Cleveland's Source for Dog Training News and Information
The return of the North Coast Dogs Newsletter!!!
Transitions
My name is Ed Dickson and I would like to introduce myself as the new owner of North Coast Dogs. For those that don't know, as of June 1st, North Coast Dogs has changed hands. Michael Baugh has decided to step aside as the owner of the company and I am the very gracious beneficiary of this decision. I would like to thank Michael for his kindness and generosity over the years.
I was introduced to this company by taking one of his classes. I could never have imagined how that one decision was going to impact my life in such a positive way. It's called positive reinforcement training and I have found it can have just as profound an impact on the lives of people as it does our four legged friends. Michael's patience with me and my dog (specifically on the first night when I thought I wouldnt make it. Oh what a well timed bag of cheese will do!) helped turn what was already a love of animals into a commitment to make a difference. Michael and I will stay in touch as we have already discussed more plans to live up to the company motto of "Educating People Who Love Dogs".
There will be some minor changes, some new classes and products, and some big names brought to town as the days pass. This and more will be discussed in this and future newsletters. In the meantime, all of us at North Coast Dogs love to talk about your furry friends. Keep in touch and we hope to see you in the near future!
New Additions to the North Coast Dogs Family
Ginger Alpine, CPDT has welcomed
a 5 month old German Shepherd named Pistol into her home. Pistol has spent
the first month of her time in the Alpine house learning from the resident
dogs, Garrett and Sunny. They cannot wait until Pistol attends her Family
Dog class so that she will learn some manners and stop being such a puppy!
Ginger and her family are looking forward to the training and all the good
times that will come from adding this beautiful German Shepherd into the
home...
And if that is not enough, the Alpine's have added 16 baby chicks to the fold. Ginger is looking to become the egg wholesaler to North Coast Dogs. Along with selling wholesome free range eggs, Ginger plans to train her chickens using the clicker and advice from Bob Bailey. Paige and Payton Apine, Ginger's incredible daughters are taking on the task full bore. We will be updating their progress in future newsletters. Anybody need a Rooster?
Susanna Hamm, CPDT has also welcomed a new addition. After months of research, detective work, and reading, Susanna decided on a 9 week old Whippet puppy. She had the name, Pippin, chosen before she had the puppy and he fits into it just fine. The first few days were absolutely puppy love for Susanna and Pippin. Alas, as a few days passed, the sleep deprived Susanna was ready for her Family Puppy class. Susanna and Pippin are signed up and we all look forward to seeing the outstanding work that Susanna will do in forming this life into the dog she has dreamed of for some time now.
There are rumors circulating that there may be more new additions in the coming months. We will keep you posted in future newsletters but in the meantime, join me in welcoming these eighteen beautiful lives into our NCD family. Congratulations Ginger and Susanna!
New Products
North Coast Dogs would like to announce some new products we are carrying in our humble but expanding retail area. We have added a product from Natural Balance called Dog Food Rolls. This USA made product contains all natural ingredients and comes in 3 sizes and 3 flavors. The roll can be cut up into any size peices and the dogs absolutely love them as training rewards. A 4 pound roll is priced at $7.99 so it is a very affordable product as well. You can read more about the product here.
We have also added flavored Bitz and Meaties products made by Old Mother Hubbard. This popular product is also all natural and works well for training. These are priced at $2.78 per bag. Finally, we have added an all natural, human grade treat called Cordog Bleu. These biscuits come in two flavors, Peanut and Banana, and Tuna. The company that makes them employs single mothers who have found themselves on welfare. The individuals are provided a job while they work towards improving their situation. My fussy dog has found these and the Natural Balance treat rolls to bevery satisfying. Cordog Bleu treats are $4.99 per box.
We have new reading material as well. The very popular BARk: the modern dog culture magazine, has been added to the shelf. This is the Vanity Fair for the dog world. Everything DOG is touched upon from behavior and training advice, to tips for summer travel.
There are more additions to come so check us out and if nothing else stop by just to say hello!
With August comes a more relaxing schedule at Lakewood...
Starting this August, classes running Monday thru Friday will start a half hour later. If you and your dog were rushing to get to class at 6pm, you can now breathe a little easier. We came to the conclusion our clients were stressed out trying to leave work and make a 6pm class so we went ahead and changed the start time of classes to 6:30pm and 8:00pm. We hope that you find this convenient and we look forward to seeing you relaxed and ready to go for class at 6:30!
Special Seminars and Summer Events
Saturday July 31st
Cats are taking over the Lakewood
training facility!!! We will be closed for classes this day and opening
our doors to Adoptable cats from the Cleveland APL in the hopes of finding
new loving homes for all of them. Summer season always finds the Cleveland
Animal Protective League over run with cats and kittens and this summer
is no different. We, at North Coast Dogs, are very sensitive to the problem
of pet overpopulation and felt the least we could do is offer a day and
some of our time to help the cause. Cats and some of the friendly people
from the APL will be in the facility from 9am to 4pm. The APL is offering
two for one adoptions on cats and kittens and free food samples will be
available to those adopting. There will be free human refreshments throughout
the day as well. Cats rule today so please leave your doggie friends at
home. Even if you don't intend to adopt, we would love to see you at this
event.
