Spring 2012

Volume 1 • Number 2 Spring 2012

2 The Dog & Hound Spring 2012

Spring 2012 The Dog & Hound 3

6 Scent in Dogs: by a nose

8 Dog News: around the town

10 Animal Welfare: goings on

12 Foxhounds: breed spotlight

14 House Hounds: on the couch

16 Media Hounds: in the spotlight

18 Good Dog: behave

20 Calendar of Events: things to do

19 Classified Ads: stuff you need

Table of Contents


The Dog and Hound EDITOR & PUBLISHER

Pam Gleason

ART DIRECTORGary Knoll

ASSOCIATE EDITORJean Berko Gleason

LAYOUT & DESIGNGary Knoll

ADVERTISING Theresa King

(803.678.9806)

Pamela O’Neil(803.644.5580)

PHOTOGRAPHERSPam GleasonGary Knoll

George Buggs

Time Dated Material • Periodicals • Volume 1 • Number 2

P.O. Box 332 • Montmorenci, SC 29839-0332 • 803.643.9960 • www.TheDogAndHound.com • [email protected]

Spring 2012

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Our cover shows members of the Aiken Hound pack jumping over a fence in the Hitchcock Woods. The Aiken Hounds are Penn-Marydels, a type of American Hound that is becoming highly popular in this country. Read more about Foxhounds on page 12.

About the Cover

All contents Copyright 2012 The Dog and Hound

The Dog and Hound Policies: The opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publishers, editors, or the policies of The Aiken Horse, LLC. The Dog and Hound is owned by The Aiken Horse, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Pam GleasonEditor & Publisher

Photography by Gary Knoll

Welcome to the

second issue of The Dog & Hound, a newspaper about dogs, hounds and all things canine. Our last issue was dedicated to English pointers.

This one is devoted to foxhounds. Foxhounds are important animals in the Aiken area, which is the year-round home of four foxhunts and their packs. It is also home to two packs that come here seasonally, one from Canada and the other from Pennsylvania.

Foxhounds are great animals. Not only are they specialists at following scent trails left by foxes and coyotes, they are also friendly, sociable and easygoing. Like so many types of dog, they rely on their incredible noses to do their jobs. Their sense of smell tells them if there is a fox in the area, and if so, where it has gone. We think the canine sense of smell is an amazing thing, so we have an article about that too.

There is a lot going on in the dog world these days, and dogs are getting attention everywhere. For instance, this year’s highly anticipated Super Bowl commercials featured dogs quite prominently. These commercials also brought up a couple of issues that are important to dogs today.

One of the ads tells the story of Bolt, a St. Bernard/Australian shepherd mix who is too fat to fit through his dog door so he can’t chase his favorite car, the VW Beetle. Bolt puts himself on a diet and exercise routine. By the commercial’s end, he flies through the dog door looking fit, fast and shiny.

Quite apart from the danger that dog would be in if he was real dog chasing a car, this ad brings up the serious topic of canine obesity. A recent reports say that 53% of American dogs are now overweight or obese. What’s worse, about a quarter of their owners don’t even realize it. Dogs that are overweight are subject to all kinds of diseases and disabilities, and have lifespans that are about two years shorter than their lean littermates. So take a good look at your dog, and if you don’t like what you see, take him for a long walk. If you are in Aiken, we have some suggestions about where to go. Just read this issue’s news column.

Another ad features a cute little dog named Weego, who delivers bottles of Bud Light to partygoers every time they say “Here Weego.” The dog in the commercial is called a rescue dog, and it turns out that he really is. Weego was adopted from a shelter by a dog trainer, who prepared him for his role on what may be the one of the most talked-about commercials of the year. Bud Light is offering to donate one dollar

to Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation every time someone votes for the Weego commercial on the Bud Light Facebook page.

This, again, is a serious issue, and one that is so important in this part of the country. With any luck, the commercial will help encourage people who are looking for a dog to consider one from a shelter or a rescue. This could save thousands of dogs’ lives. But the shelters in the Southeast are so overfilled with unwanted dogs and puppies that most experts believe it is not possible for us to adopt our way out of the problem. We also need to end irresponsible breeding. Some of this refers to people who breed their dogs on purpose with little thought about the market for the puppies. More often, it means people neglect to get their dogs spayed or neutered and these dogs have accidental litter after accidental litter, year after year. We need two things to remedy this situation. One is education about the problem, and the other is spay and neuter services that people can afford.

The Aiken SPCA is working to provide low cost spays and neuters throughout Aiken County to help stem the flow of dogs into our shelters. You can read more about this effort in an article written for us by the SPCA’s director, Gary Willoughby. There are other groups in this area that are also working to lower the canine birthrate, such as Heartsong Spay and Neuter Clinic in North Augusta and Dogwood Animal Hospital in Barnwell.

You can help too, either by making a donation or by getting out and participating in one of the many events that are raising money for area rescues. For instance, this April 21, there is a 5k run/walk at Barnwell’s Veteran’s Park to benefit the Barnwell Animal Shelter’s low cost/no cost spay neuter program. Last year’s run helped the shelter foundation provide over 200 free operations for local residents who couldn’t pay for the surgery. It also saved 100 animals from the shelter that were transferred to other parts of the country, where they were adopted. If you bring your dog on this walk (and they are welcome) it will raise money for a good cause, and give you both some excellent exercise. The registration fee is $20 in advance and $25 on the day of the run.

We think we have a great issue for you, and we hope you enjoy it. Please let us know what you think, and if you have an idea for an article we should write. Our next issue will be out in June, just in time for summer. Our featured breed in that issue will be the Jack Russell Terrier. We can’t wait!


Scent in DogsThe Special Sense

By Pam Gleason

This year, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear a case involving the legality of using a drug-sniffing dog outside

a home without a warrant. The case involves a Florida man who had been growing marijuana inside his house. The Dade County police received an anonymous tip, and then showed up at the man’s doorstep with Franky, a chocolate Labrador that had been trained to detect the presence of drugs. Franky signaled that there were drugs inside and the police then obtained a warrant. When the officers returned, they seized 179 marijuana plants that they said were worth about $700,000.

The defendant’s lawyer argued that the evidence should be thrown out because bringing a drug-sniffing dog to a man’s doorstep constitutes a violation of his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search. The lower courts agreed that it was an illegal search, but the State of Florida appealed the decision to the Florida Supreme Court, which concurred with the lower court. Florida’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi, then sent an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, arguing that the Florida courts had used improper precedents. They had relied on earlier rulings that it is illegal for police to bring advanced drug detection devices to a closed front door.

“A dog is a dog,” wrote Bondi. “Chocolate Labradors are not sophisticated systems. Rather they are common household pets that possess a naturally strong sense of smell. . . . this Court should grant the petition and directly hold that a dog sniff of a house is not a Fourth Amendment search.”A Dog’s TestimonyFlorida’s Attorney General is putting herself in a difficult and ostensibly contradictory position. On the one hand, she is arguing that the dog’s “testimony” that he could smell marijuana should be enough evidence for the police to obtain a search warrant. On the other hand, she is also arguing that the dog’s ability to detect drugs is not a sophisticated system on a par with thermal imaging devices and the like. If this is true, could a dog “alerting” to the presence of marijuana behind a door simply mean that his handler expects to find marijuana inside the house? How reliable are dogs when it comes to this kind of case?

“I would say that if the dog in question could be proven to be accurate when detecting drugs behind a closed door, then it should have been legal to get a warrant,” says I. Lehr Brisbin, who is a Senior Research Scientist Emeritus as the University of Georgia Savannah River Site Ecology Laboratory. Professor Brisbin has been studying dogs’ scent discrimination and tracking abilities for over 30 years.

“If a particular dog can be proven legally reliable for the court, then that dog should be used. There are a lot of other things that smell like marijuana. What if you had two tons of hemp rope stored in your garage? Would the dog alert to that?”

Professor Brisbin is a frequent witness in criminal trials involving evidence that is based on the ability of dogs to track criminals and identify them according to their scent. Although he agrees that dogs do have an amazing sense of smell, he also argues that the dogs that provide incriminating evidence against defendants in criminal trials are often not doing what their handlers claim they are doing.

“Police dogs are supposed to be able to sniff a baseball cap, or something left at a crime scene, and be able to identify which guy in a lineup that cap belongs to. In a number of states, that would be sufficient evidence to indict the man for murder. I’m not saying that a dog couldn’t do that. I’m just saying that, in the vast majority of these cases, the dogs aren’t doing anything of the sort.”

Instead, the dogs are often picking up on subtle cues that the handler is providing, and giving the “right” answer every time. Complicating matters is the fact that it is entirely possible in any police line-up that there is no guilty party present. Dogs, like human witnesses, have a natural tendency to see or smell what they expect to be there. It is very difficult for a trained police dog and his handler to walk away from a line-up without making any identification at all.

Franky, the Florida drug dog, has been credited with helping to

confiscate over 80 pounds of cocaine, 2.5 tons of marijuana and $4.9 million in drug contaminated cash in his seven year career. (He has since retired.) It sounds impressive. But some reviews of the performance of working police dogs have shown that they often give false positives, “alerting” to the presence of drugs when there are none, presumably because they can sense that is what their handler wants them to do. A dog is constantly learning, and many police dogs probably learn that they will be rewarded for “alerting” to people that their handler considers suspicious, regardless of whether or not they smell like drugs.

“We should have standards set up, where police would have to run their dogs through a test every month to prove that they are accurate 99 percent of the time,” says Professor Brisbin. “The test would have to be set up so that the handler wouldn’t know whether the dog was right or not. If the dog could pass that test and qualify, it should go in a special kennel and become a special dog called a Warrant Securing Dog. Those dogs should be the only ones the courts could rely upon.”

But if the police did have dogs with noses and training that made them 99 percent accurate, perhaps they would have to be considered ‘sophisticated equipment,’ which couldn’t be brought to sniff the front door of a private home without a warrant. A dog’s sense of smell can sometimes make it seem almost magical. But is that sense of smell something uncanny and infallible? Or is it just a heightened and more sensitive version of our own sense? The Dog’s NoseAnyone who has ever watched a dog exploring a new place knows that dogs gain an immense amount of information through their noses, in the same way that humans gain information through their eyes. It is no

wonder; while a dog’s vision is not as good as ours, his sense of smell is better by a factor of 100 to one million, depending on whose estimates you use and what odors you are talking about. Human noses are said to have five to 10 million scent detecting cells, whereas German shepherd dogs are said to have about 225 million. Large dogs with longer noses generally have more scent-detecting cells than smaller dogs with shorter noses, but some dogs, particularly those that have been bred for tracking and trailing, have a disproportionate number of scent cells. For instance, the beagle, which is about a third the size of a German shepherd, is said to have the same 225 million scenting cells in his nose. Although some dogs have reputations as superior sniffers, there is little scientific evidence about the relative scenting abilities of the different breeds of dogs.

