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Read in the RNL:  Electricity cut in Amsterdam.

The energy department is still not sure what the reason was for this cut for a few hours. Some explosions were heard in a local energy station and all electricity was cut off and about half of Amsterdam was without power. No trains and trams were going and ten or more persons had to be rescued out of stuck lifts. Police was put on alert to stop plundering. This sounds rather drastic and I wonder what they would do, having our many cuts each season, in Zimbabwe?

Dear Members it is the time of the year again that you have to renew your Membership fees [due on the 1st of January]. As with all things, unfortunately we have had to increase our fee for 2003 with the possibility that we have to look at it again in the middle of the year. Membership now stands at $ 200,- per person.

Technique of Jumping. Translated out of the VDH April 2002

Jumping for a dog is a three way process: take off, gliding and landing. Dogs do guess where to start the take off, by lengthening or shortening its paces. The head will go down a little, the front paws come off the ground. The hind legs will do the rest of the take off. Those will stretch completely behind, so that the whole dog comes upwards and the gliding is now in progress. During this gliding the dog places its heaviest point from the back towards the front, this encourages the upward movement to a downward movement. During the gliding the back legs could either be pulled up [hocks pointing upwards], or completely stretched backwards. At landing the dog lands on one front leg, which catches the whole body weight first.

If the dog needs to jump for WT, IPO or for DJ training it is imperative that he jumps correctly. Often it is seen with the GSD’s, that they pull their hind legs under the body, this makes it too difficult to jump high and the risk that their paws will tough the jump. It is better for the speed and the longer gliding period that the dog has its back legs stretched backwards or pull them up behind him with the hocks pointed upwards  [back tuck], also less chance to touch the jump.

Dogs on a lead tend to look at their handlers, which could let them not concentrate on the right place to ‘take off’ to jump. To start teaching it is better to have the jumps elbow high and about 5 in a row. The first jump the dogs take off from a sitting position and will pull up his hind legs under the belly [wrong position], the following jumps will be jumped properly as he then is in the faster pace and more chance to stretch his hind legs behind him instead tuck them under. Because of the 5 jumps in a row, this will help to get the proper jumping technique. The distance between each jump should be 3 meter. To teach for the Brush jump it is better to teach this first with the 5 jumps to get the technique right before starting on the retrieve.

There is however a problem with the young dog, who will not jump without a lead. To overcome this the 5 jumps should be put into a ‘street’ with a fence or pig netting on each side. The helper will hold the dog at the beginning while the owner will be at the end, calling the dog towards him. When the dog has progressed [jumps higher] the owner now can run beside the fence with the dog either on left or right side. Make sure that at the end the dog gets a reward [throw a ball], to make sure the dog will look forwards [so concentrate on the jumps] and not at his handler.

For dogs that already can jump but not have the proper technique, the ‘jump street’ will help to get this better.

Lower the jumps in the first place and place the jumps in the right order. Then find out where the ideal start-point is for each jump. At that point put down a narrow flat piece of wood. As this piece of wood is the dogs starting point, he will use this as his marker. Next you will either put the marker a little forward or away from the jump [usually farther away]. The dog will accept this change and will use the flat piece of wood as his starting point to take off and so will change his jumping technique. To get the dogs hind legs to stretch behind, or to have his legs pulled up behind his body will only occur when he is farther away from the jump and so he has to change his technique and will get his hind legs in the proper ‘stretched behind’ or ‘tucked up behind’ [back tuck] position, and not in the wrong position: like having the legs under his belly and consequently wanting to touch the jump again. Watch your dog, while he is jumping and see what he does with his hind legs!

Always train for this new starting [further away] take off point. In the beginning, the result will be, that the dog is not able to judge the distance and so make sure that the jumps are the ones with the top bar that can roll away from the jump, if and when he makes a mistake. Do not try this out with solid jumps or the brush jump. When the technique is getting better, the jumps can be made a little higher. It is very important that this is done slowly and that the technique is getting slowly better. It could take up to many weeks, before he will have his hind legs in the right position and slowly you will see that his legs will stretch more and more backwards which is the ideal way for jumping and more and more you will find that the dog has fun doing the jumps.

How well does cold water clean?

A man went to visit his 90-year old grandfather in a very secluded, rural area of the state he lived in. After spending the night, his grandfather prepared breakfast for him consisting of eggs and bacon. He noticed a film-like substance on his plate and he questioned, "Grandfather, …..are these plates clean?" His grandfather replied, "Those plates are as clean as cold water can get them, so go on and finish your meal."

Later on that afternoon while eating the hamburgers his grandfather made for lunch, he noticed tiny specks around the edge of his plate, and a substance that looked like dried egg yokes, so he asked again, "Grandfather, are you sure these plates are clean?" Without looking up from his hamburger, the grandfather says, "I told you before, those dishes are as clean as cold water can get them, now don't ask me about it anymore!"

Still later on that afternoon, he decided to get dinner in a nearby town. As he was leaving, his Grandfather's dog started to growl and would not let him pass. "Grandfather, your dog won't let me out."

Without diverting his attention from the baseball game he was watching, the grandfather shouted........ "COLDWATER, GET YOUR ASS OUT OF THE WAY!"

Well yes and here its Christmas and soon the new year. The Committee would like to extend their best wishes for a happy Christmas with your family coming, or going to them. The New year wish will be that it will give us all a better year to look forward to and happy training with good show results.

The Gift of Understanding that we find in loving friends. So when we need some sympathy, We seek our true and trusted friend in the knowledge that we'll find A heart that's sympathetic and an understanding mind. Sent at Christmas for friendship's sake With all the good wishes a heart can make.