February 2016 Volume 72 • Issue 1

ObichaffThe Monthly Newsletter of theCapital Dog Training Club of Washington, D.C., Inc.Proud Member Club

of the AKC Since 1938

In This Issue

Structure in Action With Pat Hastings ...............1From the Editor..................................................2From the President............................................3Delegates Report...............................................4CGC Class Graduates 16 Good Citizens .........5Hikes & Adventure—To the AKC Classic!.........6Destined For Success in the Ring!....................9CDTC Trial Brags.......................................10-12A Dog’s Bed Time Prayer ................................13

Howlingly Great Howliday Party......................14Test Yourself—New AKC Regulations ............16Therapy Dog Max Comforts Cancer Patients 17Can A Field Dog Track? ..................................18CDTC General Meeting Fun ...........................19Lisa Bonker Canine Conditioning Seminar.....20Calendar.....................................................22-23Back Cover ...............................Announcements

On Sunday, Dec. 13,2015 CDTC hostedover 30 seminar at-

tendees for the Pat Hasting’sStructure in Action seminar.We were also very fortunateto have Dr. Debra A. Canapp,DVM, CCRT, CVA— Owner &Medical Director, VeterinaryOrthopedic & Sports Medi-cine Group (VOSM) with usfor the day. All seminar atten-dees improved their knowl-edge and insights on dogstructure. They learned howcorrect structure and durabil-ity can improve our dog’s abil-ity to train and compete. At

the end of the day, upon request, Pat objectively evalu-ated attendee’s dogs including three adorable ten-weekold Chesapeake Bay Retriever puppies.

Taking time out of our busy December schedules tospend the day to garner a bit of Pat’s 50 years of dogknowledge was invaluable. In addition to her overviewon structure, Pat shared stories with us including herpassion for attending the Iditarod to see some of themost durable dogs in the world at work. For those ofyou who could not attend, I recommend visiting Pat’sweb site at www.dogfolk.com and purchasing her veryinsightful book Structure in Action: The Makings of aDurable Dog.

(continued on page 5)

Pat Hastings in action!

Dr. Debra Canapp Chessie puppy takes a break!

It was a full house at CDTC!

Winter Seminars At CDTC A Huge Success!Structure In Action With Pat Hastings

— by Benita Bottom, CDTC Member and Structure in Action Seminar Coordinator

Obichaff is published monthly, except in January, for the benefit of members of Capital Dog TrainingClub. Members are encouraged to submit articles that would be of interest to other members. Allsubmissions to Obichaff must have the author’s name. Previously published material must includepermission from the publisher to use the material in Obichaff. The Editor has the right to edit forspace, content and tone. If significant changes are made (i.e., more than just for clarity, punctuation,spelling, etc.), the author will be given an opportunity to review the edited article. Material publishedin Obichaff does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Editor or of CDTC. Newsletters of otherclubs may quote any part of this publication, provided proper credit is given and a copy sent toCapital Dog Training Club.

2016 Board of DirectorsPresidentCarrie Solomoncssolomon@mmm.comVice PresidentEileen Freedmaneileenmark@msn.comSecretaryBrad Smithjloucks1@verizon.netTreasurerPam AyresCDTCTreasurer@gmail.comTraining DirectorWendy Wilkensonwendla276@gmail.comAssistant Training Director, AgilityAbigail Cartercdtcagility@gmail.comTraining SecretaryShannon Hallcdtcclasses@gmail.comTrial ChairBurton Goldsteinburton@bgcommunications.comTrophy ChairPatti Millerpatti@patti-miller.comAKC DelegateJoyce Dandridgejustuschows@verizon.netObichaff EditorPam Coblynpamcoblyn@comcast.netAssociate Editor: Melitta CarterMembers at LargeLisa Barrylisabarry9@aol.comCharma Le Edmondsce@shelterstudios.comNan Marksnjmatmarks@aol.comNew Membership InformationCharma Le Edmondsce@shelterstudios.com

Coordinator for Capital PointsLisa Daniellisadaniel20814@gmail.comSunshine PersonLois Kieter lkietur@gmail.comOn-line Roster ManagerMary Carsonmaryccarson@gmail.comWebsite ManagerCarolyn Henrycaro.e.henry@gmail.com

Website: www.cdtc.orgFollow us on Facebook: Capital Dog Training Club of Washington, DCFollow us on Twitter: @CapDTC

From the Editor— by Pam Coblyn, Editor, Obichaff

A Dog’s Deep Thoughts1. What if I never find out who’s a good boy?

2. If I eat the cat’s poop, tomorrow it will be my poop.

3. If I wasn’t around, my human would end up losing dozens of balls every day.

4. Master runs slow because he only uses half of his legs.

5. My human didn’t give me any of his dinner even though I haven’t eatenin 12 minutes. Does he hate me?

6. Okay.. It’s raining and I just heard a super loud noise outside. What theheck is that???!!!

7. If a tree falls in a forest, and nobody is around, it’s mine. I peed on it sodon’t touch it. It’s mine.

8. Why do humans harvest our poop?

9 I DOwant to go outside! How does she know?!

10. Life is like a car ride. Sometimes the car goes to the vet, sometimes thecar goes to the park. You don’t know where you’re going until you getthere so just enjoy the ride.

11. Oh boy oh boy oh boy!!! The pizza crust man is here!!!

12. Squirrels are just tennis balls thrown by God.

13. Human has gotten noticeably smaller since we first met. He used to beable to pick me up with one hand!

14. I had to bark at my human for 12 hours before he would come back inside the house, but it worked.

15. Seriously? Still no color tv?

Credit for these deep thoughts goes to Fenway and the Internet!

