Friday started out very wet, but it never dampened the spirit of those attending the Homecoming! The Lodge was full of friendly faces, as people had the extra time to get better acquainted. It was a welcome break for many of us that had been putting in so many hours just in the first few days of preparations. It also gave the old SSDCA board a chance to have their last meeting, before the new elections.

Lisa did a quick change to the schedule, so that our visitors would have a chance to watch the (Schutzhund) B Title seminar tape before the puppy evaluations started. A definite spirit of comradeship could be felt by all those that gathered for this seminar, and before we knew it, lunch was being served!

Although there were some sporadic dry periods, we held a poll among the entrants and they voted against running on wet grass even if it had stopped raining, so the show was postponed to Sunday afternoon and we would spend the extra time we had just sharing stories and fellowshipping instead!

Later in the afternoon, we brought a litter of puppies to the lodge, so that everyone could watch how an LER is performed. Dee Vickers and Lisa Barber did the temperament testing and conformation evaluation. Everyone had a great time, especially the kids that got to play with those cute puppies.

After dinner a group gathered for the Genetic (RC) Seminar that lasted well into the night. This presentation, aside from the usual reports/pedigrees, etc. had a special twist to it. About half way into the seminar, ten volunteers were chosen to participate in producing an litter of puppies. Zip lock bags were passed around that contained blue strips of paper for the Sire, pink for the Dam and white for the "shadow recessives". Each small card represented a fault or virtue that could apply to this particular imaginary litter. Each person had to reach into the bags and pick 6 blue, 6 pink and 12 white cards, then place them face down. Once all were in place, each person was asked to turn over their cards, and using the information written on each, describe "their" puppy. Then they were asked to share what that puppy might produce, by using the faults and virtues represented by the white cards. Some "puppies" looked great, but had some major genetic faults while others were mediocre, but had great "shadow" dogs. It was a real eye opener, because now the breeders had to choose the pups they would/would not breed and why! Then this "imaginary" breeding was repeated and everyone got another chance to "draw" a next set of cards. It proved to be an exciting fun filled way of learning more about genetic probabilities. As it grew later and later, many still did not want to leave because of all the questions that these new revelations had raised. Everyone received a nice set of handouts and an assurance that more questions would be answered before the weekend ended.