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101 Tips for Newbies
Words of wisdom for
first time competitors (03/05/01) |
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ABC Agility 2004
Lurchers in the limelight... Showtime for
Shepherds... Publicity for pooches... All the qualifying heats leading up to the
2004 ABC Agility Final at Tatton Park, plus the competition rules (courtesy of Newton
Heath DTC) (21/03/03) |
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The Anatomy of a Show: Thoughts of a Show Manager
Roy Wilce was sitting on his patio
in the sun with a coffee, and a collie lying at his feet. Life was good. The Show had
gone well, but his thoughts about it keeping turning over in his brain like some demonic
tumble-dryer. 'Perhaps...', he thought, 'it will help if I unload everything onto paper.'
(05/07/00) |
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Bitten by
the Bug
Beware! If you survive to the third week of
your Beginners Course, you may be infected by the agility bug.
Theresa McAteer explains how she started agility and
why she would never compete!
(17/10/05) |
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Day Parking
Most agility show organisers put a lot of
time and thought into working out the layout of their show. They assess the risks of
moving traffic and do their best to make the rings accessible while keeping the
showground as safe as possible. So why are there always some people who take advantage?
asks Christine Short.
(12/10/09) |
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First Show
A few tips for new handlers contemplating entering their first agility show and hopefully
ensuring it won't be their last! |
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The First Time Ever: Or How I Got To Be at Vyne
As a child Mick Chambers always had dogs
around the house, and he would have loved to have one or two of his own. When he married
Lorraine, they were both in full-time employment so they felt it would be unfair to have
a dog. They agreed to wait until the time was right. That time was 20 years later!
(02/06/00) |
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How to be a Mini Winner
Getting to the top of your sport is not easy. It takes more than a good dog and a good
handler to make an agility round look simple. What do the ten Olympia mini finalist have
that the rest of us lack? What turns a competitor into a winner? To find out, Mary Ann
Nester went to the Pedigree Smackos Mini Agility Stakes Final held at the Olympia
International Show Jumping Championships and spoke to the handlers, judge and sponsors.
(04/01/02) |
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Is Agility Going the Way of the Dinosaur?
One theory about the
demise of the dinosaur was that changing climates brought about a relatively rapid change
in the vegetation. The dinosaur’s digestive system could not adapt to this different
diet, and they became extinct due to chronic constipation. Aileen
Clarke sticks her neck out and asks 'Are agility competitions heading the same
way?' (06/08/02) |
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Judge's Special
Patch Guipago explains what
these very special rosette's have meant to her and her deaf collie Defa. |
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The Morning
After... Tuffley 2003
Ramblings of a show organiser
and other reflections by Rob White.
(10/07/03) |
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Moving Up
To move up on points or wait for that elusive win - that was the question Lindy
Margach faced with her talented yellow lab Bracken.
(22/11/08) |
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My First Show: A Wet Wet Wet
Introduction to Agility
When Chris Bradley
started agility training two years ago, she simply wanted to do it for fun. Being
completely non-competitive and with a life-long horror of performing anything solo in
front of others, she had no ambition to compete. |
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On Being a Team Player
Teams - love 'em or hate 'em. Just why do we do it? Dawn Williams talks
about some of the advantages and disadvantages of running on a team.
(21/07/03) |
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One Wheel or Two?
You may have noticed judges walking around agility
courses with a strange unicycle type contraption. These are known as measuring wheels and
they are used to help judges set a
realistic course time. Lynne Shore explains... |
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Paul
Oldfield's Show League Table
Paul Oldfield has done his own end of the year list of shows that he attended, ranking
them in order of points achieved. He stresses that these are his own personal opinions. |
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Puppies & Agility Shows
Are they compatible. Chief Crufts vet
Trevor Turner
points forward The Kennel Club point of view.
(02/12/01) |
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Recruiting Volunteers Can be Fun - Revisited
Yes folks, it's that time of year
again. We all know that it can be difficult to get enough helpers to run an agility show.
If a lot of people did a little, few would be burdened down with too much. Chris Hack,
Show Secretary of Trent Park DAC, has come up with this ingenious device for recruiting
club members. (11/07/00) |
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Ring Etiquette
Rules of etiquette control the behaviour of
particular social groups or social occasions and the agility circuit is no exception.