2 February 2016

Go Green—Obichaff Print Edition Opt-OutDon’t want to receive a copy of Obichaff in the mail? No problem. Just email Pam Coblyn at pamcoblyn@comcast.net

and ask to have your name removed from the Obichaff mailing list. All club members subscribed to the CDTClistserv will receive notification when the PDF of Obichaff is posted to the web site.

From the President—February, 2016

The Rally Training GroupTrain, polish, learn and have fun with your dog!

Set up for Rally Training Group is 1:00-1:25pm. Walk-thrus 1:25-1:40, run-thrus 1:40-2:45. IF you need walk-thru—which is highly recommended—please come early enough to do so. IF you come late and miss the opportunity to do a walk-thru, you can look at the posted map

and watch others. There are always people around to offer help with the course and training ideas.It can get quite BUSY this time of year with lots of pending trials, so please come early to help set up

the course or stay late to help take it down (it’s easy!).We want everyone to get a chance to participate! Also, if you have adequate knowledge of all rally signs, please offer to assist in judging.

Come by on Saturday afternoons—check the back page for dates!

Capital had another strong year in 2015. Notableaccomplishments include:

n Gained over 30 new members again, as we did in 2014,and hosted a very successful New Members Recep-tion and Howliday Party in December to celebrate!

n Increased the number of CGC prep classes and testsoffered by Capital including CGC-A tests.

n Hosted several workshops on various topics such asagility, obedience and conditioning. Besides showingour commitment to increasing our knowledge andexpertise in dog sports, these workshops helpedearn over $5,000 in revenue for the club!

n Hosted our annual Agility Trial and Obedience/Rallythat contributed approximately $10,000 in revenueto the club.

n Multiple members showed and qualified in AKC National Agility and Rally Championships!

n Purchased new equipment for the club including aTV monitor that many of our members are using asan important training tool.

n Continued growth of our Conformation classes andTraining Group that has added many new membersto our club roster as well as many breed titles beingearned by owner-handled dogs!

n An increase in subject matter experts presentingtopics of interest to our members at monthlyGeneral Membership meetings!

For 2016, we can look forward to thefollowing events already scheduled:n Winter Obedience run-thrus on February 7, 2016 and March 6, 2016at the clubhouse.

n Our Agility Trial on April 8-10, 2016 at Frederick Indoor Sports Center. The premium is available onour club’s website.

n More workshops on various topics that are in theworks. Details will be provided as they are confirmed.

n More subject matter experts presenting at GeneralMembership meetings. First up will be Dr. ChandKhanna, a board-certified oncologist with the CancerInstitute of NIH who works with Friendship AnimalHospital in their oncology practice. Dr. Khanna will bespeaking on the topic of cancer in dogs. Dr. Khanna will be speaking at our GeneralMembership meeting on Tuesday, February 9.We have a bright future and many opportunities at

the club for you and your dog to participate. My sin-cere thanks to all of you that do participate and ac-tively engage in our club’s activities. I am lookingforward to working with all of you for an even better2016!

Carrie SolomonPresident, CDTC

February 2016 3

Ihope everyone is having a good start to thenew year. The following is a report from the December meeting in Orlando, FL:

In the Companion Events Committee Meeting:

n It was mentioned that the AKC Obedience Trial Manual is available to be printed out on line.

n Carrie discussed the new Agility Premier classwhich started in October, 2015. She encouragedcompetitors to register.

n The Companion Events Extravaganza will be inTulsa, OK on March 18-20, 2016.

n Carrie mentioned there will be a new GrandChampionship program in Agility and it will be alifetime achievement.

n At events in agility, it was mentioned that clubscan add a special attraction as a fun class.

n Doug mentioned the positive response for thenew Premier agility class. He also mentioned that75 new regulations were launched in Obediencewithout confusion. He mentioned that the GreaterClark County KC in Washington held demos forthe general public in all the areas available in thesport and emphasized Companion Events. Eventparticipants tried a variety of venues with theirdogs. There were demos in lure coursing, barnhunt, nose work, rally, obedience and a MY DogCan Do This event.

n Doug suggested clubs have activity-based contests based on what your dog can do.

n Companion Events judges are giving seminars onthe new Obedience regulations.

n Doug stated that Nose Work-Handler Discrimina-tion as an optional activity can be offered at Obedience or Rally Events. He mentioned there is a logical connection between tracking andnose work.

n Pam mentioned Rally is up 6% and Obedience isdown in entries but slightly up in the number ofevents. She mentioned that the AKC website hasa PowerPoint presentation on the new regulations.There are also pictures with the new regs also onthe website.

n Pam mentioned that in the Eukanuba show in Or-lando, FL, there were entries from 30 states andMexico. Thirty-four juniors were competing

n There was a discussion about clubs taking day ofshow entries (DOS). Is it a good idea? Should anextra fee be charged? Should there be a limit onentries? Can the issue of weather be a factor inloss of entries? Should it be optional for clubs todo this? There was also a discussion about clubsoffering later closing dates before a trial to helpincrease entries. All of this was being discussed asa strategy to increase obedience entries.

n It was mentioned that the committee’s Best Prac-tices document for clubs in on the AKC website.

n There was a subcommittee set up to study theAchiever Dog Program introduced at the Septem-ber 2015 meeting. Another subcommittee was setup to investigate the possibility of having an obedience club recognition program and I amone of the members of that subcommittee.

n Finally, it was mentioned that 1.1 million dollarshave been raised to date for the Disaster TrailerProgram. 309 clubs have participated.

In the General Meeting:

n The seven candidates running for the AKC Boardin March spoke.

n The Delegate body voted against dropping termlimits. Therefore, term limits will continue forAKC Board members.

n At the luncheon, the AKC Lifetime Achievementawardees were recognized and I had the honor ofsitting at John Cox’s table. John was the winnerfor Companion Events.

