First PATS comp!

Well we have had our very first and very successful competition.
What a turn out it was, with competitors from Brisbane to Townsville and out to Calliope. It was also nice to see the people that just came to visit and take a look.
Many people came and told me what a wonderful time they had.
A very big thank you to Mr Wayne Stutz for judging our first competition and to all the competitors that traveled to help us celebrate PATS first competition.
I would also like to thank Michelle Varcoe and Sandy Patterson for all the work they put in to make this a wonderful weekend. I would like to thank Lyn Thomas and Robin Fairchild for help at the scribes table and to Matt Lovatt for time keeping all weekend.

The Hughest THANK YOU to David Varcoe and Tim Fairchild for all the new equipment that they made without the hours of work from these two men we would never have got there. The judge Wayne Stutz and many of the competitors considered the equipment to be amongst the best of any of the clubs around.

Also a big thanks to Leisa Cassidy and All the TOADS members who helped us get to were we are today.
Looking forward to our October competition.

Clicker and Agility Intro Workshop

The heat and rain did not stop a great turnout at the clicker intro workshop held by PATS Mackay. This workshop was made possible thanks to several members of the TOADS agility club of Townsville who made the long trip down to the Marian grounds. There was a great turnout by dogs owners in the Mackay district with quite a variety in dog sizes and breeds.


See the PATS Website for more photos of the day.

Newsletter January 2008

Happy New Year to all PATS members!

A lot has been happening with PATS and it's all good!

Our Puppy-in-the-Park Christmas party was a success with all having a good time even it was so very hot. The first raffle was a great way for us to earn some much needed funds for the expensive insurance issue. First prize was won by Smart Kaiulo and second prize was won by Rebekah Fairchild. A BIG thanks to everyone for doing such a great job! PATS is now planning a second raffle, this time the prize will be a $100 fuel voucher. With the cost of fuel continuing to rise, I'm sure that these tickets shouldn't be hard to sell.

Latest update... The insurance has been sorted! We've decided to accept the Association of Pet Dog Trainers policy as it seems to meet our needs the best. Now PATS can go ahead with the casual training days, get to try out the latest club equipment and do some demos. Also, we can run the much talked about workshops.

TOADS have kindly agreed to send some of their instructors down to help us run some workshops on Saturday Feb 9th. The workshops will be "Intro to Clicker Training" and "Intro to Agility". For further details, please read the flyer which will be sent in the following email or go to the PATS website and follow the links to the events page. Please spread the word about the workshops, not only will it benefit PATS but it will help out those who want to train their dogs in a positive way but don't know either how to or where to go.

Affliation with ADAA should be happening within the next week or two so PATS will then be on the ADAA website.....YES! ADAA has also accepted our competition dates which are May 17-18 and October 18-19. We're planning on judges Wayne Stutz for the first comp and Jody Brown for the second, however we'll have to wait for official confirmation of this. Events to be run at the PATS comps will be organised at the next meeting and sent off to ADAA.

Club shirts will soon be available. They will be a maroon polo shirts (good quality with white "speed" stripes on the sleeves and collar, LOL!) in both men and womens sizes with the PATS logo on the front pocket area. Cost has not been finalized , however it will be approx $35.00. If you would like to purchase a club shirt, let Michelle know, the more ordered the lower the cost.

The next newsletter should be another good one with details of our comp judges, events, a run down of how successful our workshops were plus much more!

Have a great 2008 and don't forget..............RUN ULTIMATELY FOR FUN!

"Fun for Dogs" Workshop

9th February 2008

Club: PATS Mackay Inc.

Venue: Catholic Church Grounds Marian

2 POSITIVE REWARD BASED WORKSHOPS

1) INTRODUCTION TO CLICKER TRAINING

OPEN TO DOGS OF ALL AGES ~ 8-11am

2) INTRODUCTION TO AGILITY

OPEN TO DOGS OVER 12 MTHS OF AGE~ 3-6pm

$40 PER SESSION

Includes starter pack ~ clicker, toy, treats

** EXPERIENCED INSTRUCTORS FROM TOWNSVILLE **

ALL DOGS WELCOME

SO IF YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW TO TEACH YOUR DOG GOOD BEHAVIOUR AND YOU WANT TO HAVE FUN WITH YOUR DOG

Light refreshments (tea, coffee, soft drink, water, biccies and fruit) for sale

All participants should plan on getting to the grounds approximately 30 minutes prior to the workshop beginning. This gives plenty of time to walk and toilet dogs before the workshop commences

WHAT TO BRING:

Yourself and dog... of course! Dog to have flat collar, no check chains. Dog lead. Dog water bowl. Plastic bags so you can clean up after your dog. A crate to contain your dog is highly recommended. Appropriate footwear for dog handler (enclosed shoes preferred, joggers etc). Willingness to learn new things. Last but not least, don't forget your sense of humour!

For more information and contact details and registration form, go the the events page of the PATS Mackay web page.

Raffle Results

1st place $100 voucher at Big W...

The winner is.........Smart Kaiulo!




2nd place Mega basket of goodies...

Goes to.....Rebekah Fairchild!




Sorry for the delay in getting up the results. Lots of computer trouble and then enjoying Christmas too much :)

PATS Mackay Raffle

PATS Mackay is running a raffle to be drawn on 20th December 2007 just in time for Christmas! Tickets are going out to members now to sell at $2 a ticket which is great value considering the prizes.

First prize is a $100 gift card from Big W to use as the winner wishes at stores like Big W, Dick Smith, Tandy, BWS and Caltex Woolworths.



Second Prize is a mega basket full of assorted goodies for home and pup.



The raffle is to help raise money for club equipment and insurance so we can get up to speed in the coming year ready for our first ADAA competition.

Fat Dog Titles

Sarah and Shitani had a great weekend at the ANKC comp in Townsville with a couple of nice judges up from down south, Lisa and Skeeta, and way up north, Roul. This was a marathon double event starting at 2pm and running on until about 3am the next morning. The Fat Dog actually did some of that obedience stuff while he was waiting around for the agility and got his last two CCD quals for his title. Sarah and Shit also ran well in agility, qualling in ADX and GD, giving shitty his GD title and even more letters after his fat name.

Even Tim and Kai had moments where they looked like they knew what they were doing. Kai spent most of his time running around barking and doing whatever he wanted, then buckled down for novice jumpers both times to get two JD quals. Now if only he would have got that one last week that was so close. He also did some nice distance work. Just a pity he doesn't weave. Will have to train him one day.

This was a big competition and a big effort by all. Thanks to the Judges and all the Townsville people for a very successful day, and early morning.