Activities
BKC members participate in a wide variety of activities with, about, and for dogs. Read more about how you can get involved.
- Annual Awards Program
- "Badger Buddies" Therapy Dogs
- Canine Good Citizenship Testing
- Donations: Outreach & Public Education
- Field Events
- Legislative Liaison & News
- Lure Coursing
- Tattoo Clinics
- Tracking
BKC Annual Awards Program
Annually, the BKC holds an Awards Program to present plaques to members who have earned AKC and non-AKC titles on their dogs. Additionally, Special Achievement awards are presented to BKC members whose dogs have earned AKC and non-AKC titles or whose dogs have received special recognition during the previous year.
Additionally a Service Award is presented to one BKC member per award year who has made an outstanding contribution to BKC.
- 2004 Service Award - Phoebe Maloney
- 2003 Service Award - Jane Arneal
- 2002 Service Award - Ellen Ferch
Awards are presented at the BKC General Meeting the third Thursday of April.
Badger Buddies
The Badger Buddies, a therapy dog group within Badger Kennel Club, make their dogs available to children or sick and elderly persons for petting and interaction at no charge to recipients. The Buddies try to provide a therapeutic experience of the human/animal bond to isolated or institutionalized children or adults. The majority visit nursing homes on a monthly basis. Some have been visiting other institutions, such as the Mendota Mental Health Institute and the UW Children's Hospital.
If you have questions or would like more information about BKC's Badger Buddies, please contact Cheryl at 608/348-2380
Read more about training your dog to be a therapy dog in the books:
- Volunteering with your pet: how to get involved in animal assisted therapy with any kind of pet by Mary R. Burch (Howell Book House, ©1996)
- Therapy dogs: training your dog to reach others, by Kathy Diamond Davis, ©1992
Canine Good Citizenship Testing
The AKC Canine Good Citizenship test demonstrates that the dog, as a companion of man, can be a respected member of the community, and can be trained to always behave in the home, in public places and in the presence of other dogs in a manner that will reflect credit on the dog. Testing is offered periodically.
If you have questions or would like more information about canine good citizenship testing, please contact Judy at 608/848-6816 .
Donations
BKC provides donations for the purchase of local library materials devoted to public and member education about dogs and dog training. Contact the club secretary for more information.
Field Events
Whenever
you take your Beagle for a walk his nose doesn't leave the ground. If
a squirrel crosses his path you know he'd follow it all the way up the
tree if he could. Wouldn't it be great if he had a way to show that instinct
off to the rest of the world?
Your Weimaraner would hunt all day if you could. But hunting season is only a few weeks long, and you can see that the rest of the time he's bored silly. How can you and he spend more time enjoying the sport you both love?
AKC Field Events are open to pointing breeds, retrievers, spaniels, Beagles,
Basset Hounds, and Dachshunds over the age of 6 months and registered
with the AKC. This includes dogs with Limited Registrations; however,
dogs with ILP (Indefinite Listing Privilege) numbers are eligible only
for hunting tests.
Anyone can handle their own dog in these events. Or, if you wish, you
can hire a professional handler.
In Hunting Tests, the dog's ability to perform is judged against a standard of perfection established by the AKC Rules; theoretically, every dog can be a winner! Dogs receiving Qualifying Scores at a number of tests achieve titles of Junior Hunter (JH), Senior Hunter (SH) and Master Hunter (MH); each successive title requires more skill. If you have a good hunting dog, you probably would be able to earn a Junior Hunter title with only a moderate amount of work. Your success in Hunting Tests should lead you further into the sport.
In Field Trials, the dogs compete against each other for placements and points toward their championships. Successful dogs earn an F.C. (Field Champion) title in front of their names on AKC records. Dogs can also earn Amateur Field Championships in Amateur Stakes.
Field Events are divided by subgroups of dogs (i.e.: Spaniels, Retrievers, etc.) and sometimes limited to specific breeds. Each type of event varies according to the breed's function.
Visit AKC's "Getting started in Field Events" for more information about AKC Field Events.
