We thought this Oz girl should be imported for one of the mascot uniforms at the NDTA!
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Mad keen people putting up jumps!
We thought this Oz girl should be imported for one of the mascot uniforms at the NDTA!
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Home!
Hi all
Having arrived in Auckland at 6.15 last night, the dogs were finally cleared around 7.45pm. All were fine and well (up to the point where Fya didn't see the edge of the loading ramp and fell onto the concrete below - but seems ok now if a little stiff).
The others will land late this afternoon which will see the end of the adventure.
So many stories and so much learnt - some good things from the Aussie system I think would be beneficial here and some not so much - more detail later........
There are some fantastic shots of the dogs competing over there at www.yourdogphotos.com.au under the 2007 tab. The finals photos in particular are very good.
Good to be home.......Fiona H
Having arrived in Auckland at 6.15 last night, the dogs were finally cleared around 7.45pm. All were fine and well (up to the point where Fya didn't see the edge of the loading ramp and fell onto the concrete below - but seems ok now if a little stiff).
The others will land late this afternoon which will see the end of the adventure.
So many stories and so much learnt - some good things from the Aussie system I think would be beneficial here and some not so much - more detail later........
There are some fantastic shots of the dogs competing over there at www.yourdogphotos.com.au under the 2007 tab. The finals photos in particular are very good.
Good to be home.......Fiona H
Monday, May 7, 2007
We have landed
We have made it through customs and have managed to keep everything.
Now to go and pick up the dogs.
Tana and Cannon barked alot during the flight. We could hear them in the cabin and it made everyone laugh.
cheers
Now to go and pick up the dogs.
Tana and Cannon barked alot during the flight. We could hear them in the cabin and it made everyone laugh.
cheers
at the airport
Just waiting for our flight, in the departure lounge.
Fiona left her camera at the pub yesterday. Fortunately Ross will pick it up today.
Problems with the crates at airport, but sorted that out.
Gave away most of the wine we won, to lighten the bags. Diane is the worse, she has a BIG prize. The dewits were 14kg over but got away with it.
Gave the rental cars back. Plenty of breakdowns but they managed to get back.
Looking forward to being home now.
Hey Darryl, we can take your dog trailer to wgtn tomorrow if you want, and to Carteron on Sat, if yiu are going to be there.
Fiona left her camera at the pub yesterday. Fortunately Ross will pick it up today.
Problems with the crates at airport, but sorted that out.
Gave away most of the wine we won, to lighten the bags. Diane is the worse, she has a BIG prize. The dewits were 14kg over but got away with it.
Gave the rental cars back. Plenty of breakdowns but they managed to get back.
Looking forward to being home now.
Hey Darryl, we can take your dog trailer to wgtn tomorrow if you want, and to Carteron on Sat, if yiu are going to be there.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
What Next??
Now we are coming home!
Of to the Vets for one final inspection and heartworm tablets.
Then to try and fit everyhting into our bags, that will be hard for some. (esp. the shoppers)
I hope you have enjoyed this blog.
see you on the weekend bye for now
Peter
Of to the Vets for one final inspection and heartworm tablets.
Then to try and fit everyhting into our bags, that will be hard for some. (esp. the shoppers)
I hope you have enjoyed this blog.
see you on the weekend bye for now
Peter
Finals
Well its all over.
We have one Australian National Champ, and that is Diane Reid and India (Taste of).
On a course where there was only ONE clear round, Dianne and India performed to the highest level on won Open Agility.
Also, Fiona and Fya were 5th and Ross and Ice were 6th.
A fantastic effort.
In Masters Agility we had a lot of finalists, but it was not our day. There was a tunnel entrance right beside the down contact. Tana thought that was so attractive and jumped right in from the dogwalk downramp. C was called for the down contact on the DW, Ace and India popped the weave at the end, Cannon went off-course at No. 3 and that was that for us.
Novice Jumpers. Lyn and Josie had a great run until the 4th last obstacle when she ran past the tunnel entrance having left all of the hurdles up – bugger!!
Open Jumpers. We had Karen and Dianne running a very tough course with a 180 degree away turn from a tunnel exit with the distance line at the tunnel. Indy popped the weave and continued to do the tough bit really well. Tana and Karen had a moment or two of confusion at the distance challenge enough to put them out of the running too.
Masters Jumpers saw 3 kiwi dogs go clear with Flare 4th and both Ace and Abby also in the top 10.
The Australian jumping dogs were just so very impressive to watch – furiously fast and very accurate. They certainly have skills which we lack here in NZ for the most part.
The people here have been fantastic to us and we have made a lot of new friends. We just can’t say enough about how welcoming they have been – THANK YOU AUSTRALIA!!
Footnotes:
Forgot to say – On Games day – Ice leapt up at the end of the Pairs run and bit Ross somewhere he would rather we didn’t mention……………Luckily he won some prizes in the second chance draw today so has two brand new balls (red tennis ones).
One other moment that is best forgotten by those involved was when (on separate days) both Fiona F and Ross managed to walk the Novice Agility course thinking it was open. Ross even carefully checked with the judge re the table ruling (no open courses had a table all weekend).
The kiwi team spirit has been fantastic – thanks in large part to the supporters with their tutus, wigs and flags. We became infamous for our noisy support during both the runs and prizegiving and managed to rope in a few ‘honorary’ kiwis. So much so that an Aussie Sheila racing Peter to put up a hurdle during the finals tackled him in the ring bringing him down very impressive!!
We have one Australian National Champ, and that is Diane Reid and India (Taste of).
On a course where there was only ONE clear round, Dianne and India performed to the highest level on won Open Agility.
Also, Fiona and Fya were 5th and Ross and Ice were 6th.
A fantastic effort.
In Masters Agility we had a lot of finalists, but it was not our day. There was a tunnel entrance right beside the down contact. Tana thought that was so attractive and jumped right in from the dogwalk downramp. C was called for the down contact on the DW, Ace and India popped the weave at the end, Cannon went off-course at No. 3 and that was that for us.
Novice Jumpers. Lyn and Josie had a great run until the 4th last obstacle when she ran past the tunnel entrance having left all of the hurdles up – bugger!!
Open Jumpers. We had Karen and Dianne running a very tough course with a 180 degree away turn from a tunnel exit with the distance line at the tunnel. Indy popped the weave and continued to do the tough bit really well. Tana and Karen had a moment or two of confusion at the distance challenge enough to put them out of the running too.
Masters Jumpers saw 3 kiwi dogs go clear with Flare 4th and both Ace and Abby also in the top 10.
The Australian jumping dogs were just so very impressive to watch – furiously fast and very accurate. They certainly have skills which we lack here in NZ for the most part.
The people here have been fantastic to us and we have made a lot of new friends. We just can’t say enough about how welcoming they have been – THANK YOU AUSTRALIA!!
Footnotes:
Forgot to say – On Games day – Ice leapt up at the end of the Pairs run and bit Ross somewhere he would rather we didn’t mention……………Luckily he won some prizes in the second chance draw today so has two brand new balls (red tennis ones).
One other moment that is best forgotten by those involved was when (on separate days) both Fiona F and Ross managed to walk the Novice Agility course thinking it was open. Ross even carefully checked with the judge re the table ruling (no open courses had a table all weekend).
