WEST CAPE MAY – They’ve trained hard together all year, every Tuesday night at West Cape May fire hall, waiting for their big chance to arrive. The dog days of winter will return to Wildwoods Convention Center Jan. 29-Feb. 2 for the Boardwalk Kennel Club All Breed Dog Show.
The five-day event will feature showing and competition for all breeds, pure breeds, mixed breed dogs and puppies.
Many of dogs and handlers will be local. Cape May County Dog Obedience Training Club, which has 45 members, will send about 20 human-dog teams to the Boardwalk to compete in various Rally, Conformation, and Obedience events, according to Carolyn McMullen, club spokesperson.
Basic objective of obedience trials is to show that the dog is able to behave in various environments, such as the home or in public.
“This is a silent trial,” McMullen noted. “Owners give the commands but no other communication with the dog is allowed.”
And the dog must focus exclusively on the handler, not always easy, especially with so many dogs and other distractions.
Club members and dogs participating in Obedience include: club president Evelyn Munno and Lucky, Dave Dunlap and Tiffany, Irene Gibbons and Deuce, Diane Smith and Molly, Jeannie Gau and Taffy, Regina Dougherty McCarren and Rascal, Kevin Schmitke and Sophie.
Gibbons has been working with her 7-year-old German Shepherd Deuce for about three years, about the same amount of time she’s belonged to the club.
“I do it for fun,” she says. “I have a chocolate lab, Bella, who started with obedience and has gone all through rally excellent.”
Gibbons learned about the Cape May Dog Training Club while attending a boardwalk dog show in Wildwood.
“My daughter and I took a personal tour where they explained what was going on with each event, like the rally, obedience, good citizen,” she recalled. “We brought our own dogs to be evaluated and it was there that we learned about the local club.”
While Gibbons is doing obedience with Deuce, the Fishing Creek resident especially enjoys rally.
“You can talk to your dog the whole time, encourage the dog,” she said. “You can tell the dog’s happy by the tail wagging. And the Wildwood show’s great because there are a lot of local people involved.”
Rally is a more energetic event in which the human-dog team moves continuously through a course of up to 20 signs. The dog must stay on the handler’s left while negotiating the course. At each sign, the team performs the indicated exercise. In the rally event, there’s lots of chatter. Communication between handler and dog is essential.
“This is the fun event,” McMullen says. “Owners can talk, dogs will frequently “talk” back and there’s a lot of enthusiasm displayed between team members.
There are several levels of rally, novice, advanced, and excellent. The level of course difficulty increases according to the team’s level of expertise.
Rally participants include: Mary Steady and Lulah, Carol Somma and Sandy (novice), Wendy Kinnear and Annie, Sandy Fedoroff and Sapphire (rally excellent). Fedoroff is the club’s training director.
Then there’s conformation. The boardwalk event is for pure breed dogs.
Judges examine dogs to determine how closely each compares to the standard of “perfect” dog described in the breed’s official standard.
The standard describes the characteristics that allow the breed to perform the function for which it was bred. These standards include specifications for structure, temperament and movement.
Judges examine each dog with their hands to see if the teeth, muscles, bones and coat texture conform to the breed’s standard. They view each dog in profile for overall balance, and watch each dog “gait”, or move.
Conformation participants include Ellen Lomax and Percy and Roanna, Dave Dunlap and Ruby, and Kevin Schmitke and Sophie.
The club has existed for 35 years and offers training classes all year. The public might also recognize the club from its sponsorship of Cape May’s annual Mutt Strut, a fall event on the promenade. The Mutt Strut raises funds to support local canine projects.
“The last two years’ struts have raised $5,400,” according to McMullen, “with the money going to the Cape May County Sheriff’s K-9 unit to buy protective vests.”
The Boardwalk Dog Show runs from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2.
To contact Ray Rebmann, email rrebmann@cmcherald.com.
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