There are other suppositions about different colors and shapes of dogs and their relation to the sense of smell. It has been suggested, for instance, that albino dogs, or even light colored ones, don’t have as acute


a sense of smell as dark colored dogs. This is because the cells involved in olfaction (smelling) are naturally dark. However, there is little or no evidence for this belief.

Owners of breeds known for their tracking ability, such as bloodhounds, have also claimed that having long droopy ears somehow helps dogs follow a scent, supposedly by concentrating odors coming from the ground onto the dog’s nose. This claim has never been proven, and makes little sense, considering that wolves and other wild cousins of the dog, which presumably need their sense of smell to survive, all have pricked ears. Besides, police dogs such as Belgian malinois or German shepherds, both of whom have upright ears, are generally top performers in various types of tracking trials.

Whether a dog has a long black snout and droopy ears, or a short white nose and pricked ears, however, he seems to live in a world that is somewhat different from ours, a world that has an added dimension of odor that is mostly undetectable to human senses. If a dog is carefully trained, he can use that heightened sensitivity to help humans do all kinds of things, including things that seem little short of miraculous.Where Are You?From prehistory on, the dog’s ability to locate things with his nose has been among his most important contributions to the dog-human relationship. The earliest way that people and dogs cooperated was probably through hunting – the dog’s ability to track down game made him an invaluable partner for hungry humans everywhere. Later, when hunting became a sport and a pastime, the dog’s tracking ability (coupled, in some cases with his retrieving instinct) made him an important adjunct to all kinds of activities. Foxhunting, duck hunting, quail hunting, boar hunting – all of these sports are made possible by utilizing a dog’s acute sense of smell.

This same locating ability allows dogs to be trained to find people that are missing or hiding. There are tracking dogs, who go after specific people based on their individual scent. Then there are search and rescue dogs, whose mission is to find any human. These dogs can locate people lost in the woods, stuck in collapsed buildings, or even buried under feet of snow in an avalanche. Other dogs specialize in human remains – cadaver dogs can find casualties of natural disasters, or murder victims hidden in secret places. Some are being used to alert police to places where a dead body has been – houses, basements, the trunks of cars and so on.

Dogs can be trained to find almost anything: Drugs, weapons, bombs. In American prisons, the hottest item of contraband these days is a cell phone. Law enforcement officials say that these phones are used for many nefarious purposes, including running drug rings from behind bars, planning escapes or even ordering hits on witnesses. Cell phone dogs have been trained to find these phones so they can be confiscated.

Dogs can be used for environmental control. In California, dogs are being brought to public boat docks, where they have been taught to alert to the presence of the quagga mussel, a freshwater species indigenous to the Ukraine that has been invading American waterways for decades. Other dogs are helping to find colonies of endangered bees so that they can be protected. Still other dogs are helping people in New York City and other metropolitan areas sleep a little easier. These are bed-bug-detecting dogs, which can find bed bugs by their odor. There is even an organization, the National Entomology Scent Detection Canine Association, that is committed to making insect detecting dogs an accepted component of routine pest control. Are You All Right?Tracking lost people, finding bombs and drugs, and even detecting bed bugs are all extensions of a dog’s natural hunting ability. However, there are some new uses for the dog’s acute sense of smell that seem to put him in a new category. These are dogs that can sense when the people they sniff are not well.

For instance, there are dogs that have been trained to alert their

owners to impending medical emergencies, and dogs that are said to know when a person is about to die. There is one “death detection dog” that lives in a nursing home in Ohio. He sits by the bedsides of people in their final days, barking, or leaves his toys on their beds. The nursing home staff says this gives them the chance to summon the person’s family so that they can be present for their loved one’s final moments. Whether this dog really can detect the first signs of death, or whether he is responding to other cues (the extra attention provided to a critically ill person, for instance) is a matter for debate. But it is certainly possible that he can smell the odor of bodily systems shutting down.

Assistance dogs are also now available for people with diabetes and epilepsy. Diabetes detection dogs can sniff out when their owner has

high or low blood sugar and alert him. Testimonials on the Dogs4Diabetics website include numerous stories from diabetics who say their dogs woke them up when their blood sugar was dangerously low, allowing them to remedy the situation before they slipped into a coma or worse.

The primary job of a seizure response dog is to protect his owner in case of a seizure, removing dangerous objects, or summoning assistance. But many people with epilepsy report that their dogs learn to alert them 10 to 40 minutes before

a seizure occurs, allowing them to get to a safe place. There are few scientific studies of this new type of assistance dog, and no hard data on the reliability of their predictions, but it is likely that these dogs are able to recognize and respond to subtle changes in their master’s scent.

Finally, there are the most remarkable medical detection dogs of all. These are cancer screening dogs, that have been shown to be able to pick out chemical cues to the presence of cancerous cells in tissue cultures, and to detect which people actually have various kinds of cancer. Cancer screening dogs in the U.S., Europe and Japan have successfully sniffed out skin cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, bladder cancer, ovarian cancer and lung cancer. In some cases, the dogs have had better success rates than would be expected from common medical screening techniques. For instance, four dogs in a recent German study were said to have had a better accuracy rate in detecting which patients had lung cancer than would be expected from a CT scan. Researchers are currently trying to isolate what odors the dogs are detecting that enable them to identify cancerous cells, hoping to gain a better understanding of the disease process.

In the meantime, other researchers are exploring new ways that the dog’s amazing sense of smell can be used to help society. There is little doubt that the canine nose has the ability to detect tiny amounts of scent, as well as to make fine discriminations between different scents. But is the dog’s nose miraculous? And does he always know what questions we are asking? Exactly how should we treat a dog’s “testimony” in a court case or a medical situation?

I.Lehr Brisbin, who has seen dogs do amazing things, and seen people ascribe to them abilities they have yet to demonstrate, thinks we should adopt a “trust but verify” philosophy. He remembers a study conducted on three skin cancer detection dogs, to see how accurately they could identify tumors in a group of cancer patients and disease-free controls. In that test, each one of the dogs alerted to a man who had a bandage that was covering a place where he had recently had a growth removed. The man’s doctors had assured him that the growth was benign, but the dogs’ reaction made him uneasy. So he went back to the hospital for more tests. Sure enough, the dogs were right. The growth had been malignant.

“If one of those dogs saw something on me, sure I’d go to the doctor for more tests,” says Professor Brisbin. “But I wouldn’t go right out and hire a surgeon.”

The Whiskey Road foxhounds use their noses.


Dog NewsBy Pam Gleason

Dogs in PoliticsThere is an old saying in Washington: If you want a friend, get a dog. This quote has often been attributed to President Harry S. Truman, but it turns out he didn’t say it at all. In fact,

Truman was one of a few presidents to get in trouble with the public for not being a good dog person. In 1947, he was given a cocker spaniel puppy named Feller for Christmas. Apparently, he didn’t have time for the animal, and gave it to his physician. The physician gave Feller away, too, to one of Truman’s naval aides, who was instructed to take the dog to Camp David (then known as Shangri-La.) Several years later, Feller finally found a permanent home on a family farm in Ohio where he lived to a ripe old age. The president’s treatment of the puppy (known in the press as the Unwanted Dog) raised the ire of dog lovers. This did not, however, keep Truman from winning reelection in 1948.

The coming presidential campaign is shaping up to be one in which dogs may play a part, which could be bad news for the Republican hopeful Mitt Romney. This is because, back in 1983, Romney took a 12-hour car trip to Canada with his family. With five kids and their luggage, there was no room in the car for the family Irish setter, Seamus. So Romney put him in a crate and strapped the crate to the roof. Sometime during the trip, Seamus experienced gastric distress and soiled the crate and the car. Romney simply drove to a service station, where he hosed the dog and the crate down and continued on his way.

The dog on the roof story (“crate gate”) broke in 2007, and has dogged Romney ever since. The New York Times reporter Gail Collins brings it up regularly (she has mentioned it more than 30 times, according to the New York Observer.) There is now an anti-Romney “super pack” called Dogs Against Romney, with a website (www.dogsagainstromney.com) and a Facebook page. You can buy anti-Romney bumper stickers with images of a dog and words like “I ride inside,” “Mitt is mean,” and “Go ruff on Romney.” Romney has defended himself by saying that Seamus loved

to ride in the roof-top crate and that he was an important part of the family – a statement that is questionable, considering that the Romney family eventually gave the dog to Mitt’s sister.

Romney’s political opponents have seen crate gate as an excellent opening. Newt Gingrich got the ball rolling with a “Pets with Newt” section on his webpage, which appeared about the same time as his attack ad (“For the dogs”), featuring Romney trying to explain the Seamus

affair to Fox News’s Chris Wallace. Newt has publicly said that if he is elected, there will be a dog in the Whitehouse, although he doesn’t have one now.

President Obama’s staff hasn’t let the dog theme slip either. First, the Obama’s Portuguese water dog Bo, was prominently featured on the Whitehouse Christmas card. Now there is a Facebook page called Pet Lovers for Obama where you can buy such things as Obama dog collars and a magnet featuring Bo that says “I bark

for Barack.” In January, Obama’s campaign strategist, David Axelrod, tweeted a photo of Obama sitting with Bo on Air Force One. The caption read: “How loving owners transport their dogs.”The Dog Park EraThe birthrate in America has been going down at the same time that dog ownership is going up. In fact, according to recent reports, there are now more families in the United States with dogs than families with children. This

has spurred a movement to build more dog parks in cities nationwide. According to the Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit group that promotes parks and green space planning, the first dedicated off-leash dog park opened in Berkeley, California in 1983, and now there are about 600 of them nationwide. The same group says that while the number of parks for people

in urban areas grew by about 3% in the last six years, the number of dog parks has jumped by 34%. With more dogs in cities than ever before, there is increasing demand for a place where dogs can run free and play, while not bothering people who would rather enjoy their park without dogs.

Dog parks provide a lot of things people appreciate. There is the chance for high energy dogs to let off some steam in a fenced place, where they can’t run away or dash into the road and get hit by a car. There is the opportunity for dogs to meet each other and form friendships and play groups – a godsend for people who have just one dog. Dog parks can help socialize young dogs, who learn to accept and enjoy people they don’t know. Finally, there is a social aspect for dog owners, who meet at the dog park and form their own communities, united by a shared love for their animals. Dog park friendships can be a little unusual: people often remark that they don’t always know the names of their dog park friends, but they do know the names of all the dogs.

