Cannon and Fiona Int/Sen Counties April 2007

Pete and C on an Intermediate course

Karen and Tana

Pete and C on a Senior Course

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………….

The Beginning- by Deb Jackson

Well, I guess it should be me that starts the story.

The idea to take a dog from New Zealand and to compete at the ANKC Nationals was
Conceived by me during February 2005, when I flew over to Brisbane to attend the Greg Derrett and Susan Garret seminar held at Caboolture.

While I was at this seminar, I met up with some great people from Perth. We got discussing the options of competition between our 2 countries and it was suggested that I might be able to take a dog over to compete at Perth, as they were hosting the Nationals that year.

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.

Since the seminar at Brisbane I have communicated with Andrea Patching and Anne Lacy Herbert from Perth. It has been with their help and encouragement that this adventure is about to happen not only for me, but for 10 other Kiwi handlers as well.

We will be flying over to Adelaide with 13 dogs and a number of supporters and good mates.

Some of us will arrive on the 24^th April, just in time to compete in the two trials prior to the Nationals, so that we might get the feel of things.

The rest of the group will arrive on the 1^st 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.

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!