Introducing our Obedience Trainers Ann Shaw and Elsie Pretorius.
Hibiscus Kennel Club warmly welcomes Ann Shaw on board to give the advanced obedience classes.
Shaw is a prominent personality in our community, so we are extremely fortunate and honoured to have her volunteer her services.
Born in the UK to a family of avid dog trainers, Shaw has followed this family tradition.
Her introduction to the dog world in South Africa was in 1995 after she left the UK. As soon as she was settled, she rescued a German Shepherd/Rough Collie puppy from the SPCA and named him Freddie (that’s what happens when you are a Queen fan).
Shaw and Freddie joined the Hibiscus Kennel Club and that was the beginning of many wonderful things to come.
They trained in obedience and reached the giddy heights of the advanced obedience Class B test.
Shaw learnt so much from this and realised training ‘serious’ obedience could be huge fun and so rewarding for both her and Freddie.
In the meantime, dog sport was evolving and dog jumping made an appearance, followed a few years later by dog agility. Shaw could not wait to broaden her horizons and Freddie became her first dog to partake in this wonderful sport. She has continued to do so with all her dogs right up to her present pack of four, namely Bondi, KK, Shenzi, and Mandu.
In 2021, Shaw and Shenzi made a clean sweep of winning the KZN Dog Athletics Association League’s higher grade large category for Contact, Non-Contact, and Dog Jumping.
Shaw has run a Puppy School for the past 11 years and continues to do so.
She believes it is a vital part of a pup’s informative months.
She is very excited to be bringing her vast knowledge of obedience training to Hibiscus Kennel Club.
Shaw plans to change people’s minds about thinking obedience is boring, as it is a very necessary part of a dog’s life and it should be fun and rewarding. Like Shaw says
“Training your dog should never be a chore. Happy well-behaved dog, happy owner.”
She looks forward to seeing many new faces at Hibiscus Kennel Club on a Saturday afternoon.
“Our second introduction is of Elsie Pretorius who is giving our beginners/intermediate obedience classes with handlers who want to enjoy and further their bond with their dogs. Pretorius joined the Hibiscus Kennel Club in 2004 with her German Shepherd, Tarka. This turned out to be her introduction to the wonderful world of dog obedience.
She was taken under the wing of all the very experienced and enthusiastic trainers, who were always delighted to share their endless knowledge with whoever wanted to learn.
“Pretorius and Tarka were eager, diligent learners and became a formidable team that prospered,” said the club.
It added that in later years, Pretorius got a Toy Poodle and named her Shiro, saying that once Shiro got old enough, Pretorius widened her horizons and took up agility.
The club said as it is in Pretorius’s nature to give it her all, once again she prospered with Shiro, making her up into a Kennel Union of Southern Africa (KUSA) Dog Jumping Champion.
“She added many other accolades to her name such as winning KZN Championships non-contact small twice, as well as top achievers in 2013 and 2015 to name but a few. Pretorius presently has three dogs. Miko and Etsu are both miniature Poodles, and Kammi is her “bits collie”. During her many years at Hibiscus Kennel Club, she has participated in carting, flyball, agility, and hoopers. She has gone full circle and is back to concentrating on obedience. She believes the first step is to train handlers to be consistent and have fun with their dogs whilst learning obedience,” said the club.
It added that all dedicated dog sport people believe in investing back into various disciplines, and both Shaw and Pretorius are no exception, saying that the Hibiscus Kennel Club is very privileged to have the two women in its ranks.
“Please keep an eye out for our next article introducing Flyball and Hoopers. For any enquiries, please email the Hibiscus Kennel Club on enquiries.hkc@gmail.com or visit our Facebook page,” said the club. – Supplied.
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