Agility a sport for all?

A bit late with a blog after coming back from the FCI AWC in Spain last weekend.

Travelling back with Agility Team GB on the coach meant we didn't get home until late on Tuesday evening.

I had rearranged some lessons from Tuesday to Wednesday which followed by my usual Wag & Tone class meant I postponed catching up with unpacking until Thursday.

Thursday evening Mark had an awards evening to attend in relation to an award he had been put forward for in his day job. It was black tie and an overnight stay in Birmingham. He works for an Energy company and this was recognition for his driving project from an external body. There were quite a few nominations so we may have attended just to have a 'posh' evening with lovely food etc. Most of my readers will know Mark from agility and know about his commitment to GB and passion for our sport. He also enjoys his work and puts as much into delivering his projects. It was brilliant to see that external companies recognised this. The award was to him and ADT the company that worked with him to set up and maintain the data required. 

 

However great this was it had put a delay on recovering from our exciting week away.

No lie in the next day either as work to do. We also had the first step in a new adventure which I will blog about another time.

Back to the title of my blog. I am lucky to be involved in all levels of agility. On one hand I get to watch Agility Team GB and then at home I get to train some people new to the sport. There I go using that term sport again.

Looking the word sport up on the internet - "an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment."

Physical exertion - yes
Skill - yes
Individual or team - yes
Competes - yes
Entertainment - yes

The entertainment part does not mention if this is the people taking part or other people.

In many sports there are as many people (or maybe sometimes more) that enjoy going to watch their team play in their chosen sport. Football is a perfect answer.

Certainly at the Príncipe Felipe Pavilion in Zaragoza this year the atmosphere illustrated that the european agility followers find watching a big part of their agility experience. The French especially always have a huge following.

Agility Team GB have some loyal followers that come every year and many that watch life streaming but no where near as many as other countries.

I am relatively confident that it is no more expensive for people that come from Norway for example than for followers to come from the UK. 

What ever the reason for not coming I am confident in saying that there is nothing like watching the people at the top of their game from all over the World get together to compete at this professionally run event. 

One ring dedicated to agility, all heights treated equally and even organised dancing in the breaks to give those glued to their seats a chance to burn some calories. 

It is an emotional roller coaster at times 

and a chance to wave your flag. There is nothing quite like the feeling of being patriotic with a great team of people to support.

The other beauty of agility in the UK is that most of Agility Team GB are known to us personally. We know the training and dedication they have put in and have even watched them be successful around the circuit. There are not many football supporters that will have played Sunday league with the people they are cheering on.

There are many changes and challenges for agility to come and for many it is seen as a hobby and not a sport.

Looking up hobby on the internet "an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure".

A few differences to consider - physical exertion, skill, competes and entertainment are not mentioned. Not to say hobbies don't include that just that it is not within the definition as being important.

Agility as a hobby is a brilliant way to spend time with our dogs and our friends. 

For me - I have customers that agility will be a hobby for and they will enjoy as much as the ones for whom agility will be a sport. I have no problem with it being both or either. I do wonder if there would be a benefit from having divisions instead of all competing for the same prize after all Sunday afternoon footballers would not expect to compete in Division 1. That is another totally unanswerable blog probably even if written would not see daylight.

For now I applaud Agility Team GB sports men and women and dogs. They are professional, skilful and athletic and certainly entertaining to watch.

Role on the next squad day just before Olympia to start another journey towards the European Open and the FCI AWC for next year.

The word on the street is that more spectators are hoped for next year and maybe somebody organising a travel package for spectators so keep an eye open and a few days holiday aside for next years excitement.

There is usually time for a bit of sightseeing too.

Getting ready to go...

Don't worry this is not another post about toileting ;)

This weekend we are getting ready to go to the FCI AWC as it is officially known or the Worlds as it is often called here.

There is lots to get ready - dog sitters, packing clothes, flags, paperwork to name a few.

We have 2 days on a coach to look forward to and then the excitement of watching Agility Team GB competing.

