The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 29

dog called a happy dog rain BEDMINSTER Holli, 4, and Kelsey, 7Vz, the German shepherd dogs of Ronald and Maeleine Loos of Rocking Horse Farm, have made their "family" proud of them. The dogs have earned the American Kennel Club Obedience titles of Utility Dog (UD) and Companion Dog Excellent (CDX), respectively. Though these achievements, in themselves, are not unique in the dog world, the "why" they did is. BOTH DOGS might have ended up in whatever limbo God has reserved for His animal creatures when they die. Both were rescued from such a fate by Ron and Maeleine.

Both dogs were given the advantages of the couple's theory: "More people should be aware of dog training not necessarily to compete for the titles, but so that all the love, loyalty and devotion a dog has to give can be channeled with some nliillliiiliiii i I A r- i i' X4'L xsA 1 I 'IV training to make their pets real companions." Mrs. Loos added, "It's great fun and the dogs really do enjoy working." At the time Holli became a member of the Loos' menage there were three other dogs, four cats and three horses. Like the other dogs and the cats, Holli's life was saved by the Loos' action. IT WAS OCTOBER, 1971, and the 10-month-old puppy was suffering from pancreatitis. She was about to be "put down" by a veterinarian's needle because her owner couldn't cope with the situation and couldn't give her the special care and attention needed to cure her.

The owner had muscular dystrophy and was confined to a wheelchair. "Ron stopped the vet's action, had the dog treated and brought her home. To appease me, since I felt I already had too many animals, he took her to the Somerset County Dog Obedience Club for training. "Soon we both became involved in obedience training, and became "hooked on it" and now we are instructors for the SC-DOC," said Mrs. Loos.

Kelsey, whom the couple adopted as a stray puppy, was 6 years old when Madeleine started her in the obedience training route. "She was long past the age when most dogs have retired from competition, not because they cannot learn but because of the jumping involved in the CDX and UD work. Dogs have to jump three feet, which is difficult for an older dog particularly-one who has not jumped before." Mrs. Loos said that for dogs to earn the title of: First, Companion Dog; then, Companion Dog Excellent and finally Utility Dog is not a snap. IN ORDER to earn a title, a dog must qualify at three licensed obedience trials under three different judges Irxide TOday SECTION Cosmetic ingredient labeling will aid industry as well as consumer.

C-3 Rutgers Institute of Microbiology celebrates anniversary. C-11 Special Club Section due C-10 What's new in the fabric game? C-l 1 Classified ads 11-16 What's Going On 8 Erma Bom beck 2 Holli shows her form which was part of the training for competition in the open class. Maeleine and Ronn, right, and their waifs turned into champions, Kelsey and Holli, in a quiet moment of companionship. bred, is the youngest of the equine group, just 15 years old. Ron and Maeleine's love of their horses, dogs and cats is evident.

But they are particularly proud of the achievements of Holli and Kelsey. jf i ff It V1 I 0 5 1 II if 'l 1 if II Ay I 'w 1 L-w( 4 ii I'M I I li ff 'fH-L 11 Kof IV 1 I x- I LI i -j- If if and earn a score of a least 170 out of a possible 200 points at each trial. This could -mean a dog going through many trials before achieving the necessary title points. But these are the "final" steps. Before that dogs and handlers practice for these trials at "match shows" where conditions are similiar but no points are given toward a title.

In the sport of dog obedience the UD title is equivalent to the champion in the breed ring. Throughout the entire country in 1972, German shepherd dogs (which is the most numerous breed in obedience) earned 1,100 Companion Dog (CD) titles, 291 earned the CDX title and Story by Photo only 78 the UD title. The work involved in each title becomes increasingly difficult. Holli and Kelsey won the first leg for their titles at the Bayshore Companion Dog Training Club trial in Lin-croft on Feb. 24: the second leg at the Lehigh German Shepherd Dog Club trial in Freemansburg, on March 17; Holli, her third leg at the Staten Island Companion Dog Training Club trial on April 20; and Kelsey her third at the Philadelphia Dog Training Club trial at Feltonville, on April 28.

