Well that was a great response for the puppy social! I hope you all can make it out for the puppy meetup!

I am also trying to schedule more meetups for this summer- since it will be staying light later and many people are gone on weekend trips, would any of you be interested in weekday evening meetups? They would have to be outside as there are classes being held at the Dude Ranch every single evening inside. Please let me know if you’d be more or less likely to attend a meetup on a week day evening! Might be a good way to burn off work day stress for both you and your dog!

On that note, there are new classes starting up at the Ranch for anyone who wants to take formal classes. As some of you long timers know, during meetups we have discussed the basics of clicker training and how it works- but you saw that knowing how it works and then practicing are two different things! Lol

We will have those Canine Logic 101 meetups again, but if you’re interested in classes I would encourage you to attend. The Ranch has basic manners, Agility, Conformation handling, AKC Obedience, Nosework and a host of other classes!

I wanted to point out a few in particular. There’s a new APDT Rally class starting next Friday, April 15th . What is Rally? Is it some sort of motivational seminar? Is it some new and exotic doggie self help program?

Not exactly. It actually is a very fun dog activity that was born out of traditional Obedience. You know, that dog competition where the dogs have perfectly straight sits, always come on the first call, can leap over boards and bring back items and place them perfectly in their owner’s hands? Well, owners had to warm up their dogs for such competitions and to spark some energy into them, they started doing these little moves that were fun and upbeat for both the handler and the dog. After having been serious in the ring, handlers would frequently do them to release stress after the ring too. They called them “doodles” (not to be confused with the designer breed). Well, a very wise man named Bud Kramer decided to make these doodles a dog sport of their own- and that’s how Rally was born! Even if you aren’t the competition type, taking a Rally course is fun for any age dog! My 10 year old Golden Retriever ( Ocean) started his first Rally class with Janet six months before he passed away. So if you’ve taken a basic obedience course years ago and just want to do something fun, sign up for Rally with Janet! I will be there with my new puppy, so puppy kisses are guaranteed. If you’re not interested in puppy kisses but you are interested in learning more about Rally, go here http://www.apdt.com/r....

There are also two classes starting May 15th that you might want to consider. Do you have a dog who you took thru basic obedience and does great at home but when you bring him to Stoney Point (or meetups) he acts like he’s never heard the word “sit” before? If you had to give me $100 dollars every time you called your to dog “come” and he didn’t, would you be refinancing your home? If so, then Reliable Rover is for you. I explore the holy grail of dog training- reliability- and teach you how to fix your most stubborn issues. It doesn’t matter if you do Agility, Rally, obedience or you just want to take your friend out for a walk, the principles behind reliability training can be applied to anything! As an adjunct to this, there will also be a CGC prep class starting right after Reliable Rover on Sunday nites. If you’ve got a measure of reliability and want to know what there is for the Canine Good Citizen test, we have a prep class for you. We also throw in some Rally moves (to make it fun! ) so you will see it’s alternate title “Doodle With Your Dog”. We do not teach Rally rules (just throw in some Rally moves) so you’ll still need a Rally class if you want to do that. Both classes are great if you’re trying to break into therapy dog work.

Do you see how these all flow together? Meetup time, Rally game time, reliability time- heck, you’ll have one well trained pooch if you follow the flow of all this!

So! We’re trying to let you know of things that flow into and mesh with the spirit of our meetups! If you know of events in the area that promote canine logic and fun with your dog, please post them on our message board. (Or send them to me and I’ll announce them) There’s a Hounds for Healing walk to help raise fund for VCU/MCV’s Dogs On Call program http://www.chai.vcu.e...which would be great fun to attend! It’s family friendly for both two legged and four legged! This walk supports the therapy dog program (Dogs On Call) research and educational activities of the Center for Human-Animal Interaction at VCU School of Medicine. Contributing to patient healing and recovery, our Dogs On Call teams visit patients throughout the VCU Medical Center. I know many of you are involved in Therapy dog work so I hope you come out and support the cause!

Whew! I’m pumped just thinking about all the opportunities available this summer to do with my dogs! I hope you see you guys there!



-Leann