Club History

History Sapphire Coast Kennel & Obedience Club Inc

 

Inception

The Sapphire Coast Kennel & Obedience club was formed 50 years ago in the mid 1960’s and initiated by Susan Alsop.

 

Conformation Shows and Trials

Shows were held initially at the sportsground in Eden on the second weekend of the year, making them the first shows of the year in NSW. It was promoted as a “holiday at the coast” show.

The venue changed from the Eden sportsground to Pambula Sporting Complex in 1989/90. It was only held at the Pambula Sporting Complex once and then moved to the Millingandi Caravan Park, (now called Acacia Ponds). From there it was moved to Kalorama Caravan park also at Millingandi.

The move to Wolumla happened in 2000. By then the shows were usually on the first weekend in February as it was difficult if not impossible to get helpers during school holidays. Shows continued to be held at Wolumla until 2011 but the dates were changed to be the weekend after Bega Valley show to try to attract more entries.

In 2012 Peter and Ruth Fazey took over the running of the Annual Shows and Trials and moved the venue to the Dickinson Sportsground in Bermagui. This has been a great success and entries for both conformation and obedience are on the increase. Conformation Shows, Obedience and Rally Obedience trials are conducted annually.

In 2020 Steve and his amazing team took over the running of the show. Entry numbers reaching a record high! We are looking forward to even more good things. 

Obedience Training and Trials

Obedience Training has been held continuously for most of the years that the club has existed. For many years training was held in the betting ring at Pambula Racecourse, later at Ford Oval, now at Wolumla, where we have our own fenced area with a storage shed for equipment.

Obedience instructors have always been experienced people who have volunteered their time, and notably include Susan Alsop, Joan Severs, John Montgomery, Carol Barrett, Andrea Grey, Gerd Jakobsen, Peter Colhoun, Petra Franchi and now Sheridan Leftwich, who is currently being mentored by Peter Colhoun. Sheridan trains and trials Cocopop who is the therapy dog at Imlay House Nursing home. Currently also training with Peter is Delta the Labrador assistance dog.

It would be impossible to estimate the number of handlers and their dogs who have benefitted from training with Sapphire Coast K&O Club in the 50 years since its inception, but it would have to run into the many hundreds.

The Club has also run workshops on show training, agility, flyball, participated in walks for RSPCA and AWL, information stands at local markets, as well as demonstrations at Community events. As mentioned previously two assistance dogs currently train with us.

 

 


Contact Details

Allison Holland
Bermagui, NSW, Australia
Phone : 0432059060
Email : [email protected]