(08/05/05) |
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Ring Party Jobs
There's fear of
flying, fear of falling and fear of failure but are agility people developing a new fear - fear
of ring parties. Is it because they think it is someone else's job, are too stressed to help,
have too many dogs to run or just don't understand what's involved? We asked the Agility
Whisperer to pontificate... (14/05/10) |
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Ring Rage
Chris Smith is a mild mannered person, not given to tantrums
and rages. Aside from the odd moment she may simmer but she rarely boils over - with one
exception... (05/09/02) |
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Setting a course for Judging
Getting the course right on the day can make or break a show for people.
Lin Bergan shares some of her thoughts on designing courses for the right level of
competitor. (07/02/04) |
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Should We Take Advanced Out of Intermediate?
Should we or shouldn’t we? What are the arguments for and
against? Three top handlers present their opinions - Jo Sermon (pro), Dave Cooper (con)
and Mary Anne Nester with the Mini/Midi point of view. Read both sides of the argument
and then vote on this hot topic on Rachel's Mini Poll.
(29/07/02) |
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Show Ground Reviews
Given it's in everybody’s interest to have
decent ground to run on, why do some clubs persist in treating this criterion as a
negligible one? Agility handler Groundhog, who prefers to remain anonymous, reviews the
running surfaces of some of the venues they've run on this year. |
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The Show Secretary & The Rain Queen
A behind the scenes look at the run up to an agility show by
Gerhard Zeigler, Show Secretary of Empingham DTC.
(16/06/02) |
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So You're Going to Judge for the First Time
You're pleased. You're flattered. You're
terrified. You've suddenly realised there might be some things you might not know or
haven’t been told about. Experienced judge Lesley Wilks
passes on some tips for newbie judges on what to do on your big debut.
(14/12/02) |
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Show 'n' Go: Never Say Never
Quasar has had dogwalk problems from the
very beginning. At 12 weeks he fell off, and it took nine months to get him back on the
equipment. For nine months his owner Cindy Knowlton encouraged him with praise, a ball,
his favourite dog treats, ice cream and his laser, until finally one day he took a leap
of faith and scurried across. Cindy knew that he just needed experience, but how many new
dogwalks would it take? Entering a show 'n' go was the only answer.
(21/10/99) |
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Show Wish List 2003
Brenda Tenten's little list of
some of the things which would make our agility shows even more fun!
(08/07/03) |
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Sky's the
Limit
It seems only a shor time
ago that vet Peter van Dongen was writing about his puppy Sky. Time flies and Sky is now
old enough to compete. Would she live up to her predecessor Basil? Here is the
story of Sky's debut on the show circuit.
(18/04/04) |
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Talking the Course
Handlers get the chance before the contest
to 'Walk the Course' before they run it. So why shouldn't judges have the opportunity to
'Talk the Course' afterwards to explain and, if necessary, justify the rationale
behind it. (28/07/04) |
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Taryntimer
User's Guide: Time & Time Again
Martin Pollard is supplying electronic timing to
more than 40 shows around the country this year. It is possible it may be used in your
ring then or at another show in the future. In this case whether are a judge, a show
secretary or competitor, you may find this guide useful. And if you have any doubts about
the inevitability of electronic timing, try the simple little test at the end of this
article. (12/02/01) |
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Yes, Designing Courses is Quite Difficult!
There's been a lot of debate
recently about the suitability of courses for a particular type of class. Some
competitors are quick to criticise when things are not right for them, but very rarely
give praise when things go well. Judges too, can misunderstand what their objective
should be when designing a course. Barrie Harvey, Chairman of The Agility Club, puts
forward his point of view. |
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YOU Make the Call
Have you ever sat in the dentist's waiting room, flipping
through the pages of Seventeen or Cosmo and passing the time by
filling in those cheeky questionnaires to find out if you were a wallflower or a glam
queen, a thoughtful lover or a selfish cad? Now you've got your chance to find out
whether you be a good, bad or indifferent agility judge. And you don't even need a pencil
- just press a key and your score is computed for you. You may not like the result,
but you probably didn't like what Cosmo had to say about you either! (17/10/01) |