Finally, now is the time to start thinking about our awardee for the CDTC AKC Outstanding Sportsmanship Award. I will start accepting sum-maries (500 word limit) on nomineesstarting February 15, 2016.Pleasecheck the club’s rules for nomineesin the March 2015 issue of Obichaff,page 4. They will be repeated in anupcoming issue.

4 February 2016

Delegates Corner— by Joyce Dandridge, CDTC AKC Delegate

February 2016 5

Lastly, thanks to all of theCDTC members who attendedand helped make this seminar a success with your hospitalityfor the day—especially DianeHarab for her help with morn-ing check-in.

Structure In Action, continued from page 1

The Canine Good Citizen Prep Class was held at Capital Dog Training Club on December 5th, 12th and 19th. The big test took place on December 19th and was a huge success.

Capital Dog Training Club volunteers selflessly gave of their time to assure that all of the participants had an out-standing outcome Thanks go to Shannon Hall who tirelessly gave her guidance to all, Dianne Harab and CarrieSolomon who evaluated each of the ten skills necessary to pass the test, and the assistants who volunteered tohelp with the class and test—Alexis Smith, Alice Hathaway, April de Bremond, Arlene Spilker, Benita Bottom, CarieWohl, Charma Le Edmonds, Joan Danzansky, Michael Harab, Mary Helen Rice, Pepper Guzman, Sandy Swinburne,Elaine David and her sister.

The super friendly dogs included Biscuit Danzansky, Bosco Harab, Jaunty Hathaway and Skye Spilker. It was quitea mixed group—a Japanese Chin, two Frenchies, an Irish Wolf Hound, a Great Dane/Labrador cross, two Goldens, aBasset Hound, a Canaan, a Labrador, a Rhodesian Ridgeback and a Scottie.

Congratulations to the sixteen teams who successfully passed the Canine Good Citizen Test—every dog wassuccessful and a star!

Thank you All,Jeff Harab

P.S. And a special thank you to the friendly dogs who took part in our program!

Canine Good Citizenship Class Graduates A Bumper Crop of CGC Dogs!by Jeff Harab

6 February 2016

Saturday December 6: Drove to North Carolina to start our great adventure!

Sunday:I watched the sunrise over Mt. Mitchell and then

headed onto the Deep Gap Trail.

We climbed tothe summit ofMt. Mitchell(6,684 ft.), Mt.Craig (6,648 ft.),Big Tom (6,581ft.), Balsam Cone(6,596 ft.) andCattail Peak

(6,584 ft.). There were spots with a dusting of snowand spots with sheets of ice. There was even a spotwhere ropes had been secured to rocks so you coulduse them to help pullyourself up the steep al-most vertical rock faces.

The Blue Ridge Park-way had ice on the roadand was closed just pastMt. Mitchell so I had tobacktrack almost 20miles, then take Rte. 80again—which is a supersteep road with con-stant sharp curves.

But we made it safely to South Carolina!

Monday: We started from the Nature Center at Table Mountain

State Park, SC, up to Bald then on to Pinnacle Mt. Summit.

Then we took the Ridge Trail to Table Rock, went“wrong” way to go to far end, hitting Governs Rock andTable Mt Summit, then headed back for a 12+ mile day!

Tuesday: We parked at the Panther Creek Trailhead, paid our

$4 parking fee, and headed off as soon as it was light,around 7:30 am. The trail was not well marked at all.One split had what looked like a trail down to the right,and a narrow ledge with a rock overhang to the left.There were little footbridges barely wide enough towalk across. Later, another trail went off to the left, Icontinued straight—only to find a very narrow, muddytrail with steep drops. A little further on there was aspot I had to help the dogs down a 4' drop and then upa steep embankment. Anna’s leash got caught in abranch and we all almost slid down off the trail, so weturned around. I decided to try the odd trail branchedto the right instead and behold—it was the “real” trail!Later, the trail split again. To the right was a campsite

Hiking To and From the AKC Classic!

Where in the world is Megan?

February 2016 7

back by the stream and to the left was the trail rightalong the creek.

As the trail went on, it got narrower and steeper,with more drops, and we decided to head back.

While the trail had really pretty waterfalls, I cannotrecommend it because of the lack of many trail mark-ings and poor trail conditions. We were very lucky!

Wednesday - Sunday: The AKC Classic:

There was an accident on way to the AKC Classicshow—a car dangled over barrier and both directionsof highway were backed up. Horrors—we ended upbeing late for the AKC Classic!

We showed in Orlando! On Wednesday, Lilly earnedher 6th Open leg! On Thursday, she earned her GraduateOpen title with a first place and her RAE titles. On Fridayshe earned another Graduate Open leg with anotherfirst place. On Saturday and Sunday, both Lilly andJasper competed in Novice and did well.

We got to the campground (Wekiwa), and the ladytells me they’ve had three different bear incidents withthe bear ripping open & flattening tents. Oh my!

After much debate, I found another campground tocheck out.

Monday: Nerve wracking!

Started off with a big tree down across one lane andlots of branches scattered across the road, and a longunpaved section. That should have been a sign!

Forest Road 22 is paved for the first mile, then “pave-ment ends”. It is barely one lane with sharp curves andsteep drops. Potholes are big enough to bounce you off

your car seat at5 mph. My carskiddedtwice—andthat doesn’thelp nerves!

But therewasn’t any-where to safelyturn around. Atone point, Ihad to get outto move abranch thatwas blockingthe road. Thenthe “road” tooka 180 rightturn up themountain.

Three miles later, I arrived at the trailhead, the highestpoint, was flooded. Warnings of dangerous flash flooding(and bears!) were posted at the parking lot.

I could only assume the trail and the road wouldsoon become impassable so I turned around. I had an-other 3 miles of constant worry, then another 7 of not-great conditions and yet another 12 miles to the closeststate road!

