Miscellaneous

                Flatcoats always wag their tail….
                        can we be as friendly?

      ‘Is it true that in this economic climate with cutbacks being made we, as a society, would dump our dogs on the street?’ This is a question I was asked recently, I was appalled by the question, but as a Dog Warden I thought carefully before replying.

       How can anyone get rid of their dog, one that has lived with the family since a puppy? Is it happening? Yes is the reply, but the glimmer of hope is that it is not in vast quantities. Of the strays we are picking up in my area about 90% are being returned to owners thanks to microchips and tags – (please do consider getting your dog I.D. chipped, you never know when it might be needed). The worrying aspect are the dogs that the owners are trying to hand over to us claiming they are strays, do we accept them knowing they will never be claimed or refuse and wonder what the owner will do with the dog, and what was the final straw that lead to the phone call or the drive down the lane?

      It amazes me that anyone would want to dump a dog but there again living with Flatcoats and their wonderfully wicked sense of humour and their love of life…... They can drive us insane and we may jokingly say, “We are going to give them away” they cause total havoc sometimes but with a wag of their tail, we forgive them and surely this is one of the reasons, why we love the breed. When selling or buying a puppy the question should be asked can “we” cope with such a full on type of dog, that never stops and just wants to be friends with everything and everyone.
      ‘Flatcoats can try the patience of a saint’, we have all heard that saying as our sweet, calm pet at home turns into a devil when out, pulling on the lead and jumping all over the place. They really enjoy life and sometimes I think it would be a good idea if we all took a leaf from their book and learn to chill out a bit more. After all, life is too short to be grumpy so how about all of us wagging our tails and saying hello to someone new in the breed. Flatcoat exhibitors are normally a very friendly bunch and let’s be honest we all need a helping hand and some helpful advice from time to time.

      I am sure there are not many of us who did not see the recent BBC programme regarding the breeding and showing of pedigree dogs. Sadly, the fall out for the breeds highlighted is terrible and as an owner of a CKCS I would be really sad to see this wonderful breed become one of the past. This has also put a great strain on the Breed Clubs involved and resulted in a great deal of derision among their committees and members. We should think carefully at times like this as how we react to this kind of negative criticism and try to work together to overcome the current difficulties facing us all, not just the breeds which were highlighted, as it could be our turn next!

Kathryn Trevor

                   Training, Reward & Punishment.

    Training is about teaching something, in this case the dog, to learn the correct response to cues you will give him. You will not get positive results through punishment.
    Would you do anything if you were punished for it? Reward is payment for correct work done. Payment is a donation of something the dog likes, praise, petting, food, playtime and freedom. Punishments can range from a minor unpleasantness to downright cruelty.
    There is a place in training for both. Everyone uses rewards, from the simple ‘good dog’ acknowledgement for a task completed to the lavish overkill attention of word or food. Everyone also uses punishment. One of the worst punishments for a F/c is to with hold an expected food reward or not touch your dog when he is trying to please.
    The simplest form of reward based training is for you to anticipate an action, give the cue and when completed the reward. The dog soon learns to associate the action with the reward and the cue fits in, then the reward can be left out. The next training is to tempt the dog into an action with a reward. He will soon learn anticipate your action, put in his action and expect the reward. This will quickly, depending on the request, become habit and the reward can be dropped. Then comes the hands on approach. You manipulate the dog through a manoeuvre reward him at the end and eventually, depending on the complexity of the task a habit is formed.
    Every action has an equal and opposite re-action. There cannot be a void or black hole. If you teach a dog to sit whilst putting on its leader the dog sits at the first sight of the leader, but he hasn’t learnt to sit. He will not sit at anytime, or in any place. He is not a mind reader! He has learnt only to sit at the first sight of the leader.
    You need to firstly teach the sit command in isolation so that whatever distraction is engineered the dog will not be distracted but will perform the sit on its own. When you are teaching commands and this is not to be confused with giving the dog experience, you must be sure the dog is not just learning the negative reinforcement of the action but is putting in place a positive action.
     He will only do this if, in his eyes, the reward for the positive action is greater than the punishment for the negative action you do not wish to encourage. The question is, has the dog learnt not to, say, jump up, and actually learnt to sit, or has he just hit accidentally on the re-action to sit when told not to jump up.
This can be a haphazard method of training positively because in most circumstances you cannot be sure the dog will hit upon the correct re-action.
    If a dog is punished too often he will become hardened and you will have to up the punishment, and that is no way to go because eventually you will run out of punishments that you are willing to inflict on your pet. Punishment, not abuse, always has an element of luck in the training pattern because it is up to luck if the dog hits on the right reply to stopping the punishment.

Denise Jury.

