Clubs and Societies in northern BC

Welcome to the Canines North page

Mission statement:

Canines North is a Bulkley Valley dog club with members from Smithers, Hazelton and Houston. The club started in 1994, we have both competitive and recreational members. We are a group of people interested in spending time with our dogs and learning more about dogs and dog behaviour. Our main focus is having a good relationship with a well-behaved dog.

Board Members 2010:

President: Lorna Bertram - email: Raylariot@hotmail.com or phone: 250-847-2745
Vice President: Jean O'Sullivan - email: rmb.baskerville@gmail.com
Secretary & Treasurer:Claire deJong - email: dejong@bulkley.net

Claire is also in charge of the library and with Louie is groundskeeper in the summer. These resources and more are available to all members.

Membership

$50 a year
Includes: access to the club library of books, magazines and videos
use of our full set of agility equipment.
Use of the indoor arena on Saturday mornings from 9-12.

Several members hold titles with the Agility Association of Canada. Human members range in age from teenagers to 50 plus years and dogs include both mixed breeds and registered pure breeds and range in age from 6 months to 10 years.

Activities:

We meet on a weekly basis for practice sessions and games. We compete in Agility, Rally Obedience, and for the purebreds CKC conformation and obedience.
Several dogs have championship titles in these sports. Others compete locally at the Bulkley Valley Fall Fair and other fun events through the summer, or use the opportunity to socialize with other people and dogs. We have also done demos and made appearances at fund raisers for Turtle Gardens Animal Shelter and Northwest Animal Shelter Society, schools and the Bulkley Valley Lodge.

Turtle Gardens:

Many of our dogs are adopted from Turtle Gardens or otherwise rescued, several members are affiliated with and/or support Turtle Gardens and Northwest Animal Shelter Society.

We encourage people to spay or neuter their dogs, there is a huge number of homeless animals along the Highway 16 corridor.

Here's the latest news from Canines North

A 6 week set of Agility classes was completed in Dec 2009.

The following is the Schedule for 2010:

we are going to try and accomodate those who want/need socialization exercises for their dogs, Rally Obedience and agility. We'll try this for a month and then review as to how it is working.

9:00am socialization exercises for 45 minutes,
10:00am have Rally O for 30 minutes
10:30 -12:00: agility

Hopefully this way, people with more than one dog will have time to work who they want, and people who want to do more than one thing will be able to.

The socialization exercises are about teaching the dogs to be calm, relaxed and well-behaved around other people and dogs. It's not about playing with each other, it's about learning to ignore each other and other people when they are with their person. A lot of them can work and concentrate fine in a quiet environment but it all falls apart when there are distractions. It's difficult to find other people and dogs to work with, so now is your chance. (And Rafi, my foster, will be first in line! )

Rally O is fun to do, teaches basic obedience and body awareness, which is good for agility and everyday life, and gives a pile of stuff you can teach in your living room or small space, which is nice in the winter. On days I'm there, I'm willing to demonstrate some of the exercises (Rayla has her Versatility title in Rally, which is the top level), help people out and if there is interest can look at giving a class. I'm working on the 16th, but should be out the next 2 weeks. Kitsa knows some of the exercises but needs a lot of practice.

For people interested in competition Prince George has several Rally trials each year.

For agility, Agility is a rapidly growing dog sport in which the dog directed by the handler runs a timed course of jumps, tunnels, ramps and slalom poles. At a recreational level it improves coordination and the dog handler bond as well as providing exercise. If you are competitive, your dog can earn titles at a beginner, intermediate and advanced level in 3 different organizations with the Agility Association of Canada being the most easily accessed from Smithers. Several sanctioned trials are held each year in Prince George and Quesnel with many more throughout other areas of BC and Alberta.

At this time, we are looking at setting up several stations for the new dogs and more advanced sequences for the others. Karen has a trial in March so needs to practice at a level higher than most of the others are ready for.

Next meeting: to be announced - at the high school Room 506

We hope to have Rally O and agility classes later in the year.

Return to the Clubs and Societies page