Welcome to Big Rivers Homepage
Update Summer 2008

We have several new things happening within our chapter this summer. Leonard Baker is our new BRC Director of Testing. He brings many years of experience to the job and he has already scheduled most of our Fall 08 and Spring 09 tests. There are training days all over our chapter getting us and our hunting partners ready for the Fall Testing and hunting season. The feedback and insight you get from the Judges and the State Chairman present is incredibly valuable as you advance your DDs through the tests and get them tuned up for hunting. The additional benefit of attending a training day is the chance to build stronger relationships with the other DD owners in your area. Please contact your State Chairman or myself regarding training opportunities in your area. Also let us know if you would want to host a training day. We are committed to getting all our VJP pups through HZP without failures due to them being unprepared particularly in the retrieving subjects. I feel very strongly that we have to educate dog and handler, expose them to hunt/test like situations in order to reinforce positive outcomes and correct the failures. Our DDs deserve the chance to fulfill the natural ability that they were bred to express. Take your kid and your DD to a training day. Thanks Leonard, Jeff McDaniel North Texas, Kevin Sherrodd Southeast Texas, Henry Vogt Louisiana, Blaine Hansen Arkansas, Chad Crissup Oklahoma and Chris Thomas Kansas. Contact these folks if you have a need in your area.

Also, Shane Stenger is our new BRC Webmaster. We have a new website that is in the final stages of production. I am certain this will be a good way for us to stay in touch with chapter happenings. If you have good DD pictures please forward those to Shane or me so they can be included on the site. Look for an announcement soon for the launch of the BRC website. Thanks Shane.

Our chapter is continuing to grow. We are at almost 120 members currently. Obviously as membership grows our needs diversify. In talking with Jeff McDaniel, I think we need to get more feedback from membership. The feedback we need is not just if you will attend a local training day but what further education do you specifically need. We have very skilled and experienced handlers ready to aid in your development within BRC and VDD-GNA. We have seminars at the South Texas Training Day in June and we will have Leonard Baker having a seminar at the Fall HZP that is a pre-req to entering into the judging program. We need more judges in BRC and this seminar is required and good for 4 years. So even if your DD is not yet through VGP plan on attending this seminar to be ready to apply when that day comes. These are just a couple of examples of what we can do. Let us know what specifically you need and we will try our best to make that happen.

Hoping you have a fun and productive summer with your family and best DD friend,

Brandt Hardy
Big Rivers Chapter Chairman