Our History - by Dorothy Myers
The Dobermann Club of the Cape
It has been suggested that, before it is lost in the mists of antiquity there should be recorded the history of the Club, and, having been instrumental to a large degree in its formation, who better than the Myers to get it onto paper! So – here goes.
We really should start long before we came on the scene – on the 23rd July 1966 to be exact. This was the date of the Inaugural Meeting of the Cape Members of the Dobermann Club ( in Johannesburg). 22 people attended this meeting. At this time the Dobermann Club in Johannesburg (reformed in 1956) was well established and by 1968 had well over 200 members. Registrations of Dobes had increased from 10 to 12 per year in 1955 to 372 in 1966. The committee of the “Cape Members” had as Chairman “Hutch” Hutcheson. Hutch had been training dogs for Liesbeek Park Kennel Club, as it was then known, at their grounds in Observatory, but as he himself owned a Dobermann, selected those dogs for training under his guidance. Apparently at this time there were quite a number, and they finally had permission from Liesbeek Park Kennel Club to train as a separate entity, provided they were members also of the LPKC.
In July 1967 permission was obtained from Goodwood Municipality for the Cape Members to use some grounds at Wingfield for training and Hutch and his merry band of Dobes moved away from LPKC to train on their own.
Regular “gatherings” of the Cape Members were held and minutes record well-known names as committee members. Other names from the past spring to mind – “Steve” Stephens, who with his wife Jean (still a stalwart member of HHKC) bred under the name Rosecombe. Max and Dorothy Baise and their son Ron, who was for many years a trainer at the Club, also sat on the Committee at that time. Ron’s dog “Bonzo” was one of the first Dobe breed Champions in the new Club – his pedigree is still on file. Ron would train a class with Bonzo demonstrating, or watching the action, having been put in a “stay” by Ron and not moving until released. Quite a number of members at this time lived in Somerset West. Also on the committee were Len and Marie Matthews, Den Helder was their Kennel name. John Gilbert, who lived there, became Chairman after “Hutch” and took training classes there. His kennel name was Brunei - sadly, he is no longer with us.
By mid 1971 training had moved to the Old Mutual Grounds in Pinelands, where it remained until April 1973 when it was moved to the Maitland Grounds. It is at this time that we came on the scene.
We saw a “Gathering” of the Cape members of the Dobermann Club advertised to take place on the 29th November 1973 at the Glendower Hotel in Rosebank and decided to go along. John Gilbert was Chairman of the Gathering, we came away from that meeting having been elected to the Committee. Ian was Treasurer and I was Secretary. I took over from Brenda Robb, who had been Secretary for some while and wanted more time to spend with her young family and training her Dobe for Working Trials and Obedience. Bert Douthwaite was elected as Chairman.
We had only been in South Africa a short while, but had owned Dobes since 1957. Needless to say, this was really being thrown in at the deep end. Prior to this meeting membership is recorded as numbering 41. At a meeting in June 1972 minutes record that a proposal to form a separate Club in Cape Town was put forward, but it was decided that the Cape members were not strong enough to go it alone yet. It must be explained here that according to KUSA rules, there can be only one centre for a Club and one main committee – “Meetings” could only be held by the recognised Club – hence the term “Gatherings” held by the Cape members. Also, anyone in Cape Town making enquiries about training facilities, or information about Dobermanns were always referred to the Johannesburg Club by KUSA and told there was no Dobermann Club in Cape Town – very off-putting for potential new members. Life was also difficult, in that we could not communicate direct with KUSA and had to channel all letters, telephone calls etc., via Johannesburg. So – after many discussions and meetings of the Committee of the Cape members it was decided we put the idea of forming a Dobermann Club of the Cape to the members at an Extra-Ordinary General Gathering, which was duly held at the Glendower Hotel Rosebank on the 8th August 1974.
The proposal was formally adopted at that gathering and we proceeded with the Inaugural Meeting of the new Club immediately afterwards. At this point Bert Douthwaite announced that he could not stand as chairman of the new Club, having recently been appointed to the staff of KUSA and he could no longer act as an official of a Club. Ian was elected as Chairman, and I remained Secretary.
So it continued for several years.
This was all enacted with the formal approval of the Dobermann Club in Johannesburg and with their full co-operation, in fact for some time we had reciprocal membership. Their committee’s help was invaluable at that time.
Since this time our fortunes have at times prospered and at other times declined, but we have always had a nucleus of enthusiastic members.
