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Dog days in '55
‘Cry ‘Havoc!’ And let slip the dogs of war” was one of Shakespeare’s best lines.
Jacqueline Delaforgue might have preferred one of her own: “Cry ‘Heel!’ And let skip the dogs of Schenectady.”
Delaforgue may not have been an expert on Shakespeare and his famous play “Julius Caesar,” but she was an expert on teaching dogs. As a member of the Schenectady Dog Training Club during the 1950s, Delaforgue worked with collies, sheep dogs and other canines.
“The dogs learn such things as how to retrieve on the level and then over the high jump; to broad jump on command; to ‘stay’ without standing up or turning around while the master goes out of sight,” wrote Schenectady Gazette reporter Ralph M. Turner in 1955. Posted on February 21, 2011.
Members of the Schenectady Dog Training Club pose with their best friends during a club outing in the fall of 1955. Dogs learned obedience and performed exercises with their masters.
David Reamy teaches his collie to “heel.”
A collie gets in his exercise during a 1955 canine-human gathering at Scotia High School.
Schenectady Dog Training Club instructor Jacqueline Delaforgue demonstrates how a young dog is taught to broad jump. The dachshund volunteer is owned by Bob Mee, who watches the exhibition.
Three members of the Schenectady Dog Training Club relax in 1955.
A girl and her dog rest during a meeting of the Schenectady Dog Training Club at Scotia High School in 1955.
Thomas Wiley was a new dog owner but old enough to learn some control techniques. Barbara Treanor, an instructor in the beginner’s class at the club, shows Thomas the correct way to hold a leash.
Club members Mary Jane Kortz, left, and Sharon Wilkins examine trophies awarded during a club competition in 1955. Bali, one of the winners, looks like he’d prefer a steak instead of the silver.
