News Update
December 2012

Well, what a fantastic year Mary has had!  As most people are aware, Levi won ten Championship Dog Obedience classes and 17 class ‘C’ making him, we believe, the top obedience dog in the UK 2012.  Foxy won six Championship Bitch Obedience classes plus 15 class ‘C’ so wouldn’t have been too far behind the leading bitch.  We also believe that Levi won more Championship classes than any other dog in the UK in 2012.

Mary did the usual end of year Obedience Shows with some success and on a Saturday night in October she did a Cabaret Spot at the International Seminar being held by the British Hovawort Club, Its German breed the name of which means "an estate guard dog," which is the original use for the breed. The breed originated in the Black Forest region of Germany , It was a really good evening, great food, lovely people and by all accounts it was really appreciated what Mary did.  Comments passed were that Mary didn’t just demonstrate with the dogs, she told the audience how she trained them which, of course, proved very useful to them.  What was amazing for us was the venue at Bisley Rifle Club which is a big shooting range and just like stepping back into the 1920s as the buildings were superb.  Also it was very peaceful as no shooting was taking place on the Saturday night so it was just a great place to be.

From there, the intention was to go direct to Cheshire and this highlighted the reason we sold the caravan last year and changed it to a motorhome.  Certainly when you’re doing a quick visit to anywhere, you have your own centrally heated home to base yourself in and, in Mary’s case of course, to get changed for the evening.  It would have been disappointing to have left Bisley early as we were invited as guests to the Gala Dinner, especially as the finale was a trumpet medley by some young soldiers in full dress uniform, in the dark with parts of their outfit and drum sticks in luminous green - what a fantastic sight it was!  Yes, we had a really good evening.

Leaving Bisley well after 10:00 pm of course, then there was then the drive to Queensferry, near Chester arriving at some terrible hour in the morning having previously been told that there was no overnight parking next to the venue.  So we found a side street on an industrial area not far away and got a few hours sleep before going into the Cheshire Obedience Show venue on the Sunday morning, This is going to sound like the Motorhome Fan Club but when we got into the showground at Cheshire, within one minute the kettle was boiling, the heating was on and you have a warm base with a minimum of fuss to use for the day.  We even cooked a meal and ate it before we left that aftyernoon !! Ours has a large garage which Steve Tubb - who has a company called Doggy Cages - fitted cages and because it’s a decent height garage, he also put in a false floor leaving us a full width underneath it for ramps, chairs and awning poles etc.  The downside of course is that they’re not too economical but, of course, you can’t have your cake and eat it.

Following Cheshire we had East Grinstead and Tunbridge Wells Championship Shows which we do every year. And a bit of success as well!  With a couple wins and some places.

On the first Saturday in November it was Rugby DTCs 50th Anniversary Dinner at Rugby Town Hall .  Fifty years - it’s quite amazing.  We’re relative newcomers of course, Mary having joined the club in 1978 the year we married and I remember it well.  I remember going into the club with Mary & Sasha the lurcher, ready for her to start the new Beginner Obedience Class and she was mesmerised.  And what’s more, she stayed until the very end to watch the competition class and that was it; it was like going fishing and she was hooked!  It did help that she had a dog of her own and had been walking other people’s dogs for years and she was also just animal mad having had rabbits, a horse and even owned a pet lamb which she used to walk round on a lead.  The head trainer at the club at the time was Ted Pallot who, in fact, gave Mary her grounding in more modern techniques at the time, certainly the ‘pull and grab’ method was still rampant but Ted was one of the early supporters of ‘hands off the dog’ training and that is where Mary had her grounding.  So it was good to see Ted and his wife Jane at our 50th anniversary, looking a little older but then aren’t we all!

It was a really great night.  I had helped organise it and one of our members husband was an illusionist/magician so he did table tricks with the audience around the tables while dinner was being served.  When we were on dessert course, there were a few extra waiters present as I had booked The Singing Waiters but had also kept this a deadly secret, so everyone was absolutely astounded and what great fun and great singers they were - they really made the night.  But we weren’t quite finished.  I had done the welcome speech but at this point in the evening our young President, Daphne Townsend, who was 83 years old the day before the dinner, gave the official speech to the audience and then cut the cake with the Deputy Mayor.  But I did say that we weren’t finished yet as immediately after this a table was set up, our magician appeared wearing his white coat liberally stained with blood and asked for a volunteer who would come and lie on the table to be cut in half.  Well, I say a volunteer but in fact we had already arranged that Mary would do this but she didn’t know it yet and in preparation the week before I’d had a new will prepared and signed!  But she survived the ordeal, goodness knows how.  We then finished with Pete the Disco who has been doing our club discos for the last 25 years.  Anyway it was a great night; did it cost the club a lot of money - yes; did we subsidise members’ tickets by an enormous amount - yes;  but was it worth it as Louis Walsh says on X-Factor - a MILLION times yes !!

