After a wet
and windy week at Lune Valley and a very wet Champ day on the Wednesday, we were
very lucky to wake on Thursday to sunshine though there was a cold wind.
We had 23 handlers with 44 dogs entered, ranging from
Toy Poodles running at micro height to Standard Poodles running over Large. They
came from far and wide. Jenny Hale, for instance, came all the way from Ireland with her Mr Bojangles and his spectacular haircut.
Pauline Prince even changed her weeks holiday so that she could attend.
Judge
Rebecca Sargent set up some lovely courses that were suitable for all grades and
heights as we had some young beginner dogs, novice handlers through to Champ
level. The course length was 'fun' for some of our competitors, but not all.
Jill Garnett and Christine Short, along with quite a few others, kept going to
the end where we had some oxygen on standby!
There were four classes:-
-
Agility
-
Jumping
-
Helter Skelter
-
Pairs
Results were split into Grades 1-4 and G 5 -7 plus Anysize
for those running at LHO (lower height options.) We also awarded for Small, Medium and
Large to try to even out so that Grade 7 dogs did not win everything. Good job as
Mike Hallam seemed to be at every prizegiving!
It was great to see all the handlers and dogs
ringside. They were quite spread out at the start of the day, but the poodles soon brought
everyone together.
Pat Eady was back in action with her new Toy Poodle
Puffin, going home with several awards. Joanne Town was delighted with her wins, and it was
great to see Alison Johnson, Caroline Park, Morag Mcpherson and Mary Gavin
Hughes compete with their Standards.
Kelly Harrison finally succumbed and managed
to compete in the Agility and Jumping before having to leave and go to work with
two rosettes in tow. Mary Farrell brought her young dog Pixie and it was nice to
have a new handler, Shirley-Ann Brookes joining in.
So glad Liz Balderstone
could be there even though Percy was not well while Tracey Williams did a good
job
running her daughter's dog, and Hannah Wade even brought her old girl out for a run.
Vivian Knight and Margaret Pennington from Lune Valley
kept an eye on us whilst they competed although we did lose Margaret a few. times
to the fun dog show. Anne Taylor and Alyson Walker were also there to keep Chris
Park on his toes whilst he ran his own plus Penny Stirling's dog.
.
Everyone
seemed to be enjoying the great runs and watching the Standards compete, but I suspect that the Pairs were enjoyed
the most. The dogs and handlers had been randomly matched so the handlers had to
find their partners whilst walking the course. This really broke the ice, and it
was great to see everyone getting along so well with plenty of support on the
runs. There were some lovely double clears with the placings including a Toy,
some small and medium Miniatures and a Standard. Maybe we shouldn’t mention Steph
Hallam who forgot to catch her dog who then chased poor Christine Short's Ebony
through the tunnel again!
Many thanks
Thanks to everyone for helping out especially those changing the courses and the jump
heights so dogs could run at the correct height.
Thanks also to Becky Sargent for giving up her time to
judge, Mike and Jonathan Hallam for course building, ring managing and scoring.
And a very big thank you to Lune Valley for allowing us to hold this show at
their show.
And finally special thanks to Cheryl at Showoff Rosettes for helping
chase the rosettes all around the country until they were delivered just before
we left for the show. And thank you to First Contact for the equipment.
Having spent several months pestering every poodle
owner in sight, Steph Hallam was delighted when Saturday, 30th June finally
arrived. It was the day of the first Northern Poodles Only
Agility Show. A sort of mini show within a show, it was held as part of the 25th Anniversary Lune Valley celebration. In
addition, the Poodle Training Club raised £280.90 for Poodles in Need.
Altogether is was a poodle-rific day.