The annual meeting was held January 11 to good attendance. About 40 members, young trainers, and dogs attended the meeting at Sheels in Loveland. Two new board members were elected, welcome Dale Parker and Candice Cooper. Candice is the new secretary and Dale is the new member at-large. You can check out the meeting minutes here.

An ambitious new training schedule will be undertaken this year, with 33 training sessions on the calendar. The chapter has outgrown its six training day, all training levels, once-a-month training format. This year, Natural Ability handlers and their dogs will be treated to sixteen 2-hour training sessions, some held at Surefire Kennels with Jake and Sara Heesacker near Wellington, and some at Jackson Creek Kennels near Peyton with Dale Parker. Utility handlers will be treated to eleven Utility Foundation training nights at Surefire, and five day-long Utility and Invitational training days at Cobb Lake.

A chapter-wide indoor training day kicks the year off on February 9th at Larimer County Fairgrounds. View the flyer for the training day here. Signup for the February training on the Events tab. This year’s Youth Challenge events will begin at this training day. Obedience training sessions (for the DOGS!) will be held. This year’s guest speaker is Nik Wright, biologist with Pheasants Forever, who will present ‘Scouting Your Fields: Diving Deeper into Habitat and Hunting Strategies to Successfully Find Upland Game.’ A potluck lunch will be served, so remember to note in the comments section of your registration what dish you will be bringing.

Eleven Natural Ability training nights will begin March 13 at Surefire Kennels, hosted by Jake and Sara Heesacker from 6-8pm. Five NA training mornings at Dale Parker’s Jackson Creek Kennels will begin March 14 from 8-10am.

Eleven Utility foundation training nights will begin March 6 from 6-8pm at Jake and Sara Heesacker’s Surefire Kennels. Day-long Utility and Invitational training days will begin March 7.

See the Training tab for the full training calendar.

Test dates were set during the meeting, and two 3-day tests will once again be offered. Test dates will be May 15-17 and August 21-23, 2020. See the NAVHDA Tests tab for details. The board set itself the task of investigating whether double tests would be feasible. Double tests would double the number of dogs tested, conducting a completely separate test with three additional judges and using other parts of the Cobb Lake property. We should hear more on that subject later.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the hunting season, then let the training begin!