The Pack Leader



	THE PACK LEADER June 2000 Newsletter THE BEST OF THE BEST Tony Collins and his German Shepherd dog ”Beau” won the prestigious title of ”Champion of Champions” at the recent National German Shepherd Dog Obedience Trials. Tony represented our school in the trials held on the 24th and 25th of June which were held at Durack in Brisbane. This event is held in Queensland every five years and dogs compete from throughout Australia. Tony won his class of novice dog with 192 points, which then entitled him to a run off against the other class winners competing for the title, ”Champion of Champions”. An obedience routine decided the places with a lap of honour made by the competitors to the loud cheering of several hundred people. Metro’ Trial 11th Results: U.D. Peter Mario & Labrador ”Winston” - 1st place 174pts C.D. Tony Collins & GSD ”Bcau” - 1st place - 195pts. Kirsty Morgan has left us to join the Army as a Movements Clerk. Kirsty made a very favourable impact in novice trials with her Staffy ”India”. We wish Kirsty, Darren & India all the best and they can be assured - they will be missed by the pack. David & Melanie Flaye with their GSD - Kala, have gone to the Northern Territory and are now working in Alice Springs. They were great supporters and students and we also wish them both the best. New Title Tony Collins has claimed our third CD title for the year. Congratulations to Tony and Beau. In-house Comp. The next in-house competition will be held at 1pm on the 8th of July at the Beerwah Sports Ground. This event will also include the Security Patrol Dog assessments. Ross’s kennel I have had many occasions to be particularly proud of the achievements of our competitors, but the National German Shepherd Dog trial ”Champion of Champions” was certainly impressive. An experience for Tony and his family that will no doubt stay in their minds for the rest of their lives. In the dog world it is something like being the gold winning athlete in an Olympic event. Tony, I might add, was the only novice handler in this competition. The other handlers were very experienced. It was also great for me to meet numerous old friends from Central Queensland and catch up on gossip. I have been working with Security personnel and the training of their patrol dogs for some time, and this training included assessments for level of achievements. These assessments are now included in the in-house comp’s, commencing July 8th. It may be of interest to know that Jeffrey’s Dog ”Ray”, and Tony’s Dog ”Beau”, not only have their CD titles but are highly trained Security Patrol Dogs. Properly trained protection dogs dangerous? Ask the kids at our training classes- they don’t think so. Cancelled Lessons. Classes will be cancelled 13th, 14th &. 15th July due to prior commitments Book review William Koehler, an American dog trainer became well known through his work with the Walt Disney animal movies in the 60’s and 70’s. He also wrote a number of books on training that sold prolifically world wide. ”Bill” was also the Chief Trainer for the Orange Empire Dog Obedience Club USA. Koehler was noted for arriving at an obedience trial in a bus with his numerous students. They all marched off single file with their dogs, erected a huge tent, and proceeded to clean up the trophies with amazing ease. The Koehler method of training was hard line in contrast to the so called positive methods of training promoted today. Dogs were basically enticed to do something wrong, then punished ensuring that they never forgot the negative experience associated with the reason for the correction. This system was found to work well with stubborn dogs, but considered too harsh for softer natured dogs. Koehler’s method of training was embraced in the seventies and early eighties by the dog obedience clubs. However, the methods were later banned totally by many clubs after being considered too tough on the dogs. Penny Johnson of the Pet Hypermarket, Sandgate Road, Virginia, Brisbane undertook a course with Bill many years ago in New Zealand, and Peter Mario’s Boss in the Fijian Corrective Services was also trained by Bill Koehler. Both Penny and Peter agree that Bill’s method were excellent for hard dogs, but too hard for softer dogs. Koehler never made a distinction between the difference in a dog’s nature or placed any consideration on the adverse effects of poor diet, lack of socialisation etc. His philosophy was simple - if the dog didn’t do what it was told it was goldbricking - so compel it to obey. I have often been accused of being a Koehler trainer which is a long way from the truth. My system has very little in common with Koehler other than I believe that a dog must be trained to be obedient under stressful circumstances. I agree with Koehler that food training has no place in training a dog to be reliable in obedience. Yes, I do believe in corrections and that a dog must do as its told when its told. But I also believe dogs are individuals and the training should progress to each dog’s own learning capacity. My system is still based on