As usual we have a great Team who are committed to doing the best they can.

It is available to watch on LiveStream agilitywc2016.com/streaming

This year it is hoped to show information via Twitter - just look up #agilityteamgb.

There is not always time to give the full story and often just an E doesn't justify what happened. As you all know some of our best rounds are not always reflected in the score. In the case of speed of information getting out there we will be brief.

Remember the time difference - they are 1 hour ahead of us.

The running orders on the website currently include all listed competitors including reserves. The lists may change after registration on Thursday when all competitors have been declared. If not there will be gaps.

Hope you enjoy hearing about #agilityteamgb.

As usual a big thank you to the sponsors

What a load of old .... ;)

Many years ago I enjoyed doing those personality tests where you answered a load of questions and scored points for various answers, added them up and they told you something you already knew about yourself.

It left me with questions so that I wonder what kind of person usually picks the first empty seat they come to instead of looking for another, reads instructions before starting to build an item of furniture or even who picks the middle cubicle in the toilets!

Being a conscientious dog owner who picks up after their dogs I can't help but notice that they toilet differently and wonder if that reflects their personality.

Torro is an anxious pooer. He isn't selective in regards where he goes but always circles around. We call it asking for permission to land. He will then rush off or rush to you with a particular expression of glad to have gotten rid of that load.

Devo never has time to think about going to the toilet. He just suddenly needs to go, hardly squats, drops his little packages and is off again.

Rhyme is very private in his business. He will go in the farthest corner of the field or in the longest grass and turns his back. He sits very proud and low. His privacy is so important I won't spoil it with a picture ;)

Moog likes to go high on long grass or even a thistle. Many years ago we were told that a good collie will always go like this to keep the excrement away from the short sweet grass the sheep will eat.



Pikachu is not worried where she goes and makes a big performance of it. She also has a big zoomie either before, after or both.

I wonder what these different habits display about them?

Well Torro can be anxious about things and like reassurance. He is also likes to include us in any celebration of things done well.

Devo's only consuming passion is watching Mark (or me if Mark isn't around). You could even say he was one of those obsessional collie's. Mark or working with Mark is all he wants and needs. Basic functions are a nuisance as they get in the way of life.

Rhyme is always clean. He would have been what was called dapper years ago. Spit spot and Bristol fashion is his way. He likes to perform a task properly. You only need to see his joy of getting his contacts to see that.  If I get back into HTM training this winter and video him working, you'll see him step up to the rhythm.

Moog is all sheep dog. He is also a real boy. He grumbles at being dried, he flops about and knows how to switch on his goofy charm. He mucks in with what ever is going on yet can go and entertain himself too. 

Pikachu is busy. She rushes about everywhere and you always know she's about. She has a huge personality.

It would be interesting to know if anyone else notices toilet traits and how they suit your dog. Or is it just me? Just me then 

An Agility Dog she is then

We're looking forward to Gillingham Show again this year. Last year we somehow found ourselves saying we would have this little girl.

Now a year on I am pushing on with her agility training. Getting a terrier cross to do agility with was not our thoughts. TBH we still have no idea what our thoughts were but hey ho sometimes what will be will be.

We don't generally do much training with our youngsters. Ideally that should be not much equipment training but realistically it somehow becomes no training.

Pikachu did go to a couple of puppy classes though and graduated from NTU too.

Other than that she has been working on waits and play and eating. Well mostly eating if she can.

Then her first birthday happened and as she is no way a lap dog she is going to be an agility dog.

I have done bits and pieces here and there but not any proper training sessions. Today I thought right lets get on with it.

The following clips are her definitely getting on with it. OMG she is amazing.

She works for tug, she works for treats and she works for tennis balls. What more can you ask for. She likes to go fast, she likes to perform a task, she likes to go fast, she likes to jump and did I mention she likes to go fast.


Small jumping sequence for a ball.

