April Recap and Upcoming Events

Thank you to ALL winter guests that helped provide quality training and gunning to our members while you were in town. See you in the fall! Good luck to Mara Fizdale at the invitational this summer.

The individuals and pups I observed during training showed progress in all areas of training. The highlight  (for me personally) is having a handler walking up to me grinning ear to ear and mentioning  ” last month’s work paid dividends this month.”  Its moments like this which reminded me why we do what we do.  Thanks to all who made the work day It clearly shows your character, and we appreciate your dedication to the club,  I continue to say over and over our members are fabulous. Sunday brought early steadiness work: steady to shot/fall; steady to wing with limited pigeons,   At 10:00 we held our Tom Sawyer/ Huck Finn Adventure Day with the future of our club . They learned how to tie two types of knots: square and bowline. The  young members of Palmetto Navhda made fishing poles from small saplings,  rigged the poles with line and hooks, and caught approximately 50 fish.   The smiles and memories made were priceless.  To top off the day everyone was  treated to lunch and homemade ice cream. You can see more pics on the Palmetto Facebook Page

While working with a Vizsla in the field it became clear to me that I must step back from handling anyones dog.    When this same handler tried to work with his dog after me,  the dog  recognized me as the Alpha and tried to retrieve to me instead of the handler. This new plan for training  will engage all members  to take an active role in handling their own dog and more conducive to the navhda training system.   Before we go to the field  we will demonstrate how to sleep a bird; discuss how you set up steady to flush, rise, fall, and shot drills etc.  Dogs and Handlers will  then break into groups and everyone will work on those drills.

With the new insurance requirements from Navhda International, everyone please consider helping us with less paperwork and eliminating the release forms by joining International at Navhda.org. (They have also stated that any dog that runs in a NAVHDA test at least one owner and the handler has to be an international member). By joining you will start receiving the magazine that I have been passing out training articles from at training,  it also has great recipes from other members. I also encourage everyone to  purchase “The Training and Care of the Versatile Hunting Dog” book (known as the green book) which my talks come from as well.

May training will be mandatory groups with everyone helping each other. This helps the sequences go smoother and faster allowing everyone to have more time with their dog in the field. Live gun fire will be restricted to designated areas for safety of our members. Please note this is the first weekend in May, not the second one which is Mother’s Day.  Summer is near and  heat is going to be an issue but no reason not to train , you must get out early.   In an effort to be efficient  please request via email at bsnyder489@gmail.com  what training you would like to see on the agenda for May.  For example  I am certain there are pups that need gun fire conditioning, or  we have an abundance of ducks currently and we encourage everyone to consider the water portions of training. My suggestions would be everybody do field work in morning session water work in the afternoon session. For those that are going to stay for the weekend please be advised that we get together for an evening meal Saturday night; bring your meat to grill and a side to share. Great Fun!

Thanks to member Melody Sweet for stepping up to work on a project that all UT handlers will benefit from. Based on the size of our pond and lack of interesting objects for the dogs to search, she is going to construct what we hope to be living islands in the pond itself. The purpose of the islands will be to help dogs that swim like torpedo’s and search the entire pond in less than half the required time to slow them down and give them more objects to search. She is looking for volunteers to help accomplish this goal. Please email her at threegspsrgr8@hotmail.com.

Taylor Davenport has volunteered to help coordinate and for now we will call it a fun shoot scheduled  after the November test. More to come.

In summation, the club belongs to our members. We are in need of other people to step up and help make this club continue to grow and take on small tasks. i.e. kids program, equipment manager, and so on. Anyone with any creative ideas or some free time, please speak to me personally.

June training will be  moving from GMHT to Blackwater Creek Ranch which is a 4600 Acre Private hunting paradise just east of the turnpike on 60 near Yeehaw Junction.  The Board of FPC Navhda in conjunction with BCR is planning a family oriented,  fun for all training session. It will be the third weekend of June, we are still in the planning stages and will send more info as soon as available. We promise  you are not going to want to miss this fabulous event, at this  incredible place.

Here is what we know for now – In an effort to give everyone a chance to learn how to shoot birds over your dog we are working with Blackwater Creek Ranch  to provide instruction and guidance to gun safety and shooting.  For those interested parties,  Black water Creek Ranch has both sporting  clays and 5 stand clays opportunities, Palmetto Navhda will  have 3 or 4 instructors and several stations of instruction for the day. The Goal is working up to actually shooting clays and then later in the year “the fun shoot” which Taylor is planning.  We are looking for ANY male/female who wants learn to shoot or improve their shooting.  During the shooting instruction we will simultaneously be running marked retrieve drills and table work for dogs. For the children at  Blackwater Creek Ranch they  will have the opportunity to zipline over the pond,  Fishing in the ponds , Smores around the fire,  as well as Buggy Rides throughout this pristine property. The sunset through the pines at Blackwater Creek is something you do not want to miss.  There is camping available for anyone who wants to camp.  We are planning meals, entertainment and much more to come in the next few weeks.  Block your Calendars for June 23rd and 24th at Black Water Creek Ranch

The FALL TEST dates are November 3rd-4th. I encourage everyone to consider testing your dog. It is another great opportunity for you to build and bond with your flea bag that I am sure you are in love with. It fills up fast so get your entries in.

2018 Snake Avoidance Clinic will be scheduled most likely in December. More info to come.

See you at May training.

FPC Board