January 2021

4×4 Dog Club Guest Speaker by Lauren Rudland, Club Reporter

In January, our club had a guest speaker, Doug Lesch, talk to us about training Avalanche Dogs.  “Every dog is a good dog. Not every dog is a working dog.” Doug says. Especially Keena and the other avalanche dogs.  Doug and Keena are part of a group called, Search and Rescue in Colorado. The dogs in this program must be healthy, and strong to participate in this program. They are a validated dog team because of a group called C-RAD(Colorado Rapid Avalanche Deployment). The dogs play a game of hide and seek at an early age to help prepare them for the work they must do to possibly save people’s life. After the dogs are a little older, they are taught not to rely on the owner, be independent, and to be ready when they are out in the field. Along with that, they are taught different scents by socializing which will help them in the field.  The avalanche dogs are constantly working year round because for those dogs, they need a purpose. They need to be doing something and they practice to get better. They can’t just do this in the winter, this is their life. 

Critters & Creations 4-H Club by Lila Hoaster, Club Reporter

December was a busy month for Critters and Creations. We had several service projects. We helped support the Longmont Humane Society and Attention Homes. Attention Homes helps people in need through their low-income housing program and more. We also put together 11 holiday food boxes for There With Care. There With Care helps support families in a medical crisis. We helped to support these causes by donating a ton of different items to each. Some of the items donated were blankets, hats and gloves, socks, dog and cat food, dog toys, art supplies, cleaning supplies, and an assortment of canned foods. Together, we were able to collect a lot of items to help these three different Boulder County non-profit organizations.