The following weekend we were in London for our annual visit to the Kennel Club’s Discover Dogs.  This is another great show and it was just packed out with people on both days; in fact, I’ve been told that for the first time ever they had over 30,000 people paying to go in over the two days.  I was in charge of the main ring and commentating, although not too much of the latter as I’d had a bad cold the week before so over the weekend sort of lost my voice, so I really appreciated having my co-conspirator with me, Kate Smith. It was a little more relaxing than usual as I had made the decision not to have a trade stand, a decision in retrospect that was the right decision!  Mary did her Crufts routine a few times in the main ring as well as a training spot.

Well, it looks like we’ve had a busy time as the weekend after that we were at Angela White’s venue just outside Gainsborough – or to give it its official title – IABTC Training Center , the venue was just superb although, a long way from the main road and down a single track, but it was worth it when we got there.  Mick and Angela have around 40 acres split into two parcels; in one section there is the house and classrooms where a lot of work is done, then you have a separate area of land with a purpose-built training hall, outside competition rings, exercise area and camping area with electric hook-up.  Yes folks, it’s what you dream about - or we certainly do!  Everyone made us very welcome and Mary did a Cabaret Evening on the Friday in the hall which was fully carpeted and a lovely audience, then on the Saturday and Sunday she held an Obedience and Heelwork to Music training day.  Mary was thrilled to hear from Angela that she’d had 100% positive feedback over the weekend and certainly that’s the impression we got too; not only had people enjoyed it but also learned a lot.  It’s a case of ‘watch this space’ as Mary does two hugely successful training weeks each year, one in the Midlands and one in Anglesey - and now it  looks like she will be doing another one in North Lincolnshire in 2013 .

There’s not much around between now and Christmas although Mary has a Cabaret spot to perform at Bury Farm Equestrian Centre on a big Gala Night.  Forget any thoughts you have about a normal equestrian centre as this has been completely refurbished and is a little ‘state of the art’.  Last year when we were down there, there were at least a couple of hundred people having a black tie dinner whilst watching the show.

So apart from that, Mary just has training between now and the end of the year.  I will be running the Dog Agility Finals at the Olympia International Christmas Horse Show for the Kennel Club, as I do each year - a bit of a pain this year as the show doesn’t finish until 23rd December which will not leave me much time for Christmas shopping (although that could be good news!)  Then in early January, I’m off on a holiday for a couple of weeks with my mate Roger.  He’s in a rush to go now as he’s just got over a bad illness although treatment has to have been successful.  It’s a sightseeing holiday as usual, hence hard work, and I understand that the place we’re going has some rather large tortoises and  Lizard type things as we’re not far away from the Amazon, so hopefully I’ll come back in one piece with nothing missing!

Have a nice Christmas, New Year and of course a successful and prosperous 2013 from Mary and myself.


STOP PRESS !!!!!

Clicker Training Days near Gateshead

2nd & 3rd February 2013 just a couple of handlers places left for each day so be quick, full details on the events page

Cwmbran cabaret Night in February 2013 Details on the events page

Daventry 2013 Agility & Obedience Week

Sunday 23rd to Friday 28th June, all 2012 participants will have first refusal on places as usual, we will have a waiting list: drayped@aol.com

NEW FOR 2013 Obedience & HTM week nr Doncaster / North Lincs

Sunday 7th April to Friday 12th April, Great private venue with a big training hall so no problem with the weather here and plenty of room for campers !! this new camp could be popular apply early to:

Angela White, IABTC Dog Training Centre, Haxey Carr, Haxey, Doncaster. DN9 2JN

Telephone: 01427 753918 e-mail: angelawhite@iabtc.co.uk


Anglesey 2013 Obedience & HTM Week

Sunday 1st September to Friday 5th September, always popular in a lovely place with a super beach quite near !! so early booking advisable contact Maggie or Rex :

maggieback2@gmail.com or seddon3@btinternet.com or Telephone 01248 430358

2012 RESULTS

Foxy

Class C Wins

15

Foxy

 Championship Wins

6

Levi

Class C Wins

17

Levi

 Championship Wins

10

Ozzie

Class C Wins

1

2012 First Places

49

2012 Total Place Rosettes

87

OB. CH. RED HOT FOXY MUSIC ( Foxy )