Dog park critics contend that there are downsides to the rise of dog parks, and one of them has to do with a dog owner’s health. Various studies conducted over the decades have shown that dog ownership is good for human health. Dog owners tend to live longer and are happier and healthier than people who don’t own dogs. Not only that, dog owners have significantly better survival rates one year after a heart attack than non-owners. Part of this is due to the fact that owning any pet relieves stress, leading to lower blood pressure, lower heart rates and even better cholesterol

levels. But owning a dog is more protective to your health than owning a fish, or even a cat.

The main reason that dogs are so good for you may be that having a dog promotes exercise. If you take your dog out for daily exercise on a leash, you are likely to be walking for at least 20 to 30 minutes per day. Several studies have shown that if you walk briskly for

Fun at the Aiken Dog Park. Photo by Skip Cantor.


30 minutes a day, it lowers your odds of everything from heart disease, diabetes, stroke and breast cancer to depression and insomnia. If, on the other hand, you just go to the dog park, unhook the leash and watch your dog play with all his friends, you may be missing out on these health-protecting benefits.

Aiken has its own dog park on Willow Run Road, which is a joint venture between the City of Aiken and the Aiken SPCA. The two-acre park includes an area reserved for small dogs, a splash pool and will two covered pavilions, which are currently being installed. It’s a great place for dogs to meet and play. Right now, you can join the park for $12.50 per dog, as long as your dog has a current rabies vaccination and has been altered. Membership runs until July when the new SPCA shelter adjoining the park is opening, at which point all fees and rules for the dog park are going to be revisited.

JoAnn Minnick, who frequents the dog park with her husband Tommy and four of their five dogs (one has a bad back and usually stays home) says that the dog park provides a great way for the dogs to have fun and make friends and for their humans to enjoy them. As far as human exercise goes, JoAnn says she thinks that she gets more exercise now than she did before the park opened.

“There are some people who just sit on a bench,” she admits. “But we spend a lot of time playing with our dogs, so it’s good exercise for everyone. We have also made some very good friends there.” JoAnn goes on to say that the camaraderie of the dog park probably encourages everyone to devote more quality time to their dogs, which is good all around.

And just because the dogs frequent the park, doesn’t mean that they don’t get their walk, either. Tommy Minnick still takes the dogs for regular on-leash exercise at Virginia Acres Park at the Odell Weeks Center. Dog Friendly Aiken RestaurantsAiken is a dog-friendly place, with many locations that welcome friendly, leashed dogs, including several hotels and even a few restaurants. Health codes being what they are, the eateries where you can take your dog are limited not just to places with outdoor seating, but also to places that use disposable plates and utensils.

If you are downtown with your canine companion, you can stop for sidewalk seating and lunch or dinner at Café Rio Blanco on Laurens Street. This is a little restaurant that opened a few years ago to offer authentic Cuban food at reasonable prices. A few blocks down on Laurens Street, the New Moon Cafe also has outdoor tables and a dog friendly policy. New Moon specializes in coffee, but also offers sandwiches, muffins and cookies.

If you are looking for a more complete dining experience, you can

take your dog with you to the outdoor Beer Garden at the Rose Hill Estate on Greenville Street. Rose Hill’s Stables Restaurant is a popular place, and the Beer Garden, which occupies a large patio just outside the restaurant, offers a bar menu and a grill with casual food for outdoor dining. Rose Hill is owned by Stephen and Eva Mueller, who have German roots, and their Beer Garden has a European flair.

continued on page 18


Animal Welfare in Aiken CountyWork to be DoneBy Gary Willoughby

Aiken County is a wonderful, animal loving community that is home to 160,000 people and thousands of dogs, cats, horses and

various other companion animals that make our homes even better. You are likely to see people enjoying a walk around downtown Aiken with their dogs or riding their horses into the Hitchcock Woods just about anytime you pass through those areas.

Companion animals play a huge part of the lives of many of our residents. The fact that there are so many animal lovers is a great thing, but in places like Aiken County, the reality is that there are still many more animals coming into local shelters than there are willing adopters looking for new pets each year. The sad result is many thousands of dogs and cats don’t make it

out of a shelter, never getting another chance at a loving home.Why are there so many animals coming into shelters? There are many

factors. One is the fact that most people get their pets from friends and family members. Overwhelmingly, these animals aren’t altered and not enough people take the initiative to have them altered. The five cute kittens that your friend gives away to co-workers grow into adults and before long, they start reproducing. Soon, your friend runs out of friends to give kittens to, and off to a local shelter they go. On average, each female cat can have around 10 kittens each year, compounding the problem even more.

In Aiken County, there are three municipal shelters that take in animals found or surrendered in their jurisdiction. This includes the Aiken County Shelter, as well as separate animal control divisions and holding areas in the cities of Aiken and North Augusta. Additionally, there are local non-profit agencies and other groups that specialize in a variety of animal welfare areas to help with animals throughout Aiken County.

Each group, department, and agency has a different function and role to play. Municipalities aren’t actually required to operate animal control departments in South Carolina. However, if they do, there are a variety of rules and regulations that they must work under and enforce in the community.

They respond to calls of suspected animal cruelty, neglect and abandonment. Often, they work with owners to make improvements in their pet’s care. Otherwise, they may have to pursue legal actions against owners. They are responsible for collecting and housing stray animals in their jurisdiction and for helping to reunite lost pets with their owners. While the majority of these animals are dogs and cats, animal control departments also sometimes have to deal with horses, livestock, birds, reptiles and small mammals. These animals may be lost, animals that have been neglected, animals that have been injured, or animals associated with criminal cases such as domestic abuse, drug rings, or dog fighting.

Animal control departments in South Carolina have the option of providing adoption services. In North Augusta, they offer local adoptions and work with area rescue groups who transfer unclaimed

animals to offer for adoption in other places. The City of Aiken works directly with the Aiken SPCA, allowing us to pursue new adoptive homes for unclaimed pets. Aiken County offers adoptions to the public and also works with rescue groups, both local and out-of-the area, to transfer unclaimed pets when space is available.

In Aiken County, potential adopters can also look for pets at other rescues, such as Molly’s Militia, Happy Tales, Equine Rescue of Aiken, Canine Shelter Rescue and many others. Even some local veterinary

offices try to help find homes for pets. While adoptions are great, typically they only account for 10 to 20 percent of all new dogs and cats that come into peoples’ homes. Because of the large number of animals coming into local shelters each year, not

every adoptable pet will find a new home, in spite of all of the hard work these groups are doing.

In a given year, between all of the animal control departments and rescue groups in this area, over 7,000 animals are picked up or surrendered. Of those, only around 1,500 are adopted each year.

The math doesn’t add up, so what can be done? While adoptions are heartwarming and play a part in animal welfare, other work has to be done to improve the situation in our community. What drew me to the Aiken SPCA over four years ago was the emphasis they put on the prevention side of things: keeping animals out of shelters in the first place.

For many years, we have operated a low cost spay and neuter clinic for the public and other animal rescue organizations. Over time, thanks to grants, donations from citizens and working with local municipalities to create voucher programs, thousands of surgeries have been performed and that has helped reduce the intake of unplanned kittens and puppies in the community. Currently, we can perform about 2,500 surgeries per year. Our new clinic (opening later this year) will have the capacity to perform 12,000 surgeries a year.

Next, educating the public is key. We use volunteers and partner with Aiken County to operate a humane education program in local elementary schools. We visit many other schools during assemblies, and bring busloads of children to our shelter to teach them about animal welfare issues. We host community pet fairs and publish animal welfare articles each week in the local paper to provide more information to pet owners struggling with behavior and other pet issues. Our goal is to give people the tools to honor a lifetime commitment to their pets.

We also work with local municipalities to offer suggestions for ordinances that provide incentives for spaying and neutering, as well as those that promote responsible ownership and regulate high volume commercial breeders

There is a still a lot of work to be done to get to a day where we don’t see healthy, adoptable pets euthanized simply because no one has come forward to claim them. No one group or department can do this alone. It will take a collaborative effort between municipal governments, animal welfare organizations and pet owners in Aiken County to achieve success. Please encourage everyone you know who has a pet to have it altered. When your home is ready for a new addition, please consider adopting from a shelter.

Gary Willoughby is the Executive Director of the Aiken SPCA


“Aiken Namon”MFHA Centennial Champion Foxhound

Sire of Featured HoundsAiken Norty & Aiken Namesake

513.702.3970 cell • [email protected] • www.lynncarlisle.com


The FoxhoundWorking Dog and Man’s Best FriendBy Pam Gleason, Photography by Gary Knoll

Most people have heard the expression “man’s best friend is his dog.” Probably very few realize that this adage comes from a

specific historical event and that the dog referred to in the phrase was a foxhound.

Here is the story. Back in the 1860s, a man named Charles Burden of Kingsville, Missouri owned a black and tan foxhound named Old Drum. Old Drum was an exceptional hound, known for his fine nose and his deep, regular voice. One October day in 1869, he wandered onto the property of Burden’s brother-in-law and neighbor, Leonidas Hornsby. Hornsby was a sheep farmer who had vowed to shoot any dog that came on his land. When he saw Old Drum, he instructed his young nephew to shoot, which he did. Hornsby claimed that his nephew shot at the hound with corn to scare it, and that it ran off. But when Burden found Old Drum’s body near Big Creek the next day, it had multiple gunshot wounds and appeared to have been dragged there and abandoned.

Burden promptly sued his neighbor. There were judgments and appeals, and, the case was eventually elevated to the Old Johnson County Courthouse in Warrensville, where Missouri’s top trial lawyers of the day worked on each side – the lawyers involved would eventually be known as Missouri’s Big Four. One of Burden’s attorneys was named George Vest. (He would later be a U.S. senator.) In his closing remarks, Vest delivered an eloquent speech, thereafter known as the Eulogy of the Dog or the Best Friend speech, which extolled a dog’s faithfulness and devotion. The speech moved the jury to tears. Burden won. Hornsby appealed the verdict to the Missouri Supreme Court, but it was upheld.

Vest’s speech was an inspiration to dog lovers, and Old Drum became a symbol of dogs loved and lost everywhere. In 1947, a man named Fred Ford put up a monument to Old Drum on the banks of Big Creek, near where his body was found. The monument was funded by donations from dog lovers from around the world. In 1958, a second monument to Old Drum was erected at the Johnson County Courthouse, where it stands today. This monument includes a bronze statue of Old Drum and a plaque bearing Vest’s eulogy. The BreedThe foxhound, which is the state dog of Virginia, is a breed created specifically to track foxes while being followed by mounted hunters. The American Kennel Club and the United Kennel Club each recognize two distinct foxhound breeds: the English Foxhound and the American Foxhound. Most foxhounds, however, are not listed with these registries. Instead, most are registered with the Masters of Foxhounds Association, which is the “governing body of organized fox, coyote and other acceptable legal quarry and drag hunting in the United States and Canada.”