the RAAF Police Dog training I learned in the early 70’s. That system was regarded as the best in the world throughout the 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s when changes started to take place until the system has very little common with the system of old. Over my thirty years of training I have never seen any system that is better than the old RAAF system, and the results of my students in the obedience trails is evidence of’ that system. All that aside, I strongly recommend that Bills books be included in ones library because they contain numerous very effective ideas that assist in solving training problems. His books are certainly among the more practical on the market. Bills initial book is called the ”Koehler Method of Dog Training”, and published by Howell Book House. Diet Julie Massoni, a Sunshine Coast animal naturopath, has a new product on the market along the lines of the ”Missing Link”. Apparently she also has a web site that is worth while visiting and that is email: greenpet@fan.net.au or Ph. 54853468. Info Mike Maynard. Display We performed an evening display at the Nambour Christian College, Woombye on Sat. 10th. A wet, cold miserable night but the handlers and dogs performed well to a small but appreciative crowd. A big thank you to Jeffrey, Tony, Monica and Mariska for participating. Our appreciation to our friends Ian & Ceridwyn Bloxsam for arranging the display. The Beagle Bred originally for tracking hares, the Beagle is the smallest of the pack hounds. This English breed was often so small that the Beagle could be carried in the pockets of hunting coats back in the 1700’s. Beagles were used to hunt hares, although inferior compared with the speed of the hare, the Beagle is extremely successful in tracking the hare from scent and generally rewarded the hunter with the death of the wearied hare. Although sometimes used in packs with men on horseback, it is more common for the Beagle to be used singly or in couples with men on foot. Oversized Beagles are also used in some tropical countries for the hunting of leopards and jaguars. Once cornered, the leopard will tend to lie down whilst circled by numerous Beagles. The Beagles keep the leopard there until the hunters arrive. Due to the Beagle’s small size and uniformity in weight, they have unfortunately become popular in medical research and laboratories. Apart from being renowned for its hunting ability and laboratory sacrifice, the Beagle is also recognized for its nose in searching for drugs and illegal substance in luggage at the airports. Varying in size from 33cm to 40.6 cm, the Beagle has a hard coat of medium length. Although it should be noted, that both the size and coat of the Beagle differentiates between countries. information on the beagle provided by The International Encyclopaedia of Dogs, published by Pelham Books. Brisbane Classes Just a little note to all those people attending Brisbane classes. An advanced class has now begun at the time of 10:30am, students can continue on with this class after completing the beginners course. Students from puppy class are also more than welcome to continue their training and advance to beginners and later advanced classes. We would love to see some familiar faces each Sunday morning. Upcoming Trials For everyone looking for a way to spend Saturday night on July 1st, we have the solution. The Sunshine Coast obedience club is holding their 1st trial for the year. Our pack will be well represented at this local trial, and we would appreciate all available support. Macadamia Nut Poisoning The main clinical signs of poisoning are sudden onset (6-12 hours) of listlessness, often an inability to walk with varying degrees of paralysis of the hind limbs and joint pain. All dogs recovered uneventfully within 24 hours of the onset of clinical signs. From the quantity of nuts consumed, the researchers estimate the ingestion of 5 to 40 nuts by a 20kg dog would be sufficient to cause toxicity, but the toxicity might well vary according to how ripe the nuts were. Whatever the nature of the toxin, it appears to be heat stable as one dog developed clinical signs after eating roasted macadamia nuts. The authors point out that macadamia nuts are consumed widely by humans without any evidence of their being toxic to people, so it is likely that this is another example of how different species vary in their susceptibility to different products. It is also likely that mild poisoning is more common than realized and mild cases could be confused with a wide range of other toxins, e.g. scrub ticks, rodenticides, certain snake bites but the last group would be unlikely to recover without appropriate veterinary treatment. Above article provided to the "Dog World" by Professor K. L. Hughes, School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland. .............. ... ................. ................ ................ ................ ................. .................. ................. ............ ............ ...... ..... .................. ............. .............. ...........