Fort St. Clair Kennel Club

05/13/2025

Come on out for our annual picnic Wednesday, 14 May at Raccoon Ridge Taylorsville Metro Park, 8400 Brown School Road, Vandalia. Interested in conformation shows? Fast CAT lure coursing? Other fun AKC events? Social dogs welcome. Bring a dish to share! We’ll be providing local grass-fed beef burgers on the grill. 6pm - 8pm. Easy parking, pucnic shelter, real restroom nearby. We’d love to see you!

04/08/2025

Another fine dog show weekend is in the books, we so appreciate all the wonderful exhibitors who turned out even though the weather was wretched.

Our club is lucky. We have ten active members and only half are over 75 years old. It’s tough going folks— and many clubs have it worse.

If you love dog shows and you want them to survive, you MUST join a local kennel club as a WORKING member. Give at least ONE weekend a year for the good of the sport.

Believe me, we know it’s hardwork. But your help would make it so much easier for everyone— and you might be surprised at the camaraderie and support you find there.

And if you just don’t want to? Then don’t be surprised when your favorite hobby disappears.

04/05/2025

Thanks to our great team for another wonderful puppy match last night! Thanks to the more than 30 puppies who brave the rain to come out to the fairgrounds— luckily we had a lovely building to have the match in. Winner of best adult dog was this beautiful Norwich terrier, best senior puppy was this lovely Cardigan Welsh corgi and the best junior puppy this sweet Samoyed.

Our all breed dog show starts this morning at 9 and runs until about 4 PM. Admission is free for spectators as is the parking. The show is indoors.

03/15/2025

TODAY (March 15) is the last day for paid grooming reservations. You can still register online. We must ensure we have enough room for the free grooming mandated by the AKC. Please note that the Grooming Building will open at 3 pm sharp, regardless of whether you have reserved space or not.

The friendly kennel club!

02/28/2025

Why isn’t there a page in our premium list for hotels?

We chose three years ago to stop putting hotel information in the premium list because the situation with hotels is so fluid in terms of whether or not they charge pet fees, what kind of restrictions they have, or frankly, whether or not they go down the tubes between November and April.

For the first two years, we had no comment on this, but this year people seem to be perplexed. We recommend that you Google “pet friendly hotels in the Dayton area” There are no nice hotels closer than 5 miles from the site, but driving to the site is easy. You might also consider Airbnb as there are a lot of of them in the Dayton area and many are pet friendly some more than hotels.

09/29/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/7jbrhw36ofcFKmDM/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Having been a veterinarian for almost 3 decades, I have seen the tide of how animals are treated change drastically. When I graduated dogs were dogs, now dogs are considered to be higher ranking than people. In our crazy world, people love their dogs more than they love their own families and they treat their dogs better than they treat other humans and I am sorry to say that we are destroying our dogs mental health because of it.

It is increasingly common to go into an exam room and have a dog that is growling at me and trying to bite and the owner is petting it telling it that it is a good dog. It is NOT being a good dog and it should not be rewarded for growling and trying to bite. It is important that we train our dogs properly and we use right language with them. Never is it ok for a dog to growl and try and bite in an exam room where nothing horrible is happening to them and feeding into that behavior does not make it better for your dog, it trains them that their fear is a good thing and it is not.

Mental disorders are exponentially increasing in our dogs and it is us owners fault. Please stop treating your dog like it is some fragile child and start treating it like it is a dog. TRAIN them and teach them commands and correct them when they are wrong and stop thinking you are going to hurt their feelings if you do. Dogs are dogs, not small humans. They need training and proper instructions or it leads to horrible anxiety issues in them and I can assure that that behavior is going to hurt your feelings way more than being an adult and training your dog to be a good dog instead of a spoiled child.

The following are a few copied excerpts from an article that I read this morning from a dog trainer. I feel like there are a good reminder for all of us on exactly what are dogs are and what they need.

"Your dog is a dog, not a human child. Constant unearned affection is a killer and creates an unhealthy addiction for both dog and owner. Your dog will love you unconditionally but will never respect you unless you give it reason to.

The most basic of basics, your dog must learn how to be still in any situation. If your dog can’t be still around any distraction, you will never have control.
Recall
Sit
Down
Walk nicely on leash
Out, meaning release anything in your mouth

You MUST have a language dedicated to your dog that your dog can learn by you being consistent and applying meaning to the words you use. Your dog MUST know what yes means, but also MUST know what NO means. If nothing comes after those words, yes equals reward for good, no equals correction for bad, your dog will never give meaning to either. Your dog’s name is not a command, or correction. NO should not be your dog’s middle name.

The training starts the second you bring the dog home."

09/12/2024

The devastation caused by these wildfires is heartbreaking — this poor woman lost everything. And though the firefighters let all of the dogs out, the dogs— frightened— ran back in to the kennels where they all died.

We are so deeply saddened to hear the news about the devastating outcome for Jenelle’s beautiful dogs…. It has been confirmed that all perished in the fire. 💔

Our deepest sympathies to Jenelle and her family.

There was an outpouring of love from the community that helped assist in the search. Many people devoted their time and resources to aid in their recovery.

Thank you to all those who volunteered, offered their resources, prayed, and offered sentiments of hope….

May all those sweet little feet run through the green fields in heaven ❤️‍🩹 🐾

~~~Many people have asked about being able to help donate to Jenelle and the post fire efforts- here is a link to be able to for those able~~~

https://www.facebook.com/100081917899542/posts/500266502713942/?mibextid=cr9u03

05/27/2024

Left behind at yesterday’s Fast CAT.

04/09/2024

This year’s show is put to bed, but what a grand show it was! Thanks to all who made it possible. ❤️

04/09/2024

02/26/2024

We are shocked and saddened to learn today that Damon Lumpkins has died. He was such a wonderful RV guy for us for many years and just a fun person to run into at dog shows, a real credit to the sport. This is the saddest news.