometimes) with the difficult courses and the judge has one more Trial under his belt to help with his provisional status. We survived the AKC Representative s scrutiny and he had nothing but good remarks about our Club. We had very nice entry levels at, something that hasn t been happening through the course of the winter. Out of a possible 350 runs per day, we had 205 on Friday, 325 on Saturday and 290 on Sunday. I would like to first thank the members who volunteered the time, support and/or to come up to Edinboro to help with the Trial Committee Members Pam Rape, Cindy & Jenna McConnell, Wendy McClaine, Jean Duggan and Cindy Hawthorne. Also to those who helped with crew, Nancy Kieffer, Betty Scarnato, Carol & Bud Glendenning, Jose Bermundez and Deb Hulick. I also wish to thank everyone for the $$ donations for the worker water and treats. For our raffles, every exhibitor who qualified received a free ticket to try for three different prizes during the weekend. A Clara s collar certificate, donated by Lisa Tracy of Clara s, a hand-tied fleece throw, donated by Wendy McClaine and a Wipe Your Paws welcome mat, donated by Erica Schott-Heim. For anyone who didn t qualify I offered a Non-Q prize each day of a Doggie themed scrapbook, a wooden sign that read Thou Shall Not Whine and a stuffed toy. It was so interesting to see those who did not qualify praise their dogs and then run over to the raffle table to fill out a ticket! We had one exhibitor earn her 3 RD MACH, which is a great undertaking in itself. Congratulations to Loretta Gould and Sugar, a miniature Schnauzer, from Pittsburgh. The final report is not yet available, but should be ready by next month. Thanks again! Linda Arnold, Agility Trial Chair.

8 Trial Trivia and Tribulation!!!! First the trivia (and the trivial): ~B.D.T.A. s Spring Obedience & Rally Trials are held to fulfill an A.K.C. (American Kennel Club) requirement. Since we are sanctioned by the A.K.C, we follow their guidelines and requirements. The Trial is never held to raise money for our Building Fund or any other worthy reason. ~Our first sanctioned Obedience Trial was held at the Butler County Fairgrounds in It is also the only time we ever had an AKC representative spend the day with us. What a lovely cold chilly day it was!! ~Our Obedience Trial moved to the Mars Middle School on Rt. 228 where we held one day trials for many years. We would unload everything on Saturday morning and actually only be permitted to set up on Sunday mornings-the actual morning of the Trial. We truly learned the meaning of move it!! ~In 2004, we moved our Obedience Trial to the beautiful and classy Cooper Hall in Roebling Park, Saxonburg. This move started our two day Trial weekends. In 2005, we started our combined Obedience & Rally Trials, having two days of Obedience and only one day of Rally. After that, we have held two days of Obedience and Rally yearly. ~So, for anyone keeping count this year is our 23 rd & 24 th Obedience Trials and our 8 th & 9 th Rally Trials (Saturday & Sunday are counted as two separate trials by the AKC). (Please don t yawn!) Now the tribulation..!!! April 25 th & 26 th is our Spring Trial Weekend and we need your help!!!! Friday, April 24 th 5:30 P.M. we need trucks, vans, muscle and wonderful human beings who can take direction and still smile!! We will meet at our training building to load mats, jumps, sound system, and much, much more. We will head down to Saxonburg to set up. We are looking at 2-3 hours of uproarious fun, laughter and pulled muscles!!! Please join us if you can!!! Saturday, April 25 th 7:00 A.M. 3:00 P.M. Sunday, April 26 th 7:00 A.M. 3:00 P.M. If you signed up for stewarding, you must be at your ring 45 minutes before the start time. (You will get schedules the week of the trial.) If you aren t stewarding, we can always use your help in many different ways: hospitality / kitchen duties, manning our information table, helping exhibitors and spectators be comfortable, etc.you will be surprised at the number of jobs that will be readily available Sunday, April 26 th - after the last Rally class Now it s time to load everything back into the vehicles, clean the hall, and drive back to our training building for the deliriously happy time of unloading and putting away!!! Sadly our weekend ends around 6:00 P.M. all too soon for those who can still stumble home. Anyone not able to make it home will be rolled over the following day! Tickets available to members for the Doggie Basket Raffle!!!! Members buying $10 or more of raffle tickets prior to the Trial will receive 5 free tickets! Phyl Schraf will have the tickets available for purchase. Ticket prices are: 1 for $ for $ for $10.00 Please don t forget your donations for the raffle. If you would like to fill a basket, there are baskets available at the training building. If you re not sure what to get as a donation, think about what you would like to win.monetary donations are always accepted, too!

9 Membership Dues Renewal ***Important information concerning your membership renewal*** Adult Membership $40 Jr. Membership $20 Family Membership $40 for 1 st member, $30 for each additional member Payment Schedule is as follows: If dues are received by June 15 th, there will be the following discount: Adult Membership..$30 Jr. Membership.$15 Family Membership.$30 for 1 st member, $25 for each additional member If dues are received between June 16 th -July 15 th, full payment is due: Adult Membership.$40 Jr. Membership..$20 Family Membership.$40 for 1 st member, $30 for each additional member If dues are received between July 16 th -August 15 th, there will be a late fee: Adult Membership.$50 Jr. Membership $25 Family Membership.$50 for 1 st member, $35 for each additional member After August 15 th, you will be asked to re-apply for membership. Please note that payment must be received by the above dates, not postmarked!!!!!!! If you are a Provisional Member as of June 1 st, you have recently paid dues and therefore, you are not required to pay this year. If you have been voted into full membership as of June 1 st, you must pay this year s dues.

10 Membership Renewal Form ****Please return this portion with your dues to:**** Jean Duggan, 117 Glenwood Way, Butler, Pa Please let Jean know if any of the information below is new (such as a new or address since last year.) Your Name Address Phone # address Please write the total amount you are paying in the correct space: Adult Jr. Family