Greeter: Jean-Luc Slagle

Flag Salute: Ken Beurmann

Invocation: Kristen Watson

Song: Ed Tomlinson

Roving Mic: Louis Gill

 

Oso de Peluche, her 235 pound English Mastiff.

 

Steve Sanders hosted Craig Bonna (RH Construction)

Juan Bustamante hosted Jared Emmett (Keller Williams)

Joe Hay hosted Shawn Pertain and Peter Stern (Jim Burke Ford and Ford Motor Co.)

Randy Saunders hosted Nicole Saunders (Chain Cohen Clark)

Anand Manohora hosted Stacey Manohara, FNP (Southwest Pediatrics)

Jordan Kaufamn hosted Chase Nunnelly (Kern County TTC)

Dr. Vin Dang hosted C. Tyson (Acacia Chiropractic)

 

Visiting Rotarians:

Stephanie Sanchez (Twilight)

Kat Clowes (Twilight)

 

Twilight Rotary Club will be hosting a trivia night at the Bakersfield Museum of Art at the end of this month. For more information, reach out directly to their club. 

 

Mark Barnes proudly reported that he will be celebrating his 10th wedding anniversary to his beautiful wife Lindsey. Wishing you both decades of peace, laughter and love! 

 

Aaron Falk announced that Kern Community Foundation received a grant from Kaiser for a two-day grant writing workshop to be held February 14 and 15th. If you are interested in attending, go to the KCF website. 

 

Alli Soper announced that the State of the County will be held January 25. Tickets and tables are now available to buy. 

 

Mike Willis gave a shout out to all of us who write The Spoke. I would like to thank Mike for formatting and sending it out every week—along with corralling your editors. Here is to seven more years of service!

 

Mike and Donna Chernock will be celebrating their 34th wedding anniversary! Mike speaks so lovingly of his wife Donna, and it’s no surprise they’ve had such a successful marriage. 

 

President Joe announced that The Centurion celebration has morphed into the Presidents Gala. It will be held March 1 at Stockdale Country Club, so mark your calendars . It will be a similar party as last year-- including Doug Pierce, looking strapping in his tuxedo! In order to keep costs down at the open bar, Doug has also graciously offered to host a pre-party at his house with top shelf drinks on him!  More info to come next week.

 

Finally, in the spirit of engaging all in our club, Nik Boone has decided he will be assigning weekly duties such as greeter, roving mic, prayer, and flag salute. Apparently, he has a randomizer on his phone and will be emailing or calling those who are lucky enough to be picked. Kindly note there will be a $50 fine if you do not respond to him and are a no call/no show. Guest Editor's Note: (I have to say that as the best Sgt at Arms in the history of the world according to Jim Damian -- I would never resort to these tactics!) Who else thinks President Joe’s year is pretty expensive??

 

 

Lisa Porter, owner of K9 Behavioral College was hired by Cesar Millan in 2014, and currently works with him as a behaviorist and consulting producer on his Nat Geo TV show "Better Human Better Dog".  She is now one of only 6 trainers in the United States to be on Cesar's official Training Team. Working with Cesar and his trainers inspired her to open K9 Behavior College and she has been improving dog and owner relationships ever since! K9BC offers intensive Rehabilitation and Training programs for dogs with severe behavioral challenges and for those needing to build a solid training foundation, such as a new puppy or rescue dog.  

 

Lisa was joined with her partner in business, Caitlyn Lenel, and her darling tripod, Hershey, and husky Pep. Lisa described a long path of progression to be a well-known dog trainer. It started from her own experience of owning a pitbull with bad behavior. In an effort to socialize her dog, she started to foster rescues. The rescue noticed she was skilled at training more challenging dogs.  Eventually, she went into full-time dog training, to working for Marley‘s mutts, and finally with Cesar Millan -- her lifelong dream. Lisa established the Pawsitive Change program through Marley‘s Mutts. This is certainly one of my favorite nonprofit programs in the world! Marley Mutts places rescued dogs in prison for 12 weeks to be rehabilitated and taught obedience by prisoners. The program is now in five facilities: North Kern, Wasco, Corcoran, Bakersfield Juvenile Corrections, and California City. Its goal is to use dogs to create a bridge of self-awareness; and, that is incredibly fulfilling. 

 

Lisa discussed the difference between dog training and dog psychology. She talked about practicing dog psychology before dog training. She stated that the mental state of the dog ultimately determines their behavior. Her goal is never to simply "suppress behavior" but instead to create a calm, happy, healthy state of mind. Dogs can be well-trained or good dogs but still have anxiety, aggression, insecurity, and other unhealthy issues that lead to many bad behaviors.  She focuses on establishing a relationship with a dog in which it trusts and respects you. This understanding allows behavior to be created or mediated through this relationship. For more information on her services, you can look at her website at k9behaviorcollege.com.