The University of Rhode Island, in Kingston, Rhode Island, has announced the Fall 2016 dean’s list. The following students were named to the dean’s list with their area of study: Alexandria M. Jarvais, of Madison, majoring in Pharm D, and Rachel Cambridge Pratt, of Cornville, majoring in Kinesiology.
TRAINING YOUR PERFORMANCE DOGHandling systems, videos on foot work, and books on mental practice all can have a place in your agility training, but if you just want to enjoy the sport with your dog, work on building a solid basic foundation and relationship.
Your dog needs an introduction to agility equipment that is safe, sensible and will build your dog’s confidence. For this, you need a qualified instructor who can help you steadily progress and build your dog’s skills on equipment. Teaching your dog all the agility obstacles and the skills necessary to perform them will not get you very far on the course if you have no obedience background. Running a successful agility course with your dog requires that your dog takes direction from you and can switch from handler focus to obstacle focus and back again to the handler.
This requires a strong partnership with your dog. Agility trials are very stimulating. All your dog’s senses will be heightened by the surroundings. A good name recognition and recall is essential to performing agility to keep your dog off distractions and also to change your dog’s path and keep them on course.
I like to use the dog’s name to have them come into me. The best thing your dog should ever hear is his name and it should cause the dog to look towards you and move towards you. You can practice this as a fun game anywhere. It is essential for all dogs off leash, whether in agility or pet life, to have a strong recall.
A wait command is another essential obedience command. It is also another essential pet command. It will allow you to lead out in agility while still retaining your dog’s focus as he waits for a release.
Being able to tug with your dog in play and engage your dog with a toy in a distracting situation is also a valuable skill. Desire for a toy is a great training tool. It can help your dog focus. It is a great way to work on distance and sends. It is also a great way to teach self control. Your interaction with your dog and you, through playing with a toy, will reflect a great deal about your relationship with your dog. Much can be taught through interactive play. If you don’t have this with your dog, work on it. Some of us humans really need to learn how to play! If you are not a good player, get some help. Teach your dog to run with you by your leg on both sides – going faster when you accelerate and slower when you decelerate, leaving you when sent to an obstacle and returning to you on a pick up cue.
Many of these basic obedience skills can be worked on daily. No equipment necessary! Be creative – run with your dog and change direction, speed up, slow down, find unusual challenging situations where your dog must wait or come to you.
Enjoy building a strong foundation through everyday interaction with your dog – it is a wonderful investment.
Carolyn Fuhrer has earned over 90 AKC titles with her Golden Retrievers, including 2 Champion Tracker titles. Carolyn is the owner of North Star Dog Training School in Somerville, Maine. She has been teaching people to understand their dogs for over 25 years. You can contact her with questions, suggestions and ideas for her column by e-mailing carolyn@dogsatnorthstar.com.
High honors: Avianna Boucher, Allyn Foss, Evan Gorr, Royce Pena, Samantha Taylor and Sara Taylor; Honors: Whitney Coro, Dustin Crawford, Taylor Cyrway, McKayla Gray, Paul Kaplan, Mariah Langton, Abigail Longley, Brooklynn Moore, Bobbie Peacock, Sophia Tsimekles and Emily Witham.
High honors: Rhiannon Ambrose, Jacob Atwood, Bailey Dunphy, Samantha LeBeau, Katrina Mason and Sierra Turcotte; Honors: Kelsey Creamer, Kaitlin Dixon, Patrick Dube, Ariana-Lee Dunton, Mackenzie Edes, Daryl Foss, Courtney Fuller, Michael Hargreaves and Jackson Lawler-Sidell.
High honors: Lilyana Aloes, Tristan Bachelder, Lillian Johnson and Sidney Small; Honors: Lauren Chestnut, Lindsay Lesperance, Lauren Rafferty, Haley Taylor and Makayla Vicneire.