The kiwi team spirit has been fantastic – thanks in large part to the supporters with their tutus, wigs and flags. We became infamous for our noisy support during both the runs and prizegiving and managed to rope in a few ‘honorary’ kiwis. So much so that an Aussie Sheila racing Peter to put up a hurdle during the finals tackled him in the ring bringing him down very impressive!!
Saturday, May 5, 2007
People in the finals this afternoon
Masters Agility
Pete and C
Fiona and Cannon
Deb and Ace
Karen and Tana
Diane and India
Elaine and Fair
Masters Jumping
Deb and Ace
Elaine & Flair
Clare and Abbey
Open Agility
Pete and C
Ross and Iceman
Diane and India
Pete and C
Fiona and Fya
Open Jumping
Karen and Tana
Diane and India
Novice Jumping
Lyn and Josie
Pete and C
Fiona and Cannon
Deb and Ace
Karen and Tana
Diane and India
Elaine and Fair
Masters Jumping
Deb and Ace
Elaine & Flair
Clare and Abbey
Open Agility
Pete and C
Ross and Iceman
Diane and India
Pete and C
Fiona and Fya
Open Jumping
Karen and Tana
Diane and India
Novice Jumping
Lyn and Josie
Masters Jumping
In Masters Jumping we had huge success, Clare & Abby, Deb and Ace, and Elaine and Fair placed in the top 7 and qualified for this afternoon’s final.
2nd Deb and Ace
3rd Elaine & Flair
4th Clare and Abbey
2nd Deb and Ace
3rd Elaine & Flair
4th Clare and Abbey
Nationals Sunday 7th May
In Agility masters the team was again very successful with 4 top placings.
Pete and C again blew the competition away and came in first.
Carol and Raisin had a clear round in Masters Agility. Carol has a big smile on her face.
Masters Agility
1st Pete and C
4th Karen and Tana
5th Elaine and Fair
7th Deb and Ace
Pete and C again blew the competition away and came in first.
Carol and Raisin had a clear round in Masters Agility. Carol has a big smile on her face.
Masters Agility
1st Pete and C
4th Karen and Tana
5th Elaine and Fair
7th Deb and Ace
Saturdays report -a great day for New Zealand
Nationals Saturday 6th May
The weather report. Fine Fine Fine. At last and it was nice.
Shopping Report. Carol spent more than $100 in the dog shop today. Not much else, Jono went for a walk to Henley Beach about an hour away. He tells me it’s a very nice place for lunch.
I think we told you that we get a separate number for each event we are entered in. For this weekend this means 15 numbers each. If you don’t get a clear round your number goes in the “losers box”. At the end of the day about 50 numbers are drawn out and given a small prize.
It’s been a big day today. 8 runs per dog, to Lyn and Ross, with 2 dogs each have been very busy. There were eight rings running at the same time. We have had a ball.
The events today and tomorrow morning are individual events in their own right, AND the first 7 place getters qualify for the finals to be held on Sunday afternoon. So everyone is interested in being in the top 7 needless to say.
The team was very successful today.
Fiona and Fya, gained their first clear rounds of the trip got the biggest cheer so far. She has a big smile on her face.
Pete and C had a great day, even with his stuffed knee (from the snooker yesterday), Fiona F’s drugs seem to be working well. C won Masters Agility, was 2nd in Open Agility and 3rd in another Open agility.
Carol is a bit sad. The Amazin Raisin has not settled in Aussie and wants to go home. Unfortunately it has not gone their way so far. Everyone loves Raisin here, and at present he has a “free to a good home” sign on his crate. Wonder if Carol is going to get a refund on his flight home?
The Schnauzers are really tired. Jenna doesn’t even “bark” when Lyn takes Jossie off for another run. That’s tired! The people are getting tired too.
Ross, Deb and Carol are not very good at staying on the right side of the line – Raisin had an amazing run so was very sad for Carol. When Deb stepped over the line she may have been the first kiwi heard to utter the dreaded “f” word in the ring! Funny that Ross went over the line as he normally doesn’t get anywhere the equipment his dog is doing.
The cheerleaders did an amazing job of videoing all the runs – not sure which camera the runs are on, but they are all there somewhere.
Abbie has had issues with her leg, but happy as a sandboy today running very keenly for 1 clear round.
Food is great – put on by the German Shepherd club. Grounds are lovely to run on – very spongy.
The motel room occupied by Fiona Jayne, Carol, Dianne and Elaine has been affected by the Delhi Belly, makes running a bit difficult. Tana and Fya have had the same bug, so wonder what food they all shared?
A bitch peed on the start line just before Tana’s run in one class. They did pour water on it, missed the pee area, and Tana didn’t look like he was going to get his nose off the ground. However he did, but Karen tripped him up going into the weave and he got faults.
The weather report. Fine Fine Fine. At last and it was nice.
Shopping Report. Carol spent more than $100 in the dog shop today. Not much else, Jono went for a walk to Henley Beach about an hour away. He tells me it’s a very nice place for lunch.
I think we told you that we get a separate number for each event we are entered in. For this weekend this means 15 numbers each. If you don’t get a clear round your number goes in the “losers box”. At the end of the day about 50 numbers are drawn out and given a small prize.
It’s been a big day today. 8 runs per dog, to Lyn and Ross, with 2 dogs each have been very busy. There were eight rings running at the same time. We have had a ball.
The events today and tomorrow morning are individual events in their own right, AND the first 7 place getters qualify for the finals to be held on Sunday afternoon. So everyone is interested in being in the top 7 needless to say.
The team was very successful today.
Fiona and Fya, gained their first clear rounds of the trip got the biggest cheer so far. She has a big smile on her face.
Pete and C had a great day, even with his stuffed knee (from the snooker yesterday), Fiona F’s drugs seem to be working well. C won Masters Agility, was 2nd in Open Agility and 3rd in another Open agility.
Carol is a bit sad. The Amazin Raisin has not settled in Aussie and wants to go home. Unfortunately it has not gone their way so far. Everyone loves Raisin here, and at present he has a “free to a good home” sign on his crate. Wonder if Carol is going to get a refund on his flight home?
The Schnauzers are really tired. Jenna doesn’t even “bark” when Lyn takes Jossie off for another run. That’s tired! The people are getting tired too.
Ross, Deb and Carol are not very good at staying on the right side of the line – Raisin had an amazing run so was very sad for Carol. When Deb stepped over the line she may have been the first kiwi heard to utter the dreaded “f” word in the ring! Funny that Ross went over the line as he normally doesn’t get anywhere the equipment his dog is doing.
The cheerleaders did an amazing job of videoing all the runs – not sure which camera the runs are on, but they are all there somewhere.
Abbie has had issues with her leg, but happy as a sandboy today running very keenly for 1 clear round.
Food is great – put on by the German Shepherd club. Grounds are lovely to run on – very spongy.
The motel room occupied by Fiona Jayne, Carol, Dianne and Elaine has been affected by the Delhi Belly, makes running a bit difficult. Tana and Fya have had the same bug, so wonder what food they all shared?
