Watch out! You
might get wet...
 The
Animal Health Company Classic, started in 2014, is a unique event that
involves dogs of all three Kennel Club heights competing against each
other in a Steeplechase type course. With 12 regional heats were held
around the country during the year and the Final held at the Autumn Food
& Country Fair event at the Peterborough Arena, this is a competition to
watch. Reports from each of the heats by Graham Taylor.
2017
The Animal Health Co Classic Might
Get You Wet
The Animal Health
Company is delighted to announce that it will be continuing its Agility
competition in 2017. The Animal Health Company Classic will welcome all sizes of
Agility dogs in a steeplechase style course that features the Westcotts Water
Jump!
Animal Health
Company's Sales Manager Jennie Westcott said 'We are delighted to continue
sponsorship of this Agility competition with new heat hosts in 2017 and I
look forward to meeting everyone at our first heat at the Scunthorpe
Championship Agility Show in April.'
With heats across the country - some especially for Medium
and Small dogs - there are 12 opportunities in 2017 to qualify for the Autumn
final. Click on the name of the show below to read the report and find out who
qualified for the Final.
Click on the show for a brief report.
April
May
June
July
August
September
The 2017 final of the
Animal Health Company Classic will be held at The Autumn Food & Country Fair
at
the East of England Showground Peterborough on Sunday, 8th October
2017, kindly judged by Championship Agility Judge Allan Mitchell.
RVA hold their weekend autumn show over the
weekend and are joined on Sunday by The Autumn Food and Country Fair so a great
day out for all the family to watch the final.
The Animal Health
Company wishes everyone a successful 2017 and looks forward to meeting you at an
Agility show near you.
The Animal Health
Company offers a range of products that will be ideal for the Agility dog
including their new food, Westcotts. Unique to the market, it contains
HypercCoat Prime, a popular supplement. Westcotts, formulated with high levels of
chicken and rice, is hypoallergenic, pro-biotic and has no added flavourings or
preservatives produced from quality ingredients helping dogs with a sensitive
palate. The Animal Health Company
website has all the details.
For more information,
contact Animal Health Company Classic, 2 Medley Grove Leamington Spa CV31 2GA
01926 315335 /07831 548911 email
rover.pro@outlook.com
Animal Health Company Classic Final 2017
Judge's Report from Championship Agility Judge
Alan Mitchell
2017 Finalists
It is always a privilege to be asked to judge
a final and this was no exception. The Final was held as part of the Autumn Food
& Country Fair event and alongside the RVA agility show. The event is open to
the public’s view and it was nice to see so many spectators around the ring,
taking an interest in the Agility event.
The morning started with a Jumping round to
give the competitors a pre-final run and give them an opportunity to run their
dogs on the same ground and equipment over which the final would take place.
The competitor’s dogs were split into Large,
Medium and Small grades, all competing against each other in both the morning’s
jumping round and the Animal Health Company Classic final. The dogs ran in order
- Large, Medium and then Small for the morning's warm up.
The course had added elements of a wall, well,
weaves and multi-pole jumps. None of these seemed to cause the dogs any issues,
however we did have a non-agility obstacle in the middle of our ring. It was a
lighting control box surrounded with straw bails! Most dogs coped with the
obstruction, but there a few needed to investigate or use it as a go round. I
made a decision before we started that, provided the dogs keep moving, I would
not display a fault.
The Jumping round course ran well, the
competitors getting into their stride and testing their dogs on the ground.
There were some very confident rounds with James Brown and his Medium dog Up An
Atom putting in a cracking run to win the morning Jumping class in 28.136
seconds. Andy Mayes took 2nd place with his dog Lancaster Jack in 29.679 seconds
and Rebecca Leatherbarrow coming in 3rd with her dog Cuppa Teasa Turner in
29.756 seconds.
Animal Health Company Jumping 2017
-
James Brown with Up An Atom -
28.136 secs (C)
-
Andy Mayes with Lancaster Jack -
29.679 secs (C)
-
Rebecca Leatherbarrow with Cuppa
Teaser Turner - 29.756 secs (C)
-
Ande Smith with Mr Jonty Foxtrot
- 29.985 secs (C)
-
Maria Jenkinson with Devongem
Freedom of Flythe -31.043 secs (C)
The afternoon’s Finals started at approx. 2:45pm.
The weather was kind to us with the sun showing it could smile now and
again.