She has done a bit of just doing one jump either as a recall from a sit or a send on to and back to a toy. This is the first day I have done this set up. I did it twice on the other side and then this is the best clip and the first time we did it this way. 

Waiting is something I have done loads of with her. I believed she was very strong on it. Then I discovered in front of a jump that if I did it from a tug as soon I took the tug away she completely disengaged. I tried practicing taking the tug and rewarding quickly with a treat but would still get a off switch look. I tried just using treats and as soon as I passed the wing she would disappear off in the other direction. I thought it was something I was doing differently in front of a jump than I had been doing without one. Sure enough she will wait no problem with no obstacle in front of her but that's not much fun. 

Luckily I had discovered that she loved tennis balls. One tennis ball is pointless as it only has one use. Once it's thrown it is never coming back. Two tennis balls however are great fun and she will continue to play with me until I can gain procession of both balls again. Armed with two balls I can get her to sit on the start and she maintains concentration to enable me to do a start line like I want.

If I try to analyse then I think the tug option is going from tug to dead toy and it seems to annoy her that we have had great fun tugging and then I'm taking it away??

Food makes her think of more food and there is always food of some sort in the grass at our field - treats dropped by my students, by me, by Mark, pheasant droppings, hedgehog droppings etc etc. So why bother waiting to get some from me.

Balls however are in the hands of the beholder and whilst I am holding them I have the power.

She also loves the chase at the end. I say if you throw the toy you must run so I run towards her until she gets that ball then turn and run to throw the other ball for her when she catches me.


Seesaw to target for food.

This is the first time I have put a target at the end of the seesaw. I have done targeting to my hand and a disc indoors on a low step.
She has done the seesaw several times - usually when I am moving it and have hold of the up end. She loves running up it as fast as she can to get to my face or onto my shoulders. Not what I am generally wanting for a seesaw performance so best get on with it in a more controlled way.

Her attitude is perfect for agility. I think we will have to work on this a bit to ensure she can or wants to stay on while it tips but am more than happy as this for a starting point.


Tunnels

Pikachu loved running along on top of the tunnel especially when I was moving it about and could balance on it with amazing dexterity. I managed to avoid her being able to get into a situation that allowed her to do this for a while. 

I had a theory that if a dog didn't do tunnels it would not be any good at agility in the long term. This theory was supported by many a dog over the years of training that were not successful at the tunnel initially then dropping out of class. 

Basically it is usually such a simple piece of equipment then if your dog can't learn it (or you can't help them do it) then they/you aren't of the right mindset. 

Hence followed a few panic stricken sessions of trying to get her to go through the tunnel instead of climbing on it. Mark thought I was worrying about nothing. I left it for a while and then did a few recalls through it with Mark's help and hadn't done much since. 

I am very happy to have my theory dispelled and pleased she now understands the correct way to do pipe tunnels.

This clip also shows me using the tug as a reward. In this sequence I was asking her to come to me not drive away and I find tugging is great for that as opposed to throwing her ball which allows her to drive away from me. 


Running Contacts (blink and you'll miss them)

Well Rhyme had running contacts for one show before they scared the bejesus out of me and I decided to ask him to stop instead. He has a lovely stop so I am going to start teaching Pikachu running confident if a stop is then required I can add one. I am trying a different method though for a variety of reasons. 

This is her first time running a plank which was a few days ago. I haven't done any more yet.



A bit much all in one session but it totally confirms we have ourselves a small agility dog to have fun with next year :) :) 

One size fits all

As a few of you may know and hopefully a few more noticed ;) I have been focussing on losing weight this year. 

Rhyme reached Grade 7 this time last year and I knew that I would have to change something in order to be competitive in qualifiers and champ classes.

On individual sequences and on his skills, Rhyme's times are up there with the best of them. One thing that holds him back is my ground speed and mental quickness for giving commands.

I realised one thing to work on was my fitness and my fitness revolved around my weight. 

It is unbelievable how much better my running is with less body to cart around.