Never fail, a mere 30 minutes away was another statepark—Amicalola Falls! It is the start of the 8-mile accesstrail to a Springer Mt., which is the start of the famousAppalachian Trail. What a treat to hike this!

I started up the access trail and came upon 750+stairs. Grace had a lot of trouble because they wereopen stairs and grated and not to her liking. The gratingwas big enough holes that my walking pole wouldcatch—not good for paws. About half way up, wherethe bridge is, we turned around and hiked to the bot-tom and started up the Spring Trail and took that to theLaurel Spring Loop. We tried the West Ridge Acress Trailwhich is “paved” with recycled tires but that still hadover 400+ stair steps. So instead, we walked along theroad for a short while to get to the top of the falls be-fore turning around. The dogs needed a break!

Tuesday: One of the problems with blind curves, is you can’t

see what is coming. On the way back to town I saw asign for camping, so I turned in that direction. Severalmiles ahead was a road to the right that said Bear CreekCamping: 1 mile! Sounds great!

It was a narrow, unpaved, windy road, with steepdrops and huge deep potholes. The road often made180 degrees turns. There was a big rock to the left and asteep drop to the right. I started turning the wheel andjust 5 feet in front of me appeared a red Jeep! We bothstopped with just a few feet to spare. The Jeep backed

up and helped guide me past the very narrow road. I drove another 0.5 mile up and found the campingsign I was looking for. But then, I spied a “road closed”gate. Uh oh! I had to back up very carefully and turnthe car around. On further investigation, there was a“flash flood warning” sign, too, and the camping roadcrossed a bridge that was currently underwater.

The day started atFort Mountain whichhas a 855 ft. stone wallat the top with glorious80 mile views! Webegan with a short hikeon the Stone Tower Trailso we could explore thewall and the fire tower.Following that, we didthe 8.2 mile backcounty Gahuti trail. Itbegan as a wide trail,then shrunk to barely afoot in places. If twodogs tried to walk nextto me, the outer pupwould often loose foot-ing and slip slightly offtrail. Yikes! Often, there

were big drops along the trail. Several small waterfallsand nice overlooks were a delight to see. At the end, Iswam in the freezing Fort Mountain Lake!

Wednesday:We started the day at Raven Cliffs Falls. The trail is 5

miles—2.5 miles each way. The trail is varied—wide insections but has many narrow parts with several smallwaterfalls along the way. The section by the RavenCliffs is steep and muddy with several bridges—somein better shape than others! The pups have not learnedhow to do bridges well while on-leash. Grace, Anna, andJasper all fell over at one point but are much better off-leash. At least there were several nice campsitesalong the creek!

Dukes Creek Falls trailhead was only 1.5 miles up theroad, but there was a $4 parking fee. It started off pavedwith few stairs; then, the trail goes to the left. Therewere no blazes (trail markings) on the trail. At onepoint, a trail went down to the right but was much nar-rower. Then the trail continued on the left at samewidth. That “trail” deadended in about 0.5 mile, so webacktracked and went down.

Dukes Creek Falls is huge! It has a 150 foot dropwhere Davis Creek meets Duke Creek. An overlookwith a platform is 1 mile down the trail and it is reallypretty! A couple at the overlook commented on howwell behaved the kids were—of course I was proud.

A day of all paved roads!

Megan’s Great Adventure, continued from page 8

8 February 2016

February 2016 9

Brad Smith writes, “I was goingthrough some old photos and foundthis one of Snow and me amongthe placers in Junior Showmanshipat Fort Collins, CO. Snow wasn’tquite a year old when this photowas taken—it is one of my favorites.I guess you could even say it’s avintage photograph being that it’snearly 50 years old!!!”

Do you have any old show photos? Share them with us! Please send them to the Obichaff Editor at: pamcoblyn@comcast.net. We’d like any venue, any era!

October 11, 1970

Destined For Success in the Ring

10 February 2016

Brags—CDTC Members & Dogs Take To the Ring!New Obedience Open and RAE2 Titles!Brad Smith and Jim Loucks are thrilled and rightly so!“January 17, 2017 will always mark a special day in Tula’sshow career. Judge Frank Cardillino awarded us a qualifyingscore of 187 out of 200 in Open A at the Charlottesville-Albemarle Kennel Club, Inc. dog show that was held in theFredericksburg Expo and Conference Center. In so doing,Tula earned her third leg, 2nd Place and her CDX title. Tula’sofficial AKC name is now Windsong Autumn Whisper CDXRAE2, and we couldn’t be happier!

“Earlier in the season, Tula completed the 10 legs necessaryto earn her Rally Excellent Advanced 2 title. During her cam-paign, she earned four 1st Placements, numerous otherplacements, her first perfect scores of 100 in Excellent andAdvanced, and with all but two scores in the upper 90s. Mostpleasingly, she has clearly demonstrated that she enjoysshowing and appreciates a good round of applause!”

Way to go Team Tula—we are all so proud of your multiple, outstanding accomplishments!

New Obedience CD Title!Benita Bottom and Sabato (Ch Tagalong’s RomanHoliday BN CD RE CGC AWD) are delighted toshare the news that they earned their 3rd CD legand 1st Place in Novice B at Rock Creek KennelClub on November 21. “We will miss our regularCDTC Monday night training class that was sohelpful in getting this title. Sabato is a grateful forall of his great instructors at CDTC in Puppy K, Pre-Novice, Novice and Heeling classes. It takes avillage!” declares a happy Benita!

Congratulations, Sabato and Benita—you are aCDTC success story all the way!

Sandi Atkinson’s Figaro earned a World CynosportRally Level 1 title last month! Good boy, Fig!

