Hi, I’m Gemma, and I’m owned by Wiz, Fliss and Trio!

Fliss & I started training at Oak agility in September 2002, at the time she was about 5 or 6 years old.  I’d wanted to get her into agility since I got her 3 years previously, knowing she would be good at it as she'd chased foxes and squirrels over 5 foot fences from one garden into the next....and the next...and the next etc!  However, due to the incompatibility of my working hours and the local agility training sessions we had to wait until we moved closer this way. 

Fliss has an issue with people, and sometimes dogs, which means she is generally kept on a lead at all times. When I first saw all these dogs running around a course off lead, I never thought I’d ever get her to that stage (didn’t even try to hazard a guess at how I would keep up with her if she was on lead whilst running around a course)! However, I think it’s fair to say that she took to agility like a duck to water and it wasn’t long before she was not only jumping and doing the equipment off lead, but also jumping full height jumps!!

And that was just about where the bug started, the cherry on the top, however, was a visit to one of the winter league competitions at Barnwell. We didn’t take part, but I was totally mesmerized by it all, so much so, that we went along to the next one and took part with the help of Frances who helped us a great deal with all aspects… from entering to queuing to lifting the cloth tunnel to give Fliss a clear run through!! (Thanks for that!J ). 

So there we are, with this bug to contend with! I have this little dog who has behaviour issues with people and dogs and who I never thought would ever be able to be off lead in a public situation, let alone listen to anything I say to her in any situation. There she is running off lead, listening to me directing her around an agility course (not always the right way I hasten to add) but she generally goes where my body language (as opposed to my vocal language) tells her to go - which isn’t necessarily the way the judge means us to go!)

The first show we entered was at Letchworth on Good Friday 2004, it was very nerve racking, but I took along a friend for moral support, and Frances & Les and Susan & Jim were also there and lent plenty of support!.  Fliss did very well, getting her first clear round, although it was with time faults we didn’t worry about that, we were just really chuffed with getting around a ‘proper’ course (and, as I remember, it was a Novice course at that!) without getting any other faults.

Fliss entered a few shows throughout that summer and gained several clear round rosettes, all of which got added to her ‘curtain of fame’ when we got home!, I enjoyed the summer as did Wiz (too old & decrepit to do anything agility related, but loves getting out, meeting & greeting!!), and Fliss and I were just about getting into the swing of things, when a surprise new addition to the family came along to challenge us - well, me really!!

Enter Trio.

He was 5 months old and had been brought to the vets to be put to sleep as he was chewing everything in sight! The intention was to rehome him (isn’t it always!!), especially since I was not really what I’d call a ‘little dog’ person, but he was entertaining right from the word go & is such a lovely little chap, that he had to stay! We had to work hard, initially, on his social skills as he was scared of absolutely everything, so out he came at every training session and show just to get used to being around other dogs and people, and I’m glad to say, it all paid off!  He certainly isn’t the most confident dog around, but he is 100 times better than he was when I first rolled into the training session with him! 

Amongst all this social training we got him started on his agility training, which, it turns out, he was born for! and it served to only help boost his confidence – to the extent that he would have a word or two to say to dogs who would venture from their own class over to his,  as he’d chase them back to their class! (until they turn and  look at him that is!!)

2005 was another year of various agility shows, we did a few more, Fliss did really well, she’s a very steady dog & I rarely came home without at least one clear round rosette, what a feeling it was when, for the first time, there was a number in the centre of the rosette, she’d gained a 19^th place at Wellingborough Open show.

Trio’s training went really well, and by the time he was 18months he was entered in his first show.  His very first class was brilliant, I thought, for such a young dog, he had an issue with the cloth tunnel, and the judge kindly lifted the end for him to go through, so that for his 2^nd class, with a little help from the wind blowing in the right direction at exactly the right time, he went straight through and hasn’t looked back since! His first clear round came in his 3^rd show which was Spalding’s winter show at Peterborough, as I remember I was so chuffed I ran around telling everyone I knew!!

In August 2005 I decided I’d get Fliss measured as, being an older lady, she was starting to struggle with the full height jumps towards the end of a training session, for this reason I was pleased that she’d been measured down into the medium dog category.  Which means she can cover the ground on a course much faster now, consequently she now laughs at me even more as she speeds ahead of me because I can’t keep up with her anymore!

So, in 2006 I had two dogs to run at the shows, and there are more fun classes when you’ve got a small dog, or maybe I was just introduced to them now that I was no longer around the large dog rings!!, I was keen to put Trio in a mini circular knockout class because they looked such fun, well it took a few goes for him to get past the first round as he was scared of the whistle which was blown to start the round!  Also, thanks to Wendy, we got involved in team/pairs and trios (that’s 3 dogs running over a course, not my Trio!!!) and entered shows further afield.  I also had my first go at camping, which was an experience in itself!, me and my 3 dogs in a little tent, the dogs thought it was great and I would get woken at silly hours of the morning by certain noses in my face!! It certainly was a great year.  Both Fliss and Trio were thriving in their agility, Fliss was loving the smaller jumps, and Trio was just loving agility life in general, especially if he decided on a better course than that which the judge had set and, probably because I’d be stood in the middle of the ring laughing, he’d run around the ring like a little mad thing until I regained control (of him and myself!!).  We were coming home with, not only clear round rosettes, but places and trophies, and in July 2006 they both won out of elementary classes at Empingham show, Trio gaining 2^nd in the elementary agility class and Fliss getting 2^nd in the Starters jumping class, what a proud mum I am!!

Also, throughout 2006, I’d registered both dogs on ‘Dog Agility Rescue League’ (DARL), on which they gained points for every clear round and place they achieved at any open or limited show, by the end of the summer Trio was at the top of his category league board and Fliss was 2^nd on hers and we got invited to take part in the DARL finals in Kent, so off we trundled down there.  Fliss got 6^th in the medium elementary/starters/novice, and Trio came 7^th in the small e/s/n.  Overall, by the end of the year (points run from January to December), they both got 2^nd on their league boards, and we received a couple of lovely trophies for them!, so, again, what a proud mum I am!!

And so to 2007, whatever that may bring!

If I could take this opportunity to thank Frances, Les and Susan for all their help, support and patience over the last few years, I wouldn’t have got so far without you guys, and also to Wendy for getting me out and about in the small and medium classes and organising teams, pairs and trios for me and my babes!  Thank you!

And Good Luck to all for the up and coming season.

Note from Oak: "We will all be saying goodbye to Gemma as she will be starting a new job in Oakhampton during February 2008 and will be greatly missed. Everyone at Oak wishes her well in her new job and hope she has fun at whichever agility group(s) she joins".