Early History of the Town and Country Dog Training Club

A group of people interested in dog obedience training initiated by Gladys Cassel, Frank Bolger, and Walt and Em Weinacher met at the Cassels' residence on July 20, 1949, and our Club got underway.  

The original name of the Club was the Garden State Dog Training Club, incorporated September 8, 1949.  

Correspondence with the American Kennel Club to recognize the Club was quite involved.  The AKC refused to accept the Club's name because the phrase "Garden State" referred to the State of New Jersey, which implied that the Club's working area would be the entire state.   That was counter to the AKC ruling that the area assigned to an obedience club would be restricted to a municipality for holding match and point shows and could not infringe on any other obedience club's assigned area (also restricted to 200 airline miles for a same-day show).  However, location of training quarters was not restricted to any assigned location.  

Our second attempt to name our Club did not fare much better.  As the Town and Country Dog Training Club of Morris Country, incorporated in January 3, 1951, the objections of the AKC were similar, since the Club's name implied the whole county as a working area, and there were already two obedience clubs in Morris County.   That county was chosen because a majority of the Club's original members lived there.   During two years of corresponding with the AKC, the Club's membership changed:   50 percent came from Essex County, 25 percent from Morris County, and the rest from other counties.  

After that, we became the Town and Country Dog Training Club, and the central location of Union Township was selected.  Final recognition came from the AKC, and the Club was incorporated in March 19, 1954.  

The first training class was held on September 17, 1949 at Old Evergreen Lodge, Springfield.  An additonal training class was conducted at Lake Hiawatha.  

In March 1953, training classes were transferred to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Building in Union.  For the next five years, we called the VFW our home until, in September 1958, renovations to the building forced us to new quarters at the VFW Memorial Building in Kenilworth.   One year later we returned to our original training quarters at Old Evergreen Lodge.  

Formal training ran from September through June and training classes for the public were started three or four times a year.  Four classes during a training session covered the gamut of obedience training from beginners and novice through utility work.  The first or beginners class was for the general public who wished to train their dogs for home obedience and whose training fees helped operate the club.  The second or post novice class was primarily for those people (and their dogs) who graduated from the beginner's class and wished to continue training (those people were prospective Club members).  Club members with beginner dogs could use that class for practice if there was space for additonal dogs and handlers.   (That was at the discretion of the Training Director.) The third and fourth classes were for Club members only -- the third for Novice and Open training and the fourth for Utility training.  

After ten months of formal training and with approaching hot weather, the change is made to informal training for members in the great outdoors.   Starting in 1956 in Bryant Park, Summit, it lasted two years until the mosquitoes drove us out, and instead, we went to Biertuempfel Park, Union.   That informal training also allowed our members to keep up on the latest gossip, and our Club photographer came up with some humorous movies of the members and their dogs.  

The Charter members who formed the Club consists of 22 people of varying occupations, all with a common interest in dog obedience training.   Their avocations covered breeding, handling, training, and judging.   The Club was and still is represented in all fields of the dog world.   After some 14 years of the Club's existence, only two of the charter members were still active, and in a presentation at our Christmas Party, December 1959, Walt and Em Weinacher were made Life Members.  

It was and remains an outstanding, successful, and unusual Club inasmuch as it operates without a board of directors or trustees.  Truly it is a Club of the members, by the members, and for the members. The presiding officer has had an average tenure of two years (9 Presidents in the first 14 years).   That precedent was carried through all the offices of the Club with the exception of the Training Director (Walt Weinacher) who was in office from the inception of the Club until June 1962 with just one year off (he was President in 1956-1957).  

Club members came from all parts of north and mid-Jersey and Staten Island, and their breeds ran from the smallest toy dog to the largest working dog with a few All-Americans mixed in. Many former members are still active in obedience clubs throughout the United States.   Four of the members were qualified judges, licensed by the AKC, and six members judged sanctioned match shows and neighboring obedience club graduations with the idea of applying for an AKC license.   That is typical of the enthusiasm of the Club membership in obedience training, and through that entusiasm our Club became the largest, most active, and most advanced obedience training club in New Jersey and one of the most active in the country.  

Following the original organizational meeting, monthly business meetings were held at various Club members' homes and, in time, English's Grill, Livingston became the monthly meeting place because of its central location.   With additions and changes of Club members, the new central location and meeting place was pinpointed at Gus' Bar and Grill in Union, and the proprietors Ann and Gus Sebenhst were also very active members of the Club.  In 1960, the Club had grown enough to move the monthly meeting to larger quarters.  The First State Bank of Union (the Club's financial dealings were with that bank) allowed us the use of the meeting facilities at their branch on Highway #22 in Union.  

