Committee and Instructors
Bendigo Obedience Dog Club Volunteer Committee
| Meredith Marshall President |
Denise Chrystal Vice President |
Alexandra Gartmann Secretary |
Sarah Crocker Treasurer |
Committee Members
Jodie Bajada, Dale Cousins, Nicole Crameri, Julie Fainges, Merle Hopman, Rob Hopman
Clive Hughes, Sian James, Deb Wain, Bryn Wedgeford
Bendigo Obedience Dog Club Volunteer Instructors
Denise
Has been a member since 1973 and instructing since 1974. Denise has held many positions at the club including numerous committee positions, trial secretary for multiple disciplines, founder of our newsletter “Recall” and author of Thirty Years of Community Service 1963 – 1993 Bendigo Obedience Dog Club Inc. Denise also manages the club awards and is the club historian. Trialled German Shepherd Dogs, Cocker Spaniel, Pug and Papillons in Obedience, Rally Obedience, Agility, Tracking, and Track & Search. Also Conformation showing. Have attended seminars in multiple disciplines run by internationally renowned experts in their fields of dog behaviour, competition and training and conducted tracking training workshops for various clubs and is an ANKC Tracking and Track & Search Judge.
Meredith
Dogs have been a part of my life right through my childhood when our Border Collies were trained and shown by my dad. Then, after a 20-year gap without dogs, I came to the BODC to help me socialise and train my new pup, a Murray River Retriever. With the immense and diverse knowledge base and support of the instructors and other club members, I developed an interest in understanding my canine friend better and decided to take on some new challenges. Together, my dogs and I have trialled in Agility, Rally Obedience, Tracking, and Track & Search events. Trialling takes you to all sorts of places, in all sorts of weather for a small piece of cardboard which is your reward for weeks, months, and years of training. We have attended courses run by world renowned instructors in Australia, participated in trials run by La Trobe University and generally just had a wonderful time together. Now I love helping other people succeed with their training challenges. Each one is unique, whether they go on to trial or want a wonderful canine companion.
Alexandra
Rob
Merle
Greg
Sarah
When I joined BODC to train Mac my Border Collie cross in 2008, I received so much support and understanding from the instructors about training a dog with many issues, that it made me want to give back to the Club that gave me and Mac so much. So I ended up becoming an instructor, joining the committee, and being a trial secretary whilst continuing to train and compete in most performance sports with my dogs. My focus has always been on having fun and developing great partnership between my dogs and me. I love the friendship and comradery that the Club has and that we get the “go ahead” to try new ideas to make training fun and interesting for our classes.
James
Nicole
Clive
I joined BODC after getting Sasha at 8 weeks old from a farmer in the back blocks of Echuca. Both her parents were working dogs. We started off in the puppy pens, then trained right through to Class 5 in obedience. Our training with BODC has enabled us to do, and enjoy Obedience, Agility, basic Tracking, and Scent Work, and because of this Sasha has gone on to become a Delta therapy dog, and a conservation scent detection dog with La Trobe University.
Sian
I originally joined BDOC in the early 2000’s to ensure my grumpy shepherds knew what other breeds of dogs looked like. I had been training dogs since my teens and looking back, some of the methods used, were cringe-worthy. But my motto is: when you know better, you do better. There are many ways to train dogs, however, building connection through engagement, enrichment and biological fulfilment will build the best connection and therefore develop a deeper relationship. I joined the committee in 2022, to give back to the club that’s always been there for as many Bendigo dogs as possible. I knew how much work was done behind the scenes by volunteers. My aim was always to help out wherever I can as often as I can. My dogs and I (Team Collie: Badger and Maggie) compete in most dog sports: Scent Work, Tracking, Tricks, Sprint, Lure, Rally, and Dancing/Heelwork to Music. Most of all my dogs love Herding as this gives them biological fulfilment. I like helping other find this joy as well.
Sarah
Assistant Instructors
Max Donovan, Jodie Bajada, Bryn Wedgeford
Contact
Bendigo Obedience Dog Club Inc
For enquiries please contact: [email protected]
Training Ground: Finn Street Recreation Reserve, Bendigo Vic 3550
Postal Address: PO Box 2396, Bendigo Mail Centre, Bendigo 3554
facebook.com/BendigoObedienceDogClub/
