Brush Farm Dog Training Club Training Grounds Location:Brush Farm Park, Corner of Marsden Road & Lawson Street, Eastwood

Mailing Address: 18 Railway Street, Baulkham Hills 2153 Clubhouse Phone: 9858 5281 (from 1pm Sundays) Website: www.brushfarm.com.au Facebook: www.facebook.com/BrushFarmDogTraining

BRUSH FARM DOG TRAINING CLUB INC.Established 1967. Affiliated RNSWCC (Dogs NSW) 1969

WHAT WE DO •Brush Farm Dog Training Club is a non-profit organisation run by a dedicated team of volunteers, committed

to serving the local community and promoting responsible dog ownership. We teach people to train their dog to be socialised and obedient, and promote participation in canine obedience sports.

•Each year our club delivers over 300 hours of training classes, trains over 500 dogs, & runs three trials, attracting over 250 competitors from across Sydney

•Training provides a benefit to both dog owners and the wider community - dogs that have participated in obedience training are less likely to be surrendered to pounds and animal shelters due to behavioural problems or aggression than dogs with no training.

•Attending training for just one hour each Sunday afternoon at Brush Farm Park will give you the skills to train your dog to be a happy, well behaved member of your family.

MEMBER INFORMATION •Sunday training times: - (Please arrive half an hour early to allow time for vetting)

2:00pm – 3:00pm - Puppies, Brown, Green & White classes 3:30pm – 4:30pm - Yellow & Red classes

•New member registration – every Sunday from 1PM (without your dog) •For sale at the Clubhouse - collars, leads, halters, dumbbells, bum-bags, polo shirts, caps, snacks and

drinks – EFTPOS available. •Training is rarely cancelled due to rain or extreme heat (35o C and above) – more often than not we are

lucky with the weather! If in doubt, please call the Clubhouse after 1.00 pm to check if classes are on— phone 9858 5281. Puppy class is always on rain hail or shine as it can be held indoors.

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEES •Payable in February each year, and covering all training fees for the full calendar year:

Adult members $90 Pensioner members $75 Junior (under 18) members $75 Dual/family members $100 (one dog) $120 (two dogs) EFTPOS available

GET INVOLVED •General Meetings are held bi-monthly at Brush Farm Club House, Eastwood at 8.00 pm. All members are

welcome to come and have a say in our Club’s affairs. Supper is served after the meeting. •Our Club is run by volunteers - please see Noel, Heidi or your instructor if you would like to assist by helping

set up the training equipment, serving in the canteen, working on our website, training to become an instructor, or assisting with a myriad of other jobs that makes the club run !!!

•Steward at club trials – Approximately 20 people are needed on each trial day to set up equipment, marshal competitors, record results, staff the kitchen, and pack up. See Noel to join the Steward Squad.

Club Office Bearers President: Noel Reilly 9639 4291 Chief Instructor: Heidi Richardson 9801 8797 Treasurer: John Clifton Secretary: Linda Allen Vice Presidents: Anne Affleck, Anna Steinberg Dep. Chief Instructors: Greig Edwards, Danielle Leong Assistant Treasurer: Louraine Canning Trial Secretary: Karen Lamb Registrar: Karen Forsyth Canine Examiners: Bill Short, Colin Richardson Equipment Officer: John CliftonEditor ‘The Barker’: Natalie Leong

Patrons: Mrs M McGarvey; Steve Austin;The Mayor of Ryde

Committee Louraine Canning, Frances Canning, Bill Short, Angela Munge, Greig Edwards, Kym Robins, Colin Richardson, Karen Lamb, Janelle Woodward, Anne Martin, Danielle Leong

InstructorsAnne Affleck, Geoff Craine, Vivien Dunkerly, Greig Edwards, Peter Hewitt, Amanda Koolhaas, Danielle Leong, David Marcellino, Anne Martin, Noel Reilly, Heidi Richardson, Anna Steinberg, Colin Richardson, Janelle Woodward, Natalie Leong, Kylie Williams, Alan Luc, June Johansson, Tania Cochrane

EDITOR’S THOUGHTS

Welcome to the May issue of the Barker! I hope everyone is enjoying their dog training this year and making

progress towards becoming Obedience Grand Champions!