Date

Show

Judge

Place

Class

Easter

Midland BC

Steve Fraser

1st

Open C

Easter

Midland BC

Nancy Watson

2nd

Open C

7th May

Leicester

Ann Munks

1st

Open C

19/20 May

Loughborough

Jane Moran

1st

Open C

19/20 May

Loughborough

Dave Wooton

1st

Open C

19/20 May

Loughborough

Philomena Barnes

1st

Special Open C

26/28 May

Waldridge Fell

Ellen Herris

1st

Open C

26/28 May

Waldridge Fell

Andy Firth

1st

Open C

26/28 May

Waldridge Fell

Sandy Wadhams

5th

Championship C

3rd June

Petersfield

Arlene Philips

2nd

Open C

24th June

SATS

Sharon Webley

Res 2nd

Championship C

24th June

SATS

Stella Henstridge

1st

Open C

7th July

Eastleigh

John Farr

1st

Open C

7th July

Eastleigh

Madge Thompson

6th

Championship C

8th July

Winchester

Jane Wood

1st

Championship C

8th July

Winchester

Janet Aldridge

2nd

Open C

4th August

Hatchford Brook

Peter Lubbi

1st

Championship C

4th August

Hatchford Brook

Roy Neal

1st

Open C

5th August

Hatchford Brook

Kim Watson

2nd

Open C

18th August

Ditton

Meg Knapp

1st

Open C

19th August

Ditton

Hazel Troth

4th

Open C

19th August

Ditton

Russel Becque

1st

Championship C

25th August

Cambridge

Keith Gwillam

1st

Championship C

25th August

Cambridge

Nick Buxton

4th

Open C

27th August

BAGSD

Alison Gresty

4th

Championship C

1st September

Lichfield

Lou Jackson

1st

Championship C

8th September

Thames

Dave Wootam

2nd

Open C

9th September

Coventry

Maureen Allcock

Res 2nd

Championship C

9th September

Coventry

Roy Page

4th

Open C

16th September

BAGSD

Margo Lewis

1st

Open C

29th September

GSD Wales

Herbie Watson

5th

Championship C

30th September

GSD Wales

Sue Howell

3rd

Championship C

30th September

GSD Wales

Carol Bath

2nd

Open C

7th October

Thurrock

Jane Bowman

1st

Championship C

7th October

Thurrock

Keith Gwillam

1st

Open C

14th October

Cheshire

John Farr

Res 2nd

Championship C

14th October

Cheshire

Ann Munks

2nd

Open C

20th October

East Grinstead

Peter Lubbi

1st

Open C

27th October

Tunbridge Wells

Kamal Fernandez

2nd

Open C

27th October

Tunbridge Wells

Eileen Restell

1st

Open C

OB. CH COLLIEWOOD BLUE JEANS ( Levi )

Date

Show

Judge

Place

Class

Easter

Midland BC

John Patilla

1st

Special Open C

Easter

Midland BC

Maureen Alcock

1st

Open C

7th May

Leicester

Maureen Alcock

1st

Championship C

7th May

Leicester

Richard Burbidge

1st

Open C

19/20 May

Loughborough

Richard Burbidge

2nd

Open C

19/20 May

Loughborough

Nigel Slater

1st

Open c

19/20 May

Loughborough

Dave Howell

4th

Championship C

26/28 May

Waldridge Fell

Elaine Lyons

1st

Open C

26/28 May

Waldridge Fell

Kath Mangan

1st

Championship C

3rd June

Petersfield

Janet Oliver

1st

Open C

24th June

SATS

Dee Steadman

1st

Championship C

24th June

SATS

Paul Cook

1st

Open C

1st July

Cippenham

Colin Wright

1st

Championship C

1st July

Cippenham

Dee Steadman

1st

Open C

7th July

Eastleigh

Robert Bint

1st

Open C

7th July

Eastleigh

Jill Holness

Res 2nd

Championship C

8th July

Winchester

Jill Berry

1st

Open C

8th July

Winchester

Sarah Delaney

3rd

Championship C

4th August

Hatchford

Roger Gunby

1st

Open C

5th August

Hatchford

Gwyneth Hooper - Wheeler

1st

Open C

18th August

Ditton

Eileen Restell

3rd

Open C

19th August

Ditton

Anne Strachen

2nd

Open C

19th August

Ditton

Barry Fitter

1st

Championship C

25th August

Cambridge

Roy Page

1st

Championship C

25th August

Cambridge

Emma Lavender

2nd

Open C

26th August

Wakefield

Peter Height

1st

Championship C

26th August

Wakefield

Roger Gunby

3rd

Open C

27th August

BAGSD

Alan Gresty

3rd

Championship C

1st September

Lichfield

Wendy Hagger

2nd

Championship C

1st September

Lichfield

Gerard Paisley

1st

Open C

8th September

Thames

Russel Becque

1st

Championship C

9th September

Coventry

Ronnie Stock

2nd

Open C

16th September

B-Ham & District

Tony Lewis

1st

Open C

16th September

Rugby DTC

Kathy Hood

1st

Championship C

22nd September

BAGSD

Robert Bint

Res 2nd

Championship C

23rd September

BAGSD

Sheila Webster

2nd

Open C

30th September

GSD Wales

Sue Garner

1st

Championship C

30th September

GSD Wales

Jane Moran

1st

Open C

6th October

Elm Park

Ron Mills

1st

Open C

6th October

Elm Park

Anita Neal

Res 2nd

Championship C

7th October

Thurrock

Meg Kapp

1st

Open C

14th October

Cheshire

Lou Jackson

3rd

Championship C

20th October

East Grinstead

Linda Rutherford

3rd

Championship C

20th October

East Grinstead

Helen Franklin

2nd

Open C

27th October

Tunbridge Wells

Sandy Wadhams

2nd

Championship C

OBAY CAUGHT RED HANDED ( Ozzie )

Date

Show

Judge

Place

Class

7th July

Winchester

Stella Henstridge

1st

Open C

20th October

East Grinstead

Sandy Evans

6th

Open C