Tag Archives: NSDTC

A picnic for people and dogs

Leave a reply

Yesterday was our dog obedience club’s annual picnic. It’s kind of like a pot-luck – the club procures the “entree” and everybody brings side dishes, appetizers, drinks, desserts, etc. to share. By picnic’s end, if you’re not stuffed to the gills, you’re not trying. Torque, Booker and Revel

It’s the only time in the year that we all get together and just let our dogs play. We’re lucky enough to have a member with a beautiful, spacious, and full-fenced yard, so all the dogs can just run around, chase balls, chase each other, and have a wonderful time.

Torque and Booker loved playing with five-month-old Portuguese Water Dog puppy Revel – she’s a sweetie pie and we think Booker’s more than a bit smitten. There were over a dozen dogs there – with no fighting or any other issues.

One big reasocrate_townn for that is “crate town.” Everybody has portable crates for their dogs. When we’re involved in competitions, we want our dogs to be able to relax. And, frankly, we want to be able to go the bathroom. So we all have these collapsible crates and seem to just set up “crate town” whenever we get together. It makes eating a picnic meal from the plate on your lap much easier when no cold, wet, nose is trying to assess the fare.

Game night review

Leave a reply

Yesterday evening our obedience club had “Game Night” – a chance to relax, play with our dogs together, socialize, snack, and remember that ours is a social club as well as a dog training group. The select few that came had a good time – and we learned a good lesson about which games are good for obedience clubs and which are not.

The Good:

Relay races – the group divides into two teams and the teams line up. When the starter says “go” one pair from each team races down the room/yard to a pile of toys at the other end. The dog picks up a toy and they run back, tagging the next team to take off. The dogs and people all had a good time. One dog couldn’t decide which toy to get, so lost a little time. A couple other dogs didn’t hold on to the toy the whole way back. But overall, a winner.

Weaving race – the two teams line up again, with a few feet between each pair. When the starter says “go,” the last pair in line weaves to the front, in and out between all their teammates. When the pair reaches the front, the next pair takes off. This one was great – everyone had fun, dogs and people alike.

The Okay:

Carry your dog – Another relay, this time with the small-dog-people carrying their dogs, and the big dog people either carrying, or wheelbarrow-racing their dogs. Without another interest factor, this one really didn’t do much for anyone.

The Bad:

Mimic – Each dog/handler team takes center stage and either the person mimics the dog, or the dog is to mimic the person. This one would benefit from advance notice – and practice.

Sirius Does! – Like Simon Says, but with dogs. The leader calls out behaviors and thnsdtc_gamenighte dog/handler pairs have to perform them. Any failures and you’re “out.” The problem with this game was trying to do it with competition obedience dogs. Only the two youngest/greenest dogs were “out.” After 10 minutes, we declared everyone a winner. Not really bad, but the caller will need to plan some more challenging behaviors before we try it again.