The MFHA was formed in 1907 and has been keeping track of America’s foxhounds ever since. The organization requires each hunt to submit an annual kennel list of all their hounds, as well as the pedigrees for every hound that is actually hunting. Hounds that have been hunted “on a regular and consistent basis” are considered “entered” hounds, while those that have not been hunted regularly are “unentered.” The MFHA now recognizes four distinct foxhound breeds. There are American foxhounds, English foxhounds, Crossbred Foxhounds and, as of 2009, Penn-Marydels. There are other foxhound breeds in Europe and the British Isles, including Welsh Foxhounds and French Foxhounds. American hounds can also be divided into several different strains, such as Walker hounds, July hounds, Flowers hounds and Trigg hounds.

Although the MFHA has breed shows that are judged on conformation, the primary consideration in breeding a hound is how well it will hunt. Top foxhounds are prized for their ability to find and follow a scent, even in difficult conditions – this is called having low scenting ability, or a good nose. They need to be fast and healthy with endurance and a strong drive to find their quarry. Foxhound lovers wax enthusiastic about their “voice”: when foxhounds get on a scent, they “give tongue” with a yodeling howl. The louder and clearer the voice the

better – but variation from one hound to the next is also desirable. For instance, dog hounds (male foxhounds) tend to have deeper voices than bitches (female foxhounds). Huntsmen like their packs to have a good mix of male and female voices, considering harmonious “hound music” to be an important part of the sport.

The typical image of a foxhound is of a white dog with liberal brown and black patches on his head and body. However, hounds come in a wide variety of different colors and patterns, including black and tan, pure white, lemon (yellow), brown and blue-ticked. Their height is from 21-28 inches at the withers, with their weight about 65-75 pounds, according to the breed standard. In practice, however, they can be quite a bit larger than this. Their coats are typically short, but again, there are some notable variations. For instance, foxhounds from July lines (developed in Georgia) may have long coats and feathered tails, and look like a different breed altogether.

Foxhound HistoryPrecisely when the foxhound came into being as a distinct breed is not known. Both the English and the French used dogs when they hunted from horseback as early as the Middle Ages. They were not hunting foxes, however. Mounted hunting was a sport for the nobility and the royalty, and the fox was not considered worthy quarry for these gentlemen. Instead, they hunted deer, and they used a number of different types of dogs and hounds to help them. These included trailing hounds that could follow the scent, greyhound-types that could run down the deer, and mastiff-types that could kill it.

By the 17th century, deer were getting scarce in England, and mounted hunters switched from deer to foxes, which were plentiful. England’s oldest foxhunt, the Bilsdale Hunt in Yorkshire, was established by the Duke of Buckingham in 1668. Although there are some English hounds with pedigrees that go back almost as far as this, the first official volume of the English foxhound studbook was published in 1841.

The earliest progenitors of the American Foxhounds probably came from England in the 17th century - there are some packs that claim pedigrees dating to the mid-1600s. However, the breed’s official establishment is usually credited to George Washington, who aside from being the first president and a military man, had an abiding interest in animal husbandry and a love of hunting dogs. One of his goals was to produce “a superior dog, one that had speed, sense and brains,” according to his papers in the Library of Congress. In the 1770s, he imported a number of black and tan hunting hounds from England. Then, in the mid-1780s, his friend the Marquis de Lafayette sent him seven French hunting dogs. These dogs, which were large blue-ticked

American foxhounds in Virginia


hounds similar to bloodhounds, had superior scenting ability, but they were not congenial pack animals. In fact, Washington had to separate them when he fed them or they would attack one another. But they were splendid animals, and when crossed with Washington’s English hounds, they produced the first distinctly American Foxhounds. Different Hounds for Different GroundsAmerican Foxhounds and English Foxhounds have many similarities, as well as some distinct differences. The American Foxhound is generally taller and leaner than his English cousin, and he also tends to be faster and have a somewhat better nose for drier conditions. The English Foxhound tends to have a somewhat more elegant head, and his temperament is generally more “biddable,” meaning that he is more likely to do your bidding.

American and English hounds were developed for different environments and because of this they have slightly different conformation. The English hound has straight legs, and he is bred to have dainty, round “cat” feet, which are well suited to the boggy, wet, English countryside. The American Hound tends to have more sloping pasterns and feet that are somewhat longer and more suited to drier, harder ground.

The way American hounds and English hounds have been managed historically has also affected their temperaments. English hounds, kept in the more constrained English countryside, have not been bred to go quite as fast or as far, but they have been required to be quite reliable about returning to the kennels with the pack and paying good attention to the huntsman.

American hounds, especially in the open Virginia hunt country, have historically had more freedom of movement and have been allowed to be more self-sufficient. Jeanie Thomas, who, along with her husband George, is a joint Master of Foxhounds at Why Worry Hounds, says that in earlier generations, the hounds weren’t even necessarily kept in kennels. George was raised in Virginia where his family has been involved with hunting and hounds since the 1700s.

“In the old days there were no roads and very few fences,” says Jeanie. “George remembers going out hunting with his great-grandfather when he was a child. The hounds weren’t in a kennel then; they just lived in the barn or under the house. When you went out hunting, you would go out with whatever hounds happened to be around at the time. They would stay out hunting until they got tired or hungry, and then they came home. That’s the way it worked in Virginia, especially in the mountains. As the countryside has gotten tighter, hunts have started needing hounds that are more biddable.”

Crossing English and American hounds became a popular way to keep the speed and sharp noses of the American hound while adding the

more tractable English nature. The MFHA considers Crossbred hounds a distinct type and has mathematical formulas for determining whether a hound can be considered American, English or Crossbred. Generally, a hound is American or English as long as it is at least 15/16th purebred. Crossbreds can have some outside blood: proven hunting hounds that do not have a foxhound pedigree can be allowed into the studbook, as long as they are descended from several generations of hounds that have also proven themselves on the hunt field.

In 2009, the MFHA decided to recognize Penn-Marydel hounds as a fourth foxhound breed. There has been a Penn-Marydel Association and a separate studbook since 1934, but prior to 2009, the MFHA considered them a strain of American hound rather than a separate type.

Penn-Marydels were specifically developed for hunting in the Pennsylvania-Maryland-Delaware area. They are known for having superior noses, beautiful voices and excellent stamina. Their other main attribute is their congenial nature and their exceptional biddability. They tend to have longish ears and may not be quite as elegant as some foxhounds, but they make up for it with the excellent sport they provide. They don’t run as fast as some other foxhounds, but experts say that this can be a positive attribute, especially considering the fact that hunt country is getting increasingly small. When a coyote is running in front of fast hounds, it tends to run in a straight line, quite often out of the fixture where the hunters can’t follow it. When it is running slower, a coyote is more likely to run in circles, which makes it more likely to stay inside the fixture. Foxhounds in AikenAiken is hunt country, with four registered packs of its own, as well as at least two that come here for the winter: the Toronto North York Hounds (partnered with Whiskey Road) and the Saxonburg Hunt (partnered with Edisto River Hounds). Foxhounds were first established in Aiken in the early 1900s. The first Aiken hounds belonged to Thomas Hitchcock, according to Life and

Sport in Aiken, written by Harry Worcester Smith (Derrydale Press, 1935.) It is not clear whether these were English hounds or American hounds – the hounds at Meadowbrook where the Hitchcocks hunted on Long Island were essentially all English at that time. However, Harry Worcester Smith, who hunted with the Hitchcocks and tended to agree with them in most sporting matters, was a great proponent of American Foxhounds.

Today, you can find representatives of all four recognized breeds of foxhound in Aiken, as well as a liberal variety of different strains. The predominant

type of hound here is probably the Crossbred, although, three years ago, the Aiken Hounds exchanged all their Crossbreds for Penn Marydels. Whiskey Road, Why Worry and Edisto River each has a variety of hounds, creating blended packs that have hounds with different abilities and proclivities.

“Everyone has their own formula,” says Jeanie Thomas. She and George are devoted students of hounds, and they have been working to develop the perfect hound for Aiken’s conditions for 16 years. They have Crossbred and American hounds as well as some English hounds that came from the Duke of Beaufort. They breed hounds for beauty, grace and athleticism, as well as for a natural ability to hunt.

“What is most gratifying to me is to see them grow up and learn to do their job on the hunt field without having to be taught,” says Jeanie. “As puppies, they learn to follow you, and then to go off on their own, but always come back to you, which is just what they will do on the hunt field. Once they are out hunting, they develop an amazing rapport with the huntsman. They are wonderful to watch.”

An English Foxhound in the Why Worry kennels in Aiken

MFH Helen Knox with the Aiken Hounds, 1940s

American foxhounds in Virginia


House HoundsFoxhounds in the HomeBy Pam Gleason, Photography by Gary Knoll

Foxhounds have been bred to live in kennels for hundreds of years. They are so identified with the sport of foxhunting, they

have not, historically, been considered indoor house dog material. “Never make a companion or a pet of a hound,” admonishes Roger Williams, the author of The Foxhound (Macmillen, 1932.) “Never offer to pet or caress one in the field.”

But, as people in Aiken are discovering, foxhounds are affectionate, adaptable and can make excellent “house hounds.” At many foxhunts throughout the country, hounds that are not suitable for hunting or those that have gotten too old to keep up with the pack never have the chance to pursue a second career as someone’s dog. In Aiken, however, there is a growing trend toward placing retired hounds in loving homes, where they generally fit right in.

“I will never have another breed of dog,” says Linda McLean, who is the Master of Foxhounds at the Aiken Hounds. “They are just great, great animals. They are so charming.”

Linda’s first house hound was Mustang, who came to live with her many years ago when he was no longer able to hunt. Today, she lives with two retired hounds, Dash and Namesake. Namesake is the son of Aiken Namon, the foxhound that won the Master of Foxhounds Association’s Centennial Hound award in 2007, honoring him as the top hound in the country among packs kept by drag hunts. (Linda describes Namon as her “hound of a lifetime.”) Namesake, who is 6, exchanged the kennels for Linda’s home three years ago when the Aiken Hounds switched their pack from Crossbreds to Penn-Marydel hounds. Namesake is big and strong and resembles his father. Dash is a pretty black and white 9 year old bitch, a littermate to Namesake’s mother. She was injured in her first year of hunting when a horse stepped on her hind leg, and has been a house hound ever since.