A bitch peed on the start line just before Tana’s run in one class. They did pour water on it, missed the pee area, and Tana didn’t look like he was going to get his nose off the ground. However he did, but Karen tripped him up going into the weave and he got faults.
Day 2 results
Morning Events
Masters Agility
1st Pete and C
5th Fiona and Cannon
6th Deb and Ace
Open Agility
3rd Pete and C
4th Ross and Iceman
7th Diane and India
Open Jumping
7th Karen and Tana
Afternoon Events
Masters Agility
3rd Karen and Tana
5th Diane and India
Open Agility
2nd Pete and C
3rd Fiona and Fya
Novice Jumping
2nd Lyn and Josie
Masters Agility
1st Pete and C
5th Fiona and Cannon
6th Deb and Ace
Open Agility
3rd Pete and C
4th Ross and Iceman
7th Diane and India
Open Jumping
7th Karen and Tana
Afternoon Events
Masters Agility
3rd Karen and Tana
5th Diane and India
Open Agility
2nd Pete and C
3rd Fiona and Fya
Novice Jumping
2nd Lyn and Josie
Friday, May 4, 2007
Nationals Friday 5th May
Just back (8pm) in the motel from a busy day at the Nationals.
The day started with the first round of the teams, which was a Masters Agility course some 13 hours ago. This was a tough course with plenty of opportunity for going the wrong way, and unfortunately the NZ team took most of them.
Masters Snooker. The 7 point obstacle was a combination of a Jump, tunnel under the aframe, the jump again and then the aframe. Those that tried for max points all ran out of time, with Deb Jackson and Ace the best, being on the downside of the aframe when the buzzer sounded. Pete de Wit and C had a smooth, controlled run and won the event. Elaine Rohde and Flaire were 3rd, Lyn Sayers & Jenna were 4th and Deb Jackson and Ace were 5th.
Novice Snooker. Lyn Sayers really loves snooker everyone. He and Josie won this event with another quick run on maximum points.
Masters Gamblers. This has a really hard gamble where the dog had to be sent away and enter a tunnel that they could not see the entrance to, followed by a jump, a pull through, a jump, a seesaw and finally a jump spread over 40 metres. Sound tough? It was! The kiwis went pretty well on this course. Ross McBeth and Ice were the best team on the course and won!
Strategic Pairs. This is my favourite Agility game. Two dogs on the course at the same time, timing being very important. Pete & C teamed up with Debs and Ace, ran a perfect course with no mistakes and came in second. The course time was a tough 40 seconds. Only 2 teams came in under this time. A great result as they had never run together before. Karen & Tana teamed up with Fiona & Cannon to come in 5th.
The day finished with the teams jumping course. Pete has twisted his knee during the day so Fiona replaced him as C’s handler for the teams. They had a great run, being clear. Overall, we bummed out in the teams, coming in 8th out of 9 teams. Tasmania Won.
The NZ team has made its presence felt, we are the noisiest bunch here, especially at the prizing giving!
The New Zealand Tents, with the flags.
The day started with the first round of the teams, which was a Masters Agility course some 13 hours ago. This was a tough course with plenty of opportunity for going the wrong way, and unfortunately the NZ team took most of them.
Masters Snooker. The 7 point obstacle was a combination of a Jump, tunnel under the aframe, the jump again and then the aframe. Those that tried for max points all ran out of time, with Deb Jackson and Ace the best, being on the downside of the aframe when the buzzer sounded. Pete de Wit and C had a smooth, controlled run and won the event. Elaine Rohde and Flaire were 3rd, Lyn Sayers & Jenna were 4th and Deb Jackson and Ace were 5th.
Novice Snooker. Lyn Sayers really loves snooker everyone. He and Josie won this event with another quick run on maximum points.
Masters Gamblers. This has a really hard gamble where the dog had to be sent away and enter a tunnel that they could not see the entrance to, followed by a jump, a pull through, a jump, a seesaw and finally a jump spread over 40 metres. Sound tough? It was! The kiwis went pretty well on this course. Ross McBeth and Ice were the best team on the course and won!
Strategic Pairs. This is my favourite Agility game. Two dogs on the course at the same time, timing being very important. Pete & C teamed up with Debs and Ace, ran a perfect course with no mistakes and came in second. The course time was a tough 40 seconds. Only 2 teams came in under this time. A great result as they had never run together before. Karen & Tana teamed up with Fiona & Cannon to come in 5th.
The day finished with the teams jumping course. Pete has twisted his knee during the day so Fiona replaced him as C’s handler for the teams. They had a great run, being clear. Overall, we bummed out in the teams, coming in 8th out of 9 teams. Tasmania Won.
The NZ team has made its presence felt, we are the noisiest bunch here, especially at the prizing giving!
The New Zealand Tents, with the flags.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
nother update
Wed we all decided to go shopping at the outlet store. Amazing place, and lots of bags were added to the luggage. Lotsa orange stuff for CHB people - got one t-shirt so can look the part at next show. Carol K kept getting left behind - just couldn't leave those shops! We all had lunch together at Billy Barkers - apart from the Wino Wellington's who were off to the Barossa Valley.
Afternoon we split up - Carol, Diane, Elaine and I are sharing a motel and car/trailer - absolutely brilliant trailer with huge bays. Dogs are all very happy in there. So we took dogs for a walk on the beach and then went to buy water (ha ha) at Woolies, and more shopping a few blocks away. Lyn was visiting a chiropractor, and others went for a huge walk around Adelaide to see old buildings etc.
A 6pm our 4 plus Clare followed some very obliging Adelaide and WA people to the Para training club - about 45 minutes away. We did think that the Aussies might be leading us down the garden path and about to abandon us miles away in the hope that we didn't make it back until Friday! But, they were such great people to follow - much better than any kiwis!! Stopped after each red light that we were stopped at, and also ensured that we got home safely.
Thanks to the Para club and Joy - this was a great training session with lots of stations, and less dogs. The way they pack up stuff is amazing - everything is on wheels. Today I will try and take videos of stuff - Kat, Lester might have some work to do cos he will love these ideas! Apparently they have a "Victor" at their club, sounds rather like Lester!
Our dogs trained well again, so we are looking forward to competition tomorrow.
Today we had to go the vet again - poor Cannon was front-lined last wed, Advantaged multi last sat, and then front-lined again today. There will be no fleas within a mile of him! This vet check was to prepare for our return and we have to go again on monday.
Now those of us on the 2nd wave are at Hahndorf - lovely German village with lots of things to buy. Ngarie has been a bit carried away buying owls - won't say how much she spent, but obviously the privacy act is not quite the same here cos we weren't with Ngarie, but the lady told us that she had been there, and how much she had spent!
Raining on and off today. Others are walking around while I am updating it - hope you all appreciate it! Did have lovely hot cholocate and scones when we got here, and lunch plans.
This afternoon we are going to help set out the rings for tomorrow - helpful kiwis that we are! Will take opportunity to photo their gear - the tyres are also amazing cos they are not made out of tyres, so have a larger circle, much safer for the dogs and the system to chnage heights is really cool. Long jump boards are all the same height so you can jump them both ways - haven't seen small dogs having issues with them tho. Everyone wants to dognap Raisin, so we are going to have to keep a close eye on him!
