We will be starting Thursday evening training classes on the 28th May.  Please get in touch to book a place.

On Friday we headed off for our first weekend show of the season. The weather on Friday was glorious I was merrily wondering if I'd packed enough vest tops and should I pack my shorts; I cheerfully flung my thermals back in my wardrobe and frantically searched the house for sun tan cream. Well the weather gods certainly had a good chuckle as we woke up Saturday morning to rain, high winds and generally freezing conditions.

As it's the start of the season we both felt a bit rusty but we both had some good runs and some not so good ones, pilot errors! All the dogs were looking really good from our older more experienced dogs who showed they still haven't lost any speed or enthusiasm to the younger ones who at times showed their inexperience but also showed how much potential they have with a bit more ring craft under their belts.  Ruth and Morse competed on Sunday in the Anysize classes and did really well, they're nearly ready to make their Grade 1 debut!

As expected when you take away three dogs that have never been camping before we had several garden breakouts. Although the prize for the best escape has to go to Grace, who not only escaped the garden fencing but then appeared to be struck by temporary ear failure and couldnt hear any recall commands as she merrily danced her way through the camping area. And then as Ann opened the gate to go and fetch Grace, Connie, Whisky and Glen made a bid for freedom too and headed off to the exercise area too :-D Sighthounds are the naughtiest creatures on this planet, as Rufus proved when he couldn't stay on the exercise area but had to find a small gap in the fence and take himself off for a few laps of the neighbouring field just because I wasn't paying 100% attention to his antics.

Good luck to Caroline and Rex who had heading off to Lincoln this weekend for their first taste of competing.

We weren't quite sure what we were wishing for when we began this journey - just a field full of agility equipment would have been nice, and hopefully a few people who wanted to tag along.

Well, we are almost speechless with what's happened.  Not only have we our field full of agility equipment, but 3 full classes a week of like minded people, who have been there week in week out, sun, snow, hail or rain, and they're still with us!  Not only that, they are now popping along to shows to see what its all about, getting their dogs registered and measured, and competing in fun classes and doing well.  

And not only that, we have a large and growing waiting list.  We've just completed our first six months, had a short break over Easter and tomorrow we will be full steam ahead with our usual classes and some new puppies and young dogs which we are really looking forward to.

We've had a good think about whether to increase the number of classes to try and accommodate everyone, but we can't for now - our own training and competing will start to suffer, so......... its on with the show and lets see what the next 6 months brings!

We firmly believe that provided a dog is physiclly capable that agility is a sport for any breed of dog.  And it's a sport that anybody can compete at with no limitations on the age of the handler.  It's been great to welcome to the club Jacob (9 years old) and his dog Pip and also to welcome back to the club after a few weeks absence Pauline (who has a few more years experience on Jacob).  And what a mix of dogs we currently have everything from our little Jack Russell, Scottish Terriers and Dandie Dinmont Terriers up to our big Lurcher's and Galgo and everything in between.

It's very exciting and rewarding as trainers to see partnerships between dogs and handlers develop. We've already got handlers thinking of "posh" names for their dogs and registering them with the Kennel Club and heading off to shows to get their dogs officially measured. We're really looking forward to the season ahead.

And don't forget that it's an agility tradition that when you start competing and winning that you need to bring cakes to training to celebrate your win.