High honors: Skylar Karr and Scott Mason; Honors: Emily Avery, Cassidy Ayotte, Annika Carey, Jacob Copeland, Caitlin Crawford, Shay Cyrway, Dylan Leach and Abby Richardson.
Eden Beane, a fashion merchandising and marketing major from Augusta, has been named to the Fall 2016 dean’s list at Mount Ida College, in Newton, Massachusetts, for achieving a GPA of 3.33 or higher.
Dean’s list: Madyx Kennedy. High honors: Jonathan Martinez, Courtney Paine and Acadia Senkbeil. Honors: Melana Huard, Annaliese Patterson, Eban Pierce and Chris Williams.
Dean’s list: Samantha Golden and Mackenzie Roderick. High honors: Emily Clark, Emma Jefferson, Lili Lefebvre and Sarah Praul. Honors: Liberty Crockett, Jasmine Crommett, Colby Cunningham, Josette Gilman, Larissa Haskell, Madison Lully, Kaden McIntyre, Lorenzo Michaud and Hannah Torrey.
Dean’s list: Breckon Davidson, Alivia Gower, Elizabeth Hardy, Beck Jorgensen, Lily Matthews, Hannah Patterson, Kayla Peaslee, Gabriel Pelletier, Samantha Reynolds and Noah Rushing. High honors: Eve Boatright, Nicole DeMerchant, Lilly Fredette, Reiana Gonzalez, Kaiden Kelley, Alexia Leigh, Kolby Maxim, Ethan Ouellette, Alexis Rancourt, Jaxson Roderick and Lauren Tyler. Honors: Abigail Beyor, Madeline Pacholski and Kaden Soto.
Dean’s list: Isabella Boudreau and Brielle Crommett. High honors: Grayson Podey. Honors: Lacey Arp, Duncan Bailey, Braylin Bilodeau, Simon Clark, Gavin Cunningham, Keira Dechamps, Kaylee Fyfe, Stephanie Kumnick, Sydney Laird, Alexia McDonald, Danny McKinnis, Remy Pettingill, Ryan Tyler and Ava Wedge.
The Vassalboro Business Association has announced that it will offer $500 scholarships to at least three Vassalboro students who plan to attend a Post-Secondary Program of Study in the fall of 2017.
Students must have been residents in Vassalboro for the past two years, provide evidence of community service in that same two year period, and be enrolled in a post-secondary two to four year program of education or training.
Applications are available by emailing lindatitus@hotmail.com or calling 873-2108. They should also be available in local guidance offices. The deadline to return the completed form is April 15, 2017.
All eighth grade students and their parents from the surrounding communities are invited to attend the Erskine Academy Eighth Grade Open House on Wednesday, March 1, at 6:30 p.m., in the gym. The administration strongly encourages all incoming freshmen and their parents to attend this event as registration materials will be available and information about the course selection process will be provided. In the case of inclement weather, a snow date of Thursday, March 2, has been set.
Parents who are unable to attend this event are asked to contact the Guidance Office at 445-2964 to request registration materials.
The Oak Grove School Foundation is accepting applications for grants to support the education and cultural needs of students and non profit organizations in the greater Central Maine area.
Recipients must be educational, charitable or religious organizations that are tax exempt under section 501(c)(30 Of the internal revenue service code.
Grant requests should be received by April 7, 2017. Funding decisions will be made in May and shortly after the funds will be distributed in July. Recent grants have ranged $500-$5,000. The OGSF has also provided seed money for initiatives that last up to three years.
Groups interested in obtaining application forms and guidelines should contact Joann Clark Austin, Oak Grove School Foundation, P.O. Box 150 South China, ME 04358-0150 or Susan Briggs at briggsusan@gmail.com.
To the editor:
After reading last week’s letter from John Glowa regarding Rep. Timothy Theriault’s failure to respond to questions about his five bills being presented during this legislative session, I felt prompted to share my experience.
