Butler Dog Training Association Trainer s Tales BDTA Web Site: www.butlerdogtraining.com January/February 2019 Volume 39 No. 1 President Barb Walter President s Message Vice-President Regina Beilstein Secretary Linda Arnold Treasurer Kim Colella Director of Training Nancy Kieffer Board of Directors Sam Abbot Jen Heid Debbie Hulick Kathie Rivers Barb and the Gang (Gus, Fiona, and Jonah Editor Ann Early (raearlys@windstream.net) Next BDTA Meetings Tuesdays, February 19 & March 19, 2019. We encourage all Provisional Members to attend meeting nights. It s a good way to meet others in BDTA and we get to meet YOU! 1
Sit Happens. It s already the third week of January. Happy New Year to everyone! All the rush and worry of the Christmas season is already behind us. Everyone is busily planning the year. Many of us might get caught up in the seriousness of making and not keeping resolutions. We will all do better next year, right? It s way too hard to change much at the stroke of midnight. Well, I came across this unique challenge on Face Book one day a few weeks ago. It was from a Camp friend and it was rather thoughtprovoking. Instead of making one or more resolutions, the challenge issued was to choose just a word one word.one word only to live by for the year. The friend who posted on Face Book chose the word clarity. It made me think for many days what word I would choose to live by for a year. The choices are endless. Now I certainly have to place a canine twist onto everything. After much thinking, I decided on the tiny word be. I want to be in the moment just like my dog. I don t want to always look at the cell phone for messages and unimportant flashes of wasted words and ads. We are pulled in so many ways every minute of our waking day. My dog needs me to pay attention to what is important. I want to be there for my dog (and loved ones). I need to be the person my dog thinks I am or should be. I want to be patient, kind, thoughtful, selfless, and here the list gets endless. Sometimes just to be still or silent would fulfill the challenge. I will never manage to always just be, but knowing that word could maybe keep me centered and bring me back to what is important throughout the year.it s worth remembering. So, I challenge you to pick a word.just a single word.that would help you through the year to stay your course. I d love for you to e-mail me and share that word. It would be fun to send out a list of words that the members chose.no names attached. It would just be interesting to read how everyone met the challenge. Use your dog to help you choose. As 2019 starts, some of us are very glad to say goodbye to 2018 some of us are hoping for better days ahead. Some us are planning and thinking about the hopes and dreams we have for the months unfolding in front of us. Take each day as a gift and share it with your wonderful dogs!! Nancy and Sprite NEW MEMBERS We welcome Current Provisional Member(s): Marilyn Moore (Jazmine), Marcie Holcomb (Silas, Sadie), Jessica Zakrie (Rousey), and Julie Rihn (Jack, Jillie, Josie) New Provisional Member(s): Scott Ross (Fozzie), Stacey Wolbert Editor s note: I invite new & provisional members to send (just) names of their dog(s) we ll get to know. Please put BDTA new member in the subject line. to: raearlys@windstream.net. Dari Harding, the club s provisional members liaison, will keep in contact with provisional members to help ease their transition to Club membership. If you have any questions call: 724-285-8081. 2
CALENDAR OF EVENTS February 22 nd Friday CGC/TDI testing at BDTA Pre-registration only March 9 th Saturday Paws to Read a Tale, Butler Public Library 8 th, 9 th, 10 th weekend BDTA s Agility Trials, Erie, PA April 19 th Friday CGC/TDI testing at BDTA 27 th & 28 th weekend) BDTA s Spring Obedience & Rally Trials, Saxonburg, PA THERAPY DOG VISITS FACILITY CITY DAY OF THE WEEK TIME Sunnyview Butler 1 st Thursday of the Month 6:30 pm VA Hospital Butler 2 nd Thursday of the Month 1:00 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 10:30 am Saxony House Saxonburg First Wednesday of the Month 10:30 am St. John s Specialty Care Center Mars Last Thursday of the month 6:30 pm Butler Hospital Psychiatric Butler Second Wednesday of the Month 2:30 pm New Haven Court Butler First Wednesday of the Month 3:00 pm The Lowrie Place Butler Last Tuesday of 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 (724-285-9910). CANINE EMBASSADOR PROGRAM Please contact Bernie Abbott, Public Education Coordinator at 724-295-4983, 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. 3
OBEDIENCE and AGILITY CLASSES Obedience/Agility Classes Day/Time Length Cost Puppy Class Basic Manners & Obedience I Basic Manners & Obedience II Agility Foundation Beginners Agility Handling Agility Handling Thursdays 6:30 PM 7:30 PM Monday PM, Tuesday AM & Wednesday PM & Saturdays Mondays 7:30 8:30 PM Tuesdays (except 3 rd of the month) 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM 6:30 PM - 7:00 PM 7:15 PM 8:15 PM 6 Weeks $75.00 8 Weeks $95.00 8 Weeks $95.00 6 Weeks Cost $95.00 Members Class Fridays 6:45 PM 7:30PM Casual mix of obedience/rally 7:45 PM 8:15 PM Targeting specific obedience exercises and beyond On-going Members Only Agility Members Class/Run-Throughs 2nd Friday of each month 6:00 6:45 PM - Beginners Agility - Members Only 7:00 PM 9:00 PM Run-through format (timed per run) Members no charge Minimal fees apply to non-members All BDTA Members: You must register for all BDTA classes by sending the applications (download at http://www.butlerdogtraining.com/classes.htm) and deposits to: Obedience - Sande Winters, 430 Mushrush Road, Butler, PA 16002. For questions, call Sande at 724-287-3933 or Nancy at 724-285-9910. Agility - Wendy McClaine, 187 Marwood Road, Cabot, PA 16023. For questions, call Wendy at 724-822-3448. 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). 4