My course was a speed Steeplechase course. It had a wall
and some extra pole jumps but no weaves and, as ever unique to the competition,
the addition of The Animal Health Company’s water jump.
The Final was run in the order of Small, Medium and then
Large. This is because it is easier to keep adding water to the larger trays,
than to empty water in the ring making the dog’s landing potentially dangerous.
No dogs took any notice of the water jump, and all the dogs cleared it with
ease.
The wall and the extra pole jumps all ran without any
problems and most dogs also took no notice to the straw bailed obstacle in
middle of my course.
James Brown and his dog Up an Atom this morning’s winner
put in another cracking round so set the pace for this competition.
The crown for the 2017 Final, however, went to Emma Gamble
who put in a faultless run to win with her Medium dog Dynamite Dinky Diva in a
time of 25.049 seconds. James Brown pickied up a close 2nd place with Up An Atom
in 25.121 seconds while Julie Dowle was 3rd with Dreamorox Dare to Dream in
25.601 seconds.
Animal
Health Company Classic Final 2017
-
Emma Gamble with
Dynamite Dinky Diva -25.049 secs
(C)
-
James Brown with Up An
Atom - 25.121secs
(C)
-
Julie Dowle with
Dreamorox Dare to Dream - 25.601 secs
(C)
-
Emma Nicholson with
Castomya New Edition - 25.806 secs
(C)
-
Tamara Hollands with
Jakovall Smith’s Tuyere - 26.408 secs
(C)
-
Ande Smith with Mr
Jonty Foxtrot - 26.819 secs
(C)
Denis
Colthup with Olly Born to Run - 26.877 secs
(C)
Fred Adams with
Georgie Porky Puddin 'n Pie - 26.953 secs
(C)
Richard Davies with
Lunarlight Wotta Sir Prize - 27.139 secs
(C)
Yvonne Horner with
Dreamworks Too Hot to Handle - 27.186 secs
(C)
Animal Health Company’s Sales Manager Jennie Westcott
said, 'We are delighted to congratulate all our winners of this Agility
competition and hope everyone enjoyed themselves taking part around the
country.
The Animal Health Company looks forward to meeting you at an Agility
show near you.'
With tea and cake during the prize giving, my
thanks must go to The Animal Health Company, all the excellent helpers
and, of course, to my scrime Steve Tubbs. It is events like this that
open Agility up to the public, and give the handlers an opportunity to
compete in a final and win great prizes from a very generous sponsor.
The Animal Health Company offers a range of
products that will be ideal for the Agility dog including their new food
Westcotts. Unique to the market it contains HypercCoat Prime our popular
supplement. Westcotts it is formulated with high levels of chicken and
rice, is hypoallergenic, pro biotic and has no added flavourings or
preservatives produced from quality ingredients helping dogs with a
sensitive palate. The Animal Health Company website
http://www.animal-health.co.uk
has all the details.
Did You Know?
With the
help of AHC Sales Manager Jennie Westcott - herself an agility enthusiast -
we've drawn up a list of 10 little known facts about The Animal Health Company
Challenge, a
unique
agility competition open to all sizes of dog
-
50+
agility judges have officiated at the Final including Championship Agility
judges.
-
World record held for the miles travelled by the Westcotts Water Jump.
-
More
than 40 heats across the country since the start of the competition.
-
In
2017, £540 worth of Animal Health Company vouchers were won by heat winners
.
-
Occasionally a Small, a Medium and a Large dog take the first three places.
-
More
than £400 cash has been presented in prize money.
-
Nearly a tonne and half of Westcotts food has been devoured by winners so
far.
-
At
least 5500 attempts have been made to qualify for The Animal Health Company
Classic Final.
-
More
than 800 rosettes and 180 trophies have been presented.
-
Longer legs are little guarantee of successes in this competition.
It's not true you know... what they say about Scunthorpe. The sun does shine in
Scunthorpe and the ice-cream van seems to have an inexhaustible demand from
Agility folk, some of whom took part in the first of the heats to find our
Animal Health Company Classic winner for 2017.
With the competition moving into its third year we were delighted that those
from the ‘frozen north’ had the opportunity to take part in this fast moving
competition under the watchful eye of Championship Agility Judge Charlie Wyatt.
 With
the competition open to all sizes of dogs there is no guarantee Large dogs will
take the top places and last year’s final was won by a Medium sized dog !
