 |
Gone to the Dogs Steve Pool 34 Cayman Drive |
|
Pictured: Joy & Steve Pool Free of collars & cages! I started in dog obedience June of 1976, a few months after acquiring Rusty--a Golden Retriever puppy--for my children. My love of dogs came from my Grandfather. He frequently adopted mixed breed strays that wandered into his automobile dealership. The only trouble was Grandpa never trained them, and the dogs only came to his call when they felt like it. As a young boy, I vowed that when I had a dog, it would come when I called. So when Rusty was six months old, he and I enrolled in a 10 week basic obedience class. On the first night of class, the instructor "Fred Kolter" demonstrated AKC Obedience exercises including Utility. I vividly remember thinking that I would never be able to train a dog to do all of that. At the end of the 10 weeks, Fred invited me to join his advanced class. He said that most of the students planned to show their dogs, but showing was not required. I told him I wasn't interested in showing, but I did enjoy training Rusty. We joined the class and six weeks later Rusty had earned his first Novice qualifying ribbon. He was 10 months old at the time, and before he was three he was being shown in Utility. Rusty later earned an AKC OTCH and a Canadian CD. "I was hooked!" It has been my good fortune to have acquired three more, very capable Goldens during the intervening years-- OTCH Flare (Rusty's son); OTCH Clipper UDX, JH, Can CD, and OTCH Ringer UDX, JH, Can CD (Clipper's son). Ringer--my only dog at this writing--is still competing in obedience and "at seven and one-half" has started Agility training. In 1991, I became an AKC Obedience judge. In 1980, I met Joy when she beat me in a runoff for fourth place in an Open B class. We were married in 1984. The merger included Rusty, Flare, my son Dave, my daughter Pam, and Joy's Gretchen, Cricket, and Mindy (all Keeshonden) and Elsa (a Black Lab). Needless to say, it was a full and varied household. Joy started training and showing in obedience before she had a driver's license. She has shown two Toy Poodles--Snowball and Missy, an Italian Greyhound--Ziadrra, the afore mentioned Lab, and six Keeshonden. Snowball and Ziadrra were CDs. Missy and Cricket were CDXs. Gretchen and Elsa were UDs. Mindy was the second Keeshond to earn the AKC OTCH title. Since our marriage, Joy has acquired three more Keeshonden. Katie became the fourth Kees to earn the OTCH, the first CH. OTCH, and first Kees UDX. Her daughter Sprite earned the UDX. And Joy's current dog, Dazzle is an OTCH and a UDX. Missy, Ziadrra, Elsa, Katie, Sprite and Dazzle are Canadian CDs, and Gretchen earned the Canadian OTCH. At seven, Dazzle is taking Agility classes with Ringer. Joy became an AKC Obedience judge in 1996. We conducted obedience classes for the local park district for a number of years. Obedience has been the vehicle that has provided us with the opportunity to meet many great people. It has also taken us to many new and wonderful places. But our dogs are much more than companions in various competition events. They go almost every place we go--including hiking, fishing, and vacationing. We have traveled many places, but our very favorite place is an island on Lake of the Woods in Western Ontario. We manage to get along just fine without electricity. In exchange for food, the dogs protect us from things real and imagined. There the dogs are free of their collars, and their humans are free of some of society's cages. So you can see, as our friends and neighbors will attest, we truly have GONE TO THE DOGS! |
|
| Return to Writers Listing |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