 

Pippin and I have had a fairly quiet start to the year. I'm planning on entering him into his first Rally Advanced

competition in the August Brush Farm Trial... so we still have a couple of months for me to get him into shape. I'm

excited to enter the next level of Rally competition but slightly nervous as well that I might be asking too much of

Pippin. But then I think about how much Pippin loves training and how happy just doing this together makes him.

Even now as I am typing this, he is trying to grab my attention to go play or train with him. Dogs are wonderful

creatures whose love and willingness to please knows no bounds. They live in the moment and don't have that silly

tendency of humans to worry about what might happen in the future. So Pippin and I will take our training each day

as it comes and not worry about passing or winning competitions... the fun part is participating, working towards a

goal and just being together.

 

Anyway, the year is flying by… the club has already hosted its first trial of the year. For more details of how the day

went, read our Brush Farm March Trial report. We've also have some informative graphics on how to read dog body

language and some fun facts about Border Collies. There have also been a few reported cases of rat lungworm

infections recently so there is a helpful article about the particulars of that parasite and the dangers for dogs in

eating snails or slugs. Finally, Danielle is sharing her thoughts of managing a multi dog household in her regular

Doggy Diaries. Happy Reading and Happy Training! - Natalie

A recent study highlighted the importance of providing mental stimulation to our dogs throughout their lifetimes. In

this experiment, researchers looked at a group of dogs and their ability to sustain attention on certain tasks. It found

that whilst older dogs showed declines in their performance on attentional tests, this effect appeared to be delayed

or reduced in dogs with a lifelong history of training.

 

Training could involve a range of activities including: obedience classes, agility, service dog training, scent/nose

work, sheep dog training, and trick training.

So keep in mind that old dogs can certainly learn new tricks and we should never stop presenting our dogs with new

things to learn and opportunities to give their brains a workout!

 

Information Sources:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/animal-emotions/201802/dogs-all-ages-need-be-challenged-use-it-or-

lose-it

Chapagain, D., Virányi, Z., Wallis, L. J., Huber, L., Serra, J., & Range, F. (2017). Aging of attentiveness in border collies

and other pet dog breeds: the protective benefits of lifelong training. Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 9, 100.

CANINE SCIENCE SPOTLIGHT

CLUB NEWS

New Instructors

A huge welcome to our new instructors - Tania Cochrane, June Johansson, Alan Luc, Natalie Leong and Kylie Williams.

These lovely club members have volunteered their time and expertise to help out with taking classes. They’ve taken part in an instructor’s course with our Chief Instructor, Heidi and have been shadowing other experienced instructors over the past few months.

We wish them all the best as they start to take their own classes! Feel free to have a chat with them before or after class to see how they are going and to ask them any questions you may have about becoming an instructor.

Vaccinations

All dogs involved with Brush Farm Dog Training Club need to have up-to-date vaccinations. It is a requirement that you provide proof of current vaccination status upon becoming a member or renewing your membership. Without this, your dog will not be allowed to participate in class due to the health risk to them and other dogs.

Please see our helpful admin volunteers at the clubhouse window if you have any questions.

Contribute to The Barker!

The Brush Farm Barker is our community’s newsletter and we welcome everyone and anyone’s involvement!

Let us know about you and your dog! Send in a cute photo. Tell us how awesome your dog is. Why did you join Brush Farm, what are your training goals?

Send in some info or requests for our Breed Spotlights.

Let us know about fun doggy activities you are involved in. Or if you happen to know any great locations to take dogs for a walk, play or even a getaway!

Feel free to pass on any interesting dog-related articles or news stories.

And let us know any questions you have about dogs, caring for dogs and dog training - we will try and find some answers!

Email us at brushfarmbarker@gmail.com

Or get in touch on our Facebook page!

Handlers’ Days (1) Sunday, 27th May

(2) Sunday, 15th July

Brown and Green Classes are on as per usual: 2pm. White, Yellow, Red Classes: 2pm Experience Handlers and Triallers: 11am

Our first Handlers’ Day will be held this month in May while our second will be held in mid-July. Handler’s Day is a friendly competition between club members in White Class and above. It is a great way to test your dog training skills and get a feel for the more formal dog obedience trial atmosphere. Our instructors will be asking for you to put your names down to participate in the weeks before.

Ribbons are presented to the highest scorers in each class and at the end of the year, a trophy is awarded to member who performs the best in all three Handlers’ Days. Bragging rights are also up for grabs!