Scunthorpe winners qualifying for the final are:-
-
Hayley Laches with Hayleys Comet Uppan Atom - 23.657 secs (C)
-
Sarah Crouch with Batfink Twist of Fate -24.069 secs (C)
-
Amy Pearce with Bumble Bree - 25.617 secs (C)
-
Jackie Smith with Borderstorm Dare to Shock - 25.630 secs (C)
-
Maria Jenkinson with Devongem Freedom of Flyte - 25.913 secs
(C)
Heat 2 sees us joining Hatton Festival where we look forward to finding our next
five qualifiers for the 2017 final
Charlie Wyatt does a bit of judging but what are the chances of him judging both
the first heat of the AHC Challenge Cup at Scunthorpe and then the second heat
of the Animal Health Company Classic qualifier recently held at Hatton Festival.
Well, that’s what happened! He definitely chose the better Hatton day
weather-wise even topping up his tan as he worked his way through 250+ dogs
 Hatton
Festival winners qualifying for the final are: -
-
Jackie Gardner with Jacirra Bertie Boy - 23.996 secs (C)
-
Rebecca Leatherbarrow with Cuppa Teaser Turner - 24.077 secs
(C)
-
Emma Gamble with Dynamite Dinky Diva - 24.096 secs (C)
-
Jan Gordon with Lilhaze Nisa By Far - 24.257 secs (C)
-
James Brown with Up An Atom - 24.516 secs (C)
Heat 3 see us heading eastwards to Colchester where we will find our another
five qualifiers for the 2017 final.
For many years, Tatton
Park Cheshire used to host both Agility and Carriage Driving which made for a
great sporting weekend. It seems the mantle has been taken over by the lovely
venue of Ashfield arriage and polo club, where not only can you watch Agility,
but see majestic horses and carriages going out on exercise. Located near
Colchester this provided the venue for this year’s Stonebridge DTC three day
Agility show where we held heat 3 of the Animal Health Company Classic 2017.
Judge Shelly Christmas superbly set out the course with more than 200 dogs
having a fabulous time competing Small, Medium and Large all against each other
for a placein the grand Final.
 As
ever, trying to get all the winners in one place for a photo proved impossible
here but we have a clearly delighted winner here, junior handler Richard Davies.
I am sure he and the rest will be in the right place at the Final later in the
year.
Stonebridge winners qualifying for the final are:-
-
Richard Davies with Lunarlight
Wotta Sir Prize
(Owner Mrs C. King)
-
Tamara
Hollands with Jakovall Smith's Tuyere
-
Michele Curtis with Ben
-
Deanne Nash with Fly Bys Limited Edition
-
Rosalyn Tiller with Fizz
Heat 4 sees us heading
to the bright lights of Dog Vegas at Matlock where we will find our next five
qualifiers for the 2017 final
Heat 4
Dog Vegas
It's not that often
Agility is held on a UNESCO World Heritage site. Within the Derwent Valley and
in the shadow of Richard Arkwrights’ first water powered cotton mill, the Dog
Vegas Road show hosts a five day event alongside the Cromford canal, the M6 of
it's day.
 Whilst
none of our lady qualifiers are a day over 21, there seems to be an 'old fossil'
that officiated here and, despite the many efforts of the fellas, it seems only
ladies found favour with Kevin’s fast flowing course today with collies to the
fore.
Dog Vegas winners
qualifying for the final are: -
-
Claire Hodkinson
with Ear Comes The Kaiser Chief - 26.005 secs (C)
-
Yvonne Horner with
Too Hot to Handle - 27.559 secs (C)
-
Lesley Wilkes with
Upanova Let Me Entertain You - 28.057
secs
(C)
-
Carole Stapley with
Spooky Star - 28.079 secs (C)
-
Ande Smith with Mr
Jonty Foxtrot - 29.036 secs
(C)
Heat 5 sees us heading
across the border to Monmouth where Wye Valley will find our next five
qualifiers for the 2017 final.
Heat 5
Wye Valley DTC Premier Show
Ellie Curtis and her dog
Cacciatore Greenfinch had a good day at Wye Valley Premier Agility Show held
within spitting distance of a lazy flowing River Wye. A member of the YKC
Agility Team GB for the European Open Junior Championships 2017, Ellie took 4th
place in Animal Health Company Classic class. She finished the day in style by
winning another qualifier at the show so that’s another day Mum and Dad will be
up early!