Monday August 9th
The Lake County Captains are hosting the Dog Days of Summer to benefit the Lake County Humane Society. NCD will be present with our friends from K-9 Kingdom. We will be doing a demonstration while we are there. The Captains are hosting the Greensboro Bats at 7:05pm. From 6:00 to 6:20 Skipper (the Captains mascot) will be available for pictures with your dog. A donation benefitting the Lake County Humane Society is all that will be required for the pictures. Dick Goddard will also be present and will be singing the national anthem! For more info check out the Captains website.
Sunday August 15th
Back by popular demand, Ginger
Alpine will be a hosting a seminar entitled "Pets and Expecting Mothers".
This two hour seminar
is designed to give expectant families or families with newborns the tools
needed for a calm and safe introduction of the child into a home where pets
are present. The session is Sunday August 15th and runs from 10am until
noon. The cost is $15.00 and advance registration is recommended. Please
call for more info or to register. Online sign up also available.
Sunday August 22nd
NCD and K-9 Kingdom will be present at the American Pet Idol. This event is benefitting SAFE, Safety for Animals and Families in Emergencies. It is Sunday August 22nd starting at 1pm. The location is "Rainbow Park" behind University Suburban Health Center in South Euclid. Call for details about this event.
September will bring more fun events including our participation in the Greyhound Adoption of Ohio Canine Fun days!
An update on Snaves Lee the Super Star
Snaves Lee graduated her CGC class
and passed her Canine Good Citizen test with flying colors. Snaves and mom
Melissa are now setting their sights on Rally-O.
After some intensive negotiations, Snaves has agreed to come on board and write a column in the NCD newsletter. Snaves feels it is a top priority to get the word out about all the great rescues, shelters and people out there working to ensure a more humane world. Snaves "Scoop" Lee will write a monthly column featuring a local shelter and a dog in need of a loving home. No doubt Melissa will be helping out and taking dictation. Stay tuned, this promises to be quite interesting and entertaining.
Rally-O Trial
Ginger Alpine
Hooray for another successful Rally obedience trial!!
30 dogs competed outdoors over the weekend at MetroBark. Everyone was relaxed and did very well with their dogs. What a wonderful group of people and dogs. Many came to compete from out of state (MI, PA, and IL). 8 Titles all together were given over the weekend. 6 of our own clients and trainers were part of the fun!
Dahlia and Karen Day (pictured above on the left) earned a title! R1CL
Roxy and Coreen Cool Earned their first leg.
Lily and Betsy Jarvi earned their first leg.
Beans and Anne Ferry earned another leg making that 2 in a row now.
Woody and Julie Weir earned 2 legs.
Garrett and I received 1st place in the B group. Garrett already has a title under his belt R1MCL. We also competed in Rally Level 2 and earned our first NQ. We still had a great time even though we did not get a leg for the level 2 (just having fun with my dog).
I also judged my first trial and was very nervous at first but in the end I enjoyed it a great deal. I am now working on becoming a judge for Level 2. I and everyone at North Coast Dogs would like to send out a warm thank you to everyone who helped make this event a success. Special thanks to the Cool family and the Day family for all the extra help!
Congratulations to our students!!
Anybody interested in running through a course?
August 4th at 8pm in Lakewood we are holding a Rally-O Match. Call to sign up, space will be limited.
Class Updates
Lil' Sports and Canine Massage ~
We
have a new class geared specifically to our clients who are under one year
old and have graduated puppy class. Lil' Sports
class started out as a 4 week course but quickly became a 6 week course.
This class has been specifically designed as a good next step for puppies
under one year old who have taken our Family Puppy class.
One of the favorite moments for the trainers in Puppy class was to bring out the Agility tunnel and watch the excitement as puppy after puppy would run through. We decided to structure a class that would allow owners to continue to work on handling and also expose them and their canine companions to the three canine sports that we offer at NCD. It is designed with minimal jumping so as to not stress the still forming joints of these fragile little guys but will challenge owner and dog to continue the learning that was started in Family Puppy.
If you have no intention of participating in Agility, Flyball or Rally-O, this is still a valuable class for socialization and handling exercises. We hope you find it as exciting as we thought it would be. Feel free to call with any questions you might have (or sign up!)
In closing we thought we would leave you with
this adorable picture of Jasmine and her best friend Nashaya. Jasmine
lives next door to Nashaya and has accompanied Anne Price to assist in
the Family Dog class that Nashaya is enrolled in. Anne has noted -- and
quite rightfully so -- that Jasmine and Nashaya are "two peas in
a pod".