February 2016 11

An Invitation to the AKC National Rally Champi-onships!Benita Bottomwrites, “ Who Knew? Last week, I was very excitedto scroll through my email and read the following message:

Congratulations, your dog has met the eligibility requirements to enter the Third AKC Rally® National Championship, being held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, March 18, 2016!

“Savoy and I cannot go this year to compete in the Rally Advanced,the class that she earned her three qualifying scores in but we wishall the entrants great success! We will work hard this year to earnthree scores of 90 or higher in Rally Excellent and see if we canqualify again for 2017. Thanks to the Saturday Rally training wewere prepared!”

Hearty congratulations to Benita and Savoy. Good luck earningthose high scores—you can do it!

Rally Fun and Friendship!Josie McAuliffe’s Atlas is always trying to make friends! Hemade one more special friend after earing his 7th RAE leg atthe Fredericksburg Rally trial. No ribbons today due to knock-ing the bar off the jump, but isn’t all just about having funwith friends anyway?! Josie adds, “And, it was so much fun towatch friends Tula and Brad get their CDX!!!!

Way to go, Atlas—fun is #1!

A Major and Best Of Winners in ConformationJoanne Riddle’s beautiful Scottie Elspeth (Merrie Munro’sDark Endora) went Best Of Winners (BOW) at the Chesa-peake Kennel Club conformation show on November 27,2015 for 2 points under Judge Lydia Hutchinson.

Elspeth also received BOW on November-21, 2015 for an im-portant 3-point Major under Judge Joe C. Walton at the RockCreek Kennel Club show.

Congratulations on winning your big ribbons at these important shows!

12 February 2016

Newest Agility Star!Kathy Sheehan’s Speedy (Speed Racer) turned 18 monthsold and tried three different agility venues earning a qualifyingrun in each!

First, Speedy ran in the USDAA Ruff Riders trial and qualified inGamblers. A few weeks later, he participated in his first AKCagility trial and ran a clean, fast Standard run, earning 1st Place!Then, in January, he qualified in UKI’s Beginner Gamblers—alsoearning a 1st Place! Kathy reflects, “Although some of his runsare pretty messy (alphabet soup!), there are always some goodparts. He has also run a few ‘big boy’ events (Steeplechase andTime2Beat) with only a few faults in each. The goal for Speedyright now is to get ring time to reduce the wide variance be-tween practicing in the yard versus practicing in class (wilder)versus trials (wildest). I can’t wait to run him at the CDTC trialin April! He is not misnamed!

We will be watching and cheering you on, Speedy and Kathy!

At Last—An Agility Milestone!Pam Coblyn’s Fenway (Ch. Tartan Bay Green Monster,CDX, RE, AX MXJ XF, CGC) finally broke the jinx andearned his first double Q (QQ) at the Oriole Dog Training

Club trial on December6. Pam says, “It shouldhave happened a longtime ago but Fenwayleft many Q’s on thecontact zones!”

Now they have only 19more QQ’s to go for thenext big title!

More Open A Success!Megan Hemmerwent to Orlando, FL to compete in theAKC Classic. She reports that on December 10 Lilly earnedboth her Graduate Open title with a 1st Place and her RAEtitle! The next day, Lilly earned an extra Grad Open leg withanother 1st Place! On December 12, (Lilly’s third birthday)and 13, both Jasper & Lilly competed at the AKC Classic inNovice!

What a fantastic and successful adventure—way to go,Hemmer Crew!

Brags—CDTC Members & Dogs Take To the Ring!

February 2016 13

Dog’s Bedtime PrayerAnonymous

Now I lay me down to sleep.The people bed is soft and deep.I sleep right in the center groove,

My human beings can hardly move.I've trapped their legs, they’re tucked in tight,

And here is where I pass the night.

No one disturbs me or dares to intrude,Til morning comes and “I want food!”

I sneak up slowly to begin,And nibble on my human's chin,For morning’s here, it’s time to play

I always seem to get my way.

So thank you Lord, for giving me,This human person that I see.

The one who hugs me and holds me tight,And shares the bed with me at night.

Amen.

Joan Adler’s Nikita curls up in her rightful place on the bed!

14 February 2016

CDTC HOWLIDAY PARTY—

A HOWLING SUCCESS!

Celebrate!

3

Nan Marks sent this in: “Charma measuring it twice.The bulk of the decorating credit for the Decemberparty goes to Charma. Her hard work and artistrymade the club so festive for the Howliday party.Thanks, too, for Bob Reinhardt’s assistance!”

February 2016 15

1. As defined in the Regulations, a command:a. is what you tell your dog to do, like “heel”b. is what the judge tells you to do, like “stand your dog”c. can also be a hand signal

2. True or false? A dog that was DISQUALIFIED inOpen obedience on Saturday can return to compete atthe trial on Sunday (assuming it was already entered).

3. What is the maximum number of dogs that can fitin the ring for group stays (lined up along the long sideof the ring)?

4. What is meant by the “principal features” of an obedience exercise?

5. Pick your favorite exercise and name its principalfeatures.

6. What should you expect to hear the judge say tothe handlers during the group stay exercises?

7. How does the regular Novice class differ from thePreferred Novice classes?

8. True or False? A judge does NOT have to ask, “Areyou ready?” before starting to judge you and your dog ifit is obvious that you and your dog ARE ready.

9. The judge starts judging you and your dog when:a.You and your dog start an exercise (for example, you start heeling or you throw the dumbbell (in Open).b.You answer, “Ready!” after the judge asks you if you are ready.c.You and your dog enter the ring.

10. The judge stops judging you and your dog when:a.The judge says, “Exercise finished.”b.Your dog goes directly to heel position.c.You and your dog leave the ring.