Luckily I have Zumba with my neighbour, my Wag & Tone class and a local cycle track to take advantage of over the winter to come out super fit in the new season.

On top of that and improving Rhyme's fitness I'm hopeful that we will be having a great year in 2017.

Then I look on social media and wonder if we will still have an understandable format to compete in :(

I applauded the fact the KC were giving people options on what height to run their dog on so the dogs could run at appropriate heights not entirely governed by the dogs strict height. EG a large breed could run at LHO and so minimise compression on joints due to being well, -  large, whilst smaller dogs could continue to work at full height if that suited them, dogs near retirement could enjoy a slightly longer career, young dogs coming out could start at a lower height until they got stronger and muscled up etc. Well in my eyes a load of reasons where choosing a height that was good for your own dog was good. 

However the initial outcome is a bit chaotic at shows and people are being questioned for their motives of what height they jump including discussions about winning, being beaten by dogs jumping different heights. If you are doing a combined height class and feel a need to win then it is surely your prerogative to jump the lower and quicker height. If you have a reason to jump your dog at a larger height then you may need to accept that show is not the one you might win at.

It seems the more personal choice people have the more conflict and accusations exist. It would be great if we could all just respect each others choices.(Sorry any excuse to show a clip from The Blues Brothers is a good one imo) 

For my own reasons I will mainly run Rhyme at full height and Pikachu will start out jumping LHO until we are strong enough to be contenders in qualifiers. If Rhyme goes to a show that has no qualifiers then I may even run him at LHO. He is a big dog so I can't see a reason to jump him higher than required. That said we usually go to shows that have qualifiers anyway.

It seems like I am in favour of the changes for my dogs BUT..........

my ears and my brain do not like it one little bit. Classes being called all over the place, closing this class, walking this class, graded, combined, LHO, small, medium and large. I look across to see a class being walked and think it is the class before mine only to discover it is the LHO of the class before the class before mine. By the time mine is ready for walking I've lost the plot LOL.

Would it work to just have to go through the wings/cones like a slalom event in skiing or inline skating (I didn't even know this existed as a sport)?

Just queue up and go. Depending on class numbers awards are given as first overall then grade/height splits as appropriate. Would save all the different course walking and changing. Dogs are measured on the day they compete (going under a bar like at Alton Towers etc) This would avoid the difficulties of dogs heights changing as they mature, get more muscled with competing etc. When it comes to qualifiers of the different heights dog go in their average height category. 3 to 4 different slalom courses a day.

There are a million reason's why this wouldn't work in practice. I'm sure any system based on the height category of a living being is very hard to manage fairly. You only need to look at the huge variety of classes in the para-olympics to see the difficulties of matching like for like. Even in car sports like F1 there seems to be anomalies. If you can't even ensure machines are matching then it demonstrates how hard it is to split animals with something as simple a measure of their height at a given point.

I really have no answer and am like everyone else heart broken for how this is playing out in our sport at the moment. I hope our sport can recover from all these changes and come up with rules and the application of the rules so we can again feel we, our friends and most of all our beloved dogs are being treated as fairly as they can be, given so many variables.

Deep down I am saddened as I don't think agility can ever be totally fair to every individual, there will always be benefits for some and disadvantages for others In a search for that fairness, the fun and camaraderie will be lost as each person strives to make their own dog able to compete in a level playing field that doesn't exist.

Then I look around and I know that the agility community can pull through this and we will find the best way forward to enjoy our sport at our own level whilst helping or admiring those on a different level to us. 

Dog trainers just need to love dogs right?

I came to dog training after a successful career in a large financial company and a variety of part time jobs.

Luckily I learned many skills that I now take for granted as a dog trainer.

Agility 1st offer a module in their online training course that helps people know about some of the skills that will help them with their business as just being brilliant with dogs may not be quite enough.