Demos by our experienced handlers are held before class on the first Sunday of each month… A great opportunity to watch the results of consistent training!

TRIAL RESULTS

Karen Lamb Sherry RN CCD Pass 89/100 (4th Place in ring) Brush Farm DTC, 25/03/2018

Congratulations!Karen Lamb with Sherry also had the honour of being the highest scoring Brush Farm member at our Brush Farm Obedience Trial in March. They were presented with the Jack Goldstein Memorial Perpetual Trophy.

FUN FACTS:BORDER COLLIES

1. The Border Collie was originally developed in Scotland and thrived in the region on the border of Scotland and England. The word 'collie' is a Scotch word used to describe sheepdogs.

2. Originally bred to herd sheep, they excel at the task because of their strength, stamina, intelligence and work ethic. They are famous for using "the eye" - staring intensely at member of the flock to intimidate them.

3. Queen Victoria loved them.

4. The famous Scottish poet Robert Burns owned a Border Collie named Luath that he loved dearly. Luath's tragic death inspired on of Burns' best poems, "The Twa Dogs", which captured the special bond between dogs and man.

5. They’ve broken all kinds of records - a Border Collie named Chaser has widely been recognised as the world's most intelligent dog; she knows the name of more than 1,000 objects. Another border Collie named Jumpy holds a Guinness World Record for dog skateboarding: 100 meters in less than 20 seconds.

6. Border Collies can be official goose masters - One Florida company trains Border Collies to keep geese of people's property and the University of North Florida hires a Border Collie named Bee to be the goose master for the campus. Bee keeps geese away from high traffic areas.

Source: American Kennel Club, Katherine Ripley http://www.akc.org/expert-advice/lifestyle/did-you-know/10-border-collie-facts/

MARCH TRIAL REPORTOBEDIENCE, RATG & RALLY O

On Sunday March 25th Brush Farm hosted an Obedience, RATG & Rally O Trial for dog sports competitors from all over NSW.

To enter a trial, a person needs to be a Dogs NSW member with a registered dog (all dogs, including non-pedigree dogs may be registered). Obedience and Rally O involve many of the foundation behaviours we teach at Club every week. RATG is a test of retrieving ability for gundog breeds.

These events are a great way to observe the results of dedicated training. They also offer a nice set of training goals for motivated handlers! For more information, speak to any of our instructors. We had many wonderful results, including our very own Karen Lamb with Sherry - see our Trial Results section for more details!

We were lucky to have lovely Autumn weather!

Our dedicated and very capable judges: Mr John Spiteri, Miss Heather Martyn, Mrs Sue Fedoryschyn, Mrs Margaret Foord & Mrs Pauline Hartwell (Ms Pam Lyons, Mrs Sue Hutchins & Miss Vicki Etherington OAM not in picture).

Club members volunteer to serve as stewards. These lovely people are invaluable to the smooth running of the day. Thank you to everyone who helped out!

One of the many impressive dogs in action!

Ms Pam Lyons awarding the winner of the RATG (Open) class at her final Brush Farm trial before retiring. Thank you to Pam for many years of wonderful judging!

PROMOTIONS

Brown to Green Bella (Maltese X) - Paula Jones Harry (X Breed) - John Zhew Bailey (Labrador) - Lisa Rose Banjo (Border Collie X) - Tim Holman Achilles (Jack Russell) - Gary Raynor Prince (Miniature Schnauzer) - Lesley Slender Lilah (Labrador X Kelpie) - Leo Leon Sarge (Belgian Shepherd X) - Vibha Repellin Milo (Bernese Mountain Dog) - Michael Marsh Maxe (German Shepherd) - Inal Wani Luna (Kelpie X Stafffy) - Megan McDermid Dewghty (Golden Retriever) - Saba Sabeson Raffy (Huntaway X Beagle) - Maria Holder Ricki (Huntaway X Beagle) - Renee Holder Bindi (English Staffy) - Naomi Shaw Kobe (Labradoodle) - Helena Hurley Dakoda (Border Collie X) - Karen Wacondo Jericho (Cavoodle) - Rhys Haynes Bailey (Groodle) - Valerie Howard Natto (Border Collie) - Vivian Lee

