News from 2009

This is the News Page for the Wiltshire Wet Leo's 2009 Season

October 2009 : Well, we held our final training session today, the 3rd October, it was absolutely freezing cold, very windy and rainy but we didn't let it stop us having fun. We all got into the water letting the dogs splash about and enjoy the last day of the year. With it being so cold we all had one long go in the water and then got out dried and dressed to avoid any chills. Jamie came and took loads of photos as we have not taken many this year, these are now uploaded on the site so follow the link to the gallery for the latest images. We finished the day off with an american style lunch, everyone brought something to donate to the day and in the end we had loads of food and drink. After our final packing up we all left the CSC site for the last time this year exhausted after a fun packed day and with sleepy dogs dozing in the backs of cars all made for home.

We will now wait for confirmation of next years dates which we shall post as soon as we have them and will then be sending out next years forms for membership and renewal.

We also hope to hold another pre-season lunch which will be a great way to start the year and will post any photos and news in about March. We shall return to the water again next April ready to enjoy another year of splashing about in the lake. Until then our next post will be to confirm next years dates, so for now its good bye. Thanks for dropping by and supporting our group and site.

WWL WRTG

September 2009: Sadly we weren't able to hold our planned test day for this year so we shall have to wait until 2010 for the next opportunity to put our dogs through their paces at our site in Wiltshire. Whilst we were all disappointed not to be able to do our tests, we were not overly worried as the aim of our group is to have as much fun as possible with the dogs whilst learning something useful and with the tests being something that everyone has a go at to see how we are doing, we know that we shall have another attempt next year.

We have had a fantastic season this year with a good turn out of members for every session, we became so popular that we literally had to close the doors on new members as we had over 22 dogs in the group.

We hold our end of season American Style Lunch at our next meeting and as we had so much fun last year we are really looking forward to this event.

We have seen our newest doggy members doing really well with the puppies achieving a good standard of A level ability ready for next year. The more experience dogs have come on a treat and are achieving a high standard in B level ability and the C level dogs whilst doing well need a bit more time to be ready for their tests next year.

As a group we have learned a lot this year, developing our training methods together as a team and finding new and inventive ways to help the dogs learn and have fun. We have a selection of photos that will be put onto the gallery at the end of the season that show how well the dogs have done this year so come back in a month to see how they have been doing.

We would like to wish our sister groups in Cambridge and Suffolk the best of luck with their test days, we have our paws crossed for you all.

Until next time - WWL WRTG.

August 2009 - Excellent news, we have had our test day confirmed for this year as the 19th September 2009. We are able to hold A, B and C tests at our venue this year, so if you train your Leo in waterwork and are ready for any of the above tests you are welcome to come and take the test at our test day. Please complete the schedule and send it in ASAP. Our judges for this test day are Midge Clayton and John Tyler and we thank them for giving up their free time to come and judge our day.

We look forward to another successful test day.

WWL WRTG

July 2009 - Its been a while since our last update, this is because we have been extremely busy as a group putting all our energies into the training. Our news to-date is that we now have 22 dogs in our group and this means that we have reluctantly had to close the doors on new memberships this year. We do however have a waiting list so that anyone who wishes to join the group can be added to the list for the next available place.

As well as our existing membership from last year we now have 6 new members who have joined us, they are Margaret with Rama who is just over 6 months old, Graham and Elaine with Leica and Zeis both pups, existing member Lesley with her new puppy Lacy who was just 12 weeks old when she came for her first lesson, existing member Emma with Wellington who is 8 months old and Debbie and Mike with Molly a 5 year old Leo. They are all doing really well and are showing great promise for the upcoming tests.

We will have a very busy test day this year with 11 A test dogs, 8 B test dogs and 2 C test dogs ready.

Well, that is all our news for now. Until next time take care.

30th April 2009 - Well what a start to the new season, the Wiltshire Wet Leo's group got together for a pre-season lunch at 'The Pottingshed Pub' not far from where we train at the Cotswold Sailing Club. Lexi, who worked very hard to put this event together, got us all organised, paid up and pre-ordered well in advance and we thank her very much for her hard work organising what turned out to be a lovely event. We have some photo's of the crew at the event so take a peak.