11. In Novice, you and your dog have earned a qualify-ing score so far on the individual exercises; your dogwas not excused. Well done! NOW—what must youdo when you leave the ring? (Hint: You will be passing the table steward…)

12. During the sit-stay exercise in Beginner Novice, you should:

a.Walk briskly around the inside edge of the ring inthe direction specified by the judge and return to your dog when you finish; don’t wait for the judge to tell you anything.b.Walk as above, but wait until the judge tells you to return to your dog before you do so.c. It is the handler’s choice as to which direction to walk around the ring after leaving the dog, but you must wait for the judge to say, “Back to your dog.”

13. Explain the difference between “released” and “excused” as used in the Regulations.

14. There are several exercises in the Obedience Regulations which require you to return to your dog.What are the exact words you should expect to hearfrom the judge each and every time without variation?

15. Some changes have been made to the GraduateNovice class as of 12/1/15. They include:

a.Your dog must have a PCD (Preferred Companion Dog) title to enter Graduate Novice, but it can’t have a CDX.b. No more leash: You and your dog have to do the heel free exercise, just like regular Open.c. No more group stays! Your dog just has to do an individual sit or down stay.

Answers in the March issue!

Quiz on AKC Obedience Regulations15 questions—Something for Everyone!

By Sandi Atkinson, CDTC Member and AKC JudgeTest your knowledge of the AKC Obedience regulations—new rules were instituted in all classes on December 1, 2015!

16 February 2016

February 2016 17

Max will be 4 years old at the end of January. He has a RN, BN, CGC, TDI and CD. I am most proud of hisTherapy Dog International certificate because he is so well suited for this job. We currently visit theKaiser Permanente medical centers in Virginia and DC that provide Infusion Therapy which is

chemotherapy.

We approached Kaiser Permanente two years ago andasked if we could start a therapy dog program. With all therules and regulations surrounding health care, it did takesome time. I have a great Registered Nurse (RN) that runsthe program in Virginia and she understood the value adog brings to a medical center. We are slowly gaining attention and hopefully will expand to other departmentsand other centers in Maryland as well. In February, wewill be part of an innovation exhibit at the Gaylord Hotelfor the physicians who treat Kaiser Permanente members.

Max wears a vest with the name Kaiser Permanenteon one side and KIDS (Kaiser Infusion Dogs) on theother. As soon as I take out the vest, he gets very excitedbecause he knows he will be doing his job shortly. I usuallydress him up for the holidays with pumpkin outfits and Christmas bells and reindeer ears.Most patients are so receptive to seeing him and it is gratifying to experience the love he brings to the room andto people.

Max—A Therapy Dog Brings Comfort to Cancer Patients

By Sherri Locke, CDTC Member

18 February 2016

So my (almost) 5-yearold Vizsla boy, Dante,told me last year,

“Enough Dad, with therally stuff.! I guess he re-membered that I told himlast year if he finished hisRally Excellent title, we’ddo field work again. SoRAE was off the table...for now anyway.

I had figured it wastime to take him out formore field work anyway.With lots of excitement, whining, and leaping (Dante,not me) we ran a couple of practice trials down at MilliWelch’s place in Cheltenham and he worked verywell—his nose finding birds and his pointing topnotch. He seemed to be tuning up nicely for anotherfield trial this February.

Dante, like most all sporting breeds are air-scenters,not ground sniffers, though you’d never know it whenwe’re out for a walk. The thought occurred to me, “Whynot keep his nose tuned up with some tracking work?”I’ll confess that I knew nothing about AKC tracking, butwas eager to learn. I found that Oriole offered begin-ning tracking at Fair Hill, MD. So off we went.

Tracking is w-a-a-y different from anything Dante hashad me doing in the past, but I told him I was a quicklearner. We showed up on our first Saturday morningfor our Tracking 101 session. I was shown where the

start was and how it was indicated with a start article. Ihad previously laid a 100 yard track for us to navigateand Dante charged ahead with enthusiasm at the end ofa 20 foot lead. It turns out that 20 feet is the minimumdistance needed from dog to human. He tracked rea-sonably well for a first-timer, and found the target articlewith no problem. We repeated the process two moretimes, but Dante began showing more interest in airscenting as the morning continued. We called it a dayand headed back home.

Dante took me to a second tracking session, one thatinvolved tracks that were a bit more challenging thanthe straight lines we had used the previous week. Onceagain, he seemed to like the tracking game we wereplaying, but I could tell that he might prefer the birdgame. We shall see.

One important aspect of tracking, much like workinga dog in a bird field, is learning to read your dog. I findmyself watching Dante very closely, looking at his headand nose position, and his movements as he quarters,looking for the track. I realize that Dante still has a lot toteach me, but as I told him when we started, I am aquick learner.

I think I’ll enjoy this new sport with Dante. He seemsto be a good teacher!

Can a Field Dog Track?By Jake Jurgens, CDTC Member

February 2016 19

CDTC Monthly Meetings Rock!CDTC Monthly Meetings Rock!

There was a full house and a much needed quorum at the January 2016 monthly meet-ing of the CDTC. Members came in droves to vote on the Board of Directors, approvenew member applications, participate in the Best Dog Trick contest, eat fabulous dessertsand catch up on one another’s news. A very good time was had by all—a dreary, wintrynight proved no match for CDTC team spirit.

It’s never too late to “FEEL THE LOVE”…even for help back in December and January!Many people have commented on just how much they enjoyed the way our clubhouse had been decorated

for the Howliday Party and the week that followed. A huge thank you goes to Charma Le Edmondswho notonly organized and executed the décor installation but also supplied the decorations. Helping Charma wasValery Gordon, Bob Reinhardt, Sue Faber and Patti Miller. Their help made the decorating go quicklyand flawlessly.

