Club Meeting

I'm a member of the Springfield Dog Training Club.


Last night was the final meeting of the year and I attended with Rob as my guest.


Here's a sign you don't see in many places.


These are some of the title plaques earned by members and their dogs.


This wall shows titles earned broken down by breed. There is no Portuguese Water Dog on the board, but that's about to change. A picture of a PWD will be posted in the working dog section and Fudge and I will get our names under it.


As a fundraiser, the club is raffling off a small tree trimmed with doggy ornaments. The members attending last night brought these.


This is Jazzy.


The adorable pup was very popular. He's a 14 week old Dalmatian and had a hard time sitting quietly thru the meeting, so he sort of wandered around saying hello to everyone and getting lots of petting.


Another puppy in attendance was Grady. He's a nine month old Newfoundland and he was puppy squirmy, too.


This is an old timer.


Some came in pairs.


Talk about obedience! Jazzy sat in this chair by herself while her owner was busy taking orders for club jackets. She never moved from that chair. My dogs would be jumping over the chairs and having great fun greeting people.


These two were trying to pay attention to the meeting.


This is Blu and we should all take a lesson from her. Blu is thirteen years old and has arthritis in her legs, but she just earned her first title in obedience. As someone said last night, "Senior citizens can do anything."


This is a lovely salt and pepper Giant Schnauzer. He is in a foster home and looking for a permanent home. He's a big, gentle boy and his foster mom says he'd make a good obedience dog.


Boy, that meeting seemed to last forever to Letta.


Might as well get comfortable.


This is how she looks standing up.


At the end of the meeting all the new title holders were recognized. We were called up front while our achievements were announced. In case you don't recognize me, I'm the one in the white sweatshirt with the PWD on the front.


Here's the whole group. The Golden Retriever on the end is another senior citizen. She's twelve years old. It's never to late to work with your dog. Notice that Fudge was not in attendance. I thought I'd like a night off, but I was sorry that I didn't take him. He would have loved the attention. Next time!


Then they brought out the title cake. Each month they have a cake with the names of all who earned new titles.


Here's a close up of our corner of the cake.


The meeting ended and everyone had cake and coffee. It was a good meeting and next month there will be a Holiday party called Tea and Biscuits. Santa will be there for pictures so maybe Fudge can go with us.

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Samba Update: The medicine has helped with the pain. Except that she can't open her mouth all the way, she doesn't seem to be in any pain. She's eating well, soft food only, and running around with the other dogs. It's heartbreaking for me to watch her chase after her ball, then not be able to pick it up. She's getting upset about that, but in a few weeks we can throw a soft toy for her to retrieve. That should make her much happier.