Linda says that there is essentially no adjustment period when she brings hounds home, even though they have been kenneled their whole lives.

“They adapt to living in the house very, very well. It’s like it’s programmed into them already, like it was preordained that they would come in the house.”

Linda explains that the kennels have indoor “lodges” as well as outdoor areas to which the hounds always have free access. The lodges have raised benches where the hounds sleep. It doesn’t take much for the hounds to generalize their habits from the kennel to the house, which must seem to them like a particularly luxurious form of something they have known their whole lives.

“They are fundamentally clean,” she says. “They know to go outside to do their business. Of course, any time you bring a male hound inside for the first time, you do have to train him not to mark the furniture. But foxhounds are sensitive, so it doesn’t take much to let them know what you don’t want them to do. And they figure out right away where the bed is and they do like to sleep with their heads on the pillow!”

Linda says the hounds have great attitudes. She rides in the Hitchcock Woods with her pair every day. When they come home after a ride, the hounds like to relax. They are quiet in the house, very affectionate and not in the least bit aggressive, although they do tend to be somewhat shy with people they don’t know.

“If you like to ride in the Hitchcock Woods, a retired Aiken Hound is a great animal to ride with,” she says. “Of course, they have been all over the Woods, and they know the trails very well. They generally stay with you, but if they do get on a scent of something and run off, they know how to find their way back to the Aiken Hounds kennels on the edge of the Woods so you always know where to find them.”

There are quite a number of people who have retired hounds from the Aiken pack in their homes. In fact, there are so many that, a few years ago, Linda instituted an annual party for these hounds and the people

who live with them. The party takes place in Linda’s yard each April. She calls it the Aiken Hounds alumni luncheon and it usually attracts about a dozen house hounds and their companions.

“The hounds are just fantastic,” she says. “They act like people who haven’t seen each other in a long time. They greet each other and they play and they just have a good time.”

George and Jeanie Thomas, joint masters of Why Worry Hounds, also have an active hound retirement placement program. Helen Dellacroce, who is a whipper-in for Why Worry, has a retired hound named Careful that she describes as an ambassador for foxhounds as house pets. Helen became interested in helping retired hounds find homes when she started visiting the Why Worry kennels just to learn the hounds’ names.

“Once I got to know them, I realized how sweet they were and how affectionate,” she says. Helen initially thought she was taking Careful in as a foster to prepare her to be adopted by someone else. But she soon

decided that this hound wasn’t going anywhere.

“The foxhounds aren’t what you would expect them to be,” she says. “You would think that they would be savage, but they aren’t. They’re affectionate and they love attention. They can be a little shy at first, but once they bond with you, they are really yours.”

One of the other nice things about getting a retired hound is that they are usually older (about 6 or 7) and so they are mature and sensible. But they are also like puppies in the joy that they express about all the new things that they are exposed to when they first become house hounds.

“They’ve never seen a soft bed before. They’ve never had table scraps. They’ve never seen stairs. It’s so much fun to watch them discover all these things.”

Hounds that have hunted are also well trained and know a lot of commands, although

these are not the commands most house dogs know. They don’t “sit” and “down” and “stay,” but they do know “come along,” “kennel up,” and “leave it.” If Careful runs off, all Helen has to do is blow a hunting horn that she keeps for the purpose. “Then she comes running right back.”

If you are interested in obtaining your own foxhound, there are usually some available at almost any time of the year. Hounds that need to be retired might be ready to go home at the end of hunting season. Sometimes there are younger hounds that need to be culled from the pack early in the season. Most foxhunts are happy to place their retired hounds in new homes free of charge as long as they are going to a good home. The hounds that do go home repay their new owners with affection, devotion and gratitude.

“I can take Careful with me everywhere,” says Helen, who works at Oak Manor Saddlery and sometimes brings her to work. “And wherever I go, I meet people who also have foxhounds. You would be surprised how many there are.”

For more information, contact Linda McLean at the Aiken Hounds (803-641-7111) or Jeanie Thomas (803-292-3704) or Helen Dellacroce (803-260-2680) at Why Worry Hounds. Or contact any foxhunt near you to learn what their policy is on hound adoptions.

Above: Helen Dellacroce with Careful. Left: Linda McLean’s Dash


Media HoundsDavid Stinson’s Best ModelsBy Mary Jane Howell, Photography by Gary Knoll

Doge, Lido and Faux Pas might be the most recognizable dogs in Aiken. They’re seen in their master’s

real estate ads and they can be found at the New Moon café on Laurens Street most Sunday mornings. They are David Stinson’s “boys,” and wonderful examples of an ancient breed of European hunting dog called Bracco Italiano.

David, who is a realtor with Meybohm in Aiken, got his first Bracco nine years ago, but he says came across the breed quite by accident. He had a female hound mix named LuLu who was an only child and lonely, so he was in the market for another dog. David’s friend Deborah Lee had 15 Bracco dogs, many of them puppies and she had heard of David’s plight. She sent him an invitation to visit, David accepted, and it was love at first sight.

“The Bracco has a touch of arrogance and is a majestic creature. I had never seen dogs quite like them and when Deborah showed me the puppies… that was it,” says David with a laugh.

David named his first Bracco Doge, the title of the chief magistrate of Venice from the Middle Ages until the end of the 18th century – A majestic dog needed a majestic name! Eight months later, David purchased Doge’s brother and named him Lido to keep the Venetian theme going (the Lido is the barrier beach that surrounds the lagoon of Venice.)

There are many theories about the origins of the Bracco, but in Italy the dog is accepted as having been a distinct breed since the Middle Ages. Breeding of the large dogs became widespread during the Renaissance period and they were held in high regard by the nobility, who used them to hunt birds. Images of Braccos can often be seen in tapestries and frescoes from those earlier times.

“The Bracco is emotionally sensitive and I can say from experience that if you raise your voice to them they will pout for hours and hang their heads,” says David. “They want to please and are devastated if they think they’ve let you down.”

Although Doge and Lido are now mature dogs, in their younger days they were a handful, to put it mildly.

“I remember when they were about nine months old and they had escaped from the house. I was hosting a dinner party at the Green Boundary Club that night and simply ran out of time searching for them. I just had to hope they would find their way home,” recalls David. “Halfway through dinner there was a knock on the door – my puppies had found their way to the club! I live on Third Avenue, so that meant that they had crossed Whiskey Road in search of me. I would have to say they are great scent dogs.”

Another time, Doge and Lido escaped when a UPS driver left a gate unlatched. When David got home the pair had been long gone, so he called the Aiken Department of Public Safety with a description and started driving around, not having the slightest idea where to start looking. A few hours later he got a call from an officer, who had happened to see them at the drive-through window at Popeye’s on York Street. When David got there, the officer had both dogs in the back of her cruiser. They were covered with mud, having found a swamp to roll in on their way to lunch.

Eventually, two Braccos weren’t enough, so David got a third dog, Doge and Lido’s nephew whom he named Faux Pas.

“I had actually named him Pope Paul, but when I was telling my mother about him via a cell phone the connection must not have been too good. She thought I said his name was Faux Pas. Well, I liked that name even better.”

Even though there are three noble Braccos in the house, David

also has a black mixed breed dog named Crook to keep everyone humble. Crook got his name because of a bend in his short tail, but it wasn’t long after he arrived in the house that David started missing things – a sock or a comb, for instance, that would never be seen again. David had a hard time blaming Crook, who, after all, was only living up to his name!

The giant Bracco dogs were first used in David’s real estate ads in October 2004. Brent Cline, a photographer who works with David, agreed that the dogs would make the ads unique and fun – but would they pose for the camera?

“These dogs are so photogenic because of their big features – everything about them is oversized. Big ears, big jowls, huge feet – and they have great expressions. Brent took some shots of them and they were fabulous and it was a no-brainer after that to use them in the ads,” explains David.

The dogs have posed in the country (with David in a tuxedo) looking like they stumbled into a Ralph Lauren shoot by mistake. Then there was a dinner party scene with all the dogs sitting around a table in chairs. They have posed in gardens, in a Mercedes

Benz, on a polo field, and in David’s pool.“What has made these photo shoots

so much easier is that the dogs have learned commands. They will stay

wherever we put them, and if I need to call one of the dogs

out of the group to put him in another position,

I can do that without upsetting the others. Brent shoots the scene fairly quickly, but it’s always interesting how their expressions change from minute to minute, even if they stay in the same pose.”

The obvious question is if the ads have increased real

estate sales for David, and his resounding

answer is “yes!”“Clients have come my

way specifically because of the dogs,” he laughs. “I like

to say that people might not recognize me, but they sure know

my dogs. The ads are one of a kind and even if people don’t remember my name, they remember the ad, and then I’m easy to find.”

When the dogs are not in model mode, they enjoy runs in the Hitchcock Woods and walks downtown. At home they have a spacious backyard, a screened-in porch and a pool. They can watch squirrels for hours, hoping against all hope that one will be clumsy enough to fall off a branch. Occasionally this happens, and then they can’t believe their luck. They grumble like old men, snore, are social at dinner parties where they relax under the table, and believe with all their hearts that they are lap dogs.

Although David says he’s content with his three Braccos, he also muses that it might be fun to travel to Italy and see the breed in its original setting… and perhaps pick up some breeding stock while he’s there.

The advertising potential would be endless.


Ready to TrainUse the Canine Good Citizen Test to Prepare Your Dog By Loretta Emmons

Is your dog a good citizen? Is he polite, socialized and well-behaved when you take him out in public? Has he passed, or

could he pass the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen test?The Canine Good Citizen test (CGC) is a great first step in

training a dog for any activity. This test is a 10-step program designed to reward dogs for good behavior. To receive recognition as a Canine Good Citizen, the dog must pass all ten elements of the test – if it fails one, it has to take the whole test over again. The entire test is conducted with the dog on a leash wearing a plain collar. No special equipment is required or permitted.

These are the ten tests the dog must pass:1. Accept a friendly stranger. The dog must allow a stranger to

approach and shake hands with his owner. The dog may not show signs of aggression or anything other than casual interest to pass this element.

2. Sit politely while being petted. A stranger must be able to pet the dog on its head and body, while the dog shows no sign of resentment or aggression.

3. Appearance and grooming. The evaluator will look at the overall condition of the dog. A dog with matted fur, or one that won’t allow the evaluator to comb it will not pass this part of the test.

4. Walking on a loose leash. The dog must be controllable on a leash with minimal restraint. The dog may be on either side, and does not need to be at heel, but it must be obvious that he is attentive to his handler. Each pet must perform a right turn, left turn, and a u-turn with a stop midway in the routine, and another one at the end.

