The mission of the Newfoundland Club of Northern California is to encourage and promote the breeding, understanding, and appreciation of the Newfoundland dog, and to perform and to encourage such activities as will bring its natural qualities to perfection, including draft work and water rescue.
From the President…
I feel like a bit like a roaming reporter this month so forgive me for jumping around during this month’s
Presidential Notes:
Lure Coursing – Kathy and I were invited to watch a lure coursing event which was held at the Solano County Junior College a few weeks ago. We had a great time watching the site hounds and some terriers chase down a white plastic bag with a mock tail tied to the end. I was surprised at how few people attended the event just the exhibitors themselves were there. Kathy and I had perfect seats, we were able to sit in our car and face the dogs as they came towards us chasing down the lure. I loved watching the larger breeds run full out with their ears flapping behind them and seeing the pure joy in their faces while they were allowed to run as they were bred to do. Very much like watching our dogs take to a cart or swim, it is so instinctive. The athleticism and speed was awesome to witness. One of the things we chatted about was watching the site hounds simply stop at the end of the race because the lure stopped moving. The site hounds just stood by the lure and waited for their owners to come and leash them. The Terriers being true Terriers were not going let the lure get away even it wasn’t moving. The Terriers wanted to get that lure and each other (don’t worry they were muzzled). I recommend if you ever get a chance to watch these athletes at a lure course event attend it for a few hours, it is fun and you too can cross this item off of my bucket list.
Carting Seminar – NCNC’s first carting seminar was held earlier this month. We had a great turn out of beginners who attended Lori Littleford’s beginner’s session. Lori does a fantastic job getting the dogs handlers prepared to harness and hitch with a multitude of exercises. By the end of the seminar both Lori had all of the teams carting. Way to go Lori, yet another successful session! Marge Parsons and Rick Humphreys headed up the intermediate group. The intermediate group covered, proper fit of the harness and hitch, right and left turns, backing up and tight turns. Thanks to Marge and Rick this group left with tons of advice and were carting with greater confidence. John Pearson was the soul leader of the Test Prep session. John set up a very difficult mock maneuvering course along with an obedience ring. John had 2 handlers and dogs he worked with. The handlers were given excellent coaching while attempting the very tight turns and close obstacles along with several intriguing distractions. I am hopeful we will see at least one of these teams enter and pass our upcoming draft test.
Thanks to all of the volunteers who came to help make the seminar a success but most of all I would like to thank Walt Parsons for chairing the seminar and our instructors, Marge Parsons, Lori Littleford, John Pearson and Rick Humphreys.
We will be having our 2nd seminar on February 11th. I urge anyone who is interested in carting to enroll in the seminar and for those who simply are curious please come and watch. We are always happy to answer your questions. We do have a wonderful time with our dogs and would love to share that with you.
-Dawn Druge, February, 2012
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Carting Seminar, Gilroy, CA
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