2010 Training Season

The Greatland Chapter typically starts the training season is late April, depending on the remaining snow cover. Water generally becomes available in mid-May.

We had a fair amount of interest in training over the past couple of years, and we've had a good bit of interest and commitment to this year's tests in August.

Remember that it costs the chapter about $580 each year for insurance, a $400 fee to run a test, and several hundred bucks to pay expenses for out-of-state judges. That means that we need to take in enough money revenue from test fees or other fund raisers (like clinics and training days) through the year to cover those costs.

We have held several training days, both in Anchorage and at Falcon Ridge, but the turnout has typically been pretty low. It would really help to have the training sessions better attended.

We send out event announcements to everyone we have an eMail address for … current and past members of the chapter, people who have expressed an interest, people who have asked dog training questions on our web discussion site, and names from the Alaska roster from NAVHDA Headquarters. If any of you know other people who might be interested in our Chapter training and testing activities, please extend the invitation to them as well. A big crowd would be a good thing at all of our events, and anyone is welcome.

Sometime this spring, at one of our early training sessions, we'll hold an organizational meeting where we’ll discuss the training schedule for the year (typically running from mid-April through August), elect chapter officers for the year, discuss the upcoming tests in August, discuss training sites, look at potential fund raisers for the Chapter, and generally get acquainted and socialize.

Membership in the Chapter is not required to participate in our training activities, but we’d sure appreciate your joining. If you run a dog in our test, the entry fee is cheaper for members. Likewise, membership in the international NAVHDA organization is not required unless you run in the Invitational or want to be a judge, but we strongly encourage you to join.

Our primary focus is on training, rather than testing. We want to provide the opportunity for people to share training ideas, techniques and solutions to problems. We have a broad range of experience among our members (and would-be members). We have experienced folks with new pups, new pups with new handlers, and seasoned dogs with seasoned handlers looking for some additional finishing prior to hunting season or a Utility Test. We’d like to cater to all of those combinations.

Our chapter members also own a wide variety of VHD breeds, so if you are looking for a good hunting dog but haven’t settled on just the right breed, you might just find an “example” of the breed here in the area to take a look at, or watch work in the field.

The Chapter doesn’t own any training equipment, but our members have scads of launchers, training tables, decoys, heeling stakes, Zinger-Wingers and books/videos to share. The most important resource we have to share is time. Getting several people together on a training weekend to swap off planting birds with running dogs is a great way to get the most out of a day, especially when the training is sandwiched between two long drives to and from whatever training area we use for the day.

We’d sure appreciate hearing from you if  you’d like to be part of the Chapter this year. Just call me or send an eMail either to me at rogerhull@gci.net or to Jeff and Judy Deaver at jeffanjudy@clearwire.net . Contact me ahead of time if you have any ideas or suggestions on how to make this Chapter a more attractive deal for you, or if you have any ideas on better ways to run the organization (especially if you’d like to help run it as a Chapter officer). 

Thanks, and good hunting,

                Roger 

Roger K. Hull

President, Greatland NAVHDA

10140 Kasilof Blvd

Anchorage, AK 99507

' : (907) 346-6279 (home)

' : (907) 346-6280 (cell)
* : rogerhull@gci.net

http://greatlandnavhda.org