Our training grounds looked a little different in 1974 – we trained on the part of the fields next to the old Bowls Club – but it was in a dip and we sat and watched the antics sitting on a bank overlooking the training area. We did not have the use of the Clubhouse, but coffee and cool drinks were dispensed from a collapsible table and hot water was contained in a hot pot, brought by yours truly.
No facilities were available and for this reason at one time we left Maitland and went out to Milnerton – to the Jan Marais Sports Centre (now the home of the Cape Handlers Dog Club). We were not welcomed with open arms – the Municipality was then not in favour of dogs. We were given the use of a cloakroom and one toilet and sometimes even this was locked and no-one able to supply a key! However, we did hold one Championship Breed Show at this location, despite all odds. We put up with this situation for about a year. The Maitland Clubhouse had been bought by the then Barclays Bank and we were welcomed back to Maitland, with the use of Clubhouse and facilities. We were, in fact Founder Members, with the other users of the Grounds, of the Maitland Sports Board of Control, on which we sat until we left. We stayed there for many years, and for many Shows, both Open and Championship, Breed and Obedience. This Club hosted the first Jumping event in the Cape. A video of this is hilarious when compared to the standard of dog jumping today.
We attained Championship status for breed shows after complying with the necessary requirements of KUSA, but lost this at a show in Gordon’s Bay after some 4 years. We regained it 2 years later and have retained it ever since. It’s true that the numbers of dogs required to be present at such a Show has been reduced by KUSA since the time we first became a Championship Show-holding Club, but considering that our registration numbers have been steadily declining the past four or five years, the fact that we can still field 30 dogs and more at our Show is laudable. Our Obedience shows both Non- and Championship are amongst the most popular in the Cape and always well attended.
In 1999 we were forced to move training away from Maitland after so many years. We suffered the fate of many training clubs – loss of and lack of Trainers and also security at the grounds was getting worse by the month. However, we were delighted to find that the Cape Province Dog Club, with training grounds in Pinelands, were prepared to welcome us and help us with training our Dobes. The arrangement proved to be mutually satisfactory. Cape Province is a go-ahead Club with many great ideas on how to improve the lot of the dog population and educating dog owners in general.
We have since moved away from the Cape Province Dog Club and are no longer a training club. We are however in discussions to find a new ground and new trainers to once again offer this service to fellow Dobe enthusiasts.
It has been suggested that, before it is lost in the mists of antiquity there should be recorded the history of the Club, and, having been instrumental to a large degree in its formation, who better than the Myers to get it onto paper! So – here goes.
We really should start long before we came on the scene – on the 23rd July 1966 to be exact. This was the date of the Inaugural Meeting of the Cape Members of the Dobermann Club ( in Johannesburg). 22 people attended this meeting. At this time the Dobermann Club in Johannesburg (reformed in 1956) was well established and by 1968 had well over 200 members. Registrations of Dobes had increased from 10 to 12 per year in 1955 to 372 in 1966. The committee of the “Cape Members” had as Chairman “Hutch” Hutcheson. Hutch had been training dogs for Liesbeek Park Kennel Club, as it was then known, at their grounds in Observatory, but as he himself owned a Dobermann, selected those dogs for training under his guidance. Apparently at this time there were quite a number, and they finally had permission from Liesbeek Park Kennel Club to train as a separate entity, provided they were members also of the LPKC.
In July 1967 permission was obtained from Goodwood Municipality for the Cape Members to use some grounds at Wingfield for training and Hutch and his merry band of Dobes moved away from LPKC to train on their own.
Regular “gatherings” of the Cape Members were held and minutes record well-known names as committee members. Other names from the past spring to mind – “Steve” Stephens, who with his wife Jean (still a stalwart member of HHKC) bred under the name Rosecombe. Max and Dorothy Baise and their son Ron, who was for many years a trainer at the Club, also sat on the Committee at that time. Ron’s dog “Bonzo” was one of the first Dobe breed Champions in the new Club – his pedigree is still on file. Ron would train a class with Bonzo demonstrating, or watching the action, having been put in a “stay” by Ron and not moving until released. Quite a number of members at this time lived in Somerset West. Also on the committee were Len and Marie Matthews, Den Helder was their Kennel name. John Gilbert, who lived there, became Chairman after “Hutch” and took training classes there. His kennel name was Brunei - sadly, he is no longer with us.
By mid 1971 training had moved to the Old Mutual Grounds in Pinelands, where it remained until April 1973 when it was moved to the Maitland Grounds. It is at this time that we came on the scene.
