Captains Log

August 2008   

Welcome all to my second report as Club Captain.

I hope you are all fairing better than a few of our committee members during

these heavy downpours! We had a huge slip beside our home and have

(temporarily) lost a section of our property. Another of our members had

several trees come down on their property! holey cow winter has arrived and

she's pissed! :)

As far as training goes I'm afraid that people have well and truly been scared

off. We did have allot of fun a couple of weeks back when there was a pool at

the club, the dogs had an absolute blast playing in the water! Classes numbers

are right down to 3 or 4 faithful. That's very sad to see.

We also recently had our AGM and I think I can safely say we were all very

disappointed by the turn out. The Shepherd Club is run by people for the love

of the breed, the AGM is a chance for you guys to have your say and maybe go on

the committee or help out in some other way. We all have busy lives, but I must

say some of the best times that I have are spent with my best friends (doggies

for those who are not in the know) And what can be better than hanging out with

other Shepherds and their owners?

Shortly I will list all the training dates for this year on the website and put

them in the newsletter.

If you have any thoughts/suggestions/whinges etc don't hesitate to contact me or

one of the committee members.

Take care and see you at club on Sunday!

Cheers Kelly    

April 2008

Hello from your Club Captain.

Firstly I must apologise for the lateness of any correspondence from me,

I've been pretty slack!.

I have now added to my calendar to update the log approx every two months to

let you guys know what's happening with the club and what upcoming events

are about.

Well we have just completed the first rounds of training under my guidance

as an instructor and what a fabulous team we had. It was great to see all

the ladies travelling from Martinborough to get to training each week, and

we had some folks from the Kapiti Coast, and even some from in Wellington,

that's fantastic!. It just shows you what level of commitment these people

have for their fur babies. Not to forget the good folks who live locally

either!.

Most of the class was able to compete in a ribbon trial held at Avalon

Canine Club which was a treat....the nerves held and I was very happy with

them all. Okay so they didn't all walk away with ribbons, but I was so proud

of them for turning up to compete, as I told them all at the time. The hard

work did pay off though with John and Wolf coming second in Elementary one

and first in Elementary Two! and then the cheeky bugger went on to win the

Teddy Bear Raffle!!

We held the WDGSDC Easter Show in March...and unfortunately this time the

Obedience wasn't well attended by our own people, it was the only long

weekend most people had for a long time so I guess they were away. We did

have John with Wolf, Susan with Miya, and June with Gypsy, and they all won

ribbons!! YAHOO! well done guys; especially Susan who came first in

Elementary Two...and in front of her team of supporters (family).

There is now listed on our site up coming shows both ribbon and champs, keep

checking in to see what's coming up.

We still need more Shepherds and owners to come down to training on Sunday

mornings, so if you know of someone who could use the help, or someone who

needs to socialise with a great bunch of folks, point them in our direction.

We have a great bunch of trainers who do anything from obedience, show

training and agility (once we get some more gear made hint hint Garry! :) )

The classes run for 9 weeks, we start around 9-30 with socialising out on

the field for those who want to and by 10 am we hit the courts for some

training. In amongst those 9 weeks we have what we call a fun day where we

have some agility equipment out and it gives the dogs some different things

to try and helps prevent total boredom on their parts! We have a

'Graduation' on the 9th week and the club kindly puts on a free barby for

everyone.

Okay I better stop or I will have nothing to say in the next log. Until next

time remember train your dog at least 10 minutes everyday and that

consistency and perseverance are the keys to a healthy relationship between

you and your dog.

Take care and see you at club this Sunday!

Cheers Kelly