Molly (Border Collie) - Alex Popov Crystal (Dalmatian) - Joan Young Hugo (Golden Retriever) - Simon Greville Minnie (Cocker Spaniel) - Arthur Johnson Hunter (Cavoodle) - Simon Tually Jazzy (Sheltie) - Justin Deng Zoe (Cav X Poodle) - Rasheedy Moy Leo (Poodle X) - Swannie Baskaran Kiki (Border Collie X) - Lizbeth Wong Archie (Kelpie) - Adam Jones Sarge (Belgian Shepherd X) - Jules Repellin Vedette (Hungarian Vizsla) - Martine Briers Heidi (Lagotto) - Hannah Frith Dyson (Labradoodle) - Stephen Harvey Sunday (Labrador X) - Celine Cheung Lily (Staffy) - Steve Briffa Marcus (German Shepherd) - Cindy Menzies Alfie (Miniature Schnauzer) - Joan Smith Ellie (Labrador X) - Andrew Hapek Hunter (Cavoodle) - Ros Bongiorno Gus (X Breed) - Lisa Taylor

Puppy Class Graduates Vedette (Hungarian Vizsla) - Martine & Robert Briers Bluey (Staffordshire BT) - Rebecca & Liam Leggatt Rosie (Beagle X) - Hannah Reid Dou Dou (Great Dane) - Jessica Wang Pippa (Cobberdog) - Liz Bredent Zoe (Staffordshire Bull Terrier X) - Vanessa Hudson Ollie (Jack Russell) - Sandra Sheehan Peanut (Corgi X) - William Qian Sunday (Labrador X) - Ann Yang

Green to White Gracie (Labrador x Greyhound) - Vanessa McPherson Zoe (Australian Shepherd) - Richard Watkins Stuart Brown – Karsten (GSD) Michelle Walters – Otis (Border Collie) Debbie Champion – Sparky (Maltese x Jack Russell)

White to Yellow Chiauw Tjihn and Balto (GSD)

Yellow to Red Caitlin La Rose – Jessie (Labradoodle) June Johansson – Eva (Beagle)

DOG BODY LANGUAGE

Make dog training joyful! Understanding dog body language is one of the keys to successfully training your dog. When teaching your dog to follow your obedience cues, you ALWAYS want your dog to be stress-free and enjoying the game.   If our dogs are feeling happy when we teach them to sit, stand, drop, heel, stay and recall… they are MUCH more likely to want to do these behaviours again in the future! Plan your training sessions to create the most fun and enjoyment for everyone involved.   Any time you find yourself feeling distracted, frustrated, impatient or annoyed… WALK AWAY from training your dog. It is not worth pushing through and risking a negative association being formed. Likewise, any time your dog seems to be distracted, frustrated, etc… don't train in that moment. Either finish up the training session OR find a way to bring back your dog's happiness and focus on you. You might find just taking a moment to breathe while your dog sniffs around is all that is needed. You might play a game of tug or fetch and then restart the training. Or you might try again the next day.

Learn to read your dog! Get to know your dog. Pay attention to their body language when they are happiest - when you arrive home from work, when you get out the food bowl or the leash, when they see their favourite doggy friend. Also pay attention to how they act when they are unhappy - when they know they are about to have a bath or get their nails clipped, when they see someone they dislike such as the postman. Look at the next two pages for some ideas about how your dog might look when they are not completely comfortable. 

Prevent conflicts!

In addition,  understanding dog body language is vital in avoiding dog-dog and dog-human conflicts. You hear so many people comment after a dog bite incident: "It just came out of nowhere. There was no warning." The reality is there were probably multiple warning signs that went unnoticed or were misinterpreted.   Over the next two pages are a number of common signals that dogs use to communicate their discomfort and stress. Not all dogs will display all of these signals. Your dog might only use a few. And some of these behaviours will mean different things in different contexts. But you never know when you might need to recognise these signs in a strange dog that you are greeting or that your dog is trying to play with. Going down to your local dog park is a great way to practice your observation skills. Also, look around you before classes start at our training grounds!

Provide space and time! A little bit of stress or discomfort is not necessarily a bad thing that requires intervention. What is important is that you get to know YOUR dog. What is their body language telling you about how they feel?

Space and time are your biggest aids in dealing with dogs and stress. Give the dog distance from whatever is causing the discomfort. And allow the dog time to gather information and learn that it is a safe situation. The amount of space and time needed will depend on how uncomfortable your dog is and how intense the situation is.