Notices of monthly meetings were originally printed on postal cards and sent to all members.  The addition of the following month's training schedule to the postal card notice was in 1954, and in July 1956 a Monthly News Bulletin was initiated to keep the members informed on all the latest training, educational, and social events.  

The Training classes held for the public were to provide instruction for home obedience, that is, to make dogs better pets in the home and also to help finance the Club.  For promotion of obedience training in dog circles, the Club turned to the running of obedience shows.  

In January and October of 1951, the Club held its first sanctioned match shows at Scotties and Eddies, Route 46, Dover, NJ.  Those match shows were held, as required by the AKC, to obtain experience as a prelude to Licensed Obedience Trials.  A Licensed Obedience Trial is a show recognized by the AKC in which a dog competes for a qualifying score to obtain a leg toward an AKC Obedience Title.  Three legs (three qualifying scores under three different judges) earn the dog an Obedience Title.  The obedience titles in ascending order of the degree of importance, in recognition of increased difficulty in obedeince training exercises are CD (Companion Dog), CDX (Companion Dog -- Excellent) and UD (Utility Dog).  

Due to the problem with our Clubs' initial recognition by the AKC, our first Licensed Obedience Trial was not held until April 17, 1954, at Angele's Grove, Union.  It was a miserable, rainy day, enough to break anyone's spirit, but the enthusiasm of the T&C bounced back to hold the second show (and a successful one) at Angele's Grove the following year.   For the third and fourth shows we moved to the Municipal Park, Swanstrom Place, Union, and in June 1958 we began to hold our Annual Licensed Obedience Trial at Biertuemofel Park, Union.  

The Annual Show was a gala affair culminating about nine months of work by the Club's show committee and a few days of hard work by all Club members.  

The Club also ran Sanctioned Match Shows sometime during the year preceding nearby Licensed Obedience Trials, to provide a practice show for obedience people who planned to enter their dogs in the coming Licensed Show.  Those were ususally held at our training quarters at Old Evergreen Lodge.  

In October of 1960, we ran our first Tracking Test on the grounds of Ryland Inn and the Gilbert Kennels in White House, New Jersey, thus offering one of the few opportunities for our members and others in this part of the country to obtrain a Tracking Title for their dogs.   A Tracking Test was connected with our annual point show, but was necessarily held at a different time of the year.  The Club did not benefit financially from that activity because we could accept only 10 entries; however, we felt that is a service we should offer since we had become one of the leading Obedience Clubs in the area.   We also had the distinction of offering a much sought after and coveted trophy for those passing that Test: a laminated wood wall plaque showing the actual field markings and course of the particular track each individual dog passed.  Those plaques are designed and drawn by our own Club member artist, Pauline Lorentz.  

The activities of the Club and members were quite varied and covered the field in trainnig, educational (animal), and social (we liked to have fun) events.  

In April 1959, the Club trained a blind boy through the patience of Training Director Walt Weinacher and ably assisted by assistant trainer "Tish" Bistika.  The Club members under the direction of various Exhibition Directors gave many training exhibitions to local veterans' groups, service clubs, and scouting and church groups.   The Club was a member of the Association of Obedience Clubs and Judges and our representative and many Club members attend those meetings to listen and to give their opinions in order to improve obedience training throughout the country.  In the fall of 1957, the club brought in a special lecturer, Mr McDowell-Lyons, Baltimore, MD, who gave a series of three lectures on the anatomy of the dog.  Members of all the local obedience clubs were also invited.  All members were notified of any special dog educational events, and they are always well attended.  

On the glamour side of dog obedience, some Club members appeared on television to talk about and demonstrate dog obedience, and another was part of a group of handlers who put on an exhibition of utility obedience at the 1958 Westminster Show at Madison Square Garden.  One of our little pugs became an actor and performed quite notably in a local theatre group.  

Occasional picnics and barn dances were held to provide a social outlet for the members.  The top social event of each year was the Club's annual Christmas Party.  A good meal, some liquid refreshments, and lots of dancing topped off with the awards presentation made that event one to remember and look forward to the next.  The awards presentation was an annual affair which was started by the club to provide incentive to Club members to train their dogs through the various classes of dog obedience and thus foster obedience training.  Dogs receiving an AKC title during the calendar year preceding the Christmas Party were presented with a beautiful engraved trophy as a remembrance of their hard work (and don't forget the handler's).