News Update
May 2013

It was soon back to normal after Crufts and there were to be no shows for a few weeks. Well, of course, we were supposed to have the Midland Border Collie event but the great British weather intervened so it was Easter off – An Easter at home unheard of !!

We did have an interesting television recording at Elstree Studios which took a lot of preparation and a couple of days down there. It was great fun as it was for a Sky television programme called ‘A League of Their Own’ and I can’t say what it was about as Mary is sworn to secrecy until it is broadcast in August, but it was a really interesting day and they said that it was THE most popular programme on Sky, There were a few well-known names on it including David Walliams, Jamie Redknapp, Jack Whitehall James Corden and Freddie Flintoff Anyway, more about that later in the year but look out for it in August.

Mary also held a five-day camp for Angela White at Haxey. This was Obedience and Heelwork to Music and there was a really nice bunch of people on it. Angela has a smashing place, a wonderful training centre with a non-slip floor and all the facilities to go with it; on-site camping with electric hook-up and great dog walking. I think that saying it’s a quiet, out of the way spot is an understatement as it is a long way down a drive from habitation but well worth it.





The only other booking Mary had in May was an Open Day for Fiona Vaughan. Fiona is very well known in Agility but she is also on the management team of a very busy veterinary practice in Bromsgrove called Clenthill Vets. They had moved premises into a purpose-built building with brand new state of the art equipment including all new kennelling, operating theatres, diagnostic equipment - it was truly wonderful. They decided to have their Open Day on a Sunday and although Mary could have done something in the large reception area, it was a decent day so she gave two demonstrations with the dogs on the car park surrounded by a huge crowd with lots of tricks and some Obedience as well. It was a really interesting day and hosted by a lovely team.



The first weekend in May was the Rugby DTC Championship Obedience Show where Mary is Show Secretary and I’m Chief Steward. We were all keeping our fingers crossed after last year’s show was cancelled due to the weather but this year we had a bit of breeze, a lot of sunshine and no rain - it was just great weather for working dogs and great weather for running a show. We have a very good team of members at Rugby DTC and, as usual, we had enough volunteers to run the show including scoreboards. Our Dog Ticket judge was Fred Burns and this was to be his last ever dog Championship Dog judging appointment. In recognition of the fact that he has judged for Rugby Club for the last twenty-one years, we decided to present him with a little keepsake - which was perhaps not so little - a beautifully engraved decanter. And just to top the show off a treat, Mary won the Dog Ticket with Levi.






The following weekend we would really have liked to be at Wirral but we did agree a couple of years ago that we would run the Kennel Club Demonstration Ring at the London Pet Show, Earls Court. So that’s what we did with Mary demonstrating Competitive Obedience, trick training, rally obedience and performing her Heelwork to Music routine, albeit without Richard Curtis who couldn’t make it to the Pet Show this year due to a prior booking. This was a hugely successful show again and you could really use the phrase ‘standing room only’. I was certainly kept on my toes as well as I was organising most of the events in the arena that day, plus commentating. The downside to the Pet Show is that it is held in London at Earls Court. This brings with it inherent problems such as having three dogs with you in Central London, finding somewhere to park a van and to make it worse this year we couldn’t get booked in at the Ibis Hotel which is the economy one opposite Earls Court. Therefore we stayed at Olympia Hilton which is a lot more expensive with nowhere to park a van, but the Kennel Club managed to make arrangements for me to park it in the private parking area in Olympia Way. So we just have to book the Ibis earlier next time!




On weekend of 18th/19th May, it was the annual trip to Loughborough Obedience Show. We did consider doing what some of the other hardy souls do, which is shooting up to Scotland for the Championship Show on the Saturday then back to Loughborough for the Sunday but it is very difficult to justify the cost and the additional stress of rushing up and down the motorway - and we like Loughborough anyway. The benefit of being retired, of course, is that we can get there as soon as camping opens on the Friday and the rain hadn’t been too bad so we were hoping to be in our usual area BUT when we arrived at the venue we were pulled up by Tony who said they’d had torrential rain and a thunderstorm the evening before so everywhere was very boggy. Now there is no doubt that having a rear-wheel drive with twin wheels motorhome as opposed to the other 95% which are front-wheel drive I would have got parked no problem, but also in the back of my mind was the thought that it was fairly soft ground and we would be covered in mud for the weekend. Anyway, we parked right next to the clubhouse overlooking the rings, on a car parking area and reversed onto the grass and it was just superb - a great spot, the grass seemed well drained and , of course, with Mary’s little problem with arthritis then she hadn’t got far to go to the rings. So a good intervention by Tony !!