Legislative Liaison & News
The Badger Kennel Club's legislative liaison committee monitors legislative activities at the national, Wisconsin state and local levels, that affect dogs and dog owners. The committee interacts with state legislators and agency staff, as well as local units of government, as necessary, in an effort to ensure that appropriate legislation, administrative rules and local ordinances are enacted and enforced. An additional duty of the committee is to be aware of the involvement of the American Dog Owners Association, American Kennel Club, United Kennel Club and Dog Federation of Wisconsin in dog legislation matters.
Check out pending legislation and voice your opinions to your legislator. For additional information contact Bette at 608/437-5810.
Current dog legislation information can be found at:
- American Dog Owners Association, Inc.
- American Kennel Club, Inc. Canine Legislation News
- Breed-Specific Legislation Update
- Dog Federation of Wisconsin, Inc.
Lure Coursing
About Lure Coursing (courtesy AKC)
"If you own one of the breeds known as a "Sighthound" you may be interested in Lure Coursing, in which dogs follow an artificial lure around a course on an open field. Coursing dogs are scored on speed, enthusiasm, agility, endurance, and their ability to follow the lure. The eligible breeds are: Whippets, Basenjis, Greyhounds, Afghan Hounds, Borzois, Ibizan Hounds, Pharaoh Hounds, Irish Wolfhounds, Scottish Deerhounds, Salukis and Rhodesian Ridgebacks. Coursing is a great way to keep your hound physically and mentally fit."
For
more information, contact the:
Kevin Carlson, 5931 N 71ST St, Milwaukee, WI 53218-1821
To learn more about lure coursing, visit the AKC Getting Started Series: Getting Started in Performance Events
Tattoo Clinics
To visibly, permanently, and positively identify your dog, consider a tattoo. A tattoo may be applied (to dogs as young as 5 weeks) in only a few minutes, is completely painless and requires no anesthesia.
A canine's epidermis is very thin and even; therefore, the tattoo need not penetrate the skin more than the thickness of a dime. Tactile sensory nerves within the epidermis allows the dog to feel surface contact, but not pain. The tattoo needle never reaches the pain-detecting nerve endings. They feel the vibration of the marker, but that is all.
Once you have your dog tattooed, register the tattoo. An unregistered tattoo is in most cases completely worthless. The tattoo number needs to be reliably linked to its owner's and/or dog's identity. For example, the National Dog Registry (1-800-637-3647) will register your dog's number for a one-time fee. That way, if a tattoo is found on a lost dog, the tattoo number can be phoned in to identify the owner.
Each year, millions of pets are lost or stolen for sale to puppy mills, dog fighting operations and research laboratories, never to be seen again because they had no permanent traceable identification to indicate ownership.
BKC usually offers a low-cost tattoo clinic in conjunction with its annual dog show and obedience trial held in May of each year. Additional clinics may be held during the year.
Tracking
About Tracking Trials (courtesy AKC)
"We've all seen countless movies of dogs following the trail of an escapee through swamps. The AKC's Tracking Trials allow dogs to demonstrate their natural ability to recognize and follow human scent. This vigorous outdoor activity is great for canine athletes. Unlike Obedience events that require a dog to qualify 3 times, a dog must successfully complete only one track to earn his title.
Tracking Dog: A dog earns a TD by following a track laid by a human from
30 minutes to 2 hours before. The rules describe certain turns in a 440
to 500 yard track.
Tracking Dog Excellent: A TDX is earned by following an "older"
(3 to 5 hours), longer (800 to 1,000 yard) track with more turns while
overcoming both physical and scenting obstacles.
Variable Surface Tracking: In the real world, dogs track through urban
settings, as well as through wilderness. A VST dog has demonstrated this
ability by following a 3 to 5 hours-old track that may take him down a
street, through a building and other areas devoid of vegetation. "
For more information, visit the AKC Getting Started Series: Getting Started in Obedience and Tracking or read more about training your dog for tracking in the books:
- Fun nosework for dogs by Hunter (©1996)
- Practical scent dog training by Button (©1990)
- Puppy tracking primer by Carolyn Krause (©1992)
- Tracking from the ground up by Sandy Ganz (©1992)
Last modified:
December 10, 2006
Badger Kennel Club, Inc. 24-hour InfoLine: 608-242-8824
Badger Kennel Club Training Center - 5925 Haase Road, DeForest
WI 53532 (at Hwy. 51 and I-90 intersection)
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