For another guy...
 When
Wendy Clay asked Paul Oldfield to run her dog Scout in the Championship class at The
Agility Club show, he replied, 'Of course. I will even pay the entry.' But what would
happen?
Paul had never run a Small dog in a competitive class, and he was replacing Scout's regular
Champ handler, Greg Derrett who was away at the European Open. Here is the story.
Scout (Racingredd
Brussel Scout) is a triple World Campion. He runs just like a collie despite looking
like a rabbit x anorexic dachshund. Wendy won his first CC in 2008 but basically she hates
running Champ classes, so this year Greg Derrett ran.
I saw their CC
win at Thames. Greg marched off the line with that super confident ' all my dogs have solid
waits' attitude but quickly woke up as Scout powered past him. Even Greg was breathing heavily
at the finish. I would need my bus pass to keep up let alone get in front, but hey, handling
the quickest dog in the field is (relatively) easy. You only have to get round.
To be fair, I
do train at Wendy's and Scout gets quite excited to see me when I run my Large dogs. I did
manage about 40 jumps and a dozen touch points with him before the big day , but it didn't help
when Wendy said ' he goes a bit quicker for you.'
The
Champ class
The good thing about the day was that I got some practice as Wendy had qualified him for
Olympia , so I got a chance to run him in the G1-7 Olympia qualifier, training touch points. By
some miracle he won by a second in spite of my handling like Dawn Weaver with a Large
dog!
Kate Austin was
judging the Champ which was another point in my favour. I have won a few of her Large classes,
but when I saw the Champ jumping I wasn't so sure.
Yes , my
handling was appalling... late 'stop' hand and a late front cross. Then I was layering a jump
to get ahead when he tried to cut in. Okay. he didn't go to the intended jump or cross its line
but I've seen refusals given for less, so thanks judge . Result a scrappy 5th place, though I
felt a bit better when Toni Dawkins got E'd in the Mediums.
Only needing to
get round the Agility, I still managed to pull him past a jump, though the rest and the touchpoints were good.
If I walked the
course once, I walked it 40 times. I walked it with both Wendy and Lee Windeatt and explained
what I wanted to do. I admit that I had to lie to Wendy at one point, but it was my sort of
course. When you get older, you don't want a lot of start/stops .
We went the
quickest way at the start which went well apart from when I felt a weave pole inserting itself
where it shouldn't be! Apparently Kate just shook her head, but luckily for me knew that
'accidental contact with the equipment will not be faulted.'
From then on, Scout was
phenomenal
The one hairy bit was how to get the other side of the see saw for a 90 degree pull
through, given that Large handlers on the whole don't cross behind touchpoints . At my pace, there was only one
solution - a blind turn as Scout came over the wall - I don't think he had seen one before - and hope
the bricks stayed on which they did.
 The luxury of a
' pull through command ' enabled me to front cross before the A frame, but then disaster
nearly struck. As I was starting off, one foot hit the other and for a second only windmilling arms prevented a flat on face. Scout couldn't have cared less.
Then it was an A-frame - high is
good - and three jumps powered to the finish .
I had earlier
registered a decent round by Jeanette Tandy and her quick small collie , but when I saw Scout
was 1 1/2 seconds quicker I knew it was all over. It would have been interesting to see
Tasha's time in the Medium final, but unfortunately she didn't get round.
I was delighted
for Scout, now an Agility Champion and three different handlers later. I was delighted for Wendy who trained him
and thankful to her for letting me run him. And I was pleased knowing that it was probably the only
chance of a Small Champ I was likely to get. It does help to focus the mind when there isn't
another day and another run.
 About the author...
Paul Oldfield has been competing with collies for 14 years. All four have
made Advanced/Grade 7.
He has been to a Crufts Singles and Olympia twice. He has won a a National Starters/Novice finals plus Superdogs Final,
an Olympia Qualifiers/a Semi-final and a Champ Agility.
This year
managed to throw away the Pedigree Pairs Final. Sorry Trace. Fastest, but last jump to
first jump = E!
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