January Newsletter FPC NAVHDA

Let me start with a special thank you to the 3 falconers that displayed their birds and demonstrated their talents this past training weekend: Wesley and Diane Blackwood, Jay and Kris Wicker, and Jeromy Nall. I believe all would say it was impressive to see the birds of prey up close and in action. A thank you to Cynthia Tobin for some great photos!

                               

Thanks to Danelle for putting together a lunch of hot dogs with chili which went well with the cool weather.   Chad Bumb brought some shrimp kabobs, combined with Pineapple and cherry tomatoes from Danelle’s garden. If anyone would like to volunteer putting together lunch for training in March please email BSnyder489@gmail.com. and I will help you work out the details.   A highlight on Sunday we had a youth (9yr old Lauren) handler work with a Vizsla on the training table starting to introduce trained retrieve,  Woohoo!  It was impressive to see everyone with their dog on table work; although challenging, I TRULY believe they will see the benefit down the road. Weather for the weekend (although cool & damp on Sunday) was really better than the forecast, at least in Lake Wales and was cooler for the dogs.

This months  snake clinic was a huge success,  we processed roughly 80 dogs through the clinic . I hope all that participated found it to be of great value and will never have to be put to the test in real life scenario. Thank you to all that helped to make this a success.

For the month of January we had participants from other chapters join us and volunteer their time helping .A special thanks to Jim Scheffner, Joe Wadleigh, John Kaptena, Lena and Ash Amirian.  Ron and Sharon Cass are back from Ohio as well. Special thanks to Daniel & Rebecca Pritchard for their continued support of the club and help with Danelle and I.

We would like to welcome 5 new members this month: Patrice & Larry Shramko, Marlene Chumbook, Taylor Davenport, Bob & Susan Hraha, and Kristina Evers-Hays.

We have started a segment called “ASK THE VET” FPC NAVHDA member Danny Neger,  DVM has volunteered to address the questions and/or concerns of members regarding the care of their dog. Please email me, BSnyder489@gmail.com, your questions and I will forward to him. If it is a generalized question we may include it in our newsletter. I also have some handouts from Danny to share at training.

The board has voted to purchase a 12X24 building which should be in place by March and will hold all chapter gear and Club cart. We had a gracious member, Mara Fizdale, donate the funds and construction of a new bird pen approx. 12X12 for additional game (duck,pheasant). We have started our own pigeon coup with the purchase of 30 birds with the goal to raise our own for training birds and implement the motto, “Train with Pigeons, Polish with Quail”.

We have recently been contacted by NAVHDA International about a feature article on our club for the magazine. This is a testament to good things are happening and being noticed throughout the NAVHDA chapters. Chad is preparing article as we speak. If you haven’t joined NAVHDA International, I truly believe there are helpful articles (training and handler experiences) including a vet column in the magazine. And we have been known to have our dogs featured in the “Photo of the month” segment including a feature article (front page) on one of our members and his dog. I encourage everyone to subscribe.

FPC NAVHDA