We saw a “Gathering” of the Cape members of the Dobermann Club advertised to take place on the 29th November 1973 at the Glendower Hotel in Rosebank and decided to go along. John Gilbert was Chairman of the Gathering, we came away from that meeting having been elected to the Committee. Ian was Treasurer and I was Secretary. I took over from Brenda Robb, who had been Secretary for some while and wanted more time to spend with her young family and training her Dobe for Working Trials and Obedience. Bert Douthwaite was elected as Chairman.
We had only been in South Africa a short while, but had owned Dobes since 1957. Needless to say, this was really being thrown in at the deep end. Prior to this meeting membership is recorded as numbering 41. At a meeting in June 1972 minutes record that a proposal to form a separate Club in Cape Town was put forward, but it was decided that the Cape members were not strong enough to go it alone yet. It must be explained here that according to KUSA rules, there can be only one centre for a Club and one main committee – “Meetings” could only be held by the recognised Club – hence the term “Gatherings” held by the Cape members. Also, anyone in Cape Town making enquiries about training facilities, or information about Dobermanns were always referred to the Johannesburg Club by KUSA and told there was no Dobermann Club in Cape Town – very off-putting for potential new members. Life was also difficult, in that we could not communicate direct with KUSA and had to channel all letters, telephone calls etc., via Johannesburg. So – after many discussions and meetings of the Committee of the Cape members it was decided we put the idea of forming a Dobermann Club of the Cape to the members at an Extra-Ordinary General Gathering, which was duly held at the Glendower Hotel Rosebank on the 8th August 1974.
The proposal was formally adopted at that gathering and we proceeded with the Inaugural Meeting of the new Club immediately afterwards. At this point Bert Douthwaite announced that he could not stand as chairman of the new Club, having recently been appointed to the staff of KUSA and he could no longer act as an official of a Club. Ian was elected as Chairman, and I remained Secretary.
So it continued for several years.
This was all enacted with the formal approval of the Dobermann Club in Johannesburg and with their full co-operation, in fact for some time we had reciprocal membership. Their committee’s help was invaluable at that time.
Since this time our fortunes have at times prospered and at other times declined, but we have always had a nucleus of enthusiastic members.
Our training grounds looked a little different in 1974 – we trained on the part of the fields next to the old Bowls Club – but it was in a dip and we sat and watched the antics sitting on a bank overlooking the training area. We did not have the use of the Clubhouse, but coffee and cool drinks were dispensed from a collapsible table and hot water was contained in a hot pot, brought by yours truly.
No facilities were available and for this reason at one time we left Maitland and went out to Milnerton – to the Jan Marais Sports Centre (now the home of the Cape Handlers Dog Club). We were not welcomed with open arms – the Municipality was then not in favour of dogs. We were given the use of a cloakroom and one toilet and sometimes even this was locked and no-one able to supply a key! However, we did hold one Championship Breed Show at this location, despite all odds. We put up with this situation for about a year. The Maitland Clubhouse had been bought by the then Barclays Bank and we were welcomed back to Maitland, with the use of Clubhouse and facilities. We were, in fact Founder Members, with the other users of the Grounds, of the Maitland Sports Board of Control, on which we sat until we left. We stayed there for many years, and for many Shows, both Open and Championship, Breed and Obedience. This Club hosted the first Jumping event in the Cape. A video of this is hilarious when compared to the standard of dog jumping today.
We attained Championship status for breed shows after complying with the necessary requirements of KUSA, but lost this at a show in Gordon’s Bay after some 4 years. We regained it 2 years later and have retained it ever since. It’s true that the numbers of dogs required to be present at such a Show has been reduced by KUSA since the time we first became a Championship Show-holding Club, but considering that our registration numbers have been steadily declining the past four or five years, the fact that we can still field 30 dogs and more at our Show is laudable. Our Obedience shows both Non- and Championship are amongst the most popular in the Cape and always well attended.
In 1999 we were forced to move training away from Maitland after so many years. We suffered the fate of many training clubs – loss of and lack of Trainers and also security at the grounds was getting worse by the month. However, we were delighted to find that the Cape Province Dog Club, with training grounds in Pinelands, were prepared to welcome us and help us with training our Dobes. The arrangement proved to be mutually satisfactory. Cape Province is a go-ahead Club with many great ideas on how to improve the lot of the dog population and educating dog owners in general.
We have since moved away from the Cape Province Dog Club and are no longer a training club. We are however in discussions to find a new ground and new trainers to once again offer this service to fellow Dobe enthusiasts.
