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Dates & News

ZimDog News, which can be accessed from: www.vanerp.net.
The Kennel Club of Harare will be holding their 'Doggy' Xmas party on 7 December with lots of fun things, musical chairs with your dog, treasure hunt and more, all done with handler and their dog on lead. A plate of snacks to bring to share with all, at teatime. Then the club will hold their annual Xmas dinner the next Sunday on 14 December. A lovely dinner and be quick to book and pay for it as they only accept a certain amount of people, this time without your pooches. Kennel Club does not really close for an Xmas brake and you will always see people coming every Sunday.

The GSD Club of Bulawayo is holding a Match meeting on 6 December in the afternoon; dogs of different breed are competing against each other to collect points to win for their own club. They will have a bring and braai Xmas date on 12 December the last day before the club closes for their holiday. They will open again in the middle of January.
The GSD Club of Harare is holding their AGM and a braai afterwards on 16 December, when they too will close for the holidays.

Get well: Judy Grierson has had her check up and all seems to be well with her. I have no news yet about Misha.

Condolences: Jimmy Knox has passed away in England after a long illness. He was a panel judge for Working Trials and Obedience and he often came to judge for us here in Harare. A sad loss and we hope his wife will have the strength to go on with her life after so many years together.

Shows: Graham Rees attended the National Breed show in S Africa and did well with Tanu who came SG 7 in the junior class and Diva V 13 in the Open Bitch class. Zilletal Lasso is winning at KUSA Breed shows and has already quite a few CC's. She is now hoping to get her 'V' grading to become a champion.

Recently I have attended the Apollo Breed show in Pretoria and saw some lovely dogs being shown. One eye catcher was a recent import, but as this is the ZimDog news I must report on some super animals, being the Progeny of Wucki von Friesische Thingstadte. This bitch was imported by the von Brinson Kennels in Harare. She then was expecting to do much better in S Africa and since she has had some lovely puppies. Maximus in the 12-18 months came 2nd of her last litter. Lady in the 18-24 month class came 8th, Lerado 3rd and Lord 4th of her previous litter. In the picture you see Lerado with good head, topline and rear angulation. Front angulation upper arm is a little steep. He moved very well. Great that an import does so well with her puppies, in the shows. A shame that we do not see these returning to Zimbabwe. We do need more dogs to be shown in our country. Our next Open Breed show is expected at the end of February, unfortunately with a judge who cannot give the dogs a grading. End of March there should be the Champion Breed show in Bulawayo, recently their committee has completely renewed and we hope that they will make every effort to get a specialist judge for their show and I urge each and every one of us to support both shows.

IPO training is none existent in Harare for over 2 years. There were two groups training some years ago, one at the GSD Harare and a separate group, which trained with Wade Armand. The GSD Harare group were a group interested to enter and unfortunately none qualified. Wade left at the end of 2001 and only his dog qualified in IPO 1 & 2. Wade then has excellent help in S Africa and his Vasco von Salenshof has come high in the SA Schutzhund Nationals and was twice chosen to represent the SA Team at the World WUSV in 2002 and in 2003. The first time Vasco came half way and the last time he managed to get a 45th placing. The GSD Bulawayo kept up the training, but also there they had problems, but with the new committee I believe there are now two days training and this should result in some more dogs getting ready for the Schutzdienst. There are some very keen people there. Ann Snowdon now has an IPO 2 dog, Peter Toms has his dog qualified IPO 1 and then Kirsten who is not only the helper but he qualified one Rottweiler in IPO 3 many times some years ago, he then took on a GSD who now is also an IPO 3 dog and his latest is again a Rottweiler who has passed IPO 2. Paul Greef is doing a sterling job too as a helper and we might get the IPO going again in Bulawayo.

Tanah Merah Rambutan had to do it all by himself! Having gone to a few seminars in SA with the excellent help and guidance of David Harris, slowly Rambutan was getting the hang of it all. End of February 2003 his handler was persuaded to enter him for BH on the Saturday and Schutzhund 1 on the Sunday. This was a very nerve situation, as the training was not next-door! The wonderful help from all at Halfway house came to the unexpected result of Rambutan qualifying on both days. Going home suddenly Rambu developed an injury in his hindquarters. With rest and a thorough check up and three X-rays it seemed to be a muscle problem. Rambu was slowly build up to get his strength back in his hind quarters and a further week of intensive training first week in November, he again managed to enter and pass his Schutzhund 2. His obedience and protection work is certainly not his forte [what can you expect with no protection work in Harare], but his tracking is just a pleasure to watch. In February he passed his tracking with 99% and on 9 November he had 94% for his track. So perhaps we should go on for FH as he is getting old [6 in December] and his hindquarters are not up to scratch any more. His pedigree is half breed and half working, in which he is the grandson of the famous Lord vom Gleisdreieck, winner of the Bundes Sieger Prüfung twice.Rambu is a very dark mahogany sable and catches the eye of many with this exquisite colour he has. Most sables are the light grey ones, or some are dark, but still the grey colour combination. He certainly, with his half breed pedigree, is able to help improving the colour of the puppies. The recent show in Pretoria showed that many of their bitches are very pale, with few exceptions of course.

Recent New Arrival in the Country: A new bitch has come into the country with a complete working line pedigree. Except for Vasco there has never been a working dog imported. Yes there have been some with part working lines, see above Rambu. This puppy has two imported parents, both from Belgium and both parents living in S Africa.

Father: Vasco von Salenshof, G Father: Tom v t Leefdaalhof, winner WUSV 2000, and twice Orry v Haus Antwerpa with 1st place WUSV 1992 & 1996 and 1st place in FCI

Mother Aycka vom Matschenka, G Father Troll v Haus Milinda 9th place WUSV 1999, 2nd place WUSV 2000 and 25th place in WUSV 2002 and her GGG Father is again the well known Lord vom Gleisdreieck, winner twice of the Bundes Sieger Prüfung.

Training Tools

A rolled up newspaper can be an effective training tool when used properly. For instance, use the rolled-up newspaper if your dog chews up something inappropriate or has a housebreaking accident. Bring the dog over to the destroyed object (or mess), then take the rolled-up newspaper... and hit yourself over the head as you repeat the phrase, "I FORGOT TO WATCH MY DOG, I FORGOT TO WATCH MY DOG!"

Old Faithful...........
If you want someone who will bring you the paper without first tearing it apart to remove the sports section - buy a dog.

If you want someone willing to make a fool of himself simply over the joy of seeing you - buy a dog.