Mary had a tremendous show, with Levi winning the Dog ticket and Open ‘C’, Foxy winning Open ‘C’ and quite amazingly Lexi won her first ‘A’! I say amazingly not to be unkind but after winning numerous Novice events she didn’t really seem to have the confidence to work in ‘A’ with no commands and Mary spent part of last year building up her confidence without worrying about competing seriously with her - which looks like it may have paid off!

Oh, and as someone said on Facebook, I’d better not forget the short-legged one, being our Ozzie the Sheltie. He was in the places to win ‘C’ and all he had to do was a decent scent which he did, but the person - who shall remain nameless- forgot what she was doing and gave him an extra command when he finished - and that cost her first place! But she still managed to get another qualifier with second place



The last weekend in May, we drove north to Tyne & Wear for the Waldridge Fell three-day show held in the beautiful surroundings of Penshaw Park overlooked by the famous monument. Mary’s sister Pauline couldn’t finish work until 5:30 pm so we were a little late leaving on the Wednesday night and arrived at 9:30 pm just as the camping girls were about to pack up. Pam Hannah parked us, perhaps not in the place we wanted to be, but they were a little concerned as the park had suffered some heavy rain and they had been towing vehicles on it, so we were parked right next to the road. We’d had beautiful weather in 2012 and going a few days early were hoping to make the most of it this year but unfortunately the weather was awful with heavy rain and gale force winds - and I was lucky not to lose my awning; although they had promised this was the most secure awning you can buy, I was still afraid that it was going to blow in under the 60 mph gusts experienced at 5:00 am in the morning. But with a little support from myself, it lasted the course.







To say that Mary had a good weekend would be an understatement really. She won her second Class ‘A’ with Lexie. Lexi also got a third place in ‘A’ on one of the other day’s. Ozzie won another Open ‘C’ with Foxy taking second place in the same class; Foxy also won another Open ‘C’ and she had a second and a fourth place. However, the star of the show as usual was Levi, taking first and second in Open ‘C’s and winning the Championship Dog class. Waldridge Fell then do something a little special, as they do every year, and have a run off for the winners of both Tickets. The Bitch Ticket winner this year was Pat Watson and, even though it was perhaps a little chilly, there was a large crowd watching round the ring - and which Mary won! In fact, it was an exact replay of 2012 when Mary and Pat won both Tickets and Mary won that run-off too.



So on the whole it was another great show with good weather for the 3 show days although perhaps we could have done with a little less wind. Oh - and a little drier on the pre show days so that we wouldn’t have to wash all the covers on the seats of the motor home as soon as we came back!