That's enough rambling - lots of lolly shops to look through!!
Afternoon we split up - Carol, Diane, Elaine and I are sharing a motel and car/trailer - absolutely brilliant trailer with huge bays. Dogs are all very happy in there. So we took dogs for a walk on the beach and then went to buy water (ha ha) at Woolies, and more shopping a few blocks away. Lyn was visiting a chiropractor, and others went for a huge walk around Adelaide to see old buildings etc.
A 6pm our 4 plus Clare followed some very obliging Adelaide and WA people to the Para training club - about 45 minutes away. We did think that the Aussies might be leading us down the garden path and about to abandon us miles away in the hope that we didn't make it back until Friday! But, they were such great people to follow - much better than any kiwis!! Stopped after each red light that we were stopped at, and also ensured that we got home safely.
Thanks to the Para club and Joy - this was a great training session with lots of stations, and less dogs. The way they pack up stuff is amazing - everything is on wheels. Today I will try and take videos of stuff - Kat, Lester might have some work to do cos he will love these ideas! Apparently they have a "Victor" at their club, sounds rather like Lester!
Our dogs trained well again, so we are looking forward to competition tomorrow.
Today we had to go the vet again - poor Cannon was front-lined last wed, Advantaged multi last sat, and then front-lined again today. There will be no fleas within a mile of him! This vet check was to prepare for our return and we have to go again on monday.
Now those of us on the 2nd wave are at Hahndorf - lovely German village with lots of things to buy. Ngarie has been a bit carried away buying owls - won't say how much she spent, but obviously the privacy act is not quite the same here cos we weren't with Ngarie, but the lady told us that she had been there, and how much she had spent!
Raining on and off today. Others are walking around while I am updating it - hope you all appreciate it! Did have lovely hot cholocate and scones when we got here, and lunch plans.
This afternoon we are going to help set out the rings for tomorrow - helpful kiwis that we are! Will take opportunity to photo their gear - the tyres are also amazing cos they are not made out of tyres, so have a larger circle, much safer for the dogs and the system to chnage heights is really cool. Long jump boards are all the same height so you can jump them both ways - haven't seen small dogs having issues with them tho. Everyone wants to dognap Raisin, so we are going to have to keep a close eye on him!
That's enough rambling - lots of lolly shops to look through!!
Fiona's update
Well finally found somewhere with internet access. The access at the motel is pretty limited, and internet cafe's don't want to be found. So sorry to those who thought I might update the blog more regularly, but hopefully I will make up for that now.
Flight for the 2nd wave went really well, though we will not be relying too much on Kevin's navigational skills for a while. Arrived at the airport, only 2 of us got pulled aside at customs and due to the warning about cleaning our shoes the rest of us went through really quickly. Once the dogs were through - about 9 hours I think after we left them - we went to the Pedigree park and gave them a run. Then to the motel - great place to stay with lots of parking and a walk round the corner to a nice free running exercise area - can walk about half an hour on the grass.
Went to supermarket - us 4 ladies filled the shopping trolley ably managed by Pete who was amazed at what went in, and how we were going to split the bill. It was easy, we decided the Rohdes had just sold their house so Elaine was shouting for the weekend (Alan, I'm sure you agreed to this before she left?).
Had a quick lie down, then off for training. By this stage we had been up for about 18 hours so were feeling a bit jaded. There were heaps of dogs training - 60-80 maybe? 2 courses were set up and all the 500 dogs waited in line to run the courses. The 200, 300, 400, 600 dogs were put together and we used the other gear - brilliant for me cos I got to set up different stuff and had lots of practice. Cannon was hesitant first time over dw and seesaw cos they are on the same angle and neither have slats. But after a couple of repetitions he was fine. The other 2nd wave dogs were fine after a while as well. Jumps are so different - very wide and constructed of broom handles (bought from Bunnings) with plastic cups on the side. They have a spike on the bottom so stick in the ground. Unfortunately easy to knock down as well. Then back to unit for well deserved sleep.
Flight for the 2nd wave went really well, though we will not be relying too much on Kevin's navigational skills for a while. Arrived at the airport, only 2 of us got pulled aside at customs and due to the warning about cleaning our shoes the rest of us went through really quickly. Once the dogs were through - about 9 hours I think after we left them - we went to the Pedigree park and gave them a run. Then to the motel - great place to stay with lots of parking and a walk round the corner to a nice free running exercise area - can walk about half an hour on the grass.
Went to supermarket - us 4 ladies filled the shopping trolley ably managed by Pete who was amazed at what went in, and how we were going to split the bill. It was easy, we decided the Rohdes had just sold their house so Elaine was shouting for the weekend (Alan, I'm sure you agreed to this before she left?).
Had a quick lie down, then off for training. By this stage we had been up for about 18 hours so were feeling a bit jaded. There were heaps of dogs training - 60-80 maybe? 2 courses were set up and all the 500 dogs waited in line to run the courses. The 200, 300, 400, 600 dogs were put together and we used the other gear - brilliant for me cos I got to set up different stuff and had lots of practice. Cannon was hesitant first time over dw and seesaw cos they are on the same angle and neither have slats. But after a couple of repetitions he was fine. The other 2nd wave dogs were fine after a while as well. Jumps are so different - very wide and constructed of broom handles (bought from Bunnings) with plastic cups on the side. They have a spike on the bottom so stick in the ground. Unfortunately easy to knock down as well. Then back to unit for well deserved sleep.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Day 5
The weather report. It rained all night, but by 5:45am the day started with clear skies. Smiles all round here. The reason it was 5:45am had something to do with receiving a text from NZ at that time. We are 2.5 hours behind NZ time! Thanks Nevenka. (LOL)
We have met heaps of nice Aussies over here. Everyone has made us feel welcome and helped us out alot.
Today there were two trials, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It was a big day with 8 runs. The Kiwis had a very successful day, with Pete and C winning both the Masters Agility events. In the afternoon Agility Masters, the Kiwis were 1st, 3rd and 4th!. Tana was stunning in the afteroon with 4 clear round from 4 runs.
The results from today.
AM Trial
Masters Agility
Pete & C 1st
Lyn & Jenna 7th
Masters Jumpers
Pete & C 2nd
Lyn & Jenna clear
Open Agility
Lyn & Jenna 10th
Open Jumpers
Karen & Tana 2nd
Lyn & Jenna clear
PM Trial
Masters Agility
Pete & C 1st
Karen & Tana 3rd
Deb & Ace 4th
Masters Jumpers
Karen & Tana 3rd
Pete & C 4th
Open Agility
Karen & Tana 3rd
Open Jumpers
Pete & C 4th
Karen & Tana 5th=
Lyn & Josie clear
Lyn & Jenna clear
So lots of happy people on the team here. We have told them that the good dogs are arriving on Tuesday from NZ.
This was the largest single club agility trial ever held in South Australia with in excess of 30 Novice and 30 Excellent dogs, 80 in the Open classes and 76 in Masters. They ran 4 rings at once. This was ok until we found our 500mm Master’s dogs were going to be required in 3 rings at once. However it was not too stressful in the end and everyone managed to get to where they were supposed to be.