While at the pub I presented the A Test Pass Certificates to those who had not yet received theirs from October last year to great applause and everyone received a small bottle of wine to take away with them.

We have taken receipt of our lovely new harness which got its first outing this month and we also made use of some new and exciting toys for the dogs to retrieve from the water, these will be added to the collection that we had from last year to help the dogs get used to collecting a variety of articles from the water. This will help them in the more difficult test at higher levels where a judge will pick what item they must retrieve.

Our groups membership is growing and we have a strong core of dedicated individuals. This year we also have some new doggie members, puppies Wellington, Rayne and Obie owned by Emma, Carole, Lexi and Trevor respectively, who have started to learn the basics of water rescue and are doing very well with lots of encouragement from their dedicated owners. We have some pictures on our 2009 Gallery so take a peek of our new babies getting to know the water along with other images of our three training sessions to-date.

We must wish Digby a 'get well soon' from a poorly leg and hope that he is back with us very soon with owners Sean and Yaz.

Well that's all our news for now, but as usual if you wish to come and join us for a taste of water work just get in touch and we will be happy to welcome you to a session. Its great to be back in the water.....

Bye for now. WWL

JANUARY 31st 2009 - Exciting news - New Group of Wet Leo's being set up - For all those Leo owners who would like to give water rescue work a go in the Mid to North of England, there is a new and exciting group being set up ready for April this year. The venue is the Reservoirs in Staffordshire. The contact for this group is Penny Dabell and you should contact her as soon as possible and get your names down if you are interested in trying out this fab activity. You can contact Penny via this email link : Penny. We wish Penny and her new group the best of luck for April.

As for WWL's news, Lexi did a splendid job of getting our group fleeces and polo shirts done, I sport mine at every opportunity I can and it has already resulted in some enquiries about who the Wet Leo's are and what we do. Well done to Lexi for doing such a fantastic job and raising much needed funds for our group. I hope to get some pictures of our lovely tops onto the site soon so keep an eye out for them.

I have managed to negotiate a membership rate with the C.S.C. for hire of their facilities and the use of their lake, so anyone who wishes to join our group can check out the new How to Join Up page with all the details of how to join and how much it will cost you. Its very reasonable and works out to be cheaper than you would normally pay for a wet leo's group activity.

Our new harness is finished and all I have to do is arrange for it to be collected from Frome. A huge thank you to Penny Tagoe who donated half the money for the cost of this project and a massive thank you to Bill who made it for us. I'll get a picture of it onto the site the minute I have collected it.

The dates for next year are up so put them in your diary and don't forget that the first few session will only be held if the weather is favorable and safe to do so.

We have some new recruits due to start in April as well as some new puppies for the group, existing members Emma who owns Elsa will bring their new edition 'Wellington' for the new season and Lexi and Trevor who own Juno and Lola will be bringing Obie their new puppy. We also have some totally new members who will start wet leos for the first time in April and I shall look forward to welcoming them in April and introducing them to you when they start.

Our wet leo's group has a pre-season lunch planned and anyone who hasn't signed up for it get in touch with Lexi for further information on this event, we need to book enough seats at the pub, there are already about 14 of us booked onto it so get your names down fast before you miss out, if you are new members or members who intend to start in April this year you are still welcome to join us, so please get in touch with me and Lexi and come along.

Our Wet Leo's website has now been up and running for a year, it has been well received and I have had many lovely comments about the photos and information that we hold on here. At the time of this post we have had 2,284 visitors to the site but I would ask anyone who visits to go and leave us a message on our guestbook, tell us what you think of it and that you have been to visit.

I would also like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to a group of Leo enthusiasts in the South, called the South East and Anglia Leonberger Society (or SEALS for short) they hold many lovely events including regular water training, so if you are interested in joining in with their wonderful events check out their lovely website at SEALS. We shall add them as a permanent link to this website to help spread the word about active Leo's.

I have also updated the Links pages and Groups in your area pages with new information so check them out for new details of new groups.

Anyone wishing to catch up with what we did last year can check out the link at the bottom of the page for News items from 2008.

Well that is all for now, come back soon for more news.

NEWS FROM 2008