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HESKETH BANK TRAINING DAY AUG 11th

    When I heard the dire forecast for the Training Day at Hesketh Bank I was tempted to give it a miss. But I am so glad I didn't!
The forecast was 100% wrong but even if it hadn't been, the day was well worth the 350 mile round trip.
    I would like to say a very big thank you to all those who organised the day as well as the first class instructors - especially Paul who managed to stop my dog spitting out the dummy within minutes!
The day was interesting and entertaining but most of all instructive.
For me, the only downside was the testing in the afternoon. I found it sad to see people who had been perfectly relaxed in the morning become strung-out and competitive.
    For me, the test was simply an extension of the morning lesson and an opportunity to meet the other instructors and hear their helpful comments and criticisms.
    The score was totally irrelevant as far as I was concerned. But perhaps I am the odd one out in that I have zero interest in competing; instead, all I want is for my dog to sit on the peg when I go shooting and also to pick up at a few local shoots.
    That apart, it was a great day - so thank you to everyone.
Do we really have to wait a whole year for another???

Deborah BraggNote from the Ed: Overall winners in the afternoon at the training day in joint place were Val Orme with “Purdy” Elmstock Thyme to remember & Sandra Rees with “Ellie Mae” Eskwinds Chasing Moonbeams .
All involved in this training day wish to thank the trainers who gave up their time , them being Denise Jury, Peter Foster, Paul Egginton, Gary Ellison, Elaine Whittaker and Phillip Smithies.

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CORRECTION TO SUMMER EDITION
In the judges critique from the Open show 2nd in Minor Puppy Bitch class should have read Ormes Thyme to Remember and not as printed .

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                                 GOLDEN OLDIES

Withybed Miss Montana & Withybed Wyoming Lad –
DOB: 6th May 1995.

I have just returned from a walk round our fields with my two Golden Oldies, now 13 years and 4 months old, along with Tanna’s daughter, Dollar, and our cocker spaniel, Angel, who looked like one at 6 weeks old, but was just being crafty!    The other boys in our family, flatcoats Drifter, Blazer and Keeper do not always accompany them, as they need to race and run, leaving the oldies lagging behind.So we have our own special little ramble, with Timber and Tanna now rather more sedate than in previous years, but still loving their outings in the good old fresh air.

    I feel so privileged to have bred and reared these two grand brother & sister pair to this age, a first for me, as I have only so far raised flatcoats to the age of just gone 11. They were the offspring of my own Sh.Ch. Withybed Quartermaster and Gunmakers Gift, and were two of 7 babies.
    Their first outing was in Scotland at the age of 7 months, a fantastic day when their sire, Hunter, won the CC & BOB and the kids were both placed in the puppy classes. Timber went on to win Best Puppy in Breed at Crufts, which was particularly poignant, as we had lost Hunter only 6 days before at the age of 9. Timber was so like his sire, especially in his mannerisms, and tried hard the fill the huge gap that Hunter left behind.
    They loved showing from the first moment, always happy to oblige with their ever-wagging tails and outgoing natures. Timber, a little on the small side for some, gained 6 RCC’s, but as far as he was concerned, won every time, and it was always a joy to run him round the ring and bring him home again, a very happy and proud dog.
    Tanna also had the same happy disposition in the show-ring, and she gained 3 CC’s and 6 RCC’s in between rearing 3 lovely litters, the middle one bearing only two dog puppies - thus the 3rd – ever hopeful for a little bitch to carry on our line. She produced my own Sh.Ch. Withybed Drummer JW (by Sh.Ch. Westbrook Cinnabar), Sh.Ch. Withybed Blue Jeans, W. Silver Dollar, Finn. Ch. Withybed Texas Ranger & W. New Yorker (by The Sorcerers Apprentice from Jaeva), and also Withybed Knight Sky Beg.Ex (by Casblaidd Dublin Whiskey of Withybed), who was owned, loved and worked in obedience by Heather Gardner. Sadly Skye was lost a month ago aged 8.

Ch Withybed Miss Montana	Timber and Tanna both gained their show gundog qualifiers, but were not worked too much, as I had other commitments to make, but at least they showed they could do the work if asked.     In fact Tanna was asked to come back to her first shoot, as she had persisted in finding a running cock pheasant. Just as I was beginning to think she had disappeared into the next county she appeared through a hedge triumphantly bringing back her trophy. The shoot master was very impressed.
Withybed Wyoming Lad	What a joy this pair has been. When Tanna, just shy of 13, won the Special Veteran class at the Breed Championship Show this year, I felt it was a fitting climax of her show career. OK, we wobbled a bit round the ring, but hey – at least we tried!