Most differences between their agility gear and ours are only slight. The hurdles are wider and the uprights higher – which is nice. The width of the hurdles changes the way handlers have to plan their way around the course as the ring somehow seems “fuller”.
The A-frame is lower but the dogwalk is higher. The see-saw is quite a bit heavier – someone tell Carol to bring some lead weights to help Raisin!!!
For some reason, some of us have had trouble remembering the courses – not sure why – ok there are a few more obstacles (up to 24) but maybe also a different style.
We have certainly met some lovely people so far, and we’ve had a good time chatting to everyone. They keep making fun of our “accent” and making us count beyond 5 for their entertainment – strange people. All in all has been a fun weekend with really pleasant judges who smiled nicely at our stupid questions and didn’t laugh too hard! The food was fantastic at the show and they had a great shop at the German Shepherd clubrooms which sells all sorts of gear and dog food. -we have bought some leads in Upper Hutt colours, Schmakos etc.
We have met heaps of nice Aussies over here. Everyone has made us feel welcome and helped us out alot.
Today there were two trials, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It was a big day with 8 runs. The Kiwis had a very successful day, with Pete and C winning both the Masters Agility events. In the afternoon Agility Masters, the Kiwis were 1st, 3rd and 4th!. Tana was stunning in the afteroon with 4 clear round from 4 runs.
The results from today.
AM Trial
Masters Agility
Pete & C 1st
Lyn & Jenna 7th
Masters Jumpers
Pete & C 2nd
Lyn & Jenna clear
Open Agility
Lyn & Jenna 10th
Open Jumpers
Karen & Tana 2nd
Lyn & Jenna clear
PM Trial
Masters Agility
Pete & C 1st
Karen & Tana 3rd
Deb & Ace 4th
Masters Jumpers
Karen & Tana 3rd
Pete & C 4th
Open Agility
Karen & Tana 3rd
Open Jumpers
Pete & C 4th
Karen & Tana 5th=
Lyn & Josie clear
Lyn & Jenna clear
So lots of happy people on the team here. We have told them that the good dogs are arriving on Tuesday from NZ.
This was the largest single club agility trial ever held in South Australia with in excess of 30 Novice and 30 Excellent dogs, 80 in the Open classes and 76 in Masters. They ran 4 rings at once. This was ok until we found our 500mm Master’s dogs were going to be required in 3 rings at once. However it was not too stressful in the end and everyone managed to get to where they were supposed to be.
Most differences between their agility gear and ours are only slight. The hurdles are wider and the uprights higher – which is nice. The width of the hurdles changes the way handlers have to plan their way around the course as the ring somehow seems “fuller”.
The A-frame is lower but the dogwalk is higher. The see-saw is quite a bit heavier – someone tell Carol to bring some lead weights to help Raisin!!!
For some reason, some of us have had trouble remembering the courses – not sure why – ok there are a few more obstacles (up to 24) but maybe also a different style.
We have certainly met some lovely people so far, and we’ve had a good time chatting to everyone. They keep making fun of our “accent” and making us count beyond 5 for their entertainment – strange people. All in all has been a fun weekend with really pleasant judges who smiled nicely at our stupid questions and didn’t laugh too hard! The food was fantastic at the show and they had a great shop at the German Shepherd clubrooms which sells all sorts of gear and dog food. -we have bought some leads in Upper Hutt colours, Schmakos etc.
The 2nd Wave
The 2nd wave of NZ dogs heading to Austraila all visted Fiona's vet (The Pet Practice) following the conclusion of the WAG agility event on Saturday. All dogs were given a clean bill of health and are rearing to go..
Pictured from left to right are Elaine & Flare, Carol and Raisin (in front), Dianne & India, Clare & Abby, Mr Vet, Fiona & Cannon, And Ross & Ice & Witch.
Bring on Tuesday when this contingent flys out to join those already in Austraila.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Day 4 - Agility Competition
Hi everyone at home. Thanks for your comments.
Saturday, our first agility competition in Australia.
All agility reports start with the weather. “INVERCARGILL”. Its been raining for two days now and is rained all day again. So much for the drought!
The club provided us with a gazebo, which was great until it blew away. We migrated to the club rooms which has a veranda the size of our house. Peter was out there helping set up a course, the fool. By the time the dogwalk had been moved he was soaked to the skin!
That’s the weather report. Back to the reason we are here, agility.
The first event was masters snooker, and Karen and Tana were on first. They had a lovely run, gaining the maximum points, just a little slow, due to having to do the weave twice. Jenna and Lyn were great. Max points and slightly faster than Tana to WIN the event. Lyn now loves snooker.
Next was Novice Snooker, which Lyn and Josie are in. While the Aussies were trying to gain a “Q” Lyn went out there for max points, and got them! Another win to the “Schnitzels”. Lyn really loves Snooker now.
Next event was Masters Gamblers and our best effort game from Deb and Ace, who ended up 2nd. The rest were really good accumulating points, but all failed a easy gamble which was disappointing.
After a break for lunch and a prize giving, but not in the rain, the afternoon trial started with Open Agility. This has a distance challenge in it, and for this event is was a hard one. Our dogs handled the course challenge really well, C was 2nd, Josie was fifth and Ace was also clear.
Masters Agility was a really tough course which Karen and Tana were nailing, until the last three jumps when Karen lost her mind and went the wrong way.
Open jumping, was really open and called for a sprint. Our best result here was Pete and C in 5th.
The dogwalk does not have slats on it! Also the seesaw is heavier than ours. They dogs are getting a little confused between the two, so we are seeing our dogs crouch at the top of the dogwalk up ramp trying to lower the ramp!
The prize giving was held under the veranda to close the day and we went back to the motel to dry of and get warm. Yes it was cold even for us Kiwis.
Saturday, our first agility competition in Australia.
All agility reports start with the weather. “INVERCARGILL”. Its been raining for two days now and is rained all day again. So much for the drought!
The club provided us with a gazebo, which was great until it blew away. We migrated to the club rooms which has a veranda the size of our house. Peter was out there helping set up a course, the fool. By the time the dogwalk had been moved he was soaked to the skin!
That’s the weather report. Back to the reason we are here, agility.
The first event was masters snooker, and Karen and Tana were on first. They had a lovely run, gaining the maximum points, just a little slow, due to having to do the weave twice. Jenna and Lyn were great. Max points and slightly faster than Tana to WIN the event. Lyn now loves snooker.
Next was Novice Snooker, which Lyn and Josie are in. While the Aussies were trying to gain a “Q” Lyn went out there for max points, and got them! Another win to the “Schnitzels”. Lyn really loves Snooker now.
Next event was Masters Gamblers and our best effort game from Deb and Ace, who ended up 2nd. The rest were really good accumulating points, but all failed a easy gamble which was disappointing.
After a break for lunch and a prize giving, but not in the rain, the afternoon trial started with Open Agility. This has a distance challenge in it, and for this event is was a hard one. Our dogs handled the course challenge really well, C was 2nd, Josie was fifth and Ace was also clear.
Masters Agility was a really tough course which Karen and Tana were nailing, until the last three jumps when Karen lost her mind and went the wrong way.
Open jumping, was really open and called for a sprint. Our best result here was Pete and C in 5th.
