CLUB COMPETITION - HOW IT WENT IN 16/17


May I say that I really enjoyed Club Competition over this last year. I would say that because my dogs did very well with Boo winning the Experienced Agility Class and Chip winning Elementary. Pansy won Small dogs on the flat Sprints. However, one of the reasons my dogs did so well was because I am there every time. I have to be because I run the thing. In the Agility section of the competition every time you enter you get 1 point so that is 11 points for the year. Then if you win it is 5 points second is 4 points third is 3 points and fourth is 2 points. In Learners you need three competition wins to get into Elementary and in Elementary you need 5 competition wins to move to Experienced.

Throughout the year a total of 30 dogs participated. The final results though show only 21 dogs as being successful throughout the year. The other 9 dogs did not participate on enough occasions for results to be kept.

This is a summary of those successful dogs' efforts throughout the year. My Boo is now rising 13. I will not be entering her in Club Comp for this next year. We will just go out and play on the course. I was thrilled with her win but she is getting a little tired. Jessie James didn't attend all of the Club Comps. All of his Agility errors were handler errors. Christine works very hard with Jessie James and likes to use Club Comp to try new handling things and good on her. That is what Club Comp is for. Debbie's Sophie had a patchy year with injury. She is coming back strongly now. Long may it continue. Her Sprint work has improved throughout the year in spite of her absences and not being up to full speed.

Chip is where he should be with an experienced handler for Agility, although I was disappointed in his Sprints at 5th in Club Comp. He mucks around with his retrieve, his speed back is excellent and his commitment is outstanding so I am really pleased for his future. In my opinion Meg should have won Elementary Agility this year. She has worked so hard and it is just the little things that have tripped her up. The difference between Meg and Chip is just the difference in experience between Katie and I. I believe Meg will come back this year and be better than ever. Tyson (Katie's little boy dog) is only running for interests sake. I think Katie and I with Tyson Boo and we should invite Chris and Bootz, should do a Veterans this year - any interest guys. Gemma and Ann didn't do a full year so points are down. They managed one win earlier in the year. In fact I think Gemma had better join us in Veterans as well as she can no longer jump full height hurdles they are just too hard. Shadroc and Alex started the year with a whizz and a bang and won two starts in Elementary and since then Alex has had difficulty getting to competitions and Shadroc has had ongoing foot and back issues which he is resting from now, perhaps he will be a candidate for Veterans as well. Hey Vets is starting to look exciting. I will design a special course for us for next Club Comp Day and we can give it a go. If you have any ideas for this email me. Like how many obstacles, do we want weaves, full height contacts or not?

Macy has deservedly won Learners this year. She has also moved up the grades to Elementary. She really should have won out long ago but Gloria doesn't come to too many Club Comps. The main reason is that she competes in everything she can from Southern Hawkes Bay to North Auckland. So while we pick our Club Comp and Nala weekends not to clash with anything that most of us might go to in the way of Agility, Gloria is out there doing it. Macy has had a very successful first year of Agility Competition around New Zealand and hopefully will continue to improve and fulfill Gloria's long held dream of a full on Agility Career. Nicole's Sophie came second in Learners and has one win. Sophie is still struggling with weaves but definitely improving. Nicole tells me she will be staying in Rotorua this year after all so I hope we continue to see her at Club Competition as she needs to get those weaves nailed and move out of Learners. Jade belonging to Pam and Dave was 3rd in Learners. Yoyo and Molly also got 12 points but Jade had one win so that puts her ahead of the other two. Jade will be the girl to watch this year. Pam and she are really bonding on the Agility course. Jade is very quick around the corners. A great thrill for us all that Pam and Dave are spending time and travel on giving Jade and KC a real go at sports.

Sprints for Big Dogs with all the handicaps in place was taken out by Christine Longton's Storm. His Agility was just wonderful too and we can expect winning form from him once he turns 18 months. Unfortunately he was only a puppy throughout this year in Agility Competition so he wasn't able to compete at height. I hope that Sprints showed Christine what Storm is capable of. He certainly turned on a great show for us every time he went out on Sprints Course.

Sprints for Small Dogs with all the handicaps in place was won by Christine Longton and Jessie James. I hope that Sprints helped keep Jessie James fit. His Fly course times have come down. His recall on Fly courses are faster and he is now doing single lane weaves in Fly. In my opinion Sprints for Jessie James are an ideal workout.

B Team Big Dogs on the Flat Sprints was won by Yoyo belonging to Leonie. This is a huge thrill. For the last two years Yoyo has run away from work at the club. Literally leaving the area. She is so fast and has so much eye that it pretty much looked like she would never concentrate. Well she is maturing and here she is putting on a spectacular performance and graduating to A team with handicap in the new year.

Small dogs on the Flat Sprints was won by my Pansy. What a thrill. A runaway dog I have as a rescue because of her shocking aggression and she is working so well.

At the start of the new Club Competition all wins are valid so your wins travel on into the new season. However the points start from scratch again. Sprints will change a bit to a thirty meter course for the seniors. It will be set up for all the senior dogs (old A Handicap section) to run the same course and the fastest wins 5 and so on the same as the Agility. It will have a maximum of 6 obstacles and will include A Frame and weaves from time to time.

The 50 meter sprints will stay 50 meters but for the large dogs the average falls to below 13 seconds instead of 12. The small dogs will need average under 15 seconds. The reason for the change is to get more dogs into the senior level to benefit their Fly work.

So congratulations to all who participated over the past year. The winner's trophies will be handed out at the upcoming AGM, along with other Trophies for the best Junior Agiliteer and the Nala Wins for the year.

No matter how little you know about agility Club Competition is for everyone. Come along and join in. and you will get better and better. The group are very encouraging of new players, we would love to see you there once a month. Check the date in the Coming Events later in this newsletter.

If it is wet Club competition is cancelled.