5. Walking through a crowd. The evaluator will ask the handler to lead the dog through a group of people. The dog may show interest in the people, but should continue to walk with its handler. If the dog shows any sign of over-exuberance, shyness or aggression, it will fail.

6. Sit and lie down on command and stay in place. The dog must sit and lie down on command. Then the owner leaves the dog sitting or lying, and asks the dog to stay. The owner leaves the dog in a stay and moves to the end of the leash (a 20 foot training lead.) Then the owner turns around and returns to the dog. The dog may not move from its position until the evaluator tells the owner to release the dog.

7. Come when called. The owner will move 10 feet from the dog, face the dog and call it. The owner may use encouragement to call the dog, but no food treats of any kind are allowed during the test.

8. Reaction to another dog. This test demonstrates that a dog can behave politely around other dogs. The evaluator will have two handlers with dogs approach each other from about 20 feet apart. They must stop, shake hands, and share pleasantries, while their dogs show no more than casual interest in one another.

9. Reaction to distraction. This will show that the dog is confident at all times, even when there are loud noises or other distractions. The distractions may include dropping an item, moving a wheel chair or shopping cart in front of the dog, or other items that a dog could conceivably encounter while in public. While a dog may be interested in the distraction, it will fail if it panics, tries to run away, shows aggressiveness or barks.

10. Supervised separation. This part of the test demonstrates that if necessary, the dog can be left with a stranger. The owner will hand the leash off to another person who will then hold the dog while the owner goes out of the dog’s sight for three minutes. The dog does not have to sit or stay still, but must not bark, pull, or cry while the owner is away.

Many owners choose to start with the CGC as a beginning to more advanced training. This program lays the foundation for other activities such as agility, tracking, obedience, and even therapy dog programs. For instance Therapy Dogs International and Heartsong Therapy Dog Troupe use the CGC as a prerequisite and key component to their assessment of therapy dogs.

While the CGC is an excellent beginning, dog trainers strongly encourage owners to continue training beyond CGC in order to develop off-leash control, increase the dog’s reliability and to further enhance the bond that has been built during CGC training.

Loretta Emmons is a certified CGC evaluatoor. She is the president of Heartsong Spay and Neuter Clinic in North Augusta. To find a CGC evaluator near you, go to www.akc.org and search under CGC evaluator.


ClassifiedsADOPTIONS18 Month Old, Spayed Female Black & White Border Collie Mix. Sweet Pea lives up to her name as to friendliness. Walks on a leash,but loves to run on the trail or in an open field. Call Sue at (803) 648-9068.Adopt a Shelter Dog or Cat from the Aiken County Animal Shelter. Make a friend; save a life. Many beautiful, healthy, friendly animals to choose from. 411 Wire Road, Aiken. See the pets at www.fotasaiken.org. 803.642.1537.Aiken SPCA. Dogs, puppies, cats and kittens for adoption. Hours of operation: Mon-Sat. 11 am - 5 pm.

weekly offsite adoptions at Aiken Petsmart, Sat 10 am- 3 pm; Sun 1:30 pm - 6:30 pm. www.spca.org. Shelter location: 401 Wire Road, Aiken. 803.643.0564 . Pointers! More than just bird dogs. Many beautiful purebred Pointers of all ages available for pets or for hunting. See them on the web at www.pointerescue.org.

ANIMAL CAREHorses And Hounds Aiken. Pet & Horse-Sitting. Reasonable Rates, Bonded and Insured, Vet Assistant. 803-643-9972/803-443-8303. [email protected]

Pet sitting, farm sitting, expert horse care. References available. Mary Jane Howell. 802.295.8294

PET PRODUCTSNatural Pet Products: Thundershirttm applies constant pressure to calm your dog. Perfect for thunderstorms, travel, & fireworks. Available at Herbal Solutions, Centre South Plaza, 722 Silver Bluff Road, Aiken, SC 29803. 803-649-9286Horse Sense Plus handcrafted English bridle leather dog collars and matching leads. Available at Dog Days Workshop, 1760 Park Ave, Aiken. 803.226.0353

TRAININGPuppy training classes at reasonable rates. Heartsong Spay Neuter Clinic. Call for appointment: 803-649-3655. www.heartsongspayneuter.comSouthside Dog Agility & Training Center is a great place to train your dog. We have a fenced training area with an obedience ring and agility equipment, including rubberized contacts. For more information, see www.SouthsideDogAgility.net

Classified ads are $20 for the first 30 words & 40 cents for every word thereafter.

Photo Classifieds are $35; (limit 40 words)Business Cards: $70 per issue, or $300 a year

(local business discount: $60 per issue or $220 per year)

[email protected] Dog & Hound, P.O. Box 332,

Montmorenci, SC 29839We accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover

Pay online: www.TheDogandHound.com Or Call us: 803.643.9960

For detailed rate sheet & publication schedule, visit

www.TheDogandHound.com advertise in the Summer 2012 issue!Advertising deadline: May 6, 2012

Publication date: June 8, 2012

Advertising in The Dog & Hound


Regional Calendar of EventsFEBRUARY2 Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of Greater Atlanta. Approved Cavalier

King Charles Spaniel. Atlanta Exposition Center South, 3850 Jonesboro Road, Atlanta, GA. Onofrio Dog Shows, 405.427.8181, [email protected], www.ckcscatlanta.org.

2 Griffin Georgia Kennel Club AB/O/JSHW/RLY Show. All AKC recognized breeds. Atlanta Exposition Center, South. 3850 Jonesboro Road, Atlanta, GA. Onofrio Dog Shows. 405.427.8181. [email protected]

3-4 United Beagle Gundog Federation Second Annual Southeast Regional Runoff. Green River Beagle Club Lincolnton, NC. www.foothillsbeagleclub.com.

3-4 Chow Chow Fanciers of Atlanta. Approved Chow Chow. Atlanta Exposition Center South, 3850 Jonesboro Road, Atlanta, GA. Onofrio Dog Shows, 405.427.8181, [email protected].

3-4 Shetland Sheepdog Club of Georgia, Inc. Approved Shetland Sheepdog. Atlanta Exposition Center South, 3850 Jonesboro Road, Atlanta, GA. Michael Kilgore, 864.905.3799, [email protected].

4 Piedmont Coon Club of South Carolina CHNH. Approved Coon Hound. Piedmont CC(SC)Clubhouse, Lugoff, SC. Jerry Freezon Sr., 803.600.5695.

4 Greater Atlanta Pug Club, Inc. Approved Pug. Atlanta Exposition Center South, 3850 Jonesboro Road, Atlanta, GA. Mrs. Vallarie Cuttie, 770.927.6415, [email protected].

4 Atlanta Golden Retriever Club. Approved Golden Retriever. Atlanta Exposition Center South, 3850 Jonesboro Road, Atlanta, GA. Onofrio Dog Shows, 405.427.8181, [email protected], www.smkcga.com.

4-5 Charlotte Dog Training Club Obedience Show and Rally. Approved all AKC-Recognized Breeds, All American Dogs / Mixed Breeds. Piedmont Kennel Club Showplace, 13607 Choate Circle, Charlotte, NC. Ginger Robertson, 912.308.1007, [email protected], www.charlottedogtraining.com

5 Lawrenceville Kennel Club, Inc. AB/O/JSHW/RLY Show. All AKC-Recognized Breeds. Atlanta Exposition Center South, 3850 Jonesboro Road, Atlanta, GA. Onofrio Dog Shows, 405.427.8181, [email protected], www.lawrencevillekc.org.

6-18 Aiken County Animal Shelter half price adoption special!! Aiken County Shelter, Wire Road, Aiken, SC. www.fotasaiken.org.

10-11 Sandhill Beagle Club Field Trial. Boy & Chewing Road, Cheraw, SC. Eddie Brock, 843.253.2871.

10-12 Lazy J Classic Sheep Dog Trial. Carnesville, GA. Dawn Boyce, 706.335.6323, [email protected], www.usbcha.com.

11 Aiken County Animal Shelter Pets featured for adoption at PetSmart on Whiskey Road. www.fotusaiken.org.

11 Sighthounds on the Lam. Lure coursing at the Polo Field in Camden. Jennifer Ng. [email protected].

11-12 Vizsla Club of the Carolinas HT. Approved HT Pointing Breed. Armenia Hill Fleming Farms, 2917 Armenia Road, Chester, SC. Beth Kirven, 803.796.0876, [email protected], www.carolinavizsla.org.

11-12 Labrador Retriever Club of the Piedmont S/O/JSHW/SWPC/RLY Show. Approved Labrador Retriever. Piedmont Kennel Club Showplace, 13607 Choate Circle, Charlotte, NC. Ms. Libby Flowerree, 704.782.5706, [email protected], www.piedmontlabclub.com.

11-12 Atlanta Terrier Club Earth Dog Trial. Approved all Earthdogs. The Canine Ranch, 165 Doug Smith Lane, Canton, GA. Carolyn Wolters, 770.889.7156, [email protected], www.atlantaterrierclub.org.

12 Durham Kennel Club Tracking Excellent (Outdoors). All AKC recognized breeds. Quail Roost Farm, Roxboro Highway, Rougemont, NC. Elizabeth Rende, 919.381.6755, [email protected], www.akc.org.

13-14 Westminster Kennel Club Show. All AKC-Recognized breeds. Madison Square Garden Center, 2 Pennsylvania Plaza, NYC, New York. www.westminsterkennelclub.org.

15-Mar 7 Canine Conditioning Class. Wednesdays at 6:30 pm. $100. Improve strength, balance, endurance and flexibility, and learn how to prevent injuries. Aiken Pet Fitness and Rehabilitation, 307 Willow Run Road, Aiken SC. 803.226.0012, [email protected].

16 Bulldog Club of Greenville Show. Pended Bulldog. TD Convention Center, 1 Expositon Avenue, Greenville, SC. Libby Sigmon, 704.798.1827, [email protected], www.bulldogclubofgreenvillesc.org.

17 Hendersonville Kennel Club AB/O/JSHW/RLY Show. All AKC recognized breeds. TD Convention Center, 1 Exposition Avenue, Greenville, SC. 336.379.9352, [email protected].

17-18 Greenville Kennel Club AB/O/JSHW/RLY Show. All AKC recognized breeds. TD Convention Center, 1 Exposition Avenue, Greenville, SC. 336.379.9352, [email protected].

17-19 Savannah Dog Training Club Agility Trial. All AKC-Recognized Breeds, All American Dogs / Mixed Breeds. Guy Minick Youth Sports Complex, 7200 Sally Mood Drive, Savannah, GA. Laurene Galgano, 757.481.4854, [email protected], www.savannahdogtrainingclub.com.

