Happy Summer and 4th of July! I’m not quite sure what happened to June, but without any hesitation, July is here. Hopefully, all of you are enjoying the summer with some quality time with your family and beautiful dogs. Peggy Davis and Jackie Allen were busy with Woofstock last month, which went quite well. I’ll let them share the results with you. Our only event this month will be our annual Awards Day in the Park. Pat Manrique has been working diligently getting all of the awards ready for you. We will again be at the Boon Acres Park in San Ramone for this event. Just a reminder, we will again have our ‘Yappy Hour’ pot luck lunch. Be sure to bring a dish to share as it is always a treat to see what our members can create. The club will provide paper products and water. We will also have our second Club General Meeting of the year. I will send you the General Meeting notes from April so you can read them before we vote to approve them. I will also send out the agenda; if you have anything you would like to add for discussion, please let me know. We will also be offering a demonstration of what Scent Work looks like. There will be a sign-up sheet so that after the demonstration, you can bring your own dogs and let them run a simulated scent work course. Pam Warner and Margaret Norris will be running two activities for your dog to try; and Celine Boisy and I will run two courses. The events you will be able to try will be: Human Detection, Containers, Exterior and Buried (using sand).

Equipment you will need to bring with your dog for the Scent Work workshop:

• Crate or x-pen so your dog can relax and not be a distraction to other dogs actively searching for scent
• Water for you dog
• For the human detection, bring a glove or sock with your scent on it, keep it safe and in a plastic bag until your turn to run this event. Many people place their ‘article’ inside their shirt so that it can absorb your own unique odor.
• A comfortable collar, preferably not a choke, but if that is all you have, I will bring some extra collars. Some people use halters, but I find they cause armpit mats for my dog. I like to use a martingale style; many people use a buckle collar.
• A leash that is not a flexi. Ideally you want to start with a leash that is 8’ to 10’ long. Again, do not go out and purchase anything, we will have extra for you to use if you like.
• You do not have to try all four events, if you only want to do some, that is also ok. Our goal is to introduce you and your dog to the joys of Scent Work. We want this to be fun and informative.
• High value treats for your dogs. We will be pairing scent with food to make this more fun for your dog, and that is also part of the initial phase of training. Maybe that is why dogs enjoy this so much.
• We will be working on grass, so you may want to wear comfortable shoes that will not slip off.

ISCP will again sponsor the Harvest Moon Dog Show Cluster in October, to be held in Santa Rosa, California. Peggy Davis is the Chair, and the superintendent will once again be MB-F. You can find out more information on www.infodog.com as the show date gets closer.

In closing, I hope to see you at the Awards Day in the Park. Be sure to hug those red dogs!

Sincerely.
Sandy