Agility 1st Online training course for instructors

Customer service was key when I started my first job in a bank. It was so important that they even sent us on residential courses. The courses were quite in depth and included hilarious & nerve ranking role plays. One of the trainers would come to the "desk" and we would be the cashier. When it was my turn he sat down and preceded to advise me of the death of his partner.  A bit harsh and very testing for an 18 year old but it put me in good stead for real cases. Little did I know many years later I would sadly have to deal with it during an agility lesson.  It was a small group lesson & one of my lovely long standing customers got a call that her husband had died 😢 We had met him a few times and he did have a on going illness. My previous life experiences help me to be level headed & pack her off to hospital & her dogs came home with me for a few days.

Managerial skills I learned have over the years helped organise training days & seminars, develop trainers, organise training rota's etc.  The banks invested a lot into staff training back in the day and I remember one residential course that also featured the dreaded role play. I was so happy I didn't get the one that meant discussing personal hygiene to a smelly member of staff 😂😂. Not something to worry about in the dog world although come to think of it I did have to have words with Ruth about the fish heads!!

Working in a bank when marketing became more important than customer service taught me another lesson. Whilst I was good at letting people know of any service we could offer if I felt it would be useful to them, I was never good at closing the deal preferring to give them time to think about it. Likewise I'm not the greatest in marketing any of the projects I'm involved in. For example I truly believe Wag & Tone is a brilliant dog training tool and a great class I'm just not pushy enough to get it out there enough.

Marketing in another job included developing a service, identifying target market and equally important how to decide a fair price for the product. Agility 1st shows a good example of how to work out pricing.

I have also worked in credit control (luckily that hasn't been a problem) and legal publishing (another area I hope isn't needed).

Goodness now I have just also thought about health & safety - this blog could go on and on.

Needless to say loving dogs may lead you into dog training and is a lovely and rewarding career. 

To make a good business of it there's so many other skills to enjoy learning :) I've already mentioned the Agility 1st online training programme. Your local council or bank may run business start up courses that cover some basics. I believe any training of this type may also be offset in your business accounts too.

If you just starting out and are interested in anything I've mentioned Mark or myself will be happy to help. Most of all good luck and enjoy.

Sitting on the Fence

Well and truly sitting on the fence with the lower height option.

I am a Pisces so it's only natural.

I am lucky to see agility from all angles both as a private instructor introducing people to a fun hobby that they can enjoy with their dog and as the wife of the Manager of Team GB promoting agility as close to a professional sport as it can be.

Having done agility for a long time I was introduced into it as a test of athleticism for the dog, a test of their physical ability and a test of dog trainers ability to create a fit and well motivated dog able to perform various physical tasks as directed. 



Agility competition was not done every weekend of the year, there were no week long competitions and many clubs closed for the winter. So although the jumps were higher and other items were more testing the dogs were not being asked to continually work and therefore no worry of repetitive strain from jumping.

I still remember being in awe the first time I saw a dog do a snake line (flik flac) as a straight line.

I remember winning into Advanced against advanced dogs at the last show of the year before the jump height got dropped and people saying to me I must be glad I did it "properly". 

We do still have jumps of the old full height and our dogs do jump them from time to time as part of their training. They also do some at small and medium depending on what we are working on. Devo is a small collie and his shape over the old full height is beautiful. Having to jump rather than hurdle is slower but technically could impact his joints less.

When the height got lowered there was a lot of people feeling that it was not good as dogs would go faster and there would be more injuries when they hit other equipment faster, handling would be more difficult as there would be less 'airtime' amongst other concerns.



I am entering both Devo and Rhyme in the LHO at shows where we haven't got qualifiers because I want to see how our dogs work at the lower height at a show.

I am looking forward to judging at a show that is offering the options to see how the lower height affects the run of my course.

I am looking forward to seeing our young dogs come out competing at lower jumps to start with.

I see change as an opportunity.

On the other hand I struggle already to walk and run all the classes I enter already and we only have 2 dogs in Grade 7. 