By the first of the New Year, Charma removed all of the holiday décor. In addition to that, Charma suppliedthe storage bins (at no charge to us) which were clearly labeled detailing what decorations where in each bin.Brad Smith, who doesn’t mind climbing ladders, put the bins on the balcony in an organized fashion.

In just eleven short months from now, we will have easy access to holiday decorations and we will know exactly what goes where!

HO HO HO,Anonymous Elf

Left: Pam Coblyn and Fenway won the $50 gift certificate for the Best PetTrick. Using a FitBone or a shallow box, Fen learned to do nice, tight pivotsfor Rally and Obedience. Center: Benita and Puppy Antonio did retrievinggames that will be very useful in his obedience career! Right: Secretary re-elect Brad Smith takes minutes and CDTC Membership Queen CharmaLeEdmonds reads new applications.

20 February 2016

Canine Conditioning SeminarBy Pam Coblyn, CDTC Obichaff Editor and Seminar Coordinator

Lisa Bonker

On January 10, 2016, the CDTC kicked the NewYear into high gear with a day of conditioningseminars with Lisa Bonker, a Certified Canine

Conditioning expert, FitPaws instructor and nationallyfamous NADAC agility competitor. The seminar was so

popular that allworking spots soldout within 4 hoursand were quickly re-served by CDTCmembers who al-ways have first dibson working spots forour seminars.

Lisa held two different sessions:

the morning was conditioning for puppies and seniorsand the afternoon was on conditioning for jumping.Some members signed up for both sessions.

Lisa brought enough equipment for everyone towork their dogs—FitBones, FitPaws, exercise Peanuts,wobble boards, slant boards and an assortment ofclever items that helped dogs to stretch and strengthen

their muscles, tendons and ligaments. We even learnedhow to fashion homemade equipment and use commonhousehold items. Lisa stressed safety and instructedeveryone on proper techniques and form—what to do,how to do it and what not to do.

Older dogs, puppies and middle-of-the roaders hadturns on the equipment and tried a variety of exercises.Lisa’s encouragement and patience helped very LARGEdogs and little cuties perform the exercises and challengesbecause Lisa made them FUN! Humans learned thatthere is even a proper technique for Sit Pretty! Who knew?

Before the seminar, Lisa emailed out special “notes”for each session. Participants were able to come for theday fully prepared and knew what to expect. The notesalso serve as a valuable reminder of all the importantknowledge Lisa shared with us and many members pur-chased FitBone equipment at a reduced cost.

It is wonderful to know that our members realize thatkeeping our dogs in good condition is important forevery venue—not just agility. (We had only two agilitydogs at this seminar!) Even “pet” dogs deserve to be fit.

We hope to have Lisa come back to our club laterthis year!

Lots of doggie gym equipment!

A jump grid teaches dogs to crawl!

February 2016 21

“Thanks to Lisa Bonker for putting on a greatly inform-ative seminar” —Ken Briefel

“It was great. I am so excited about putting many ofthese exercises into action!” —Jodie Jeweler

“I thoroughly enjoyed the session yesterday andlearned so much. Thank you Lisa for the wealth of in-formation” —Shirley Blakely

“We really enjoyed the seminar yesterday. I was gladto know we are way on the road to getting back tonormal with Stryder. I now wish I had taken the entireday!!! Lisa you are wonderful and I really enjoyedmeeting and working with you.”—Sue Faber

“I echo all the thanks to Pam for organizing, Lisa forgreat imparting of knowledge, Ken for great photos,and everyone for being a nice mutually supportive

crew. I left quite excited about what my old girl and Ican do together to give her as much good time as pos-sible. Lucy left quite pleased with herself for beingbraver and more agile than I expected. —Nan Marks

“Thanks all around. Love the pics, Ken, and it waswonderfully well organized Pam..yummy pizza andgoodies. Lisa, thanks so much for everything. I nowfeel like I have a plan for moving forward. TomorrowBodhi and I will be practicing balancing on our 2 newFitBones...we’ll both be in better condition as a resultof this seminar!” — Luann Korona

“I had a fabulous time!” —Missy McMunn

“It was a TERRIFIC seminar! One of the best I havetaken. Thank you everyone—it was a fun group and Ienjoyed meeting many of you.” —Vanessa Andrews

Seminar Attendees Say It Best…

22 February 2016

Day Date Time Instructor Time Class Instructor

CLASS SCHEDULES

PUPPY KINDERGARTENTues 1/5-2/23 6:00-6:50 Hathaway

BEGINNER, ADVANCED BASIC & SUB-NOVICEMon Sub-Novice 7:15-8:05 pm Adler/DwyerMon Basic 8:30-9:25 HallTue Basic 6:00-6:50 pm ReinhardtThur Sub-Novice 9:30-10:20 am Adler/DwyerSat Basic 9:00-9:50 am SolomonSun Adv. Basic 1:00-2:15 Crawford

NOVICEMon C 7:15-8:05 pm GlassThurs C 9:30-10:20 am HoltThurs C 6:00-6:50 pm Dwyer

OPENMon C 6:00-7:15 pm LaDieuTue C (Beg.) 7:00-7:50 pm McMunn/CleverdonThurs C (Intermed.) 8:00-9:00 pm Harry (

UTILITYMon C 8:15-9:05 pm Adler/HemmerThurs C 6:00-7:00 pm Harry/PrepThurs C 7:00-8:00 pm Harry

HEELINGSat C 12:00-1:00 pm Larkin

RALLYThurs Rally Class Set Up 11-11:30 amThurs C 11:30-12:15 pm Daniel/Comp.Thurs Rally Take Down 12:15 to 12:30Sat Rally TG 1:30-3:00 McAuliffe, et. al.Sat. Intro to Rally Smith/Faber