17-19 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Madison Square Garden, NY. www.westminsterkennelclub.org.

18 Newfoundland Club of America, Inc. Show. Approved Newfoundland. TD Convention Center, 1 Exposition Avenue, Greenville, SC. 336.379.9352, [email protected], www.ncanewfs.org.

19 Shetland Sheepdog Club of Spartanburg, Inc. Show. Approved Shetland Sheepdog. TD Convention Center, 1 Exposition Avenue, Greenville, SC. 336.379.9352, [email protected].

19 Spartanburg Kennel Club, Inc. AB/O/JSHW/RLY Show. All AKC-Recognized Breeds. TD Convention Center, 1 Exposition Avenue, Greenville, SC. 336.379.9352, [email protected], www.spartanburgkc.org.

19 English Cocker Spaniel Club of America, Inc. Show. Approved English Cocker Spaniel. TD Convention Center, 1 Exposition Avenue, Greenville, SC. 336.379.9352, [email protected], www.ecsca.org.

19 Winston-Salem Dog Training Club, Inc. Tracking Excellent (Outdoors). All AKC recognized breeds. 3800 Bethania Station Road, Winston-Salem, NC. Louisa Arendt, 336.408.1494, [email protected], www.akc.org.

23 German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Atlanta Field Trial. Pended FT Pointing Breed. Luke Weaver’s Farm, Jackson, GA. Ms. Carol Simmons, 770.967.2105, [email protected], www.gspcatlanta.com.

24 Palmetto Retriever Club Field Trial. Approved FT Retriever. H. Cooper Black Jr. Memorial Field Trial Area, Patrick, SC. Julie Janke, 843.362.0406, [email protected].

24 Poplar Branch Beagle Club Field Trial. Approved Beagle. Poplar Branch Beagle Club Running Grounds, Moore Road, Aiken, SC. Ms. Barbara Brooks, 803.360.8024, [email protected], www.foothillsbeagleclub.com.

24-25 Poplar Branch Gundog Brace Trial. Poplar Branch Beagle Club Running Grounds, Moore Road, Aiken, SC. Approved Beagle. Ms. Barbara Brooks, 803.564.6551, [email protected]. gov, www.foothillsbeagleclub.com.

24-26 Winston-Salem Dog Training Club, Inc. and the Carolina Piedmont Agility Club Agility Trial. Lone Hickory Indoor Arena, 1950 Bethel Church Road, Yadkinville, NC. 843.768.8452, [email protected].

25 German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Atlanta Field Trial. Approved FT Pointing Breed. Luke Weaver’s Farm, Jackson, GA. Ms. Carol Simmons, 770.967.2105, [email protected], www.gspcatlanta.com.

25 North Georgia Beagle Club HT. Approved Beagle. 1100 Milford Road, Townville, SC. Julie Lovely, 706.867.1439.

25-26 Bulldog Club of Metropolitan Atlanta S/SWPC Show. Approved Bulldog. Haralson County Livestock Pavillion, 1812 Macedonia Church Road, Buchanan, GA. Allison Palmer, 404.694.8580, [email protected].

25-26 Chattahoochee English Springer Spaniel Club Greater Atlanta HT. Approved HT Spaniel. Minkiewicz Running Grounds, Bowman, GA. Marilyn Burke, 678.643.3007, [email protected], www.cesscga.org.

25-26 Carolina K9 Sport Club Agility Trial. PBH Training Center, 5314 Farrington Road, Chapel Hill, NC. Shannon Jones, www.usdaa.com.

28 Coonhound Nite Hunt hosted by the Tri-county Coonhunters Association. Approved Coonhound. Tri Co CHA SC Clubhouse, Trenton, SC. Ben Brown Jr., 803.643.0002.

MARCH2-3 South Carolina State Coon Hunters Association CHNH. Approved Coon

Hound. Orangeburg County Fairgrounds, 350 Magnolia Street, Orangeburg, SC. 919.816.3909, [email protected], www.sccoonhunters.com.

2-3 Tuckasegee Beagle Club AKC SPO. Tuckasegee Beagle Club, Club Grounds, Ellenboro, NC. Barbara McKay, 803.377.1179.

3 Boykin Spaniel Club and Breeders Association of America HT. Approved HT Spaniel. Oak Grove Plantation and Rocky Creek Sporting Clays, Richburg, SC. Gregg Parker, 912.429.4607, [email protected], www.BoykinSpanielClub.org.

4 Tarheel Weimaraner Club VST. Approved All AKC-Recognized Breeds. Sandhills Community College, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst, NC. Helen Sanderford, 919.693.2637, [email protected], www.ncweimaraner.org.

9 American Chesapeake Club, Inc. HT. Approved HT Retriever. Cooper Black Wildlife Management Area, Cheraw, SC. Beverly Post, 803.637.2094, [email protected], www.amchessieclub.org.

9-10 Green River Beagle Club AKC SPO. Approved Beagle. Green River Beagle Club Running Grounds, 518 Springs East Road, Lincolnton, NC. Jake Lail, 704.482.6386.

9-11 Charlotte Dog Training Club AG. Approved All AKC-Recognized Breeds, All American Dogs/Mixed Breeds. Piedmont Kennel Club Showplace, 13607 Choate Circle, Charlotte, NC. Karen Wlodarski, 843.882.1709, [email protected], www.charlottedogtraining.com.

9-11 Four Paw Agility Club of North Georgia AG. Approved All AKC-Recognized Breeds, All American Dogs/Mixed Breeds. Wills Park Equestrian Center, Wills Coliseum, 11915 Wills Road, Alpharetta, GA. Jane Mohr, 615.406.3380, [email protected].


10 Tokeena Beagle Club HT. Approved Beagle. Pine Grove Road, Seneca, SC. Adam Blackwell, 864.985.3300, [email protected].

10-11 Atlanta Obedience Club, Inc. O. Approved All AKC-Recognized Breeds, All American Dogs/Mixed Breeds. Atlanta Obedience Club Building, 1193-D Beaver Ruin Road, Norcross, GA. Mary Keenan, 770.513.4963, [email protected], www.atlantaobedienceclub.com.

11 Oconee River Kennel Club TR. Approved All AKC-Recognized Breeds. Charles Osborne Farm, 1611 Cedar Road, Watkinsville, GA. Margaret White, 706.546.8530, [email protected], www.oconeeriverkennelclub.org.

16-18 Tarheel Beagle Club AKC Gundog Brace. Approved Beagle. Tarheel Running Ground, 725 Warp Drive, Cleveland, NC. Wayne S Adams, 336.244.1149, [email protected] , www .basenji-club.c om.

16-18 Canine Capers Agility Club of Greater Atlanta AG. Approved All AKC-Recognized Breeds, All American Dogs/Mixed Breeds. Wills Park Equestrian Center, Wills Coliseum, 11915 Wills Road, Alpharetta, GA. Chris Danielly, 770.787.7470, [email protected], www.caninecapersagility.com.

17 Whitmire Coonhunters Association CHNH. Approved Coon Hound. Clubhouse, Whitmire, SC. Roger Enlow, 864.923.5431, [email protected].

17-18 Busy Dog Agility. Open. Wills Park Equestrian Center, 11915 Wills Road, Alpharetta, GA. Allison Bryant, 770.893.3647.

17-18 Afghan Hound Club of America, Inc. LCTS/LCTR. Approved Sighthound. Polo Field, 130 Polo Lane, Camden, SC. Larry Richards, 704.483.6269, [email protected].

21 Savannah River Valley Beagle Club FT. Approved Beagle. Club Grounds, Edgefield, SC. Jan H. Robertson, 803.309.3230, [email protected] Foothills Beagle Club AKC Gundog Brace FT. Approved Beagle. Foothills Beagle Club, 417 Oak Hill Road, Belton, SC. Lewis Wilson, 864.288.3681 l, wilson534@char ter.net.24-25 Dog Obedience Club of Greenville, Inc. O/RLY. Approved All AKC-Recognized Breeds, All American Dogs/Mixed Breeds. Simpsonville Senior and Activity Center, 310 West Curtis Street, Simpsonville, SC. Christopher Brooks, 864.292.0876, [email protected] Sighthounds on the Lam. Lure coursing at the Polo Field in Camden. Jennifer Ng. [email protected] Dogwood Rottweiler Club of Metropolitan Atlanta HRTS/HRTR. Approved HRD Event Breed. Sugre Herding Facility, 6985 Matt Highway, Cumming, GA. Charles Wiggins, 770.887.9195, [email protected], www.dogwoodrottweilerclub.com.

26 Black Jack Beagle Club FT. Approved Beagle. Club Grounds, Bishopville, SC. David P. Boyce, 803.774.3800, [email protected].

27 Tri-County Coonhunters Association CHNH. Approved Coon Hound. Tri Co CHA SC Clubhouse, Trenton, SC. Ben Brown, 803.643.0002.

29-30 Charlotte Dog Training Club O/AG/RLY. Approved All AKC-Recognized Breeds, All American Dogs/Mixed Breeds. Cabarrus Arena and Events Center, 4751Highway 49 North, Concord, NC. www.charlottedogtraining.com.

30-31 North Georgia Beagle Club SPO/FT Trial. Approved Beagle. North Georgia Beagle Club Grounds, Dawsonville, GA. Julie Lovely, 706.867.1439.

31 Newnan Kennel Club. Approved All AKC-Recognized Breeds. Coweta County Fairground, 275 Pine Road, Newnan, GA. www.newnankennelclub.org. Onofrio Dog Shows, L.L.C., 405.427.8181, [email protected].

31 Central Carolina English Setter Club. Approved English Setter. Cabarrus Arena and Events Center, 4751 Highway 49, North Concord, NC. 336.379.9352, [email protected] www.ccesc.net.

31-Apr 1 Atlanta Retriever Club HT. Approved HT Retriever. Day Didier Farm, Moreland, GA. Kate Hovan, 404.680.5256, [email protected].

31-Apr 1 Greater Monroe Kennel Club AB/O/JSHW/RLY. Approved All AKC-Recognized Breeds. Cabarrus Arena and Events Center, 4751 Highway 49, North Concord, NC. 336.379.9352, [email protected], www.greatermonroekc.com.

APRIL1 Douglasville Kennel Club of Georgia, Inc. Approved All AKC-Recognized

Breeds. Coweta County Fairground, 275 Pine Road, Newnan, GA. 405.427.8181, [email protected].

1 Central Carolina English Setter Club. Approved English Setter. Cabarrus Arena and Events Center, 4751 Highway 49, North Concord, NC. 336.379.9352, [email protected], www.ccesc.net.

