4-H Dog Leader Celebrates 50 Years

Lynda Arbuckle has been a Hamilton County 4-H Dog leader for 50 years.

And she soon will have her own parking space and a sign with her name on it at the Hamilton County 4-H Fairgrounds in Noblesville.

The 83-year-old Noblesville woman — who was presented a parking sign last Friday during the 4-H Fair Queen Pageant — got involved in 4-H when her oldest daughter, Dawn (Arbuckle) Moos, joined 4-H and wanted to take the Dog project and show her English Setter, named Lynda (born on the mom’s birthday).

“She is truly a legend,” said Allison Moos of Noblesville, a 2006 Noblesville High School graduate, who told her grandmother’s story to the audience of 4-H Dog project competitors and their families on Monday night just before announcing winners of the 4-H Dog Obedience and Showmanship Contest during pre-Hamilton County 4-H Fair activities. The 4-H Dog Project’s Dog Rally and Dog Agility Shows were Saturday. Moos, on Monday, was tabulating contest results.

Arbuckle, the Hamilton County 4-H Dog project superintendent, started as a volunteer 4-H Dog leader because she was good at handling dogs. “I had no training. I just did it. I enjoyed it. I always enjoyed dogs,” she said, while watching Monday’s Dog Obedience Contest getting started.

“I was always the family person who, whenever anybody in the family got a new dog, I would go and sort of work with it so it wouldn’t jump up on them,” Arbuckle told me five years ago, when she was celebrating her 45th year. Arbuckle, as a kid, had a Toy Collie, and hunting dogs, then Beagles and Basset Hounds after she was married and started a family.

“I think it’s important to know how the legend of Mrs. Arbuckle started, and began and grew to what it is today,” Moos said.

Linda Arbuckle’s daughter, Dawn, was in tears because her favorite 4-H project, which was dog obedience, was going to be canceled because she didn’t have a leader.

So her mom decided to become the leader.

Arbuckle took over 50 years ago for Kay Lancaster, the 4-H Dog leader, who was also leader of the growing Horse & Pony project.

Arbuckle remembered there were roughly three others who wanted her job and 35 4-H’ers in the program.

The family has enjoyed the 4-H Dog project so much that Arbuckle’s children and grandchildren have not only been 10-year 4-H’ers in the Dog project, but some of them have followed in Arbuckle’s footsteps joining her as 4-H Dog project leaders.

“We’ve met so many nice people through 4-H,” Arbuckle said.

Dawn (Arbuckle) Moos, 63, “who always had a dog,” and can remember how her family always took in dogs, is now a 4-H Dog project leader of 37 years.

Arbuckle’s new sign — which is to be installed this week in front of the Hamilton County Exhibition Center at the 4-H Fairgrounds — is long awaited. I remember talking to Arbuckle five years ago, when she celebrated her 45th year, and she was looking forward to a parking sign in her name to commemorate 50 years of volunteering. At that time, she had no intention to retire, because, she said, she was “still waiting” on her parking space.

Why is the 4-H Dog project good for kids?

“I think it’s important. It teaches them responsibility, and that’s one of the main things that we try to teach in the 4-H Dog project.  The 4-H’er needs to be responsible for their care; that, No. 1, helps the dog bond with the 4-H’er. They (canines) really look to whoever provides their food and water as their person to bond to,” Dawn Moos told me during a prior interview.

She loves being a leader and teaching the 4-H’ers. “It’s a great experience, having grown up with dogs,” Dawn Moos said.

Moos said her mom has been “an excellent role model as a mom and a 4-H leader.”

Dawn’s sister, Beth (Arbuckle) Lawler, 60, is a 4-H Dog project leader of 35 years. Their brother, Brad Arbuckle, 58, has also been involved in the 4-H Dog project and was a leader for a few years.  Dawn’s daughter, Allison Moos, 35, Fishers, has been a 4-H Dog leader for 15 years. Dawn’s son, Adam Moos, 40, is a former 4-H Dog Agility leader and is now a professional dog trainer.

The Dog project is great for kids because it teaches important life skills, the three generations agree.

“It teaches you how to have a lot of patience and a lot of caring and love,” Arbuckle has said. “The dog is a very faithful animal and wants to be loved all of the time.”

She has said, “A lot of people say when you learn to train a dog, it gives you a lot of experience in working with kids….”

Arbuckle and her children all see eye-to-eye, “like two peas in a pod,” with their 4-H Dog training. “We all believe in positive training and we don’t believe in hitting and whipping….You praise the dog when they do things right, and they will do anything for you then.” They also follow the 4-H state rules and regulations.

Each year, “hundreds” of 4-H’ers come through the 4-H Dog program. In 2010, there were 238 4-H’ers enrolled in Dog. “We were the largest Dog Project in the country,” Moos said.

“Each year, it’s been an enormous group of kids.”

Arbuckle is so loved and so great at what she does. “Her love and dedication doesn’t just stop when the Fair is over or only on Tuesdays.

For several years, she was in charge of the horticulture building on the Fairgrounds.

When her own kids were growing up, she made sure they practiced at home what they learned at the weekly 4-H Dog Obedience class. “Normally, I would want them to practice 20 minutes every day or every other day,” she told me. “They enjoyed it, so they worked with the dogs.”

Arbuckle has said her daughter Dawn showed Lynda, the English Setter, in 4-H, then later showed Shannon, an Irish Setter who had been dumped at their house in the countryside. “We took her in. We took a lot of dogs in that way. We lived out in the country on a farm, and people always seemed to dump dogs and cats, and we always took them in and took care of them,” she told me.

Arbuckle divides 4-H Obedience into five groups, who are trained with the help of other 4-H Dog project leaders, for nearly an hour each week beginning in March. Then the advanced 4-H’ers are trained the second hour, plus 4-H Dog Agility and Dog Showmanship are also offered, with the help of other leaders.

The 4-H motto is to “make the best better” and Arbuckle has been doing that for 50 years.

The community is invited to attend an open house where Arbuckle will be honored for her 50 years of service from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 3, in the Exhibition Center at the 4-H Fairgrounds.

-Betsy Reason writes about people, places and things in Hamilton County. Contact The Times Editor Betsy Reason at betsy@thetimes24-7.com.