Congratulations to Kathy Rosky and her Sheltie Bradley for winning the grand prize for best costume at Family Dog's Howl-i-day Party on December 3!

In addition to the costume contest we had everything from a Family Dog Trivia Game to a Treibball Demo, Freestyle Performance that included a visit from Rudolph the Red Nosed Tervuren, Who Can Find it the Fastest Game, Potluck and Gift Exchange Game. Thanks to Karen & Barb for spearheading the committee! Thanks to everyone for coming...and, as usual, the wild and crazy Gift Exchange Game was the highlight of the evening...except for the hilarious antics of Snowy (aka Santa) and Boddington (aka Reindeer) while folks were cleaning up and putting things away.The video is priceless: Santa in the sleigh as Boddington took her for a ride 'round the training center! The video we took of Snowy & Boddington was so CUTE we decided to submit it to America's Funniest Videos. Until we hear back from AFV as to whether or not our video was accepted for broadcast, we are required to remove it from public web sites. We'll keep you posted!

Congratulations to all of the Family Dog Students on their successes at the Whidbey Island Kennel Club show 2011 in Monroe.

Special congratulations to Janine and Cranberry ( left ) who finished their CDX on Sunday. This is a huge accomplishment given that Cranberry is also Janine's working guide dog and Janine is legally blind. Be sure to read the Seattle Kennel Club article about Janine and Cranberry Cranberry is now Cranberry CGC CD GN CDX RN RA RE and Certified Therapy Dog (Yellow Lab Guide Dog). Their next goal is completing their utility title sometime in 2012.

On Sunday, October 30 Yumi Johnson and her Belgian Tervuren, Colby, and Ingrida Robinson with her PBGV, Abraham, demonstrated Musical Freestyle at Camp Korey in the town of Carnation. Kamp Corey is located on the former Carnation Dairy farmland located in the beautiful Snoqualmie Valley. We had been invited to perform at their weekend Fall Festival.

When Yumi arrived at the site she was pleased that we had a covered area about 20' x 30' to use as our stage. At least we wouldn't have to worry about the possibility of rain! When I arrived a short while later I saw Yumi mucking out the stall adjacent to the stage area so we could use it to set up our crates and audio equipment!

We were a part of the Emerald City K-9 Dancers performance. There were five of us performing six routines. Ingrida emceed the presentation starting off with an introduction about freestyle...using basic obedience and fun tricks that the dogs know, how much fun our dogs have dancing, the exercise we and the dogs get, and listening to great music! Our audience was about 50-60 very-interested younger kids and their adults. The kids were not only fascinated with the dogs, but that the dogs were also dancing!

News Flash! The Halloween party was a great success. I'm not sure how many people or canines there were but over 50. Enough for a great party. The guest started showing up at 4:30 to try their hand at some agility. We had a short course set up with jumps, a tunnel, an intro to the dog walk, paws table, and weave poles. I saw some very happy dogs on that course. Then the room transformed into the activity room (we'll come back to that). First let's talk pizza and dessert. Oh yum! Everyone enjoyed eating and chatting. It was a real ice breaker for what was to come.

But let's take a look at the decorations! Balloons everywhere! And mummies on the wall ( get out!). then there was the big spider on this bird cage. Yes, there was a bird in the cage! And if that wasn't enough you had to walk under a big spider web to get to the other room. OK now let the games begin. The first game was Musical Sits. If that wasn't entertaining I don't know what is. I don't recall the name of the person who won. All I know is he stole my chair! Good thing I liked his dog. The next game was equally fun. The relay race where the handler walks with a tennis ball in a spork while guiding their dog through cones. People were very talented with this. The finale was the costume contest. Oh I didn't mention that people and their dogs were dressed up? There was funny, scary, adorable and everything in between.

Everyone put their vote in two plastic pumpkins, one for just the dog and one for handler and dog. I don't know the names of the winners were, sorry. Everyone left with smiles on there faces, even the dogs.

It would be my guess all slept very well. Oh and we collected quite a bit of food for the Regional Animal Shelter! YEA!!!!!!!

Follow this link to see the entire HOWL-O-WEEN album.

Otter, a one-year old mixed breed dog owned by Jayne Widhalm, practices his agility jumping in the back yard. Jayne and Otter prove that you can practice agility handling with very limited space and a small back yard.

