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Sassy and moi
 The
Coulsdon Scrambles team of Lu and Stuart Carter, Gemma Hanekom et Sue Choux qualified for the
Crufts Team Semi-finals by winning the Qualifier at Rugby show in July last year. And so
the countdown began. Only eight months to go... Sue reports on her day in the spotlight.
At this stage, all I could think about was how
fantastic it was that we had won the qualifier and were going to Crufts. On that day, we
beat the eventual winners of the final – Toni, Lee, David and Amanda – I know that is not
something that I will get to do terribly often in my life, so it was a fantastic day. If I’m
honest, I have to admit that we really only beat them because the agility gods were smiling on
us, as we were lucky and got away with a 'toe-nail only' a-frame contact, and their team had a
dog turn the wrong way between obstacles. But that's life and agility and on the day we were
tops.
My psychological
preparation profile from then until the day was quite mixed, with high points such as managing
to hold Sassy on her contacts in the ring at a UKA show and low points like panicking when
things went wrong with my plans or in training. I found it really interesting tracking my
response to various things that happened, not least bursting into tears of joy when I received
my Agility Voice with the Crufts supplement and saw my name in print, alongside so many
Advanced handlers.
On the day before, I
was impossibly distracted at work, and swung through an emotional rollercoaster from terrified
to excited and back again. My friends at work began to question my sanity - nothing really new
there. Getting to sleep that night was not easy.
The big day arrived...
I woke up at 4am on the big day, although my alarm was not supposed to go off until
5.15am. I decided to just get up anyway, as I always prefer to be early rather than late. Left
home just after 6.15am. It was quite a good journey up to the NEC and we arrived just after
8am. I let Sassy out for a wee and then started our trek into the NEC. I was pleased that I
knew where I was going, having visited other people competing before, and I found the
benches quite quickly. Got Sassy set up with her crate and tried not to look nervous.
We
went down to the collecting area at around 8.55am, for the semi which would start at 09.05. The
atmosphere was just fantastic. Sassy just knew that she was somewhere special.
I had a look at the
course and tried to decide if I liked it or not. On paper, it looked like it had quite a few
tricky angles etc. However, part of that was just that it was a hand-drawn sketch. When we
walked the course, it was much better than it had looked like it would be. You can see the
course plan here. (right)
For me it was a
pretty exhilarating experience to be walking the course in such great company. All those Champ
handlers and little old me... and there were people watching us!
The atmosphere
'backstage' was incredible, as everyone was sitting around watching the screens and clapping
and cheering each run. I thought that part was fantastic, as everyone seemed genuinely pleased
or disappointed for each dog and handler as they ran. I use the term “backstage” to describe
the atmosphere in the collecting ring as there was definitely something theatrical about the
feeling - it was great.
Stepping out onto
the 'hallowed (astro) turf' to run was just incredible. I can honestly say that it was one of
the highlights of my agility career to date. I was a bit concerned about how Sassy would cope
on the carpet, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised by how well the surface ran for the
dogs this year. Some of the longer striding dogs were definitely still struggling a bit,
but nothing like as bad as I have seen in previous years. Unfortunately, I was the only
one in our team to have faults as Sassy slipped in the weaves and skipped a pole, and we so
didn't make it through to the final, but I still enjoyed every minute of it and would love to
go back.
The only criticism I
had was that it was quite difficult to tell which team was leading, as the event felt very
'polite,' with each team member running as an individual and the scores simply totted up at the
end. I understand that will be different from next year as the event becomes a relay. I,
for one, think this will be a good thing, and I can understand the logic for making this
change.
The final four teams
were Southern Border Collie Club, WHAT, Beacon and Wilmslow, so there were some very
experienced teams in there. I’m not sure how I would have coped with the pressure in the final.
I surprised myself at how calm I managed to be in the semi, but not sure I would have been as
together in the final.
Sassy and I had a
great time that day, meeting 'her people', doing our shopping and going around the stalls for
the rest of the time, mixed, of course, with a suitable amount of watching the other agility
events. Each time Sassy and I passed the collecting ring entrance, Sassy tried to take
herself back in there, so I know she enjoyed herself!
We watched the final
in the afternoon, and I was personally delighted that Toni, Lee, Amanda and David won the event
as they are all just such thoroughly nice people, as well as amazing handlers.
Would I want to get back to Crufts again to compete?
You BET! I found the whole experience was amazing, and felt every bit as
wonderful as I hoped it would. Even the fact that we didn’t make the final - and that was all
my fault - didn’t take the shine off the day. I have to say thank you to Lu, Stuart and Gemma
for getting us there, and also to the fabulous ring party who made the whole event so
enjoyable.
 About
the author...
Sue Choux started agility in 1999, with
her black and white Border Collie Buddy, who came late to agility and had an 'artistic
impression' attitude towards the sport. Buddy retired from full height in 2002, as he had
problems with arthritis.
Sassy joined the family in late 2002
and has been Sue's soulmate agility dog, taking Sue to many finals and semi finals, including
Olympia (in the Novice) and Crufts. She was also Agility Club Starter Dog of the Year in
2005.
Australian Red BC Rush is the latest
addition to the family, and he will start competing later in the year. Sue says she is not sure
how she will cope with running two dogs, having only run one at a time previously.
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