29th May 2013

STOP PRESS

Lexi just won her 4th Class A, all over the last 2 weeks

2013 OB. CH. RED HOT FOXY MUSIC ( Foxy ) BITCHES
Date Show Judge Place Class
8th March Crufts Jen Jessop 2nd Championship C
6th May Leicester Tony Deegan 1st Championship C
18th May  Loughborough Steve Fraser 1st Open C
25th May Waldridge Bron Bartley 4th Open C
26th May Waldridge Joan Jordon 1st Open C
27th May Waldridge Rachel Young 2nd Open C
1st June Basingstoke Alison Cook 1st Open C
2nd June Petersfield Heidi Laurence 1st Open C
29th June Newmarket John Higgins 2nd Open C
30th June Newmarket Ronnie Stock 2nd Open C
30th June Newmarket Colin Wright 4th Championship C
13th July Eastleigh Fred Burns 1st Open C
14th July Winchester Roy Neal 1st Open C
14th July Winchester Stella Henstridge 1st Championship C
21st July St Helens BAGSD Gemma Easton 1st  Open C
27th July North West Kent Keith Gwillian 1st Championship C
27th July North West Kent Colin Wright 1st Open C
28th July North West Kent Lee Lampert 1st Open C
3rd August Hatchford Brook Sue Slater 1st Open C
4th August Hatchford Brook Steve Barnes 2nd Open C
17th August Ditton Ann Northfield 1st Open C
18th August Ditton Colin Wright 2nd Open C
18th August Ditton Pat Beeton 3rd Championship C
24th August Cambridge Di Coban 1st Open C
25th August Wakefield Annette Benoist  1st Championship C
25th August Wakefield Nikki Kirk 1st Open C
26th August Wakefield Mick Vessey 3rd  Open C
31st August Lichfield Kath Hood 2nd Open C
7th September Thames Brian McGovern 2nd Open C
8th September Coventry John Grice 4th  Open C
14th September Birmingham & District Stella Henstridge 1st Open C
15th September Birmingham & District Pandy Hannah 4th Open C
15th September Midlands BC Lyn Tozer 3rd Championship C
21st September BAGSD Birmingham Bill Pyket 1st Championship C
21st September BAGSD Birmingham Rob Pugh 3rd Open C
22nd September BAGSD Birmingham Jane Bint 2nd Open C
29th September GSD Wales Jane Moran 1st Open C
29th September GSD Wales Robert Bint 3rd Championship C
19 First Places including 5 Championship Wins
2013 OB. CH COLLIEWOOD BLUE JEANS ( Levi )  DOGS
Date Show Judge Place Class
9th March Crufts Jen Jessop 1st Championship C
5th May Rugby Fred Burns 1st Championship C
6th May Leicester Wendy Hughes 2nd Championship C
6th May Leicester Ann Munks 3rd Open C
19th May Loughborough Roy Page 1st Championship C
19th May Loughborough Roger Gunby 1st Open C
25th May Waldridge Heather Moir 2nd Open C
26th May Waldridge Shirley Clowes 1st Championship C
27th May Waldridge Mavis Mills 1st Open C
2nd June Petersfield Joe Game 3rd Championship C
9th June St Marys Roy Bland 1st Championship C
9th June St Marys Helen Weelands 1st Open C
16th June Surrey Keith Gwillim 1st Championship C
16th June Surrey Fran Godfrey 1st  Open C
30th June Newmarket Rob Summerfield 1st Open C
30th June Newmarket Lit Clow 2nd Championship C
13th July Eastleigh Madge Thompson 1st Open C
14th July Winchester Sandy Waghams 3rd Championship C
14th July Winchester John Clarke 1st Open C
21st July St Helens BAGSD Mo Graham 2nd Championship C
21st July St Helens BAGSD Gerard Paisley 4th Open C
27th July North West Kent Kamal Fernandez 3rd Championship C
27th July North West Kent Heidi Laurence 3rd  Open C
28th July North West Kent Kim Watson 1st Open C
4th August Hatchford Brook Marie Cartwright 1st Open C
17th August Ditton John Higgins 1st Open C
18th August Ditton Teresa Patterson 1st Open C
24th August Cambridge Kim Innes 1st Championship C
24th August Cambridge Anita Neal 3rd Open C
25th August Wakefield Roy Bland 2nd  Open C
26th August Wakefield Alison Gresty 3rd  Open C
31st August Lichfield Jan Mathews 1st Championship C
7th September Thames Pandy Hannah 1st Championship C
7th September Thames Tony Liddel 1st Open C
8th September Coventry Roy Neal 2nd Championship C
8th September Coventry Roger Gunby 1st  Open C
15th September Midlands BC Lou Jackson 2nd Championship C
15th September Birmingham & District Steve Barnes 3rd Open C
21st September BAGSD Birmingham Bev Hughes 1st Championship C
21st September BAGSD Birmingham John Farr 1st Open C
29th September GSD Wales Linda Howells 4th Open C
24 First Places including 10 Championship Wins
2013 OBAY CAUGHT RED HANDED ( Ozzie )
Date Show Judge Place Class
19th May Loughborough Barbara Peters 2nd Open C
27th May Waldridge Rachel Young 1st Open C
2nd June Petersfield Sarah Delaney 5th Open C
24th August Cambridge Pat Batchelor 5th Open C
         
1 First Place
2013 VALGRAYS CHEEKIE GIRL ( LEXI )
Date Show Judge Place Class
19th May Loughborough Annette Dowd 1st Class A
26th May Waldridge Ann Shearer 3rd Class A
27th May Waldridge Jeremy Watret 1st Class A
1st June Basingstoke Carol Clack 1st Class A
2nd June Petersfield Eileen Borland 1st Class A
16th June Surrey Daniel Thompson 1st Class A
8th September Coventry Janet Plant 1st Class B
14th September Birmingham & District Graham Wellings 3rd Class B
15th September Birmingham & District Janet Beverley 1st Class B
21st September BAGSD Birmingham Ann Height 4th Class B
22nd September BAGSD Birmingham Margaret Pugh 1st Class B
29th September GSD Wales Jenny Butters 1st Class B
9 First Places