Love you both.
Ann Kilminster

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                                             BUYER BEWARE

    During the past few weeks the IFRR has received a number of alerts relating to flatcoat puppies that are being advertised for sale on classified advertising web sites.
    The adverts are very plausible, use U.K. postal codes/email addresses and prospective purchasers are led to believe the puppies can be seen in the home environment. The puppies are advertised as KC registered, vaccinated, from health checked parents and are very cheap.
    The number of adverts appearing and the fact they were country wide raised concerns that puppies were being sold by dealers , it was also worrying and a consideration that should the adverts be genuine they could attract the wrong sort of interest and lead to puppies being exploited.
     Research has now confirmed that the adverts are not genuine and are part of a scam perpetrated by persons based outside the U.K. Thankfully, which was the main concern, the puppies do not exist.
We have been in contact with the marketing company to inform them of findings who have in turn contacted the administrators for the sites in question. The adverts have now been removed and the advertisers banned from future advertising on these sites. It is possible however that these advertisers may try to use other classified sites, if anyone has doubts as to whether an advert may or may not be genuine please forward it, most use a similar format that we would probably recognise, if it is found not to be genuine we can have it removed and the advertiser stopped from using the site.
    The adverts relate to other breeds not just flatcoats, most people would be suspicious but would perhaps worry, as we did, that puppies may be at risk.

Evelyn Lee

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                                            JUDGING LISTS

NEFRA are up-dating their judging lists and would welcome applications from aspiring judges or those who may be eligible to move up on to a higher list.
All applications to Arnold Ryder please, address on front cover

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The Kennel Club have issued the following code of ethics
by which all breed clubs members have to abide at this time.
However, The Committee will be contacting the Kennel Club
to incorporate our code of ethics with theirs.

(Northern England Flatcoated Retriever Association)
GENERAL CODE OF ETHICS

All members of the (Northern England Flatcoated Retriever Association) undertake to abide by its general Code of Ethics.
Club members:

    1) Will properly house, feed, water and exercise all dogs under their care and arrange for appropriate veterinary attention if and when required.

    2) Will agree without reservation that any veterinary surgeon performing an operation on any of their dogs which alters the natural conformation of the animal, may report such operation to the Kennel Club.

    3) Will agree that no healthy puppy will be culled. Puppies which may not conform to the Breed Standard should be placed in suitable homes.

    4) Will abide by all aspects of the Animal Welfare Act.

    5) Will not create demand for, nor supply, puppies that have been docked illegally.

    6) Will agree not to breed from a dog or bitch which could be in any way harmful to the dog or to the breed.

    7) Will not allow any of their dogs to roam at large or to cause a nuisance to neighbours or those carrying out official duties.

    8) Will ensure that their dogs wear properly tagged collars and will be kept leashed or under effective control when away from home.

    9) Will clean up after their dogs in public places or anywhere their dogs are being exhibited.

  10) Will only sell dogs where there is a reasonable expectation of a happy and healthy life and will help with the re-homing of a dog if the initial circumstances change.

  11) Will supply written details of all dietary requirements and give guidance concerning responsible ownership when placing dogs in a new home.

  12) Will ensure that all relevant Kennel Club documents are provided to the new owner when selling or transferring a dog, and will agree, in writing, to forward any relevant documents at the earliest opportunity, if not immediately available.

  13) Will not sell any dog to commercial dog wholesalers, retail pet dealers or directly or indirectly allow dogs to be given as a prize or donation in a competition of any kind. Will not sell by sale or auction Kennel Club registration certificates as stand alone items (not accompanying a dog).

  14) Will not knowingly misrepresent the characteristics of the breed nor falsely advertise dogs nor mislead any person regarding the health or quality of a dog.

Breach of these provisions may result in expulsion from club membership, and/or disciplinary action by the Kennel Club and/or reporting to the relevant authorities for legal action, as appropriate.


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                                 SPECIAL FRIENDS LOST

Benvellyn Sapphire “Hattie” 6yrs 11mnths
Owned by Mrs Enid Pratt

Clowbeck Peacock Fly of Spenbeck “Maggie” 13 1/2yrs
Owned by Gary & Elaine Whiting

Eskwinds Aladins Boy J.W “Sebastian” 7 1⁄2 yrs
Owned by Kim Heath & Peter Murphy

Eskwinds Admiral “Teal” 7 1⁄2 yrs
Owned by Gill & Peter Griffin

Elmstock Enchanting Eve “Breeze” 10 1/2yrs
Owned by Val & Den Orme

Pajanbeck Prince of Thieves “Kazan” 10yrs
Owned by the Egginton Family

Strollers Gift To Forgeway J. W “Slinxy” Aged 4 Years
Owned by Nancy & Terry Hargreaves

Roseberri Perfection of Trevorsilk “Cori” 11yr,11mnths
Owned by the Trevor Family

Torwood PuddleDuck “Sophie” 12 1/2yrs
Owned by the Swift Family

Withybed Knight Sky J.W Beg Ex 8yrs
Owned by Heather Gardener