The Rainier Hunting Retriever Club held its 2024 Awards Banquet on January 27th at the Pizza Coop in Woodinville, WA. This year we heard an interesting presentation on the Avian Flu by Dr Adam Black. Dr. Black also provided information on the current respiratory disease being found in dogs across the country. In addition to our speaker, the 2024 RHRC club officers were elected: Betsy Reali, President; Liz Gibson, Vice President; Misalyn Armstrong, Secretary and Lee Redd, Treasurer.
The highlight of the evening was the Awards Ceremony. President, Betsy Reali recognized several club members for their outstanding assistance during the past year. Chris Braswell brought her ATV to all of our tests and was a great help moving birds and equipment between stakes. Holly Krohn and Julie Chaykin provided worker/judge lunches for both the spring and fall hunt tests. Honorary RHRC memberships were awarded to Sheila Leitch, Gary Abbott and Bryan/Elsa Hawley for their support of all club activities with no public fanfare.
Two special RHRC Awards are given annually: “Member of the Year” and “President’s Award”. These Awards recognize members who have gone “over and above” the usual volunteer service during the past year. Misalyn Armstrong was voted by the club membership as “Member of the Year” and Jean Fowler received the “President’s Award” for administrative assistance during the year.
The moment everyone awaited was the announcement of owner/dog awards. These awards included recognizing dogs who have earned AKC titles as well as those who “qualified for” and/or “qualified at” various National Events such as the Master National and Master Amateur Invitational. Rainier Club members work very hard all year long – training and testing their canine companions. This year, twenty members and twenty-one dogs were recognized. Dogs and owners received achievement bars and plaques to mark their achievements.
The final award of the evening went to Betsy and Ben Reali for their incredible support in securing birds for our May Hunt test. They went over and above the call of duty to transport the birds from Idaho to our test, not only for Rainier but also Puget Sound Labrador Retriever Club’s spring test. We would not have been able to provide live birds for the event without their contributions of time and resources.
Qualifiers at the 2023 Master Amateur Event held in Giddings, TX.
Patricia Polish (Judge), Dianne and Randy Clark, Chris Braswell, Fred Collins (Judge), Bill Woll