THANKS AND REMEMBRANCES We would like to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers and cards on the passing of Sam's eldest son, Sam, Jr. Sam & Bernie IN SYMPATHY Sympathy and thoughts go out to Jen Heid on the loss of her Cocker Luke. He will be missed deeply by his family. Dog is such a very small word for something that takes up so much room in your heart. ~EJ Moody Thoughts and prayers go out to Jeanette Nestor on the loss of her Basset Hound Cleo. Cleo was such a heart dog for her family. Dogs are like rainbows. Puppies are the joy at one end. Old dogs are the treasure at the other. ~Unknown Our thoughts and prayers go out to Sam and Bernie Abbott on the loss of Sam s son before the Christmas Holiday. We wish them peace and healing in the days to come. We also wish healing thoughts and peace to Cathy Runninger who lost her step-father and two aunts within the same week. Our prayers and thoughts will follow you in the coming days. REMINDERS Use of Training Building The Training Building is available to all members. Please use the vacuum cleaners and the other cleaning supplies provided to leave the building ready for classes, turn all inside lights off, leave the furnace setting on low (see posted instructions) or off during the warmer months and be sure all doors are locked! Everyone is responsible for keeping our facility clean and this will help spread the duties among us. ACCESSING THE WEBSITE For useful member information on our website (www.butlerdogtraining.com), click on Members Only in the left column. The log-in is the same for all members. Username: bdtamember (All lower case.) Password: BDTA2010 (Uppercase followed by all numerals, think year. ) Once there, you can click on what you would like to do or just scroll down the page to find clickable links to current Bylaws and Member listings; Current & past Newsletters (PDF or Word) & Minutes; and the Building Calendar. 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. Tto purchase a spot on the plaque, pick up applications at the club or contact Cherry Sauers at 724-625-3554. 5
PART SHELTIE Lyme One morning my boy, who usually bursts to his feet, doesn t try to get up until he s encouraged. When he does, one hind leg is tucked up against his body. He brings it down once he gets walking. No problems the rest of the day. Same thing the next. Had he hurt it a little, and now it stiffens overnight from two long days in the car? I get an appointment with the vet The third day, it stays tucked up all day and he lays low. The fourth day brings a Lyme disease diagnosis, doxycline, no restrictions. The fifth day we attend members class, watching the swarm of dogs & humans heeling, the joining in the practice stays. Time with dogs & dog people bouys one up. Today, the sixth day, he s walking normally within a few limbering steps, requesting to have his halter off to jog and bark a bit when we go down to our beloved backyard. On the second day of the leg tucking, he studied the scent of his first urine from earlier that day. Finding myself facing that dreaded mental scent of worry that comes as a dog ages, I thought of the research I shared in the newsletter of one year ago: That dogs sniffed their own urine longer than normal when the researchers had put a smidgen of a diseased tissue into it. Yet within my concern, I couldn t help but feel proud of how readily he learned to adjust his center of gravity over the other leg, its paw rotated in a bit. Something all dogs may do, but in the dog I study so much, I notice it without trying. I think perhaps I also had a preview of the sweet dog he will be when life slows him down. With the return of the barking at cavorting squirrels, snow-clearing neighbors, invading UPS trucks or the big, yellow school bus, I remind myself how grateful I am to have him back, prancing, racing around, smiling, quizzically or requestingly looking into my eyes. Day seven, he makes up and then some for all his lying low. Not just zoomies, but several fullfledged, wide-diameter zooms. Wondrous Zorro is three Sheltie lengths in front of me as we cross the kitchen. At the junction, he starts toward the hall. I state, Not there, the living room. Without skipping a beat or looking back, he turns! This is not something practiced or ever done before, and wondrous is the word that comes to me. This sense of wonder came upon me another time. After getting out of the car in the garage, instead of following me the direct way to the door, Zorro went around the other side, trying to get between the car, a bicycle and mowers. Something was shifted, making a bottleneck too narrow for him to proceed or turn around. He looked at me. The easiest solution was to try to talk him out of his predicament. Back up. He knew that well enough. When he was lined up as I intended, I told him turn right, a phrase I ve used in context some, never with rewards or shaping, and always when he was beside me walking or biking. Yet he immediately turned, ducking under the bike frame to a more open path to me and the door. One researcher thinks other animals probably can understand human language like dogs do. But those animals are not very interested in what humans have to say. * Aren t we humans blessed? * https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/dog-brain-research/3488724.html Have you felt wonder at a specific and unexpected incidence of a dog s ability to comprehend human language? Send your example, subject BDTA dog language, to raearlys@windstream.net. 6
TEAMWORK Timely with this weekend s weather! It being the day of the Super Blood Wolf Moon, I think I ll grab my clarinet and have a howl with Zorro, who s a lovely singer! I can t (yet?) howl like a Benny Goodman or Artie Shaw, but Zorro finds I do play two or three notes in tune. Ann Submitted by member George Starosta The newsletter now is published every ODD month. Submission deadline is NOON, the Saturday after the members meeting. The deadline to submit items for the next newsletter is noon, Saturday, March 23, 2019 Submissions should be emailed to raearlys@windstream.net or sent to: Ann Early 701 Ferne Drive Kittanning, PA 16201 724-548-8467 Please put BDTA news in the subject line. 7