We formed a committee of Karen Higgens, Cathy Anstis, Jonathan and Ann Morton, Paul Lloyd, Sally Adam and Lita Jansen to get our reinvented club on the road. We all believed that we should plough back any money made into the club to improve the equipment and facilities while looking after our trainers.

We agreed not to affiliate to any organisation which meant we could focus all of our energies into our club.

Sally was behind the beginnings of agility training at our club. She was at the forefront of the sport from it's infancy in the country and she has left her legacy on the agility side. Mervyn has trained and coached many competition obedience handlers. To promote the sport, our club sponsored members' show entries for a number of years.

We believe that the greatest need lies in home obedience classes so that is where we now focus our energies. Everyone would like a well behaved dog and in turn, well behaved dogs have the best quality of life - they get to come inside, are included in family life and enjoy more outings. In recent years, our attention has shifted to puppy classes as here we can prevent problems rather than try to solve them.

Our club is run by a committee of 7, which is unusual in that it has no office bearers. We have 30 odd instructors and we run regular in-house courses to train new instructors. We are indebted to our team of helpers who volunteer their time to teach classes, assist our members with problems and work behind the scenes to make our club “happen”. We are very fortunate to have had a solid ongoing relationship with Pinelands Primary School, allowing us to have two clubhouses and a permanent puppy enclosure on their premises. We have always felt that our club should serve the needs of the community. Besides helping handlers train their dogs, we continue to support animal charities.

Training day should be the highlight of the week. Our aim is to make our club a fun place of learning for dogs and their people.

Julie Tobiansky