DOG BODY LANGUAGE

DOG BODY LANGUAGE

RAT LUNGWORM DISEASE

What is it? Rat Lungworm (Angiostrongylus cantonensis) is a parasite that, as its name suggests, lives in rats. Snails and slugs can become infected by coming into contact with rat faeces containing the worms' larvae. Dogs (and occasionally people!) can be infected after eating infected snails and slugs. Even licking or eating the slime of infected snails and slugs can cause an infection.   How common is this? Rat Lungworm is estimated to be present in 3 to 5% of the snails in the Sydney region. Infections often occur in younger dogs whose natural curiosity may make them more likely to eat snails and slugs.   What happens? An infestation of Rat Lungworm can migrate to the spinal cord and brain, causing a form of meningitis.

Symptoms can include: • Extreme pain (especially in the neck and back) • Reluctance to move • Unwillingness to eat or drink • Neurological signs such as hind leg paralysis   Can it be treated? Dogs suffering from meningitis caused by Rat Lungworm will require hospitalisation and a high level of care. Sadly, infection can be fatal. Some dogs recover but suffer long-term neurological effects. Others do make full recoveries.   How can I protect my dog? The best preventative is to keep your dog from eating snails and slugs.

A few steps you can take: • Use non-toxic ways to keep your garden as snail-free and slug-free as possible (keep in mind that snail bait is

poisonous to dogs) • Supervise your dog in areas where you think there may be snails and slugs • Don't leave your dog's food bowl outside overnight (since the parasite can be transmitted by snail and slug slime)

  Information sources: http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/factsheets/Pages/rat-lung-worm.aspx https://www.vetchat.com.au/how-a-garden-snail-can-kill-your-dog/ Lunn JA, Lee R, Smaller J, et al. Twenty two cases of canine neural angiostronglyosis in eastern Australia (2002-2005) and a review of the literature. Parasites & Vectors. 2012;5:70. doi:10.1186/1756-3305-5-70.

DANIELLE’S DOGGY DIARYby Danielle Leong (Instructor)

Multi-Dog Madness: Introducing a new dog

 

A common phenomenon occurs among dog owners. You get a puppy and you enjoy the love and laughter that your pup brings to your life. And then you think to yourself… wouldn't it be great to get ANOTHER dog! Who doesn't want MORE love and laughter and adorable doggy companionship? And won't my dog love having another canine companion to live and play with?   First up, don't get another dog simply to keep your other dog company or in the hopes that they will play together and amuse themselves which will make your life easier. More dogs = more work. Each dog requires individual time, attention and training to ensure that you have happy, well-adjusted family members.   Secondly, don't expect your dogs to be best friends. Chances are, they will get along just fine! But they could easily end up having very different personalities and may not enjoy playing together much. There is also the risk that they may actually DISLIKE each other, which might result in some sort of peaceful co-existence… or you could end up with World War 3. There are certainly many things you can do to avoid conflict but it helps to be aware of all possibilities so that you are prepared!   My own experience is with introducing puppies to my older dogs. Puppies will typically enter your house with boundless energy, enthusiasm and optimism. They are likely to believe that anyone and everyone is a potential friend! However, it's not a great idea to just plop your puppy down with your adult dog and "see how things go". Especially if your older dog has limited experience with young puppies! As with everything to do with puppy-raising, think about how you can set things up for success. Use baby gates, puppy pens and crates to get everyone used to being around each other. Pay attention to everyone's body language. You are looking for calm, happy, relaxed signals.  

Eighteen months ago, when I introduced Rory the golden retriever puppy to everyone, I took into account each dog's personality:   Crosby and Rory Crosby the blind Labrador is sweet and easy-going but prone to over-excitement about new things. Because he is blind, he takes a bit longer to figure out new situations. After just a few days of Rory being in the house, Crosby was completely comfortable around the puppy and they were able to play and hang out and become good friends.

Elly and Rory Elly the elderly Alaskan Malamute is typically ok with puppies but her health issues mean that a bouncy pup could cause her pain so all interactions were closely supervised at first. Rory was heavily reinforced (with praise and food rewards) for NOT bouncing on Elly and he soon learned how to behave appropriately around her. I also know Elly to be one of those adult dogs that can "tell off" a silly young dog without being too scary and aggressive. However I made sure to avoid putting her in this position too much as I didn't want her to form negative associations with the puppy.