The dogwalk does not have slats on it! Also the seesaw is heavier than ours. They dogs are getting a little confused between the two, so we are seeing our dogs crouch at the top of the dogwalk up ramp trying to lower the ramp!
The prize giving was held under the veranda to close the day and we went back to the motel to dry of and get warm. Yes it was cold even for us Kiwis.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Day 3
We woke up to RAIN!
The Aussie drought has broken, it has now rained for 36 hours non stop.
The trailer leaks! The Schnauzers looked a little bedraggled. No picture sorry.
Since it was sooooo wet, there was nothing to do but go shopping, so we went to Rundle Mall. I’m a bloke so shops are just shops but the girls seemed happy and spent some money. There was some interesting sculptures in the mall that one of our team tried to train a sit. Guest who?
There is a Aboriginal Art Gallery near by, which we went into. Those guys must have Patience with a capital P. The paintings were huge, and painted by millions of individual dots of paint.
At night we went to the Agility Club of SA for training. It was our first chance to try out the Aussie equipment with our dogs. A really valuable session for all of us.
They have a collapsible tunnel, which has shade cloth on the top half of the tunnel. The dogs can see you as they go through, which was a strange feeling. The jumps, well C went under one several times before she learnt to look up! The stick in the ground weaving poles the dogs absolutely loves as they could push them out of the way. I’ll have to remember to run faster to the end of the weave over here.
The club grounds are rented from the GSD Club. They have a shop for dog food, toys and training aids. They also have a shop for people food, and were doing hot chips last night.
The Aussie drought has broken, it has now rained for 36 hours non stop.
The trailer leaks! The Schnauzers looked a little bedraggled. No picture sorry.
Since it was sooooo wet, there was nothing to do but go shopping, so we went to Rundle Mall. I’m a bloke so shops are just shops but the girls seemed happy and spent some money. There was some interesting sculptures in the mall that one of our team tried to train a sit. Guest who?
There is a Aboriginal Art Gallery near by, which we went into. Those guys must have Patience with a capital P. The paintings were huge, and painted by millions of individual dots of paint.
At night we went to the Agility Club of SA for training. It was our first chance to try out the Aussie equipment with our dogs. A really valuable session for all of us.
They have a collapsible tunnel, which has shade cloth on the top half of the tunnel. The dogs can see you as they go through, which was a strange feeling. The jumps, well C went under one several times before she learnt to look up! The stick in the ground weaving poles the dogs absolutely loves as they could push them out of the way. I’ll have to remember to run faster to the end of the weave over here.
The club grounds are rented from the GSD Club. They have a shop for dog food, toys and training aids. They also have a shop for people food, and were doing hot chips last night.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Day 2
We have met some nice Aussies, the first nice agility one was PJ who works at the airport making sure planes come in safely. He drove Fiona and Karen down to Air Australia Express and back to the terminal as we began the 2 hour process of getting the dogs off the pallet and into our possession!
Today Wednesday (Anzac Day) started with going to Glenelg beach, which we had been warned NOT to do by the locals, Sharks, and puffer fish were the main risks. What the hell, our dogs love the water! On arrival we were surprised to see every man and his dog on the beach and in the water. (the dogs that is)
There was no language barrier between the NZ and Aussie dogs.
They got on really well.
This was the only shark we saw that day.
Further along, Jenna and Josie found a large cow looking beast that smelt and tasted really nice.
At the end of the jetty we were introduced to Elvis (the Cav) by Jesus.
The best thing was being able to walk into the shopping centre WITH our dogs where the locals came over and said hello to us. This group was walking their two malamutes and two Belgian shepherds (Tervs).
After the long walk the temperature was still about 26C so some of us stripped off and had a swim in the motel pool, very refreshing, nice and cool! (Definitely NO photos of this you will be relieved to know!!!) After tea we went down the local dog Club – South Australia Obedience Dog Club Inc. They have a lovely spot in a big park. The gear looked somewhat different to NZ gear, with the main differences being stick in the ground weave poles about 1.5m high, the jumps comprised stick in the ground uprights with poles about twice as long as ours (no weave base and no bars across the bottom of the jumps). We met more nice Aussies but did not get to run ours dogs on the gear due to Insurance issues, but they got a very nice walk afterwards.
Stop Press: The promised rain has arrived – you can rely on Wellington residents to break the drought – they should be paying us!
Today Wednesday (Anzac Day) started with going to Glenelg beach, which we had been warned NOT to do by the locals, Sharks, and puffer fish were the main risks. What the hell, our dogs love the water! On arrival we were surprised to see every man and his dog on the beach and in the water. (the dogs that is)
There was no language barrier between the NZ and Aussie dogs.
They got on really well.
This was the only shark we saw that day.
Further along, Jenna and Josie found a large cow looking beast that smelt and tasted really nice.
At the end of the jetty we were introduced to Elvis (the Cav) by Jesus.
The best thing was being able to walk into the shopping centre WITH our dogs where the locals came over and said hello to us. This group was walking their two malamutes and two Belgian shepherds (Tervs).
After the long walk the temperature was still about 26C so some of us stripped off and had a swim in the motel pool, very refreshing, nice and cool! (Definitely NO photos of this you will be relieved to know!!!) After tea we went down the local dog Club – South Australia Obedience Dog Club Inc. They have a lovely spot in a big park. The gear looked somewhat different to NZ gear, with the main differences being stick in the ground weave poles about 1.5m high, the jumps comprised stick in the ground uprights with poles about twice as long as ours (no weave base and no bars across the bottom of the jumps). We met more nice Aussies but did not get to run ours dogs on the gear due to Insurance issues, but they got a very nice walk afterwards.
Stop Press: The promised rain has arrived – you can rely on Wellington residents to break the drought – they should be paying us!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
DAY One
Our day started at 3.15 to toilet dogs etc in order to leave for the airport at 4am. Duly installed in Roger Van H’s ute, we were off! (Lyn, Denyse and Fiona). On the way to Pukekohe we rounded a corner to find a car rolled on the road with one wheel still spinning. Luckily the driver was ok and the police duly arrived so we could carry on our merry way.
By this time Deb, Pete, Karen and Jono had arrived at Air NZ Cargo courtesy of Alan Rohde. The van Huenen courtesy van was only 15 minutes late and the dog check in proceeded.
So that done, we checked ourselves in with Denyse and Lyn being whisked away via a priority check-in (we think it was because they were worried Lyn might get lost).
The flight was uneventful and eventually we made our way through immigration. Small hint – clean your agility shoes before you take them or the Aussie customs guys will take their time doing it for you!!!
We were pleased to know the procedure to clear the dogs as not knowing that would have made for a very very long day………. As it was, Karen and Fiona walked miles to customs and AQIS finally resorting to a taxi for the last leg back to Air Aus Express to collect the dogs. Meanwhile the others collected the rental vehicles and dog trailer
(which is awesome).
First stop was a run at Pedigree Park for the dogs and finally to the motel. On a visit to the local vet we were advised not to run/swim the dogs at the beach because of the sharks in the water and the dead puffer fish washed up occasionally. Oh joy!!
Still we’re here and so are the dogs and all in one piece………..
