The Pack Leader



	THE PACK LEADER June 2001 Newsletter In-House Competition Results 23-6-01 Level One Troy Morish & Pit Bull Terrier “Tia”. Rob Fioravanti & German Shepherd “Conan”. Parry O’Brien & German Shepherd “Sam” (Bluemax Sammy) Level 2 Ross Allan & German Shepherd “Cisco” (Bluemax Quartz) Carol Gorman & Rottweiler “Sam” Level 3a Christine Becht & German Shepherd “Tyson” (Bluemax Staegler) Level 3b Cliff Hallam & German Shepherd “Khan” (Maraya Khann) Level 3c Tony Collins & German Shepherd “Saber” (Labron Royal Salute) Level 6b Monica Krueger & Standard Poodle “Eddie” (Jurado Teddy Brown) Security Assessments Level 1 Monica Krueger and Standard Poodle “Eddie” Level 2 Tony Collins & German Shepherd “Saber” Tony Collins & German Shepherd “Beau” Jimboomba Dog Obedience Trials 2-6-01 - UD 2ndplace: Monica Krueger & Standard Poodle “Eddie” (Jurado Teddy Brown CDX) - 186pts Queensland Dog Obedience Trials 10 -6-01 - CD CDX 1st place: Monica Krueger & Standard Poodle Eddie - 186pts. CD Tony Collins & German Shepherd “Saber” National Dog Obedience Trials 11-6-01 CDX 3rd place: Monica Krueger & Standard Poodle “Eddie” - 194pts CD 3rd Tony Collins & German Shepherd “Saber” - 176pts. 5th Mariska Herbert & Border Collie “Tajah” - 171pts Highest scoring Poodle for both State & National Trials was won by Monica & Eddie. Hervey Bay Dog Obedience Trials 16- 6- 01 - CD 1st Cliff Hallam & German Shepherd “Khan” 186pts Hervey Bay Dog Obedience Trials 17- 6- 01 - CD 2nd Cliff Hallam & German Shepherd “Khan” 181pts Sunshine Coast Dog Obedience Trials 30-6-01 CDX 1st Tony Collins & German Shepherd “Beau” 197pts CD 1st Cliff Hallam & German Shepherd “Khan” 186pts Congratulations to Monica for achieving her Utility Dog obedience title. Monica took Eddie through from C.D to U.D title in three out of three trials from start to finish. Tony with “Beau” along with Mariska and Cliff also achieved their C.D. titles this month. Very well done. Display The Guide Dog Training Centre, Bald Hills is holding an open day this Sunday the 8th of July. Monica, Tony and Jeffrey will be featuring in a display at 1.30pm. Next In-House Competition The next in-house will be held at the Beerwah Sport Grounds on Saturday 28-7-01commencing 1pm. Interested persons please inform Jeffrey. There is a small fee of $5.00 for levels one & two. And $10.00 for all the higher levels. Display The Noosa Council is providing support for the “Amp Journey of a Nation”. The Noosa Council is relying on the participation from Caloundra, Maroochy, Cooloola Shires, to host a massive variety of entertainment and promotion of local business. This “Expo” is run over four days and includes a display from us at 2pm on Friday the 17th of Aug. Our display will be performed on the stage at the Noosa District Sports Complex, Tewantin-Cooroy Rd, Tewantin. Entrance is free. Level 6 As with all the levels of our in-house competitions they are designed to provide stepping-stones into the full routines based on the Dog Obedience Trials. Level 6a comprises of hand signals, directed jumping, stand for examination and drop stays as per the Utility trials. Level 6b includes seek back with food strewn over the ground as a distraction. Level 6c includes all the U.D exercises with food distractions provided including food on the scent discrimination mat. Level 6d includes all the exercises with full distractions such as people playing with their dogs in the ring, food, whistles blowing, starting pistol discharged in the ring etc. Raffle Winner The winner of the last raffle was Wendy Schober. The prize kindly donated by Denise Marriner of Mitre 10, Caloundra. Book Review “Trackers” authored by Peter Haran and published by New Holland Publishers (Australia). I love books written by people who have been in the working field with dogs such as Service Dogs of the Police, Military working roles. I personally find books written on the obedience trialing and Schuzhund competitions basically repetitive and in the main, boring. Service work and associated dog training to me, is the real world of dog training. I enjoy competition and encourage people to compete. But in service work the long lonely hours of working by oneself and the long hours of training the dog, is suddenly extraordinaryly rewarding when the dog successfully tracks down a dangerous person or finds a lost child. And the hard dog that displays awesome aggression when a handler’s back is to the wall facing overwhelming numbers of violent people, and the dog wins the day. The excitement and adrenalin rush is something that can never be bought. “Trackers” is a book I thoroughly enjoyed, particularly