[ SHOWGSD-L ] Givin' back:)
- From: Pinehillgsds@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 18:21:16 EDT
Saturday AM, my big, lovable Justin (Jim x Becky) and I were invited to
speak to Pet Pals, a club for 4-9 graders at the Bensalem PA chapter of the
Women's Humane Society. The club meets 1x a month and children learn about a
variety of subjects, invite guest speakers, go on field trips, do crafts....
I was impressed w/ the immaculate facility including a small animal low cost
veterinary clinic, conference rooms and indoor and outdoor training
facilities w/ OB and agility equipment.
I arrived a few minutes early, spoke w/ the education chairperson and let
Justin off his leash and allowed him to greet the children and parents as they
arrived. He was, of course in heaven with so many little hands to pet him!
(And he demonstrated search abilities by "finding" the refreshments, lol.)
The topic I was to speak on was "responsible breeding". I "got it" that I
was supposed to impress upon the children that breeding costs $$$$ and there
was more involved than collecting money for puppies. I took a round-a-bout
route to my topic though and started off with a discussion about how different
breeds evolved to serve man, how there was a "purpose", a standard (blue
print), and the more the children could learn about various breeds, understand
the original intent of each breed's founders, understand why standards
contained specific elements, the easier it would be to "fit" a specific breed,
one
perhaps that they were passionate about, into an appropriate home.
To illustrate this, I learned what kind of dogs they or their friends had
and we discussed how that breed's original purpose dictated the way they
looked
and in many cases how they behaved. We had fun with this!
I did touch on pre-breeding health checks, puppy socialization and taking
care to find good "forever" homes (remember, I was in a shelter <G>), and tied
that all back to "standards" and purpose.
We closed the program with practice on greeting a strange dog and
appropriate (safe!) behavior when encountering a loose (stray or strange) dog
or dogs.
I came away with a feeling that a bit of my passion was passed on to a
receptive audience and it's a super feeling:) Naturally, I was delighted and
justifiably proud with Justin's response to the children.
Kathy
three generations of Dual Titled Champions live here!
visit _Pine Hill German Shepherd Dogs_
(http://www.geocities.com/pinehillgsds/)
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