The Ochlockonee River Kennel Club is based in Tallahassee, Florida and welcomes any person interested in purebred dogs--whether they are breeders or exhibitors, animal care professionals, or interested pet owners.The Club holds monthly meetings with programs of interest to dog lovers, publishes an informative newsletter, hosts educational seminars and clinics, participates in community-wide service projects plus conducts regularly scheduled handling classes and conformation and obedience events.
Directions
In early spring of 1987, approximately 20 area dog fanciers met to form the Gadsden County Kennel Club. The organization immediately offered show handling classes to the public and began holding Fun Matches. In 1989 the club was sanctioned by the American Kennel Club under the name Ochlockonee River Kennel Club of Florida, Inc
1988-1991: Matches were held to gain AKC approval – Hosted the very first Canine Good Citizen Test in the country at one of our matches
1992: Name was changed to Ochlockonee River Kennel Club of Florida, Inc. per AKC’s requirements and approval was given to start holding point shows
Oct. 1992: First conformation/obedience show held in Albany, GA, in conjunction with the Thronateeska Kennel Club
Feb. 1993: Hosted our first home show at the N. Florida Fairgrounds in Tallahassee
1993-1998: Continued hosting our conf. show/obed. trials in Albany, GA, in Oct. and Tallahassee, FL in Feb. and meeting at various locations in Tallahassee each month
Feb. 1998: Instigated and donated the money to put up the fencing to create the Dog Park at Tom Brown Park in Tallahassee for area dog owners
Oct. 1998: Purchased the property on Merritt Lane in Havana, FL
June 1999: Started preliminary agility activities and acquiring equipment
Jun-Aug 2000: Held the first agility B match followed by our A match that same year
Feb. 2001 & 2002: Held the second & third agility trials in conjunction with our February show and obedience trial
Feb. 2003/4/5: Hosted our first back-to-back conf. shows/obed. trials at the N. Florida Fairgrounds with agility trials
Feb. 2006: Added rally to the N. Florida Fairgrounds conformation shows/obedience & agility trials
Feb. 2007, 2008, 2009: Hosted back-to-back conformation shows with agility trials and jumpers & weaves
Handling Classes
A dog show is a place where amateurs can compete with professionals. Therefore it is important for amateurs to learn the best handling techniques to make them more competitive and to help with that the ORKC offers handling classes at our clubhouse for members and non-members. These classes are taught by experienced members who have finished dogs and a few are even AKC judges.
The classes are held on the first, second, fourth and fifth (if there happens to be a 5th) Tuesday of each month
starting at 7:00 PM and generally run about one hour.
The donation to the club is $1.00 for members and $2.00
for non members.
