Who said
you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?
 In 1982,
Brenda Johnston saw her first Agility competition at Crufts when Agility was in
it's infancy and the jumps were all one height which by today’s standards, was
high! She
talked to a few people to get some information and was directed to Val Pollock (now Phillips)
at the ringside who told her that she and her friend Lindsey Parker would be starting an Agility
club very soon at Warlingham Rugby Club. Brenda Johnston and her six year old
Border Collie Heidi were amongst their first members. We hope you enjoy her trip down Memory
Lane.
My
dog Heidi was involved in a car accident two years before this when she suffered
a dislocated back leg. She recovered well but didn’t regain full use of her
hind leg. At six years old, Agility was my
attempt to encourage her to use her withered back leg which seemed fully operational when in
hot pursuit of the local wildlife population!
After a few months of training with Val,
Heidi was functioning on all four legs, as hoped, but competition was
inconceivable. It was a distant goal and I never believed it could be a
possibility.
 Ahh,
those were the days
At
the beginning of 1986, we were still in
Starters. Then we added Mid Downs DTC to our weekly training regime, and within
two years - and with help from Tony Veal - we had started competing. We were now
travelling all over the UK with my little red Fiat which was kitted out in the
back as our accommodation – complete with curtains. We even went to Jersey to
compete on two occasions. We won many classes and were in every individual final
going including being the Winalot Prime Starters Dog of the Year Runner-up. By
the end of 1986 we were Senior. Two years later, just a few weeks short of her 10th birthday, we found ourselves at Olympia
where we came 6th overall.
There were many, many other wins and accolades in
between. Not bad going for an aged, previously disabled dog!
We retired from competitions after
that, although Heidi would still help me in training the newcomers at
Mid Downs for a while afterwards until she passed away at 14 years. As well as
instructing, I also judged at a fair few Agility shows.
Life was a
rollercoaster ride
After marrying in 1992,
my
husband said no more dogs. In 2001 the family moved to North
Yorkshire, and four years later unsurprisingly we divorced.
 By 2010, I needed to get back to dog
training, so I set up K9 Careers Dog Training School. I asked my parents if they
had a black & white bitch puppy for sale which I could train for Agility -
obviously at family rates as I was fully aware of the prices of dogs now –
especially a pedigree one. Yes, they had two in fact, litter brothers, both red,
shaded sable. Let me introduce my two Papillon boys - Buzz (Dourhu Red Rooster)
and Woody (Dourhu Red Rum.)
They
were trained in my new venture in a few things, Obedience, Trick Training and
Agility. They even had a go at Flyball with some success. I had attended a
couple of Richard Curtis’s Heelwork to Music workshops with them so they had a
good grounding of a few things. They were also successfully shown in the breed
ring too - no surprise there, given their breeding!
My son
Matt by now was fairly grown up and wanted his own dog to train, so we took a
crate and visited Donna Cain's Morgans Rescue Centre in Cumbria and found the
Sprollie. He had been in the kennels in Ireland for over three months and nobody
wanted him. I wondered why, but not for long. He was like a Jack-in-the Box in
his pen and constantly barking – nutter! If he got on with my two little boys
and all was good, then we will take him. Welcome to Goose (Maverick’s Wingman)
Name that film?
 Matt
wanted to do Flyball and Agility with him, but soon had to give the lead back to
me as his studies and university got in the way.
By
2012 I found myself getting weaker, and I couldn't understand why I was
struggling to keep training and working as before. By 2014 I was so weak that I
was reduced to walking with the aid of a walking stick. I was forever ill.
Finding even the simplest tasks difficult, I decided to close the dog training
venture and sold all the equipment. By 2016 I had my diagnosis - it was cancer -
and my four and a half months of chemotherapy started.
Making a living
I had been working for a manufacturing
company in Ilkley for over 11 years and, after my chemo treatment, I had a
phased return to full time work. I worked from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays as
I was still not physically able to commute for all five days. Last year, there
was a drastic change in management and structure and I had to rapidly reassess
my future and it seemed the best time to consider only working part-time.
Given my circumstances and age, maybe it was time for me to work for myself
doing what I enjoyed?
After researching the opportunities
available to me in the local area for business training and project work covering
accounts, payroll, Excel, system setup and Self Employed guidance, the answer to
that was yes. Oh and as a bit of an afterthought, I could set up evening dog
training on one or two evenings per week, as I had done before. And that's how I
started Business & K9 Solutions in the glorious Yorkshire Dales.
Little did
I know that six weeks later I would break my leg which meant that the the
business side would be a bit slower in growing than anticipated. However, thanks
to Matt who ferried me about in the evenings, I was still able to hold the dog
training classes which were going really well. I even have some of the olden
days K9 Careers Dog Training School members coming back again, which is fabulous.
They say that 'If you earn money doing
something you enjoy, you will never work again.' I can relate to that. I have no regrets at leaving my previous firm as their Systems Accountant after
12 years.
What has changed?