 Seen
here are some of his winners is our judge today, David Sweeney, with Monmouth’s
famous church spire glistening in the sunshine. Top placed winners receive
vouchers with others bags of Westcotts Dog Food which is hypoallergenic, pro
biotic and has no added flavourings or preservatives and produced from quality
ingredients helping dogs with a sensitive palate.
Wye Valley winners
qualifying for the final are: -
-
Rhianedd Thomas with
Llandyfodwgs Ci Cil Fach - 23.051 secs
(C)
-
Gill James with
Meisterwerk Kia - 23.591 secs
(C)
-
David Carlile with
Heidron High Perfection -25.743 secs
(C)
-
Ellie Curtis with
Cacciatore Greenfinch - 26.022 secs
(C)
-
Aimee Kerton with
Basilea Little Lionheart - 26.514 secs
(C)
Heat 6 see us heading
back over the border to see if we can ride a cock horse to Banbury cross where
we will find our next five qualifiers for the 2017 final.
Heat 6
Chipping Norton DTS Premier Show
We arrive at Chipping
Norton’s Premier Agility Show for the halfway point in the 2017 Animal Health
Company Classic competition with some 30 of our finalists now found.
 Judge
Malcolm Jones set a course which used the Westcott's water jump three times. This
seemed to cause a problem or two amongst the assembled multitude although, as
you can see, some familiar faces took centre stage today.
Chipping Norton
winners qualifying for the final are: -
-
Jane Chenery with
Blackengine Dusk
-
Jane Everett with
Rosmarinus Shooting Star
-
June Ashfield with
Lottie
-
Rebecca
Leatherbarrow with Seren
-
Sue Culmer with
Little Black Bugetty Boo
Heat 7 see us heading
eastwards to Just Dogs Live where we will find our next 5 qualifiers for the
2017 final.
Heat 7
Just Dogs Live
Agility Show
Horses sweat, men
perspire and ladies glow is what they say and judge Kim Taylor, looking every
inch the man in charge, did all three as he worked his way through the dogs in
the Animal Health class at Just Dogs Live the East of England Showground. The
rest of us took every opportunity to remove as much as possible!
The fellas held the day
with young Fred Adams showing just how well the younger Agility generation can
do. With the benefit of last year's experience at the Final, he is bound to be
one to watch at the Grand Final on Sunday, 8 October 2017 with Championship
Agility Judge Alan Mitchell in charge at this years Animal Health Company
Classic Final. RVA hold their second show over the same weekend and are joined
on Sunday by The Autumn Food and Country Fair so a great day out for all the
family to watch the final.
 Just
Dogs Live Agility Show winners qualifying for the final are: -
-
Fred Adams with
Georgie Porky Puddin N Pie
-
Jason Theobald with
Caramel Casey
-
Andy Mayes with
Lancaster Jack
-
Emma Conslisk with
Make It So Danny Boy
-
John Foord with
Detania Rules The Waves
Heat 8 see us heading
westwards about as far as we can go to Pembrokeshire County Show where we will
find our next five qualifiers for the 2017 final.
Heat 8
Pembrokeshire by The Pond
Gentleman’s Day at the
County Show awaited our competitors at Pembrokeshire by The Pond where the
Feature Ring hosted heat 8 of the Animal Health Company Classic. Judge Robin
Gretenkort even managed to get some fellas in the line up as well although the
experience of Julie Dowle held off all the competition today to take the winning
place.
 Pembrokeshire
By The Pond winners qualifying for the final are: -
-
Julie Dowle with
Dreamorox Dare to Dream - 23.780 secs
(C)
-
Rowena Lawrence with
Pieddefer Elderberry - 25.529 secs
(C)
-
Joe Barnsley with
Molteni Ice - 26.214 secs
(C)
-
Jason Rogers with
Beauchlen Le Petite Monstre - 26.214 secs
(C)
-
Lorraine Abbott
with Bailstrails Cleopatra - 26.398 secs
(C)
Heat 9 keeps us in
Wales as we join the Welsh Kennel Club at their Championship Show for Agility,
Breed and Obedience at Builth Wells where we will find our next 5 qualifiers for
the 2017 final.
Heat 9
Welsh Kennel Club
Claire Hannaford set a
very fast course at the Welsh Kennel Club and there was less than a second and a
half between our finalists today.