TRICKSTues 11:30-12:20 pm Rosen

AGILITYWed 7:00-8:30 pm BriefelSun 11:00-12:30 pm deBremondSun 4:00-5:15 pm HeyesSun 5:15-6:30 pm deBremondSun 6:30-7:45 pm Hall

CONFORMATIONSat 10:00-10:50 pm Harab

FREESTYLEMon C 10:00-12:00 pm ElySat 11:00-12:30 pm Guzman

FLYBALLSat Beginning 6:30-7:30 pm DwyerSat Intermediate 7:30-8:30 pm DwyerSat Competition 8:30-9:30 pm Dwyer

TRAINING GROUPSMon C 10:00-12:00 pm Ely (Freestyle)Tue C 6:00-6:30 Cleverdon (Open & Util)Wed C 9:30-10:20 am McCownWed C 11:30-12:00 pm Spodak (Obedience TG)Wed C 12:00-1:00 pm Spodak (Open Discussion)Wed C 1:00 pm Spodak (Freestyle TG)Wed C 4:30-5:30 pm CleverdonThurs C 10:30-11:30 am HoltThurs C 12:30-2:20 pm GoldsteinFri C 12:3-2:00 pm FaberSat C 12:00-1:00 pm LarkinSat C 1:00-3:00 pm McAuliffe/Harab/SmithSun C 9:00-11:00 am Bob Reinhardt

BUILDING CLEANINGTues C Before 8 am and 1-4 pm

Montgomery Cleaning Company

TG = Training Group C = Continuing Class

February 2016 23

Time Class Instructor Ring Time Class Instructor Ring

CLASS SCHEDULES

MONDAY10-12 noon Freestyle TG Ely 1-2-36:00-7:15 Open LaDieu 2-37:15-8:05 Sub-Novice Adler/Hemmer 37:15-8:05 Novice Glass 1-28:15-9:05 Utility Adler/Hemmer 2-38:30-9:25 Basic, 1/11-2/15 Hall 1

TUESDAY11:30-12:20 Tricks Rosen 1-2

1-3:30 pm Building Cleaning6:00-6:50 Basic Reinhardt 1/5-2/9 16-6:30 Open/Utility TG Cleverdon 26:00-6:50 pm Puppy K, 1/5-2/23 Hathaway 37-7:50 Beg. Open Cleverdon/McMunn 2-3

8-10:00 CDTC Meetings Bldg.

WEDNESDAY9:30-10:20 am Novice TG McCown 1-211:30-noon TG: Obed. Handling Spodak 1-212:00-1:00 Discussion1:00 Freestyle Training Spodak Bldg.7:00-8:30 Agility: Competition Briefel Bldg.

2/10-4/13

THURSDAY9:30-10:20 am Sub-Novice Adler/Dwyer 39:30-10:20 Novice Holt 1-211:00-11:30 Rally Set-up 2-311:30-12:15pm Competition Rally Daniel 2-312:15-12:30 Rally Take Down 2-312:30-2:30 Open/Utility TG Goldstein Bldg.6:00-7:00 Novice Dwyer 1-26:00-7:00 Utility Prep Harry 37:00-8:00 pm Utility Harry 2-38:00-9:00 Open Intermediate Harry 2-3

FRIDAY10:00-12:00 Freestyle Ely 1-2-3

12:30-2:00 pm UDX TG Faber 2-3

SATURDAY9:00-9:50 am Basic Solomon 2-3

1/6-3/5

10:00-10:50 Conformation TG 1/9 Harab 1-2

11:00-12:00pm Fun With Freestyle Guzman Bldg.

12:00-1:00 Heeling 1/9-2/20 Larkin 1-2

1:00-3:00 Rally Training Grp. 1-2-3McAuliffe/Harab/Faber/Smith

3:15-4:15 Rally Intro 1/23-3/12 Smith/Faber 2-3

6:30-7:30 Beg.Flyball Dwyer 1-2-3

7:30-8:30 Intermediate Flyball Dwyer 1-2-3

8:30-9:30 Competition Flyball Dwyer 1-2-3

SUNDAY9-11:00 am Open TG Reinhardt 1-211-12:30 pm Agility-Beginner deBremond Bldg.

2/14-4/3

1-2:15 Advanced Basic Crawford 1-21/17-3/6

4-5:15 Agility-Handling Heyes Bldg.2/14-4/3

5:15-6:30 Agility-Intro deBremond Bldg.

6:30-7:45 Advanced Handling Hall Bldg.2/14-4/3

More Doings At the Club!n January Board Meeting: postponed to February 2

n General Meeting: February 8 at 9 pm

n Board Meeting: February 23

n Obedience Run-thru: February 7

ObichaffThe Monthly Newsletter ofCapital Dog Training Clubof Washington, DC, Inc.

Pam Coblyn, Editor2758 Garfield AvenueSilver Spring, MD 20910-1823

Originators of AKC’s Braceand Graduate Novice classes

General Membership Meeting

Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 8 pm

Come—It’s Fun!DEAD OF WINTER RUN-THRU—

GET OUT OF THE HOUSE TOTRAIN AND PROOF!

February ObedienceRun-thru—Sunday

Sunday, February 7, 2016 at 9 am

Clubhouse/Information Phone: 301-587-5959 (K9K9)

Yahoo! Group: groups.yahoo.com/group/cdtc

Website: www.cdtc.org

Obichaff email: pamcoblyn@comcast.net

Classes: www.cdtc.org/classes/classes.html

Events: www.cdtc.org/events/events.html

Facebook: Capital Dog Training Club of Washington, DC

Twitter:@CapDTC

eCommerce Site: www.CapitalDTC.blogspot.com

February Rally Training Group Schedule

Set up at 1pm. Walk-thrus at 1:25.Runs start at 1:35, end by 2:45 pm.The next training dates will be:February 6, 13, 20 and 27

Please check our club’s listserv for any cancellations.