{"id":249,"date":"2020-03-12T16:50:24","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T16:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/?p=249"},"modified":"2020-06-12T11:09:36","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T10:09:36","slug":"gcds-award-winners-announced-at-crufts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/gcds-award-winners-announced-at-crufts\/","title":{"rendered":"GCDS AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT CRUFTS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Success for dogs, handlers and trainers from Staffordshire, Middlesex, Northamptonshire and West Yorkshire<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n winners of the annual Good Citizen Dog Scheme (GCDS) awards were \nannounced at the world\u2019s greatest dog show, Crufts, on Sunday 8th<\/sup> March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme is the largest dog training \nprogramme in the United Kingdom, with over 680,000 dogs and their owners\n graduating through the scheme\u2019s Bronze award. The GCDS awards were \ncreated in recognition of the hard work, efforts and contribution made \nby dedicated canine clubs and enthusiasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twelve\n individuals, dogs, clubs and organisations were vying for the top prize\n across four categories: Best Kennel Club GCDS Listed Status Dog \nTraining Club Award, Best Kennel Club Registered Club Award, Royal Canin\n Dedicated Person Award and Royal Canin Most Inspiring Dog Award. The \nnominees were all put forward to a public vote, with the winners \nannounced at the GCDS awards ceremony, which took place at Crufts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The winners for each award were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Royal Canin Dedicated Person Award \u2013 Gwynneth Williams from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gwynneth\u2019s\n 48-year service to the Danesford Obedience Dog Training Club in \nCongleton, Cheshire, saw her pick up the Royal Canin Dedicated Person \nAward. She has been based with the club for nearly half a century, after\n starting as one of the founding members. Teaching the Bronze and Pre \nBeginner classes, through the GCDS, Gwynneth and her team have managed \nto get many dogs through to the semi-finals and the finals of GCDS Pre \nBeginner Stakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members\n of the club had travelled to Birmingham to watch her pick up the award \nand afterwards surprised her with a special collage showing photographs \nof her with her first dog, a collie, and training dogs over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking\n about winning her award, Gwyneth said: \u201cI still do nine hours a week \ndog training at the club and what drives me is seeing the relationships \npeople get to have with their dogs and because it\u2019s still enjoyable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Kennel Club GCDS Listed Status Dog Training Club Award \u2013 Best Paw Forward, based in Hayes, Middlesex<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\n chance meeting at the vets between Lyn Bowers and Lyn Church led to the\n pair setting up dog training club Best Paw Forward four years ago, and \nthey haven\u2019t looked back since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n two Lyns work together to offer a motivational approach to training, \nfor dogs and puppies of all breeds and ages, with both group classes and\n one-to-one training. The club offers all levels of the GCDS, as well as\n agility, heelwork to music, ringcraft, rally, hoopers and scentwork. \nThe club achieved a runners up finish in 2019 at the GCDS awards, but \nreturned this year to claim the top spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking\n about their win, Lyn Church said: \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful recognition of the \nfact that we started the club from nothing and have grown to the point \nwhere we have now had more than 1,000 dogs go through training at the \nclub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\n hesitate to even use the word club because we are a family really. We \ntrain together, we socialise together, and we all love our dogs. This is\n just amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lyn\n Bowers continued: \u201cI am absolutely elated. I have been training dogs \nfor 30 years and it is lovely to have this kind of recognition. Our \nlovely club members organised a party for us at Crufts and we will have a\n club meal soon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Kennel Club Registered Club Award \u2013 Wakefield Dog Training Club<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wakefield\n Dog Training Club was set up 62 years ago to make dog training \naffordable to all members of the public. The club has more than 21 \ntrainers who work there as unpaid volunteers, running at least one class\n a week each for the 300+ membership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\n well as promoting the GCDS, consisting of puppy courses, Bronze, Silver\n and Gold, the club also holds junior handler classes and platinum \nclasses for those handlers and dogs who want to go a little further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n club has also been trying to raise funds for a new building. The \nprojected cost is \u00a3130,000 and over the last 15 years the club has \nraised more than \u00a3100,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking\n about the award, Catherine Chadwick, chair of the club said, \u201cIt isn\u2019t \nsomething you expect to win, because there are so many dedicated clubs, \nso we are especially pleased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow\n we are hoping the publicity from it might get us the final push to \nraise the money to preserve the club and what it does for many years to \ncome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Royal\n Canin Most Inspiring Dog Award – Rupert, a Working Cocker Spaniel, \nowned by Antonia Mellor, from Brackley, Northamptonshire<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antonia\n Mellor and her seven-year-old Working Cocker Spaniel, Rupert, were \npresented with the Royal Canin Most Inspiring Dog Award. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rupert\n went blind suddenly last year and was initially too afraid to leave the\n family home. Antonia decided to take him along to training classes \nalongside one of her other dogs, where he started with some basic Bronze\n exercises. His confidence grew and he has since achieved both Bronze \nand Silver GCDS awards, now working towards Gold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking\n about the award, Antonia said: \u201cI know he is amazing, but to have other\n people recognise him in this way is just wonderful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\n have had him as a puppy and it was an enormous shock to everyone when \nhe went blind. Now when I tell people they say you wouldn\u2019t know it. He \nis such a courageous dog.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa\n McAlpine, Crufts Show Manager, commented: \u201cCongratulations to all of \nthis year\u2019s winners of the Good Citizen Dog Scheme awards. We\u2019re so \nproud of all the work that both our clubs and organisations carry out, \nas well as the remarkable results that are achieved as a result from the\n dogs and handlers that attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s\n great to see that GCDS clubs and enthusiasts are getting the \nrecognition they deserve and we are very thankful for the valuable work \nour clubs, organisations, trainers and volunteers do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For further information on the Good Citizen Dog Scheme and to find a local club, please visit www.thekennelclub.org.uk\/training\/good-citizen-dog-training-scheme\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Success for dogs, handlers and trainers from Staffordshire, Middlesex, Northamptonshire and West Yorkshire The winners of the annual Good Citizen Dog Scheme (GCDS) awards were announced at the world\u2019s greatest dog show, Crufts, on Sunday 8th March. The Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme is the largest dog training programme in the United Kingdom, with … Continue reading GCDS AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT CRUFTS<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crufts","category-general","category-obedience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321,"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions\/321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}