The dog trailer we have hired for the dogs is HUGE!!!! It has five bays, each big enough for two Tana’s. The Sayers schnauzers have so much room in it there is room for Lyn to sleep in there too.
By this time Deb, Pete, Karen and Jono had arrived at Air NZ Cargo courtesy of Alan Rohde. The van Huenen courtesy van was only 15 minutes late and the dog check in proceeded.
So that done, we checked ourselves in with Denyse and Lyn being whisked away via a priority check-in (we think it was because they were worried Lyn might get lost).
The flight was uneventful and eventually we made our way through immigration. Small hint – clean your agility shoes before you take them or the Aussie customs guys will take their time doing it for you!!!
We were pleased to know the procedure to clear the dogs as not knowing that would have made for a very very long day………. As it was, Karen and Fiona walked miles to customs and AQIS finally resorting to a taxi for the last leg back to Air Aus Express to collect the dogs. Meanwhile the others collected the rental vehicles and dog trailer
(which is awesome).
First stop was a run at Pedigree Park for the dogs and finally to the motel. On a visit to the local vet we were advised not to run/swim the dogs at the beach because of the sharks in the water and the dead puffer fish washed up occasionally. Oh joy!!
Still we’re here and so are the dogs and all in one piece………..
The dog trailer we have hired for the dogs is HUGE!!!! It has five bays, each big enough for two Tana’s. The Sayers schnauzers have so much room in it there is room for Lyn to sleep in there too.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Angle of NZ A-frames
And this photo shows how steep our A-frames are. Photo of Cannon again (who else?)
Weave Tunnel combo
After talking to Simone, thought maybe I should see what Cannon's discrimination was like. He was pretty good, only combo he found difficult was with me on the close side of the weaves asking him to go from dw to weave entry closest to tunnel.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Welcome Party
We're really going to get the red carpet treatment on arrival. The organisers have pulled strings and allowed one of Adelaide's Famous Agility sons to be present in the Air Control Tower at Adelaide International. PJ did find the need to point out which direction we should wave on arrival ........some folk just never let up.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Hastings Sat 20th May
Had a very enjoyable dinner with "SQ"
Who's SQ? That's Debbie Middlemiss, the self proclaimed Starters Queen. She loves agility, been doing it 15 years and still in starters. (Not with the same dog)
Theres another SQ here. That will be our host Daryl, shes the "Seminar Queen"
A very enjoyable evening, now we are going north for a swim in the hot pools.
Peter
Who's SQ? That's Debbie Middlemiss, the self proclaimed Starters Queen. She loves agility, been doing it 15 years and still in starters. (Not with the same dog)
Theres another SQ here. That will be our host Daryl, shes the "Seminar Queen"
A very enjoyable evening, now we are going north for a swim in the hot pools.
Peter
Friday, April 20, 2007
All Checked and ready to go!
Peter and C, Karen and Tana, Lyn and Jenna and Josie, Fiona and Fya thanking Peter Warmerdam of Maidstone Vets for checking over their dogs and proclaiming them fit to travel!
Sunday, April 15, 2007
New Tour Guide
Following Lyn Sayers' whistle stop tour of Paeroa and Waihi the mantle of responsibility for excursions in and around Adelaide has now passed to Jono deWit. This will leave Lyn free to develop secret plans to divert attention away from the serious contenders at the forthcoming Australian Nationals. The first opportunity occurred at the Counties show when it was learned that Kim (from Para & Districts Club in Adelaide) would be present to watch the Champion of Champions run. It was my function to pretend to become completely confused by inserting an extra obstacle into my run and by a stroke of good fortune Kim got the action on video. The next opportunity came with the strategic pairs training session during which a number of pairs did learn some valuable tips regarding the rules and strategy but unfortunately the training failed to improve the quality of some teams.
Thank goodness for the 'guns" in our party who according to a confession extracted from Kim do appear to have serious chances of success. Another strategy was to offer the organisers in Adelaide enough Contactacoat rubber chip to cover the contact gear which was duly shipped across a couple of months ago. Two separate clubs are supplying the gear and a club member from each is responsible for applying the coating but at last checking there was some thought that they may run out of time. Perhaps the advance party might need to offer a working bee to finish the job if this part of the secret strategy is to be achieved.
On a more serious note I would like to give credit to Deb Jackson for conceiving and coaxing the original members and for her tireless efforts with the arrangements for accomodation and rental vehicles. Fiona Hodgson was another early joiner and has contributed a huge amount of expertise to the challenge of getting the dogs to and from Australia.
Thank goodness for the 'guns" in our party who according to a confession extracted from Kim do appear to have serious chances of success. Another strategy was to offer the organisers in Adelaide enough Contactacoat rubber chip to cover the contact gear which was duly shipped across a couple of months ago. Two separate clubs are supplying the gear and a club member from each is responsible for applying the coating but at last checking there was some thought that they may run out of time. Perhaps the advance party might need to offer a working bee to finish the job if this part of the secret strategy is to be achieved.
On a more serious note I would like to give credit to Deb Jackson for conceiving and coaxing the original members and for her tireless efforts with the arrangements for accomodation and rental vehicles. Fiona Hodgson was another early joiner and has contributed a huge amount of expertise to the challenge of getting the dogs to and from Australia.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
The Organisation
Deb’s telling of how the trip initially came about leads on to just how we were going to do this.
With the seed of visiting Aussie to attend the ANKC Nationals in place, the thought of where to start to organize something like this was more than a little daunting. I volunteered to learn a little more about the logistics of flying the dogs etc so contacted several breed show enthusiasts I know regularly travel dogs across the ditch and thanks to them gained some useful info.
We contacted Elle at Dogtainers in Adelaide and she has been a godsend stepping us through the things we needed to do and has made it all much easier than it could have been. We also contracted Venturepet to do the outbound leg of the travel for us – one more thing to tick off the list.
Gradually over the process of talking about it all, the numbers of enthusiastic people grew and by November 2006 we were up to around 9! At about this point we had a meeting after a show and discussed the whole idea and agreed that just in case we were invited to submit a team into the State Finals, we would let everyone know via the Agility email list that the trip was taking place. That done – the final numbers were 11 handlers and 13 dogs.
In the background to all of this, the NZKC wrote to the ANKC and with the help of several people in the Agility world in Aus, got agreement for our Senior level dogs to be able to compete at Masters level for the trip. This is something we are most grateful for and even though we may well make twits of ourselves at Masters Games in particular, we are all certainly looking forward to the challenges ahead of us
So now the stage was set – the question – with 13 dogs and only a certain number of flights a week how do we get all of the dogs there in time?
Lyn Sayers went into serious talks with the Top Dogs at Air NZ freight and got an agreement for an allowance of 7 crates to be booked so now we could do it on two flights. In the end 5 of us decided to go a week earlier and take in two pre-nationals shows with the aim to learn what we have not figured out about the differences in rules before the nationals.
So that’s the short version of how we got to where we are.
Huge thanks to Reg Dwyer who has been awesome helping to find our way through what we need to do, and for championing the idea of a trans-tasman clash at some stage. Thanks also to those on the Aussie agility list who have tirelessly answered games questions and supplied sample courses for us to try………..