Otter started training with Family Dog in puppy manners class and has done home obedience, competition obedience and agility (which is his first love!). Otter is a very energetic and spirited young dog. Agility training, and a lot of hard work on Jayne's part, have helped Otter develop great off-leash skills and obedience control.

Thanks to Jayne for submitting this great photo!

Ranny Green did a great article on kids and canines, featuring several familiar faces (including little Miss Breeze), for the October feature on the Seattle Kennel Club web site. Be sure to read the article...then forward this link to your family and friends with children and dogs!

Link to Article

Enjoy!

All of us at Family Dog Training Center would like to congratulate the following teams for passing the AKC Canine Good Citizen test given October 1st at Family Dog Training Center.

Steve Hubbard and Zoe, Valerie Hough and Shelby, Patty Hannaman and Maks, Lisa Stuverud and Layla, Walt & Carol Sippel and Ian, Jenny & Joel Shaw and Cillian, Ed Orcutt and Charlie, Linda Hall and Artie, Emmett Drazic and Ricky, and Joel & Barb Vasey and Kadee. Take a look at our CGC page for graduation photos.

It was a fantastic afternoon for all the participants. What a delight it was to watch each team work their way through all the stations and achieve their goals. We hope that you continue working with your dogs and giving them other opportunities to shine. Some of you expressed an interest in therapy dog work; look on our schedule for those classes. It would be a great time to follow up with those plans.

We would also like to thank the dedicated volunteers that made this test run so smoothly: Barb and Joel Vasey, Anne Seethoff, David and Cheryl Jackson, Karen Evans, Leslie Garman and Rich Brandau. Having this group was a dream team!

Colby and Yumi had a wonderful weekend at the Wenatchee Kennel Club's 50th Anniversary outdoor trial. They scored a 193 in Open A to qualify in 1st place and complete Colby's CDX.

Colby is now CH Sky Acres Classic Colibri CGC CDX GN RE.

Congratulations Yumi & Colby!

Congratulations to all of the Family Dog Students and their successes at the various specialties and Sammamish Kennel Club show 2011.

Tim and Kobe (left) finished their RN title with first place and a perfect 100 point run. They then  moved over to the Beginning Novice ring and had another first place run with a 198 out of 200 score.

Congratulations Tim & Kobe!

Yumi and Topper (right) had a significant weekend completing Topper's RAE. This means that they had to Q (Qualify) in both Rally Advanced and Rally Excellent on the same day at ten different events.

Congratulations Yumi & Topper!

As one of the region's most experienced and respected dog trainers, Kathy Lang was interviewed by Ranny Green for the Seattle Kennel Club's web site. Kathy and four other trainers answer Ranny's questions about criteria for choosing a trainer. Click here to read the full article.

Family Dog Senior Instructor, Mary Berry, had a great weekend at the Hurricane Ridge Kennel Club shows. Her Belgian Tervuren, Pilot, earned his third Utilty Dog title. He is now AM, CAN, INT′L Ch U-UD Sky Acres Celestial Navigator UD RAE VER CAN UD. To translate, that means he has his AKC, Canadian and International Championships, his AKC, Canadian and UKC UDs and the AKC Rally Advanced Excellent and Versatility titles.

Congratulations Mary & Pilot!

The Family Dog Dancers from Family Dog Training Center performed with a live concert band in Enumclaw! Yep, big horn section, wonderful wind instruments and those huge kettle drums! The location was grassy Centennial Park in downtown Enumclaw across from the library.

Freestyle is a simple extension of obedience training, Rally stations and tricks. Put a string of these maneuvers together to a piece of music and you've got a routine! Doing freestyle is a great way to channel your dog's energy and give him alternate ways to build flexibility and conditioning. Dogs of all ages and abilities can have fun with this. Of the four dogs who performed, their ages ranged from youngest, Troy, at four years, to Abraham at twelve years old! It's fun to do freestyle to your favorite piece of music!

Visit our YouTube Channel to see videos from the concert!

Congratulations to Cheryl and Colt for their brand new Rally Novice title! This is the first title either one of them has received, and comes after months of hard work. At Mt. Vernon over the 4th of July weekend they received a 4th place rosette and tug toy on their second leg and a 2nd place rosette and tug toy for their third leg to complete their title. Colt is now officially Backwoods Peacemaker RN.

Cheryl thanks all the Family Dog Training Center instructors and fellow students for being helpful and patient with her and Colt as total newcomers to the dog performance world.