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Barker Newsletter for March/April 2009
President: Mark Kawalek President@BigDHRC.com
Vice President: Matt Underwood VicePres@BigDHRC.com
Treasurer: Amy Pyeatt Treasurer@BigDHRC.com
Secretary: Boone Pyeatt Secretary@BigDHRC.com
By: Wade Duay
BIG D goes BIG again! Our AKC hunt test had the highest number of dog entries of any hunt test ever held in the state of Texas! There were a total of 578 entries. It was a lot of hard work and our members really stepped up when the pressure was on. On behalf of club executives, the board of directors, and the hunt test committee, thanks to you all! Also a special thanks goes out to those non-members that stepped up and helped as well. It’s great to know that when push comes to shove dog people are always willing to pitch in to make it work. Well done! Lastly a big round of applause goes to our hunt test chairman, Orie Mathews. His tireless effort and dedication was key to making this test a success. Well done, Orie!
As most of you probably already know, Jimmy Fischer has stepped down from his position of club president. Unfortunately the working hours of his new job will not allow him the time needed to carry out his duties as club president. On the one hand we extend him congratulations and wish him luck in his new job, and on the other we are saddened to lose his leadership within the club. Best of luck to you Jimmy! We hope to see you at meetings and special events.
With that being said, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Mark Kawalek as our new club president. Mark, we know that you’ll do a great job. While filling the position of president, Mark is vacating the position of vice president. The club executives and the board of directors are looking to announce a back-fill to Mark’s old office within the next few weeks.
I’d like to send out a BIG (D) congratulations to Dave Benton and Ria for reaching the 1000-point milestone. Although I didn’t see it, I hear tell that Dave scored style points for his pond dive. I did get to see the video of Ria sharing her cake with him. I think Ria was a little aghast at Dave’s table manners but what the heck, as they say when in Rome…. Great fun, thanks for sharing Patti.
Monthly Meetings
If you haven’t been to a club meeting in awhile I encourage you to attend. We’ve changed the format somewhat, the first half of each meeting is dedicated to club business and the second half is allotted for club & guest speakers to cover a wide range of topics. At our March meeting Mark Kawalek held a great training session on the ins and outs of being a Hunt Test Marshal. This paid big dividends for our recent AKC test. At our April meeting Tim Slattery held a great review of marking and teaching marking concepts. Thanks Tim! To follow-up on Tim’s work we will extend this topic to our monthly training day on April 11th. In the future we look forward to having a guest speaker, Dr. Ed Aycock, to update us on the latest genetic research effecting retrievers. Dr. Aycock is a local veterinarian who specializes in the retriever breeds and he’s also a successful field trialer.
If you were at April’s monthly meeting you also know that we are looking to change our monthly meeting venue and have a couple of places in mind. Watch for the announcement!
Upcoming Events
Now for something really exciting -- the club is planning a fun hunt to be held on May 9th. It’ll be a good time with dogs and BBQ! This event is free to club members. We will set up a mock test with approved judges and real birds. We’ll have Junior/Started, Senior/Seasoned and Master/Finished test scenarios. You can run your dog with or without e-collar and we are contemplating (an) award/s for the best dog/s. The event is still in the planning stages, so look for further information to follow.
HRC Events
Texas Panhandle 4/18 & 4/19 Colorado River 4/25 & 4/26 Alamo Retriever 5/16 & 5/17
AKC Events
DFWLRC 4/18 (entries closed) Tejas HRC 4/25 & 4/26 Heart of Texas 5/2 & 5/3
Training
Remember we hold monthly training days on the second Saturday of each month until the start of the fall hunting season. Locations vary and are announced monthly at the club meetings. As I said earlier our next training day is on Saturday, April 11th. It’s going to be held at Collin County’s Parkhill Prairie Preserve. We’ll start around 8:00am. Look for the email with directions to the location.
Also to restate, sometimes it’s hard to find others to train with on a regular basis. I encourage members to reach out to other members within their general area of the DFW metroplex to help each other train. I know as an amateur trainer just helping throw marks and having someone to help you with throwing marks is a tremendous benefit. Trust me -- you don’t need to be an expert. Just the ability to throw a bumper and the willingness to help is all that’s needed. The rest comes in time. If you would like to volunteer to be a group coordinator in your area (just to get things started) please let Boone Pyeatt know and he’ll get the word out to the general membership.
Group Emails and the rules
When sending out a group email to BigD@listserv.tamu.edu please use the following rules.
- The conclusion of your message put your email address after your salutation, this way if someone wants to respond to your message they will know the correct email address to use.
- Do not use the group email list as a chat room. Use the email list for exchange of information not casual banter.
- Keep the comments positive and polite. You thoughts and ideas may not always agree with the author.
- The group email now has the option of a Reply to the send or Reply All to the group. Please keep this in mind when sending a response.
Meetings
The club meets at 6:30 PM on the first Tuesday of each month at 2 Guys from Italy, Webbs Chapel, just south of 635 on the west side. The next meeting is
November 6, 2007.
Miscellaneous
Litters, if you know of any pups on the ground or upcoming litters please send an email to Boone.
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