1 Salisbury North Carolina Kennel Club. Approved All AKC-Recognized Breeds. Cabarrus Arena and Events Center, 4751 Highway 49, North Concord, NC. 336.379.9352, [email protected], www.salisburynckc.com.

3 Sampson County Coonhunters Association CHNH/CHBS. Approved Coon Hound. Sampson CO CHA Clubhouse, Clinton, NC. Jeffrey Robinson, 910.531.3672.

6-8 Greater Columbia Obedience Club Inc. AG. Approved All AKC-Recognized Breeds, All American Dogs/Mixed Breeds. South Congaree Horse Arena, 301 Oak Street, West Columbia, SC. Karen Wlodarski, 843.696.2892, [email protected], www.gcoc.net.

7-8 Piedmont Kennel Club, Inc. Approved All AKC-Recognized Breeds. Piedmont Kennel Club Showplace, 13607 Choate Circle, Charlotte, NC. 336.379.9352, [email protected].

7 Hall County Coon Hunters Association CHNH/CHBS/CHWR. Approved Coon Hound. Hall County CHA Clubhouse, Gainesville, GA. Jason Grindle, 678.997.6236, [email protected].

7 Scottish Terrier Club of Greater Atlanta. Approved Scottish Terrier. Jim Miller Park, 2245 Callaway Road SW, Marietta, GA. Rhea Spence, 770.784.6543, [email protected].

8 Dachshund Club of America, Inc. VST. Approved All AKC-Recognized Breeds. Gainesville State College, 3820 Mundy Mill Road, Oakwood, GA. Don Mayhall, 770.396.6542, [email protected], www.dachshund-dca.org.

10 Dachshund Club of America, Inc. TR/TX. Approved Dachshund. Braswell Farms, Kings Bridge Road Areas off Hwy 441N, Athens, GA. Don Mayhall, 770.396.6542, [email protected], www.dachshund-dca.org.

11-12 Dachshund Club of Metropolitan Atlanta FT. Approved Dachshund. Lookout Beagle Club’s Running Grounds, Rock Spring, GA. Janet M Schwalbe, 706.693.7142, [email protected], www.dcma-atl.org.

12-13 Atlanta Kennel Club, Inc. AG. Pended All AKC-Recognized Breeds, All American Dogs/Mixed Breeds. Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter, 401 Larry Walker Parkway, Perry, GA. Jim Macke, 770.667.1878, [email protected], www.atlantakennelclub.org.

12-15 Georgia Dog Show. Approved All AKC-Recognized Breeds. Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter, 401 Larry Walker Parkway, Perry, GA. 405.427.8181, [email protected].

13-15 Sirius Dog Agility. Wills Park, 11915 Wills Road, Alpharetta, GA. Meryl Sheard, 404.966.1984.

14 Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of America. Approved Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Piedmont Kennel Club Showplace, 13607 Choate Circle, Charlotte, NC. www.sbtca.com

14 German Shepherd Dog Club of Greater Charlotte. Approved German Shepherd Dog. Piedmont Kennel Club Showplace, 13607 Choate Circle, Charlotte, NC. Patti Hart, 704.792.0680, [email protected].

14-15 AKC National SPO Championship Run-Off. UBGF Running Grounds, 1150 Millshed Road, Jetson, KY. www.ugbf.org.

14-15 Dachshund Club of Metropolitan Atlanta ED. Approved All Earthdogs. Lookout Beagle Club’s Running Grounds, Rock Spring, GA. Gail LaBerge, 770.271.7246, [email protected], www.dcma-atl.org.

17-18,20 Dachshund Club of Metropolitan Atlanta S/O/JSHW. Approved Dachshund. Callaway Gardens, GA Hwy 18/354, Pine Mountain, GA . www.dcma-atl.org.

20-22 Atlanta Obedience Club. Wills Park, 11915 Wills Road, Alpharetta, GA. Elise Merkin, 770.982.2453.

21 Susie Rosier Character of Fitness 5K Run/Walk to benefit the Barnwell County Animal Shelter No & Low Cost Spay & Neuter program. Barnwell Veterans Park. Dogs welcome! Register online at www.dogwoodanimal.net.

21 Walk for Paws. Open. Wills Park, 11915 Wills Road, Alpharetta, GA. Lizbeth Grall, 678.762.7729.

21-22 Carolina Cocker Club. Approved Cocker Spaniel. E.Clarkson Rhame Memorial Arena, Broad Street, Camden, SC. Robert McKinney, 540.540.1515, [email protected].

21-23 Atlanta Obedience Club, Inc. AG. Pended All AKC-Recognized Breeds, All American Dogs/Mixed Breeds, Wills Park Equestrian Center, Wills Coliseum, 11915 Wills Road, Alpharetta, GA. Donna Slavin, 706.254.3451, [email protected], www.atlantaobedienceclub.com.

28-29 North Georgia All Breed Herding Dog Association HRTS/HRTR. Approved HRD Event Breed. Woods End Farm, Farmington, GA. Gay Silva, 706.468.6856, [email protected].

MAY4-6 UBGF United Beagle Gundog Federation Championship Run-Off. UBGF

Running Grounds, 1150 Millshed Road, Jetson, KY. www.ugbf.org. 5-6 Labrador Retriever Club of the Piedmont HT. Approved HT Retriever.

H. Cooper Black Jr. Memorial Field Trial Area, Patrick, SC. Deborah Prince, 704.609.7618, [email protected], www.piedmontlabclub.com.

11-13 Canaan Dog Club of America AG. Pended All AKC-Recognized Breeds, All American Dogs/Mixed Breeds. T.Ed Garrison Arena, 1101 W. Queen Street, Pendleton, SC. Laurene Galgano, 757.481.4854, [email protected], www.cdca.org.

12-13 Greater Columbia Obedience Club Inc. O/RLY. Pended All AKC-Recognized Breeds, All American Dogs/Mixed Breeds. South Carolina State Fairgrounds, Rosewood Drive, Columbia, SC. Chris Brooks, 864.292.0876, [email protected], www.gcoc.net.

18 North Georgia Hound Association AG. Pended All AKC-Recognized Breeds, All American Dogs/Mixed Breeds. Jim Miller Park, 2245 Callaway Road SW, Marietta, GA. Karen Wlodarski, 843.696.2892, [email protected], www.northgeorgiahounds.org.

24-26 National Cattle Dog Finals. Redding, IA. www.nationalcattledogfinals.com.


“We’ve probably had 20 or 30 dogs there at one time,” says Stephen. “They all get along and it’s just spectacular.”

The Beer Garden is closed during the winter months and will be open from St. Patrick’s Day on, Tuesday through Saturday. (www.rosehillestate.com)Dog Friendly WalkingPlaces where you can take your dog for a walk in Aiken include the Aiken Dog Park (which is the city’s only designated off-leash area) as well as all the city parks, with the exception of the sports fields at Citizen’s Park on Powder House Road. Many people don’t know that dogs are also welcome in such places as Hopeland Gardens on Whiskey Road

and Virginia Acres Park, which is the park surrounding the Odell Weeks activities center. Dogs are also allowed to walk on the trails of the Carolina Bay Nature Reserve, which is across the street from Virginia Acres, between Two Notch and Whiskey Roads.

“All dogs have to be on a leash,” says Lisa Hall, who is a supervisor for the City of Aiken Parks and Recreation department. “And we do ask that you clean up after your dogs and don’t allow them into any of the water features.”

The Hitchcock Woods, which is owned and maintained by the Hitchcock Woods Foundation, is also a popular place for dog walkers. Dogs do not have to be on a leash in the Woods, but they do have to be under control at all times and are never allowed to be out of their owner’s sight. Dogs that walk in the woods should expect to encounter horses, since one of the primary uses for the area is horseback riding. They are also not allowed in the Woods when the Aiken Hounds are hunting there. This happens twice a week during the season (October through March), on Tuesdays and Saturdays. There is no entrance fee but anyone who appreciates the resource and enjoys using it is strongly

encouraged to become a Friend of the Woods, which costs $50 per year per household. (www.hitchcockwoods.org)

The Aiken Land Conservancy maintains a number of properties where dogs are welcome. These include Winthrop Polo Field on Mead Avenue, where dogs walkers share the space with polo players and other people enjoying their horses. Another ALC property that is popular with dog owners is Boyd Pond Park on Aiken’s Southside, which was once the recreation facility for employees of the Savannah River Site. It includes 92 acres and has many miles of walking, hiking and mountain biking trails. Dogs are required to be on a leash on all ALC properties.Coon Hound ExtravaganzaAiken’s traditional hound population is dominated by foxhounds, but the South is really coonhound territory. Anyone who doubted that would have all doubts dispelled with a visit to the United Kennel Club Grand American Coon Hunt at the Orangeburg County Fairgrounds from January 6 through 8. The Grand American Coon Hunt, which started in 1966, is the billed as the largest field trial for coonhounds in the nation. The event includes a bench show, a raccoon-treeing contest and a field trial. It attracts hundreds of hounds and as many as 30,000 hunters and spectators every year.

Coonhounds are an American type of hound specifically developed for trailing and treeing raccoons. They come in many different varieties, including black and tan, blue tick, redbone, treeing walker and plott. (The plott hound is the state dog of North Carolina.)

The field trials (there are two qualifying nights and a final) take place after midnight in the swamp, and so are something that only a real enthusiast would go watch. The bench show and the treeing contest take place at the fairgrounds during the day. For the treeing contest, a tame raccoon in a cage is shown to the hound. The cage is then hoisted high into a tree and the hound is released. The contest is judged on how energetically the hound jumps up the tree, baying at the raccoon. At Saturday’s contest, some of the hounds were excited, a few didn’t seem to care, while a few were positively possessed.

The raccoons (they switched them out periodically) seemed bored by the whole process – perhaps they had done this before and knew that no dog would be able to harm them.

Competitors came to Orangeburg from around the nation – there were pickup trucks at the fairgrounds with license plates from Florida, Alabama, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Indiana and Connecticut, to name a few. Many of the hunters spent the afternoon sitting in the sun with their hounds, waiting for the nighttime action. In addition to the hounds that were entered in the trial, there were also puppies for sale, as well as vendors selling all kinds of coon hunting accoutrements. Pretty much everywhere you looked, there were hounds. Although the vast majority were working hunters, there were a few spoiled dogs in the bunch, too. One beautiful red tick bitch won her class at

the bench show while being handled by her breeder. The breeder handed the hound back to the owner, who instantly hugged the hound around the neck. The breeder shook her head. “Yes,” she said. “You can tell that dog sleeps in the bed.”

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Spring 2012

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Transcript of Spring 2012