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July 9-11, 2010 · Water Camp at Battle Lake, Alberta.

Here are some pictures of this year's Water Camp with instructor Judy Murray, USA.




Group shot with all of the participants




So, Dad, is the temperature just right yet?




Brenda & Kalli waiting for their turn




Doing a courier pouch retrieve like the pros




Gracie shaking off half of the lake *bg*


 

July 4-6, 2008 · Advanced Water Camp in Big River Sask.

One private lake, three days, fifteen dogs and a fabulous instructor!

The Alberta Portuguese Water Dog Club once again held its Annual Water Camp in July. We flew in Sarah Kahn from Spokane, Washington. Sarah is a recognized PWDCA Water Trial Judge and owner/trainer of "Bean" and "Ace", two PWD's who have earned their American Platinum Awards of Merit! Sarah provided fantastic instruction to dogs and handlers ranging from beginning Juniors to those actively competing at the Courier level.

Sarah's positive techniques and practical suggestions helped us start the beginning handlers and dogs off "on the right paw", and we're sure the trial run-throughs will help our competitive teams at the higher levels too. We were all reminded of the importance of land training, of breaking the skills into attainable sub-steps, and of course we all got wet! As a matter of fact, we got a bit wetter than we planned because in typical Western Canadian fashion we had some drenching downpours mixed in with the beautiful sunshine. This of course resulted in some (beautiful??) mud in our land training and camping areas... but we all know that PWD owners need to possess a good sense of humour, so we smiled and hauled on the rain gear.

Thanks to Sarah and all our hard-working members who organized a great camp, and of course the members (new & old) who learned and laughed with us this year!

- Robin Illchuk, Secretary APWDC.


June 25 - 27, 2009 · Water Camp at Battle Lake, Alberta

The APWDC held another successful water camp this year and what a great and enjoyable weekend it was. We had the pleasure of a full three day seminar with Sarah Kahn, who was brave enough to come to Northern Canada even after last year's rainy mud camp – thanks Sarah we appreciated this.

Sarah offered her expertise to all levels over the course of the three days. As usually, Sarah's easygoing presentation of the material was easily understood and wonderfully informative. Elodie Mathison, made the camp just a little better by bringing homemade Nanaimo Bars as a special treat for Sarah, but we all thank her for making a large enough batch for us to all steal one... or two!

It was terrific this weekend to see faces both new and old show up to watch and participate.

Our thanks and gratitude goes out to our outstanding VOLUNTEERS!

Especially to Robin Illchuk for taking on the task of heading the water camp. It takes lots of time, patience and planning to put a camp like this together and it must be said that the camp ran without a hitch.

A big thank you goes out to Robin and Greg for being such wonderful hosts to Sarah all weekend including getting Sarah from and to the airport.

To Jill Weatherby for setting up a schedule. And a huge thanks to Shari Cooper for everything BBQ! From organizing, shopping and hauling all of the BBQ supplies down to the lake - it was a great meal! Tracy Brown came down to watch on Saturday and wowed us with her burger flipping, thanks!

And last but not least - The Weather Gods, for looking down on us and giving us a warm (somewhat) dry weekend which lent to the success of our Novice participants.

Hope to see all of you next year at the annual water camp!

Thanks again to all volunteers and participates who make this camp work.



June 6th, 2009 · PWD Booster at the NACA show

The APWD Club sponsored a breed booster at the NACA show in Edmonton on June 6, 2009.

The NACA show is an outdoor multi venue show that allowed members to showcase dogs in various disciplines. As befitting an Alberta show the weather gave us a variety of conditions over the 4 days with the dog show Gods smiling on us on Saturday with a dry day.

Prizes were awarded for BOB, BOS, BOW, BPIB as well as performance prizes for obedience, Rally Obedience and Agility. Turn out for agility was great with good runs enjoyed by all.

Andy Gamache and Ch Baywood N Cutwater To The Max RN, AGX, AGXJ, CGN (Max) however were the winners of the day with an awesome run.

Obedience was a success for Robin Illchuk and CH Echobay's Free Style CD (Gracie). Not only did they win the booster prize but also added a CD title to Gracies name - way to go!

Rally was won by Jill Weatherby and Echobay's Nothing Else Matters CD CGN (Cricket) with a lively round in rally-novice. Conformation saw a great entry with 14 dogs entered, including 4 specials dogs! The dogs were all wonderfully presented and Best of Breed went to CH Oreobay Keke Beach Acostar, Best Opposite Sex to CH Acostar Angelo's Good as Gold, Best of Winners and Best Puppy in Breed to Miz Liz Bon D a cute brown and white wavy...

Big congrats to Lesley Millar on her successful day!




Andy & Max with Judge Brigitte Hole




Odin