Summer Practice Schedule

Here's the practice schedule up to the first week in September:

• Saturday, 27 July - 11:00 start, please don't arrive any later than noon unless you notify me first.
• Wednesday, 7 August - 3:00 onwards.  Mid-week practices please let me know what time you will be arriving.  It can be any time from 3:00 on.
• Wednesday, 28 August - 3:00 onwards.  Mid-week practices please let me know what time you will be arriving.  It can be any time from 3:00 on.
• Saturday, 7 September - 11:00 start, please don't arrive any later than noon unless you notify me first.

We may be able to shoehorn one weekend practice in during the month of August.  However, until I check with the owner and the model airplane people, I won't know.  There is scheduled a very large model airplane competition.  It may be that there will be far too many fliers, so space may be at a premium, and then there's the safety factor for all of us with a lot of the giant scale planes up side.  I will let everybody know at least a week in advance.

The field is the Cascade Fliers field.   No water and very little shade, so bring water, poop bags, and canopies or shade covers for your cars if you have them.   Crates or X-pens for the dogs are good.  And chairs for yourselves.

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.

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