Of course nothing written about this trip would be complete without me singing the praises of Bron – that wonderful fabulous Test Sec you have for the Nationals. She has put up with our stupid questions, strange requests and probably oddly filled out entries. If you see her wandering around the nationals looking slightly dazed – just put it down to the wine we will be bringing for her as a thank you………….
With the seed of visiting Aussie to attend the ANKC Nationals in place, the thought of where to start to organize something like this was more than a little daunting. I volunteered to learn a little more about the logistics of flying the dogs etc so contacted several breed show enthusiasts I know regularly travel dogs across the ditch and thanks to them gained some useful info.
We contacted Elle at Dogtainers in Adelaide and she has been a godsend stepping us through the things we needed to do and has made it all much easier than it could have been. We also contracted Venturepet to do the outbound leg of the travel for us – one more thing to tick off the list.
Gradually over the process of talking about it all, the numbers of enthusiastic people grew and by November 2006 we were up to around 9! At about this point we had a meeting after a show and discussed the whole idea and agreed that just in case we were invited to submit a team into the State Finals, we would let everyone know via the Agility email list that the trip was taking place. That done – the final numbers were 11 handlers and 13 dogs.
In the background to all of this, the NZKC wrote to the ANKC and with the help of several people in the Agility world in Aus, got agreement for our Senior level dogs to be able to compete at Masters level for the trip. This is something we are most grateful for and even though we may well make twits of ourselves at Masters Games in particular, we are all certainly looking forward to the challenges ahead of us
So now the stage was set – the question – with 13 dogs and only a certain number of flights a week how do we get all of the dogs there in time?
Lyn Sayers went into serious talks with the Top Dogs at Air NZ freight and got an agreement for an allowance of 7 crates to be booked so now we could do it on two flights. In the end 5 of us decided to go a week earlier and take in two pre-nationals shows with the aim to learn what we have not figured out about the differences in rules before the nationals.
So that’s the short version of how we got to where we are.
Huge thanks to Reg Dwyer who has been awesome helping to find our way through what we need to do, and for championing the idea of a trans-tasman clash at some stage. Thanks also to those on the Aussie agility list who have tirelessly answered games questions and supplied sample courses for us to try………..
Of course nothing written about this trip would be complete without me singing the praises of Bron – that wonderful fabulous Test Sec you have for the Nationals. She has put up with our stupid questions, strange requests and probably oddly filled out entries. If you see her wandering around the nationals looking slightly dazed – just put it down to the wine we will be bringing for her as a thank you………….
The Beginning- by Deb Jackson
Well, I guess it should be me that starts the story.
The idea to take a dog from
Conceived by me during February 2005, when I flew over to
While I was at this seminar, I met up with some great people from
This idea was of great interest to me, as for some years I had thought that it would be a wonderful experience if NZ’s and Australians could compete against each other in the sport of agility.
This dream did not eventuate due to circumstances in my life, but the seed had been sown.
We will be flying over to
Some of us will arrive on the 24th April, just in time to compete in the two trials prior
The rest of the group will arrive on the 1st May and have their first Australian agility experience at the Nationals.
The organising and paperwork for this adventure has been a daunting experience, and a story in itself.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Fiona & Fya
Hi all
Can't wait now........just two weeks to go.
Here is Fya doing what she loves best - agility and playing! We are looking forward to meeting lots of new agility friends in Adelaide - see you there!
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Games training at Fiona's place
Today a keen bunch of 6 handler descended on my place for a games training day. It must have been one of the hottest days we've had here this year.
One of the discussions was what would be a good word to indicate to your partner in Strategic Pairs when the change was. Seeing as Carol is a bit worried with her partner Lyn's ability to get lost, she thought "Paeroa" would be appropriate. For those who don't know, Lyn was supposedly driving south from Tauranga to Wellington and ended up in Paeroa - significantly north of Tauranga! Another one of our Aussie contingent (Karen) was following him, and she is my partner for SP, so maybe I should be worried as well? Another possibility was Kiwi, or maybe one partner using Ki, and the other Wi. Needless to say, that didn't go down very well either. Ki was too close to my release command, and Wi was too like weave. Any other suggestions would be welcome.
Anyway we had a go at Strategic Pairs, Gamblers and Snooker and the team there coped admirably with the courses I put up on my slightly abnormally sized back yard with some GUR to contend with. Lyn did manage to get lost a couple of times - maybe "oh shit" could be a change command? Cos it did get said a few times.
Another thing that became a bit more obvious from putting the bars at the Aust height is the height of jumps that will be so different. Currently our Maxi dogs in NZ jump 6750mm, with Midis 570mm and minis 380mm. Of the dogs going over Tana and Cannon will be jumping 600mm, our minis (Josie/Jenna/Raisin) 300mm, and the others 500mm ie 1 rung less than our normal midi height. The photos I have seen of dogs jumping the 500 height looks ridiculous as if the dogs could just step over them. This could provide some unusual challenges for us cos the dogs will be over the jumps much quicker. Hopefully tho, dogs that may knock rails occasionally (like mine!) will keep them all up.
Anyway that's enough for now. Have posted some photos as well - stunning poses from 2 of our male handlers that we are bringing along!
One of the discussions was what would be a good word to indicate to your partner in Strategic Pairs when the change was. Seeing as Carol is a bit worried with her partner Lyn's ability to get lost, she thought "Paeroa" would be appropriate. For those who don't know, Lyn was supposedly driving south from Tauranga to Wellington and ended up in Paeroa - significantly north of Tauranga! Another one of our Aussie contingent (Karen) was following him, and she is my partner for SP, so maybe I should be worried as well? Another possibility was Kiwi, or maybe one partner using Ki, and the other Wi. Needless to say, that didn't go down very well either. Ki was too close to my release command, and Wi was too like weave. Any other suggestions would be welcome.
Anyway we had a go at Strategic Pairs, Gamblers and Snooker and the team there coped admirably with the courses I put up on my slightly abnormally sized back yard with some GUR to contend with. Lyn did manage to get lost a couple of times - maybe "oh shit" could be a change command? Cos it did get said a few times.
Another thing that became a bit more obvious from putting the bars at the Aust height is the height of jumps that will be so different. Currently our Maxi dogs in NZ jump 6750mm, with Midis 570mm and minis 380mm. Of the dogs going over Tana and Cannon will be jumping 600mm, our minis (Josie/Jenna/Raisin) 300mm, and the others 500mm ie 1 rung less than our normal midi height. The photos I have seen of dogs jumping the 500 height looks ridiculous as if the dogs could just step over them. This could provide some unusual challenges for us cos the dogs will be over the jumps much quicker. Hopefully tho, dogs that may knock rails occasionally (like mine!) will keep them all up.
Anyway that's enough for now. Have posted some photos as well - stunning poses from 2 of our male handlers that we are bringing along!
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Cannon in action
Here is Cannon showing great motorbike lean style on his way to the next obstacle. Thanks to John for the addition of the passenger!
Sunday, April 1, 2007
PAW Blacks in Australia 2007
Welcome to our blogg of the PAW Blacks, the New Zealand Dog Agility Contingent to the Australian Nationals in May 2007
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