Site Design by    Rob & Linda Grant

The Beginners Class is Run By Sarah Baxter & Sheila Kendrick

The Class runs on Thursday Evenings at 7.00pm

Sarah & Sheila train dogs towards

The Bronze Award. (for details see below)

or follow

http://www.the-kennel-club.org.uk/training/puppyintro.html for puppy information

http://www.the-kennel-club.org.uk/training/bronze.htm     for bronze test information

The Bronze Award

1.         Cleanliness & Identification

2.         Collar & Lead

3.         Walk on Lead

4.         Control at Door/Gate

5.         Controlled Walk through People & Dogs

6.         Stay on lead for 1 Minute

7.         Groom

8.         Present for Examination

9.         Return to Handler

10.       Responsibility & Care

Sarah Baxter-Profile

I got my first dog, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel called Jasper when I was about 14 years old. Mum booked Jasper and I in for a training course with Chris Briggs. Unfortunately I was too shy and only went to a couple of the sessions. This meant that despite being a very friendly, loveable dog Jasper was completely untrained. He pulled on the lead, and if he escaped from our clutches got his nose down and would follow all the smells he could find without coming back when we called him!

The second dog in my life came along when I met my husband!! It was a case of love me, love my dog (and the 3 rabbits!)

Barney( a border collie) was about 8 years old when he and his master moved in with me. Barney, like Jasper, pulled on the lead, but would come back to me when I called him if he was off the lead.

Jasper, who stayed with my parents, and Barney, both died within a few months of each other.

Despite deciding that we wouldn't rush into anything the house just didn't seem right without a dog, and before much longer (Sept '04) we arrived home with an 8 week old border collie puppy called Jake.

I was determined this time I was going to have a dog who didn't pull on the lead, so after a few months of floundering around I booked us on to a Chris Briggs Dog training course. I loved it, and Jake loved it, so when the course finished and we were offered the chance of joining Derwent Valley Dog Club it was an easy decision to make.

We worked our way through the beginners, intermediate and advanced classes and there is nothing Jake enjoys more than going out to meet his friends, have a drink and show off!

In Dec '07 Glen took me out to buy a guinea pig for my birthday and we came back with a dog instead! Shadow is a Labrador cross Collie ( or so we think!) He was about 18 months old when he moved in. I started taking Shadow along to the beginners class and it was about this time I got drawn in to helping make the drinks and assisting in taking the class.

After a few months Mick who was running the class announced he was giving up and that I would be taking over!

I love helping people train their dogs and find it really rewarding seeing the dogs and their owners progressing through the classes. 

Sheila Kendrick Profile

As a child, I was never allowed to have a dog, but always wanted a rough collie – just like my TV hero, Lassie. Eventually, I married and finally had the chance to have my own dog – a black and white border collie called Kizzy – who I went on to train and compete at obedience competitions. By that time I was hooked on border collies, and along came Badger, then Jess, followed by Rosie – my beloved blue merle with whom I went on to do agility. Unfortunately, I lost her when she was relatively young – only eight years old - and really couldn’t live without a dog. So two years ago, along came Indy, another blue merle collie.and we joined Derwent Valley to train. As well as the normal training classes, we had the opportunity to try our hand at heelwork to music on a short course – and Indy found his forte. He is now competing at starter level heelwork to music and freestyle (doggy dancing) and shows great potential. Another little pup came into our lives last summer. Quest (yet another blue merle) rattled through his Kennel Club Bronze and Silver and is now working towards his Gold Award. Hopefully, we will go on to concentrate on competitive obedience, but we’ll see how we go.

Meanwhile, I’ve had so much fun training my dogs at Derwent Valley that I decided to ‘put something back’ and offered to help on the Bronze level training class, which I have been doing for the past few months. In that time, I have also gained my Kennel Club Good Citizen Bronze Examiner Award, and will be taking the Silver Examiners test in September.

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