I have no idea how I am possibly going to get to the right ring at the right height with a Grade 3 small running at LHO and then find Mark to video Moog in large Grade 3 LHO on top of running Rhyme in FHO for qualifiers, champ etc and again being there to film Devo. 

Phew exhausted just writing it. We may just do our G7 dogs one day and the youngsters the next. 

Looking at the entry forms is like trying to understand a pocket sized train time table  - you think you've found the right train then realise it is not stopping at your station.

How on earth the show organisers are doing the ring plans I am not sure but I bet they are masters at Sudoko.

I like to go to prize givings but with so many different tannoy announcements I'm afraid my ears switch off so it's not likely to happen. 

It's nice when I judge to see the people that have done well and to congratulate them but I would understand if they don't make it. Unless they change so only the top 1, 2 or 3 get placed  the prize giving is going to go on and on and on - imagine the queue to get any unclaimed rosettes.



Mostly the people and dogs who are going to be winners will still be winners and the tacticians out there will be having so many choices. TBH the rest of us are still no better off than we were in my opinion if we think we deserve to be able to win. 

I just want to go out and compete with my dogs to see how my training is going and to find homework to do as an excuse for spending time with them. 

That would apply in the very old system of Starter, Novice, Senior and Advanced grading and in the system of G1 - G7 and will apply in the new system of G1 LHO, G1 FHO to G6 LHO, G6 FHO and G7 FHO and then G7 LHO occasionally.

I understand that no system can be fair to all, especially as dogs and handlers come in so many shapes and sizes.

From the beginning of agility of having 3 levels to now having 14 different classes I can honestly say mentally I would happily go back to 3. That is not going to happen unless the KC decide to look to other models in other countries that work well. Rather than going deeper into chaos cherry pick the best from FCI rules. E.G. as far as FCI is concerned the heights are variable so the judges can choose to lower the height if the weather is hot, wet or just because thats what they prefer for their course.

Meanwhile I am going to read just the beginning of this blog, pull my sleeves up and keep off certain pages of FB 

New to Judging - new string same bow?

Well I survived. In fact I not only survived, I thoroughly enjoyed my first judging experiences.

Sadly I had to abandon my appointment for Agility Nuts due to losing Kodi that day. If the decision had been made the evening before part of me would have felt it was better to get on with it. However at Tunbridge his son Rocky did a beautiful clear in my class. I didn't see it clearly though as my eyes were full of tears. Luckily nobody noticed and I disappeared for a quick 'comfort' break straight after.

Rocky Cook

Kodi

So my first official judging appointment was at Tunbridge Wells for the Novice Olympia Qualifier. Note to new judges best not offer to be a reserve until you have judged a few classes as you never know what you might get and you may only be asked a couple of days before.

Luckily for me I had a free diary and my own equipment so was able to spend a few hours designing and setting up my course and a husband who was happy to run his and mine dogs round it for me to practice judging it.

My approach is to write a brief of what I want from the course. For a novice olympia qualifier I looked at giving straight lines (1-3, 4-6 and 7-9). I wanted a dog that enjoyed flowing and could also turn nicely. It was important to me to give choices so handlers could turn the dog how they saw fit and no matter what handling style. 


Good running contacts are lovely to see so I had a straight on after the contacts for young dogs as an encouragement. There is plenty of time later to work on turns. 

Here is the resulting course

Strangely many dogs refused 3 regardless of their contact method. 

Another place for unexpected faults was the jump after the seesaw. Physically the dog had to manage its contact and then take off for the jump and then drop for the tunnel. The spacings were ample. It appeared to be either handlers rushing off giving the tunnel command off the seesaw that caused the dog to be wrong footed on the jump or sadly some dogs not being quite fit enough to take on the challenge or not enough understanding of the release command on the seesaw and panicking.

I loved watching 10 - 14 as there were many options of how to handle it. There were a lot of very good runs and I can not remember which way the winner did this.

It was surprising how many dogs/handlers went wide or struggled with 16 -19.