Now Kelsey will be out through her paces to try and earn the UD title. Still a companion to these stars is the mixed breed dog, Rascal, now 12, who was "picked up off the road;" and three domestic tabby cats, Pumkin, Cozy and Pixie, whose feminine intuition caused them to "adopt" Ron and Maeleine. "All our dogs and cats have been fixed, I wouldn't have it any other way," Mrs. Loos said. Jill Koehler bv Dan Ernst THE THREE HORSES at their farm are geldings.

She used to teach pleasure riding using Muffin, a Palamino, but three years ago she gave up this avocation. "I didn't think it was fair to ask him to ride anymore, he got so old. Now he's 31, quite old for a horse," she said. Brandy, a chestnut-colored Morgan draft horse, now 24, also used to be used for pleasure riding lessons. But now, he, like so many people, suffers from arthritis.

Peppermint, a gray crossbreed of the American Saddlebred and Thorough THEY CITE the dogs as perfect examples of their theory that the hardship cases, the unwanted animals, can become more than just pets, they can be trained in meaningful roles and their potential skills developed to the. utmost degree. Mrs. Loos also firmly believes that "all this training of the dogs is for naught if confined to the show ring only. Instead it should be put to practical use." Consequently, Holli and Kelsey have been trained to accompany her into stores (where permitted) and help carry a package.

"People are amazed by such a simple thing as the dogs walking quietly by my side or patiently waiting in the store while I transact my business," she said. 4 I iatjujujjuMiMwiiiiMMniifBniiW'ImMiTMmii iti i i fr tit i rwgi i rnn-ii tuan iiMiMMi-aan ri iim i lit i The Courier-News amniiy Kelsey, left, and Holli heeling properly are proof of the couple's theory that dogs can become both winners and companions given the chance Wednesday, July 3, 1974 C-l through training. 4 Ann Landers What kind of a nut 1 woman of ANY age to flip over a much younger man. I've received stacks of letters from teen-age girls who view their mothers as serious competition. Moreover, some girls have stated frankly that their mothers are extremely aggressive and "up to plenty." In the third place, there's no such thing as a dull day in my office.

The notion that I have to fabricate letters in order to put together a lively column is absurd. A person would have to be psychotic to make up those letters. Eighteen years of this work has taught me that nothing is so far out, or bizarre, that somebody, somewhere, won't do it. 1 a drug used to treat mentally ill people as a cure for a seven-year-old boy who wet the bed. The "distinguished kidney specialist" with whom you consulted said the drug that expanded the bladder, if taken by a child with a disease of the urinary tract, could develop a serious kidney problem.

Everyone makes mistakes, including doctors. If a doctor does something that is injurious to a patient's health, he should be reported and you should have suggested it. My husband bet me $5 that you would NOT print this letter for fear of alienating your doctor friends. Who wins? New Yorker in Michigan DEAR N.Y.: You do. I have repeatedly advised patients who have complaints against physicians to contact their county medical societies.

In fact, just a few weeks ago I received the following counsel, verbatim: "Incompetent doctors reflect poorly on the entire profession. The good physicians want to get rid of them. Report the case to the county medical society." In the first place, what kind of nut does her housework in the nude? In the second place, what sort of woman in her 30s would have a yen for a kid 17? In the third place, there were a few of us (myself included) who decided that the situation was so far out that you probably made up the letter on a day when the mail was dull. How about answering these questions in the press, madame? Inquisitive in Illinois DEAR INK: In the first place, thousands of women do their housework in the nude. I learned this when I printed a letter from a woman who got caught naked as a radish while doing her laundry in the basement and was surprised by the meter-reader.

That woman wasn't nuts. She explained she was tired of ripping her pockets on doorknobs and described how gloriously free she felt as she whipped through the housework unencumbered by clothing. fthe second place, it is not uncomkon for a DEAR ANN: A few days ago there was a big discussion in our office about that woman who did her housework in the nude and then enjoyed a little skinny-iipping in her own private pool. It seems she was infatuated with her daughter's 17-year-old boyfriend and one day he showed up beside the pool and surprised her. She was embarrassed to death and he wanted to put her at ease, so he took off his clothes and swam with her.

The girls in our office talked about that letter all day. DEAR ANN: I might be mistaken, but I can't recall your advising anyone whose health has been endangered by an incompetent or careless physician to report the matter to the county or state medical society. I refer -pecifically to the doctor who prescribed.