President’s Report – April 2026
President’s Report – April 2026
It’s been a bit of time since my last President’s message. As Spring moves closer and closer to Summer, spending time with my dogs is my passion. Tica and I share new experiences every day. I notice when she is presented with something new, she takes in the moment, processes and challenges herself. I love watching this important development! I love that she has a wee bit of common sense too.
Yankee Chapter’s Training Clinics are designed to do just that — expose your pups and dogs to new sounds, smells, and adventures! I’m sure you couldn’t miss Trent Robbins’ amazing array of agility equipment at our last clinic. Huge confidence-building equipment kept many dogs challenging themselves. But there was so much more: gunshots at a safe distance for the young dogs, meet-and-greets with dogs of all sizes and colors, equipment banging as it was loaded onto UTVs for the field, UTVs buzzing around, and our wonderful youth members giving puppies a cuddle, supporting our activities, and creating a few of their own.
Weather conditions have warmed the waters, so it’s time to focus on more water exposure and drills at our events. If you have never walked to the Kennebec River at the Green Point WMA, do it! High tide will be at 2:00 PM on clinic day. Tica met a 120 lb. Chesapeake Bay Retriever there last week! After a short greeting, the two were tearing up and down the shoreline and water. I highly recommend a friendly 120 lb. Chessie for water introduction.
Before our last event, we published a photo on Facebook with a whole bunch of new Yankee Chapter bumpers headed for training drills. Interestingly, I had a couple of comments as a result of that post. A member of an Alaskan Chapter thanked us and commented, “We are always watching what Yankee does at events!” Another chapter liked our group drills! We are so very fortunate to have the trainers, gunners, bird planters, UTV and trailer haulers, cooks, registration volunteers, and so much more! Behind the scenes, every person on the registration list is emailed or called, requesting they support one of our stations for a couple of hours during the day. I am always impressed with the positive responses. Thank you!
Hopefully, I will see lots of you at Yankee Chapter’s Test Prep Workshop on the 17th at Merrymeeting Kennels. See more information in this email. Surprise, surprise! I am listed as the BAD HANDLER.
In closing, I want to mention the hard work of our Yankee Chapter Training Committee! We meet the Monday before the clinic. Brian Pike reports on the results of our sign-up questionnaire and we prepare accordingly. We establish leadership at each of our training stations. Tyler assesses birds ordered versus sign-up numbers. Our goal is to help you train your dog by training the trainer. Without birds, it’s impossible. The Committee unanimously chose to add 20 chukar to our order. As it was, not all sign-ups attended the event, leaving us with 20 leftover birds. As a committee member expressed, “Too many is ok, too few does not support our mission.”
I love this chapter and thank you all for your part!
See ya all soon,
Patti