Well done to the winner Emma Nicolson with Tailswood Twice as Nice who completed the course in 30.317. The course length was approx 112 but I forgot to write in on my paperwork and it is not on the results sheet. 

As the class was split the top 3 qualify so well done to Julie Dowle and Dreamorox Dare to Dream and Aileen Watson with Micky The Rocketeer.

I was more confident than I thought I would be and really enjoyed it. I was however exhausted. 

The ring party were great and helped set up my next course. It did need a bit of tweaking but people waiting to walk and lunch calling meant I didn't rewalk it.

This was a mistake. 

The course was by no means awful but it was not as nice as I wanted it to be for Grade 1-2. With my mind caught up with understanding the poor make up of the course I found it hard to concentrate once an error was made. My other mistake was to be lenient with refusals and not calling a refusal unless the dog actually went past the obstacle. The final learning point was I had no system for recording how many refusals there had been and sometimes I continued to mark after the dog was eliminated. 

Here is how the course might have looked 

Well done to the winners - 
Grade 1 Lauren Ellis with Homelyne Blue Jazz in a time of 37.062
Grade 2 Gillian Bignall Milyon Quest of Valgray in a time of 33.292

Thanks to my scribe Sharon Marsh and my ring party led by Simon Chandler.

Now to learn from my mistakes.

After chatting to a few judges Kay Faiers told me of her system to keep a track of faults, eliminations and even clears. It is simple and I practiced using it a Thames my next appointment. The system is arms folded in front of my body to indicate to my scribe that I am ready. If a fault is incurred then my arms will become uncrossed as I signal the fault. If my arms are still across my body at the end of the run I can clap as it is a clear round :)

If the fault is a refusal I bend a finger, three fingers bend - elimination. I did nearly become unstuck with this with raising my hand to show a fault with some bent fingers could have appeared rude. I didn't make that mistake again.

Once I eliminated I crossed my hands behind my back to stop me indicating any further faults and no clap at the end.

Just faults would mean my hands were just at my side.

It was great so thank you Kaye I will continue to use that confident that it keeps me more focussed and aware of what is the marking status of the dog in the ring. It was lovely to clap confidently that the dog had gone clear too.

As I was only judging one class at Thames and it was Graded 6/7 I have not had a chance to address the course change issue but I do know to be aware of it.

I had a good time to set up and practice the course in parts with some of my students and on my monthly visit to North Derbyshire as I knew none of them were travelling down to Newbury. And Mark of course.

I originally had the cloth tunnel in but replaced it with the long jump. I do not like the cloth tunnel but also believe that the less my dog comes across it the less likely he is to understand it so it should appear in other courses than champ. I want to believe there is a good place in a course for them. However with the latest KC liaison meeting including a change to the design and the fact the weather can be very wet at Thames on the Sunday (Saturday night is not known to be a dry one either but that is another matter) I decided not to use it.

My brief for myself was to produce a fast flowing course with choices that could be handled close or at a distance displaying a good understanding of the dogs lines and a good relationship.

I certainly saw some flowing runs where dog and handler knew where they were going at every turn.

One thing that surprised me was that 19 to 20 was a bounce stride if a good turn was achieved on 18. Several dogs that had been eliminated elsewhere on the course demonstrated that it was a bounce and Steve Richardson's dog (or rather the lovely Vicky's dog run by Steve). It may be that for the grade 7's there was no need to win so they inadvertently slowed at the end or maybe with other things to work on bounce striding is not. Generally a bounce stride can save 1/3 of a second. Steve won the grade 6.

 Thank you all that commented on my courses and I am made up that someone has said they want to set up and time some of it to see the quicker way.

I am judging again at DV in August and am looking forward to it.

Thanks very much again to my scribe Sharon Marsh, my ring manager Jane Price and the ring party some of which were from my old club UpAndOver.

I have been asked to judge again by both Tunbridge Wells and Thames which is a major confidence giver. They were great to judge for and know how to look after their judges but Mark is going to do them next year so that means I am available for a couple of other shows ;)