after a period of wading through the written rantings of people who have never had to put their lives in the hands of their dog. The never ending waffle of the best way to train where food, toys, clickers, working in drives etc. become the novelty method on the block and jammed down everyone's neck. This book is like a breath of fresh air to me. I quote from the back page of the book which describes the contents much better than I can. And I “quote”. “Trackers” is a moving and gritty account that reveals the Australian Army’s little - known use of combat tracker dogs during the Vietnam war. A war veteran tells his story with vivid and compelling immediacy, blending the terror of hunting the elusive Viet Cong with the tender relationship between him and larrikin Labrador-Kelpie cross, Caesar. A graphic portrayal of the timeless reality of war - the horror, the madness, the tedium, the dark humor - “Trackers” hurles you into a surreal world of seething jungles, random minefields, and lethal "“friendly fire”. Amid the mayham, the author finds vital refuge in Caesar’s playful innocence. Peter Haran was first posted to Vietnam in 1967, aged just 19, as a dog handler with one of the Army’s first Combat Tracking Teams. He returned after a year to become a war dog trainer in Sydney, and was reasigned to Vietnam in 1970 as an Infantry section commander. He is now a journalist with the Sunday Mail in Adelaide. “Unquote” As with the other outstanding dog book, “The Working Airedale” I highly recommend this book to any serious dog persons library. Schuzhund Trial I visited a local Schuzhund trial with some of my students on the night of 8th July. Schuzhund (German Dog Sport) is promoted as the premier dog sport competition. My opinion still hasn’t changed, I believe that it is a dog sport that is grossly overrated. The Canine Control Council’s dog obedience trials don’t include bite work, but I believe the Schuzhund people could learn a lot from the obedience trialers in the tracking and obedience scene. I much prefer to see a nice working CDX or UD dog working through a vast variety of exercises, (with numerous distractions) rather than a hyped up dog performing a very basic and mundain obedience routine, whose only exercise of any interest is the “send away”. (With no distractions other than a starting pistol fired at a rediculously long distance away from the dog) Health During these colder months our older dogs can sometimes (not always) suffer from age related conditions such as rheumatism, arthritis and just plain slowing down. For a lot of us, getting around may not be as easy as it used to be, getting out of a chair calls for a bit more effort and going for a jog requires some planning. Our dogs don’t often complain or whinge the way we do, but they suffer nonetheless. Stiffness also occurs in young dogs and can be a side effect to an injury or an inherited weakness such as the dreaded hip dysplasia. Some signs of a degenerative joint disease such as arthritis are:- difficulty climbing the stairs or getting into or out of a car, limping, not wanting to play or walk as far as usual, aggression, not wanting to be touched or petted (for fear of pain), or licking the affected area. A couple of things to help your dog would be:- · make sure they are not overweight (talk to Ross about the dogs diet), make sure the older dog is not getting only meat, or too much meat in their diet. Older dogs require less animal protein than younger, growing, or working dogs. · see an animal chiropractor to make sure there are no serious muscular injuries, and if there are, to have the injury treated. Rob Humphreys is at Jimboomba phone (07) 5547 7595 on the southside, Doc Jamieson is at Capalaba on 0417 726 527. Both are animal chiropractors and both come highly recommended. · use a homeopathic remedy called Rhus tox as prescribed for your dog. It’s cheap and cheerful, lasts for ages and will make a world of difference to keeping your old friend pain free for a longer time. Stay happy and healthy - naturally!!! Elaine Holland Homeopath 70 Glenora St Wynnum 4178; (07) 3396 2876 Please Remember Continually change training locations. Training in the one area does not condition to perform anywhere and everywhere. Also dogs trained only during the day may not perform well at night, and vice versa. Practice doesn’t make perfect - perfect practice makes perfect .............. ... ................. ................ ................ ................ ................. .................. ................. ............ ............ ...... ..... .................. ............. .............. ...........