ThePresident’sLetter Hello members,,

I hope that everyone is enjoying the warm weather (mostly) and managing to keep ourselves and our dogs cool enough in the hottest part of the day. Cold bathroom floors and basements seem to be the resting locations of choice this season.

Summer is a particularly fun season for those of us who have access to water. Although not all of our noble breed take to it with particular gusto, it’s always a pleasure to see them fly into the water on sight – unless of course that “water” is a mud puddle! I loved seeing our nearly 12 year old girl go leaping into the water to take herself for a swim when we arrived at the lake yesterday. Although I’ve never done any formal training with her, and she’s had little exposure to water, it takes an extra effort to find open swimmable water in Alberta, the instincts are all there. Both my dogs are far better natural retrievers in the water than they are on land.

And is it any wonder! Reading through our dogs’ history in this Waterlog issue highlights not only their physical swimming abilities but their intelligence and versatility. Although there is no longer work on fishing boats we’ve seen just how adaptable they are to all kinds of other work be it racing through an agility ring, understanding the finer points of obedience, hunting down barn critters or pulling a sled. Did you notice the water dog decked out in a fancy harness carting a child around in her toy cart nearly 75 years ago!

With Water and Scent trials coming up in both Ontario and Alberta over the next few months it looks like our working dogs will be out in force. Congratulations son working with your dogs to bring them to Trial level and good luck to all the participants – we’ll all get to see the results in upcoming Waterlogs!

Have a safe and fun filled rest of the summer.

Mindy Selby PWDCC President