July Practices
The next two practices are Saturday July 6th and Wednesday July 17th. Saturday's practice is same time, same place. The weather should be, according to the Weather Underground, quite a bit cooler than last Sunday's practice. Still, if you have a canopy you might consider bringing it with plus extra water for the dogs. Wednesday's practice will start at 3:00 and run to whenever. Please be sure to let me know if you are coming to Wednesday's practice and app. what time you will arrive. When we have mid-afternoon, weekday practices, we assume that we'll be there until into the late evening. So, there isn't a problem with late arrivals like 7:00 or so. But, if I don't know you are coming and what time you plan to arrive, and we've finished up and no one else is left, we'll go ahead and pack up and leave. I would hate to have someone show up and we're not there to accommodate.
A reminder: while we very much appreciate folks arriving early to help with setup, I'd like to remind everybody that this is a private field that we are leasing to practice on. So, a couple of things... The club's insurance covers us only from the beginning of setup to tear down. We have agreed with the owner, Mark, that the field is only to be used for practices, not to play with the dogs either before or after practice sessions. And, probably the most important when considering dogs who are in the process of learning how to course - the practice field is exactly that. It is a business place where dogs learn the business of lure coursing. Dogs can easily become confused if they are both played with, e.g., ball throwing, frisbees, etc., and then expected to settle down and become totally focused on chasing a bunny bag. Some dogs do not easily make the transition and some dogs never will make the transition. So, we are asking everyone to please, if you arrive earlier than we do, please do not turn your dogs loose to play. You are welcome to take them out on leash and walk or jog them.
Also, if you have crates, bring them. The weather will be getting warmer, too warm to leave dogs in cars with the windows down inches. And it also precludes the possibility of dogs getting loose and interfering with dogs currently chasing the bunny bag and possibly causing an injury to one or both dogs.
Practices will be held at the Cascade Family Fliers field south of Snohomish. One last thing, my phone number is 425-293-3776. Please don’t use the number on the Cascade Family Fliers website. That goes directly to the field owner, Mark. I’m quite active on my computer. If you e-mail me with questions, almost for sure, I will be back to you within a day if not sooner.
If you have questions, need directions to the strip, whatever, holler.
-submitted by Shirley Konizeski, aumbre@earthlink.net