Kyneton Obedience Dog Club will celebrate its 40th year of operation this weekend with special guests including Mary-Anne Thomas MP and local councillors in attendance.
KODC president John Flynn has been involved in the club for about 15 years, and said there were others who had been involved for much longer. He believes its success and longevity is due to the club’s simplicity.
“I only rocked up because I had a dog and needed to work on it. I found it to be very friendly, so I stuck around,” Flynn said.
“The pleasing thing was, there wasn’t anything pushy about it. It’s basically there for people to understand their dogs, rather than a more serious type training. It’s just a club.
“I always thought the nice thing about it was, you’re on an oval, it doesn’t matter if you rock up in a Maserati or a ute, you’re all treated the same. And it’s true, there were Maseratis and utes.
“We’re all volunteers. There’s no money. Great friendships are made.”
There are four different classes in the school aimed at improving the relationship between the dog and the handler. In the beginner class, for example, dogs are taught to complete 30 seconds of sitting and staying in a single position alongside their owner. In the highest level class, dogs are taught to sit down and stay in a single position for three minutes while the owner is out of sight of the dog.
Flynn said most dogs didn’t receive the level of socialisation and stimulation provided at these training sessions and added, they were extremely fatigued by the session’s end. He described the nature of the club by admitting his four-year-old cocker spaniel George was far from perfect.
“[People must think] surely if you are the president you must have a pretty damn perfect dog,” he said.
“He’s far from it. He certainly isn’t high up in the calibre. He’s been there a long time, but his saving grace is he is good at getting on with other dogs.”
The KODC has been involved in many community events across the years and was recently had its dogs and handlers involved in the Daffodil Festival parade. Past members are invited to attend this weekend’s celebrations, which include a barbecue, tea and cakes from 10.40am, after the regular scheduled training at Barkly Square.