Welsh-based Lorraine
Abbott bettered her PBTP placing as well and Curtis proved last year's placing
was no fluke so all set for another five to join us at the Grand Final on Sunday
8 October 2017 with Championship Agility Judge Alan Mitchell
 Welsh
Kennel Club Championship Show winners qualifying for the final are: -
-
Richard Davies with
Find The Spec -22.153 secs
(C)
-
Curtis Alway with
Welshspell Hurricane Ace - 22.156 secs
(C)
-
Lorraine Abbott with
Bailstrails Cleopatra - 23.415secs
(C)
-
Sue Cooper with
Blackthorns Cocoa Nut - 23.678 secs
(C)
-
Becci Chant with
Heikym Rumba - 23.686 secs
(C)
Heat 10 takes us across
the country to the Summer Show in East Anglia where we will find our next 5
qualifiers for the 2017 final.
Heat 10
The Summer
Show
We are told that
Christine Stratford does not judge in the wet and, happily the very aptly named
Summer Show, which hosted Heat 10 of the Animal Health Company Classic,
definitely delivered. Joining our winner James McClelland is Animal Health
Company's Sales Manager Jennie Westcott all of them 'catching the rays,' as they
say.
Ian Stowers must have
been very pleased with his venue find for the Summer Show this year as there was
nothing but good comments about it. No doubt others will check out the
facilities.
Summer Show winners
qualifying for the final are: -
-
James McClelland
with Rock on Ruby Two Shoes
-
Chris Allen with
Bennaton Lady Red Kite
-
Ken Whittington with
Tri Dean Ben
-
Helen Sargent with
Rosemarinus Brogue
-
Jenny Brightling
with Hattie What Happened
Heat 11 at the North
Derbyshire Champ show awaits us all at Southwell where we will find our
penultimate set of qualifiers for the 2017 final.
Heat 11
North Derbyshire
The Animal Health
Company Classic class formed the finale to another successful North Derbyshire
Show, and it seemed everyone really had to get their skates on if they wanted to
join us at the final.
 Judge
Steve Hutchinson decided speed was everything and again our five qualifiers all
within a second of each other today with Lee managing to hold off a quality
field of the Midland’s speed merchants.
Lee Lainton's He Is
Marvellous is going to need to be in top form next month when on Sunday 8
October 2017 The Autumn Food and Country Fair hosts the Animal Health Company
Classic Final kindly judged by Championship Agility Judge Alan Mitchell.
North Derbyshire Show
winners qualifying for the final are: -
-
Lee Lainton with He
Is Marvellous - 17.425 secs
(C)
-
Claire Hodkinson
with Ear Comes The Kaiser Chief - 17.484 secs
(C)
-
Jackie Kenny with
Black Mountain Laddie - 18.082 secs
(C)
-
Emma Nicholson with
Castomya New Edition - 18.124 secs
(C)
-
Emma Gamble Dynamite
Dinky Diva - 18.392 secs
(C)
Heat 12 takes us to the
Garden of England at Paws In The Park where there is the final chance to qualify
for the 2017 final.
Heat 12
Paws in
the Park
This year we started our
search for the winner of the Animal Health Co Challenge in the Scunthorpe sun.
Six months later there we were in Kent at Paws In The Park where participants
were warmed in the Kent sunshine for the last heat of the Animal Health Company
Classic for 2017.
With Liz Brown in charge
today it seemed so fitting that a small, medium and large dog took the first
thee places showing once again how ‘levelling’ this unique Agility competition
can be.
So with our 60 finalists
now found, invitations will soon hit the mat to attend the Grand Final on Sunday
8 October 2017kindly judged by Championship Agility Judge Alan Mitchell. Held in
the feature ring as part of The Autumn Food and Country Fair on Peterborough
Showground may we take the opportunity to congratulate all the finalists on
their achievement.
Similarly can we thank
all the hard working show secretaries; judges and ring parties and host venues
for their support in 2017.
With the competition
open to all sizes of dogs there is no guarantee large dogs will take the top
places and 2016 winner was a medium sized dog so we wish them Good Luck next
month.
 Paws
In The Park winners qualifying for the final are: -
-
Thomas Adams with
Just Alan - 21 329 secss (C)
-
Denis Colthup with
Olly Born to Run - 21.501 secss (C)
-
Emma Llewellyn with
Fireman Tiger - 21.690 secss (C)
-
Judith Faulkner with
Ted Harved - 21.804 secss (C)
-
Sara Gilding with
Rykas Flexi Lexi - 21.873 secss (C)
Next stop...
the Final
at the RVA Agility show at the Autumn Food & Country Fair, judged by
Champ judge Alan Mitchell. Good luck to all.
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