DACHSHUND FANCIERS OF CENTRAL VIRGINIA
“THE LONG AND SHORT and WIRE OF IT”
NEWSLETTER VOL. 15 NO. 3
October, 2005
“THE LONG AND SHORT and WIRE OF IT”
NEWSLETTER VOL. 15 NO. 3
October, 2005
President's Message:
I would like to thank the Membership for their support of the Board, and their mandate to continue for another year. I also welcome Alan Bower to the Board, and want everyone to know that we are very fortunate to have him.
Alan brings us his expertise and knowledge of the world of dogs, his skill in dealing with people and a strong focus on our longterm goals. He will be a wonderful addition to our Club's leadership team.
We hope to hold a practice Earthdog Day sometime soon, and need the people who are interested to email me SAP, so that we have an idea how many and when. This is a really FUN thing to do with your dachshund, they love it!
Also, please let me know if you have any ideas for future programs, so that we can schedule it for an upcoming meeting.
It's not too early to think about our Annual Holiday Party. Is there anyone out there who would like to Host it this year? If not, I would be happy to have you all back again at my house.
I am very much looking forward to working with everyone again in the coming year, in the spirit of Harmony, Friendship and Co-operation to make DFCV the best that it can be, so that you all look forward to coming to each event and really enjoy being members.
Barbara Friedman
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
TO THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS
WHO CONTRIBUTED TO
THE 2005 DFCV TROPHY FUND:
TO THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS
WHO CONTRIBUTED TO
THE 2005 DFCV TROPHY FUND:
Phyllis Grilli
Mary Ann and Charlie Massie
Sarah and Lawrence Getzler
Barbara Bagley
Bill and Betsy Schrage
Kathy Nixon-Turner
Catherine Johnson
Tanya Rodich
Dr. Randy and Capt. Pete Eltringham
Marilyn Palmore
Carolynn Montgomery
Alan Bower
Connie and Gary Fisher
Monika and Paul Martin
Jennifer Abersold
Lorraine Genieczko
June Cohran
Ann and Stanley Reed
Sherry Sackett
Donations as of 07/11/05
Mary Ann and Charlie Massie
Sarah and Lawrence Getzler
Barbara Bagley
Bill and Betsy Schrage
Kathy Nixon-Turner
Catherine Johnson
Tanya Rodich
Dr. Randy and Capt. Pete Eltringham
Marilyn Palmore
Carolynn Montgomery
Alan Bower
Connie and Gary Fisher
Monika and Paul Martin
Jennifer Abersold
Lorraine Genieczko
June Cohran
Ann and Stanley Reed
Sherry Sackett
Donations as of 07/11/05
Financial Summary
Income
Trophy Fund $485
VKC entries (54 entries x $5) $270
VKC Sweeps contribution $10
DCA refund on trophy plan based on Smooth entries $38
TOTAL INCOME: $803
Expense
AKC fee $15
DCA trophy plan A $183
Trophies $440
VKC catalog ad $45
Supported entry contribution (3 x $5) $15
Food $105
Stamps
Thank you notes
Postage to return Smooth plaque
TOTAL EXPENSE: $803
No net gain or loss.
BOOK REVIEW:
Hey – read any good books lately? Please share your reading experiences, both positive and negative. Just another way for you to contribute to YOUR newsletter….
The Dog’s Mind, Understanding Your Dog’s Behavior
by Bruce Fogle, D.V.M., M.R.C.V.S.
I recently read this outstanding paperback. The book is divided into two parts – The Anatomy and Physiology of the Dog’s Mind and The Psychology of the Dog’s Mind. Anyone breeding should read this book AND give a copy away with each puppy. The cost of the book is $15 so it won’t set you back too much. In fact, I will recommend that people read the book BEFORE they head out to look for pups. Of course we all know people interested in puppies should come to your house before the litter arrives, that’s the perfect time to give them this book. Let them borrow it, then they can return it when they come to pick a puppy later. Of course armed with knowledge the future owner may ask you some pretty tough questions about your breeding stock….are you ready? READ!!
Mary Ann Massie
Subtitled: “What is on YOUR dog’s identification tag?”
For nearly the last two weeks of July my friend and her husband were away from home at the bedside of a dieing relative. While away I was covering “dog duty” with the help of two other friends. I’ll make a long, very hot and humid story short by saying that one morning one of the dogs, Dolly the beloved Jack Russell Terrier, was not at the house for the 8 a.m. feeding. This is a hundred acre farm, one mile off the road; she was probably ground hog hunting. Blow the horn, fix their breakfast, scream her name. Still no Dolly. The hot, sweaty, frustrating search began. She turned up around 5:30 p.m., no worse for the wear. Apparently Tuesday evening late she made her way to the hard surface road, hunted the ditch to the nearby church, enjoyed fellowship with the Tuesday evening church crowd, and had been picked up by the little girls that live just across the creek.
Dolly’s identification tag says “REWARD” followed by the HUSBAND’s WORK phone number. I had been monitoring the HOME phone throughout the search and had even called the husband on his cell to notify him of her AWOL status, and to make sure he didn’t have traps set. In the worry over the dog (and in deciding to keep the news from his wife as she was overwhelmed with caring for her aunt) it never occurred to him to check his work voice mail. His work voice mail would later reveal numerous messages from the neighbors about “little Reward”; two people from the church had called Tuesday evening as well. The neighbor called three times about “little Reward” on Wednesday; the other “dog duty” gal and I ignored the work phone. We finally answered his work phone out of frustration on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. to learn that Dolly was across the river and through the woods…..