Last fall, after reviewing Mr. Theriault’s legislative ‘score card’ on several websites, I was disappointed and puzzled by some of his decisions. On October 31, 2016 – in preparation for the following week’s elections – I sent him an e-mail asking if he could explain why he voted against LD 92 (Increase Minimum Wage to $8/hour), LD 319 (Expand Coverage for Reproductive Health Care & Family Services), LD 325 (Strengthen Recycling of Single-use Plastic Shopping Bags), LD 341 (Prevent Tax Haven Abuse), LD 633 (Provide Affordable Coverage Options to Low-income Uninsured Citizens), LD 977 (Improve Child Care), and LD 1165 (Toxic Chemical Protections in the Workplace). I also asked about LD 1378, which addressed the release of Land Management Funds; I wasn’t sure if he had voted to override the Governor’s 2016 veto, but hoped that when the amended version of the bill came up in January 2017, he would vote to release the funding which the citizens of Maine had already approved.
In addition, I asked why he supported LD 652 (Carry Concealed Handguns Without a Permit), LD 750 (Allow Regulated Metal Mining), and LD 1397 (Divert Timber Harvest Revenue to Affordable Heating).
After receiving no response and thinking perhaps he didn’t check or have access to his maine.gov e-mail when the Legislature was not in session, I forwarded my original request on November 10, 2016, to another address which I found on the town’s website. Although it was post-election, Mr. Theriault had been re-elected and I wanted to better understand his earlier voting history.
On November 28, I forwarded my e-mail yet again as I’d received no response nor any returns indicating the addresses I had used were not valid. On December 1, Rep. Theriault responded, asking for my phone number and a good time for him to call “to talk about my concerns.” On December 3, I sent him the information as requested and thanked him for contacting me.
Two months later, I have yet to hear from our representative. At this point, I do not want a telephone call from Mr. Theriault. If he feels inclined to respond, I would prefer he do so by e-mail, or better yet, to The Town Line so that its readers will also be informed of his voting rationale. Our elected officials need to remember that the process does not end with the tally of votes on election day. As representatives of their communities, I believe they should be responsive to inquiries of their constituents. We’re being encouraged to be more active and take an interest in our government, but communication is a two-way street.
Jayne Winters
South China
China selectmen spent most of a long Feb. 6 meeting reviewing and approving a good part of the warrant for the March 25 town business meeting, to have it ready for budget committee action. The budget committee is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10, in the town office.
Selectmen also:
The town meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, March 25, at China Middle School. The warrant contains the usual municipal spending requests, including numerous requested appropriations from the TIF (Tax Increment Finance) fund, known formally as the Development Program Fund, and related items, like setting tax due dates; a repeat of several requests voters rejected Nov. 8, 2016; and two new items.
The first new item is a request for up to $40,000 to compensate emergency services personnel (firefighters and medical first responders), under a policy to be developed by selectmen. Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux presented information from Albion, Vassalboro and Windsor, which all compensate their volunteers in different ways.
After a long discussion, a majority of the board voted to include the article and recommend its passage, with Ronald Breton abstaining and Joann Austin opposed. Breton said he supports the concept, but wants a policy in place before funding it; Austin objected to having no time to digest the information from other towns.
The other new proposal, from L’Heureux, is to establish a designated unemployment account in the town’s reserve fund and put $10,000 in it to fund unemployment claims. The manager explained that having the fund would eliminate the need to appropriate money for unemployment insurance annually and put it back into reserve when it is not needed.
Items repeated from the Nov. 8 local ballot include the manager’s request for more money for the capital equipment reserve fund, two amended solid waste ordinances and the planning board’s proposed amendments to the Land Use Ordinance. Planning board members were scheduled to decide at their Feb. 7 meeting whether to present their amendments as a single document or to divide them into separate articles.
The next regular China selectmen’s meeting would have been on the Presidents’ Day holiday; it is rescheduled to 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 23.