Dateline: Morriston Florida, Gator Schutzhund Club:

Another wonderfully warm winter weekend in central Florida, and this intrepid reporter, (I always wanted to say that, too many old 50’s reruns?) was able to attend another SEKG Helper seminar and certification with LV America OfS Les Flores and SEKG OfS Randy Theen.
With my digital camera and zoom lens in hand, and my trusty sidekick, Bree Noble manning the video camera, we were able to catch just about every moment of the action. And what a lot of action there was!

Saturday’s action was hot and heavy with at least 8 helpers taking the field. Leading the pack were the teachers, Les and Randy, and with the always helpful Phil Hoelcher, and S.F.S.C.’s Robert Rosado, we had a full house. Some new faces and some old, no one left without gaining valuable experience.

After a full morning, a nice break for lunch, (kudos to Gator Schutzhund Club for once again providing terrific food and drinks for everyone) and it was off to watch a training DVD and videos of the morning’s workouts. A huge word of thanks to Jason McNew for providing the large screen TV for everyone to get a good look at themselves in action.
Back out into the sunshine for an afternoon of more practice, training and encouragement from Les and Randy.

Sunday morning dawned a bit overcast and cooler, by Florida standards anyway. We didn’t mind the jackets for the first hour or so. Time for the test! You could feel the tension in the air, as the helpers prepared mentally for the challenge before them. A delay as we waited for dogs to arrive, added to the tension, but it all worked out in the end. Fortunately, there were a few very good dogs available to put all the helpers through their paces. I’m just betting every single one of them slept very soundly on the ride home! Thank you very much to those folks who provided those very important dogs for this test!

After all was said and done, there were three newly certified helpers. Jason McNew, Gator Schutzhund Club, Ben Slater, South Florida Schutzhund Club, and Greg Naranjo, South Florida Schutzhund Club. There were also two level 1 certification upgrades. Charles Purdham, South Florida Schutzhund Club and Luis Delgado, North Florida Schutzhund Club. Congratulations to everyone.

As the hard work for the guys paid off, the heavy decision making for Randy was coming to a conclusion. It was time for the final selection of this year’s Southeast Kreisgruppe Regional Championship helpers. I know it was a tough decision for Randy, but I’m sure that the selections he made will be in his words, “safe, strong, fair and consistent”.
The announcement was made that the 2006 helpers would be:
Charles Purdham – South Florida Schutzhund Club: VPG 1& 2
Sean Sites – Susquehanna River Hundesport Klub: VPG 3- Front half
Luis Delgado- North Florida Schutzhund Club: VPG 3- Back half.
I’d like to echo the words of Randy Theen and thank Les Flores for the time and care he has put into this and past seminars/certifications. Taking time from family and work is never easy. Thanks to everyone who worked hard to make this weekend a success and until the next time, Happy Training.

Submitted by Shelly Timmerman,

SEND INFORMATION TO:

EDITOR, KG KORNER

11110 W HWY 318

REDDICK, FL 32686

352-591-0129 OR EMAIL:

shellytimmerman@alltel.net