 

DANIELLE’S DOGGY DIARYby Danielle Leong (Instructor)

Pippin and Rory Pippin the nervous Springer Spaniel was the biggest challenge! He had never experienced a new puppy entering the house and he is generally terrified of all new dogs. His initial body language toward Rory was very negative. He was tense, hyper-alert and would act very aggressively at times. We put in place a training plan to consistently reinforce Rory for leaving Pippin alone (lots of praise, play and food rewards for moving away from Pippin). And we began comprehensively counter-conditioning Pippin to Rory's presence (which meant that whenever Rory was around, Pippin received GOOD THINGS). We made sure to completely supervise EVERY interaction between the two of them. Whenever they couldn't be supervised, they were separated.  

Multi-dogginess! So for most of Rory's puppyhood, he was able to play and relax with Crosby, he had a peaceful coexistence with Elly (with occasional play sessions when the mood was right!), and then he had supervised and heavily managed interactions with Pippin. As you can imagine, all this was A LOT OF WORK!   Over the course of months, things with Rory and Pippin became more and more relaxed. They could soon sleep near each other and although we never let them be together unsupervised, we eased up on having to "manage" their interactions with cues and rewards. They were learning to just "be" around each other.

After eight months, a magic moment happened. Rory invited Pippin to play and Pippin accepted! To see Pippin be able to trust that Rory was a safe playmate made all the hard work so worthwhile. Building that relationship was hard-going at times, but we suddenly had two dogs that would play together. Now, they no longer require supervision and are completely trust-worthy around each other. Pippin displays no anxiety or aggression around Rory and they play with each other several times every day (tugging over toys, chasing games and bitey-face/wrestling.

A final note I would add is that managing a multi-dog household certainly requires leadership… But it does not need a "pack leader" as many people understand that phrase. Making sure each dog is comfortable, happy and has their needs met goes a long way towards avoiding problems.  And when problems arise, positive training methods are easy to implement and effective.

More dogs definitely equals more work. But the love, fun and companionship multiply as well!

REMINDERS

2018 CALENDAR

MAY Sunday 6th Training / Puppy Class Starts Sunday 13th Training Wednesday 16th Committee Meeting Sunday 20th Training Sunday 27th Handlers’ Day 1

JUNE Sunday 3rd Training Sunday 10th Queen’s Birthday Weekend - NO TRAINING Sunday 17th Training / Puppy Class Starts Wednesday 20th General Meeting Sunday 24th Training

JULY Sunday 1st Training Sunday 8th Training Sunday 15th Handlers’ Day 2 Wednesday 18th Committee Meeting Sunday 22nd Training / Puppy Class Starts Sunday 29th Training

AUGUST Sunday 5th Training Sunday 12th Training Wednesday 15th Annual General Meeting Sunday 19th Training Sunday 26th Obedience / Rally Trial - NO TRAINING

SEPTEMBER Sunday 2nd Training / Puppy Class Starts Sunday 9th Training Sunday 16th Handlers’ Day 3 Wednesday 19th General meeting Sunday 23rd Training Sunday 30th Labour Day Weekend - NO TRAINING

OCTOBER Sunday 7th Training Sunday 14th Training / Puppy Class Starts Wednesday 17th Committee Meeting Sunday 21st Training Sunday 28th Double Rally O Trial

- NO TRAINING

NOVEMBER Sunday 4th Training Sunday 11th Training Sunday 18th Training Wednesday 21st General Meeting Sunday 25th Training - Last for the year

DECEMBER Sunday 2nd - Dog’s Christmas Party

•Please pick up after your dog. Pooper-scoopers, bags & bins are provided.

•Keep away from dogs tethered in the roped off area. Please remind your children that these dogs MUST be left alone when their owners are not present

•Dogs wearing Green Collars are aggressive to other dogs. Dogs wearing Orange Collars are not yet friendly towards people. Please give these dogs the space they need.

•Please do not leave your children unsupervised. Children running on the field can frighten and excite some dogs.

•All handlers must wear enclosed shoes. Handlers with inappropriate footwear will be asked to leave the grounds.

•Please keep your dog on a lead unless an instructor tells you otherwise.

•Dogs that have run off during off-lead exercises must be worked on a long lead, available for sale from the Clubhouse

•Senior class members are requested to ensure all club equipment is packed away before letting their dogs off-lead to play - a pack of exuberant dogs charging around the field poses a significant safety risk to volunteers still at work.