But I am back now. And what an almighty
change there's been from the 'good old days' some 30 odd years ago! The Agility
landscape changed and the training techniques have progressed so I really have my work cut out to catch up.
Some of the things I've noticed include:-
-
Heights of obstacles
- Jumps, A-Frame and Dog Walk have all been lowered.
-
More sizes of dogs
catered for and there is even a Lower height as an option. It all adds to
the confusion. I am definitely feeling my age!
-
Paint and sand
is old school
-
What
happed to the Scribe? They are now called Scrimes? Something to do with
scribbling and times perhaps?
-
Equipment has
changed from wooden equipment of various dubious designs to what I
originally thought is lighter aluminium type, but no, there is a load of
rubber put on top of it to make it just as heavy as I discovered recently.
Mind you it’s a great step forward for the dogs as this must surely give
them a better grip on things – something I am hanging onto just at the
moment.
-
A few pieces of
equipment have gone missing including the Wall, Well and Collapsible Tunnel.
Interestingly, nothing new has replaced them.
-
The
course style has changed somewhat to incorporate challenging turns and the
handling is so, so different in style and application now - far less
shouting from the handlers, as better handling cues are more evident. Dogs
are not deaf and never were, even back then!
-
Distances have been
lengthened. Is this a ploy by the younger folk to wear us oldies out? Now
the courses run faster with blind handling and fancy terms.
-
So many countries
involved.
Better
get my passport renewed, Think big, then bigger still!
 Looking
ahead
I am
really looking forward and seeing all my old friends. I hear some of the people
I remember are still actively involved today. Way back then, you spent your
weekends on the road meeting up regularly with the same friendly faces to
support and encourage each other on through the trials and tribulations of 'if
only this or if only that.' I do hope that this will still be prevalent with
today's competitors as, to me, this is what made the community spirit. It's so
easy to forget the importance of those around you. We are all in this for the
fun and challenge of working as a team with our dog.
I
recently met up with Alison and Bryan Grimes after 30 years of being out of
Agility - I thank them for their best efforts to give me a crash course on the
modern day workings of Agility! What a lot of homework I have to do ready for
next year's competitions. I am hoping to find the oxygen
tank at the finish line as we compete in the Veteran classes.
If I
fail at getting round the course in the allotted time or can't breath at the
finish line next year, it will all have been worth it to be a team player again
with my happy, smiling dogs with their wagging tails. They owe me nothing over
these past long and trying times.
I started Business & K9 Solutions with two
activities - Obedience and
K9 Fun Club - to gauge the interest. Four months later - leg now working again -
I am offering five activities held on three evenings: Puppy/Obedience,
Tricks, K9
Fun Club, Hoopers and Agility. My 1-2-1 sessions with owners who have some dog
challenges are also picking up pace.
I am
planning on going to Agility & Hoopers training/instructor days so that I can
further hone my practical application of the theory studies I have immersed
myself in lately.
 The
K9 Fun Club is a combination of challenges for the dog and for the handler and
is - and always will be - for the fun element as some handlers don't want the
pressure of competing. It uses the garden-type equipment although some of this
has now been sold off and replaced with the Agility items to save on storage
space for both. Having said that, all the K9 Fun Club handlers have now defected
to the Agility class and are very enthusiastic in getting it right for next
years shows! No pressure on me there then! The initial training sessions with
the new dogs/handlers are going really well and the behavioural shaping is
working brilliantly, too.
Given my
leg and restricted working ability, money was always going to be a concern. The
new aluminium equipment was out of my financial reach, so I have
sourced the next best thing - excellent quality new and second-hand, mostly from
First Contact.
So many rules and
regulations - so different
Yes, how things have changed since the 1980s. Back then we did it for fun on a weekend to kill the time and for
the
social. The agility, the pubs, the BBQs, the rounders matches and the evening's entertainment
during the two and three day shows were great. Like so many things, I can safely say the 'good
old days were 'the best' with the proviso that today is the 'good old days' which we will be
longing for in years to come.
 About the author...
Brenda Johnston was born in Perth and she lived in Scotland until she was 17
years old. The youngest of three daughters, her parents were very successful
Papillon breeders and excelled in the show ring, having produced many champions
both in the UK and abroad.
By the
time she was eight, Brenda was already handling the Paps in the show ring and
training the youngsters. At 14 years, she had won numerous awards in Junior
Handling in the Breed showring (Papillons, GSD & BC) and won out of Beginners in
Obedience with her Papillon Lucy (Dourhu Dezilu). Her Border Collie, Heidi Har
of Jabbaj was her 14th birthday present and as a team they competed throughout
the UK & Jersey, initially in Obedience tests but laterally in Agility.
In 2001,
she moved with her family to the outskirts of the famous market town of Settle
(North Yorkshire) where she still lives. She is self-employed and the
force behind Business & K9 Solutions which deals primarily in dog training -
with a competition team name of BAKS (North Yorkshire). It's new members are
currently in training to be able to complete next year in Hoopers and Agility
shows.
First published
10th August 2019
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