Please make sure your dog’s identification tag is secure, can be read easily, and is understandable. Please share, in writing, this information with your pet sitter. Provide written approval to your vet for your pet sitter or friend to make treatment decisions should vet care be needed. Leave the names of friends who can assist should your dog enjoy his or her own “big adventure”. And let your pet sitter know your wishes should the “big adventure” occur while you are on the Alaskan cruise you’ve saved a lifetime for….
Submitted by Mary Ann Massie
P.S. Dolly, or little “Reward” as we affectionately call her now, came to my house to spend the balance of their time away in “lock down” in a horse stall.
I recently had the pleasure of a “field trip” with my obedience instructor, Carol Maupin, and two other Novice A obedience students to a get away weekend in beautiful downtown York, Pennsylvania to watch some of the top obedience teams compete in the All Star Performance Dog show (August 5, 6, and 7). The three of us JUMPED at Carol’s invitation (don’t ask us our jump height please!). My Richmond Dog Obedience friends Summer Lee, Teresa Pownall, and I packed our bags in anticipation of a fun-filled educational experience. I was actually lucky enough to snap up a steward position with Carol in one of the “Super Dog” rings. Talk about a bird’s eye view. I was close enough to see some of the top competitors in the nation hands shaking!! And was often so engrossed watching that I forgot my steward assignment…turns out if you yell “DUMBBELL” at me I can really jump!
Carol introduced us to so many nice trainers; most of them hold numerous OTCH titles with their dogs. They were thrilled we were on our “Novice A Field Trip” and many remarked “gosh Carol, that’s a great idea”. (Hopefully it will inspire them to take their Novice A students on a field trip!)
We saw some extraordinary teams competing at all levels. In the Super Dog competition, we witnessed THE perfect signal exercise by Celeste Meade and her Border Collie CH OTCH Shorelands Zoomin In On Ewe”. (Celeste and “Zoom” were on the cover of Front and Finish a month or so ago.) Thank goodness we were all watching or Carol might have smacked us. I wish I had a dime for every time she said “ok, you need to pay attention” – we’d snap to perfect military attention, fearful we would miss something that would be included in the evening’s “debriefing”. But I digress. Some notable exhibitors and their dogs include Rick Pisani and his Border Collie Shoreland’s Wild Thing UD. Rick has perfect footwork, smooth and precise. Poetry in motion is the way we described Anne Paul and her Belgian Malinois CH OTCH Kanduit’s Fleuve de la Vie UDX OA OAJ. And the event’s winning team was Jane Jackson and her Labrador Retriever OTCH Gunning Island’s Black Dragon UDX MH OA OAJ. What a relationship! Their performance was natural and FUN and inspirational. Congratulations to Jane and “Liz”. And to all the other competitors as well.
The Novice ring was unbelievable. The event ended in a runoff for many of the Novice placements. There was some discussion between Summer, Teresa, and me about whether our “nerves” would deteriorate into nausea, tears, or “funny tummy” should we ever be in a runoff. And remember “there ain’t nothin funny about funny tummy”. I particularly loved Peggy Wireman and her Portuguese Water Dog Pennrico’s Scenic Cruise CD. “Cruiser” is a happy heeler with lots of bounce in his step. He really loved the painfully long “Fast” in the runoff and spent most of it in the air. Peggy came out smiling with a dog that loves his ring time. A great lesson in not taking yourself or your performance too seriously. Sure, there were people there who take themselves too seriously. We learned something from them as well. And our field trip would not have been complete without time spent outside the warm up rings (another “must do” per the field trip leader). Summer, Teresa, and I observed some great warm ups and occasionally some not so great training. The differences between warming up and training have never been so obvious. We learned a lot sitting there, which we had to “report on” later in the evening. (Thank goodness for cocktail hour(s) even though buying beer “to go” was just about near impossible. Summer, Teresa, and I had numerous “ah ha” moments sitting ringside. I personally had a few “uh oh” moments including waking Carol considerably earlier than needed, the realization that I am confusing my ‘moving stand’ signal with my ‘stand’ in the signal exercise, and trying to figure out how long Teresa held the string cheese in her pocket before I put it in my mouth….what was I thinking? Perhaps the extreme cold affected my thought process. Carol told us to “pack a sweatshirt” and she wasn’t kidding. We wore polartec fleece jackets inside. No kidding you could almost see your breath in Memorial Hall. The exhibitors seemed comfortable in the frigid environment with their outfits, which ranged from very casual to complimentary to down right glamorous. The judges were fair and consistent; the stewards were supportive and exhausted by the end of the day!
I’d love to think I might make it there as an exhibitor one day. Maybe my field trip buddies Summer and Teresa will go too! Thanks to Carol Maupin. We enjoyed it. Our ringside discussions and evening debriefings were very valuable and will make us better trainers and more focused exhibitors. I hope there is another FIELD TRIP in our future!
And more than anything I hope Carol’s OTCH friends will include their Novice A students in their travel plans too. You never know what you might learn from each other!
Submitted by Mary Ann Massie
