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Will they ever
rival the TTs Races...
 Debbie
Martin first set foot on the Isle of Man on honeymoon - not for her the beaches and sun of
totally foreign shores - and she immediately felt like she'd come home. So just a year or two
later in 1988, she and her husband made the life-changing decision to move from West Sussex to
the Island, and she hasn't looked back. It wasn't easy to begin with, but she's never
regretted the decision.
For
those of you who haven't a clue, the Isle of Man is set in the Irish Sea about half way between
Liverpool and Belfast. Don't look for us in the English Channel 'cos that's the Isle of Wight!
The island is 33 miles long and 13.5 wide with a population of just under 85,000 and probably
best known for the TT races which see an influx of thousands of motorbike enthusiasts to see
the roads of the island turned into a race circuit. Slowly but surely we are also getting a
faithful following for our annual agility shows as the sport is becomingly increasingly popular
here, though its unlikely to rival the mayhem that is the TT!
So back to the early days...
The arrival of our second dog, a large lab X rescue, heralded the start of my passion for
dog training, initially just to get some semblance of control with my double trouble twosome
but very quickly I was smitten with competitive Obedience and then Agility.
At
that time, only the IOM Dog Obedience Club offered agility training on the Island and many
handlers, like myself, did both disciplines. In time, I took the decision to join Ramsey
DTC, purely for geographical convenience although they only did Obedience at that time so,
being me, I started to do my own agility training locally. Eventually I pushed and persuaded
the club to take it on and we began our own classes with begged, borrowed and home-made
equipment. Like many things, health and safety, rules and regs were a little more relaxed then
– you could drink from a hosepipe without fear of imminent death and we got on with our
agility without much concern as to what sort of contact surface the dogs were using. And the
tyre was exactly that... a tyre, probably one off the less successful TT bikes!
 Going
to shows
In those early days, there was just the one weekend show each year
combining both Agility and Obedience, giving handlers very
little opportunity to gain experience. This doubled when I persuaded the committee of RDTC to
add their own agility weekend show in the late 1990s, leading to the start of what became known
as Manx Action Dogs - MAD by name and nature!
Very
few Manx handlers travelled across the water for UK shows up until this point but this was to
change as handlers began to get a thirst for more competition. I remember the Wyre show at
Cartmel being an early favourite! More recently a third club has
added the increasingly popular sport of dog agility to their agenda, and now Douglas DTC is
primarily agility-orientated.
With
the increased interest in competition, many handlers are now travelling regularly to the UK -
remember we are officially a separate country with our own government so we're on the Mainland,
not you - to compete and more than hold their own at the shows they attend. We are even
allotted our own competitor as part of the International Agility at Crufts, but we did have to
prove our independent status to achieve this.
The cost
of travel is always a big consideration as we have to factor in a return ferry fare, not just a
tank of fuel! So for us camping on site at shows is always a plus and most would be looking to
get a good range of classes to make the trip worthwhile.
It's not an easy task
For the Island's show
secretaries, not surprisingly those same costs and geographical factors add their own complications to
organising shows. For example:-
-
It
is simply not practical to hire equipment so we have to buy it and, of course, store it
-
Because of the cost of travel and accommodation, we have a comparatively small number of
entries so income doesn't always balance against expense
-
To
cater for the range of ability, we have to work out a similar range of classes to suit. This
in turn means our judges have to be multi-talented when they prepare their courses. We like
to think of it as an interesting challenge!
-
Judges need accommodation as well as travel expenses so couples or people who will travel
together are a good choice.
-
Electronic timing has to be booked ahead of time and is dependent upon someone bringing it
with them. (Thank you, Ian Robinson and Taryntimers!)
-
Helpers are even harder to come by as most people want to compete so many pet and obedience
people are conscripted in along with a few spouses who didn't realise what they were signing
up to! That usually happens only once though as they seem to find other commitments the
following year!
 If
you are a Show Secretary or a member of the Show Committees, you probably wonder sometimes why
you do it, but the fact is that we do and, on the whole, we feel we make a pretty good job of
it, too!
Enjoy a Manx agility holiday
In May 2013 the IOM & Ramsey clubs will be running back-to-back Open agility shows, giving
competitors five days of agility with some holiday time in between. Both clubs have worked doubly
hard to offer the very best choice of classes and prizes in order to make the trip a far more
attractive proposition to folk from across the water.
Smaller entries does mean that our shows only have two rings running so
handlers can get back to a taste of the ‘good old days' with the opportunity to pull up a chair
at the ring side and watch some of the competition, without having to worry about running
around like a headless chicken between numerous rings. You won't even need to bring a bike just to
get around the showground! And you'll be relieved to know that we do now have proper
refreshments available so you don't have to drink from a hosepipe - unless you really want to -
and all of our equipment is professionally made and complies with current requirements!
There
is no doubt that, although we still don't have our first Agility Champion, the standard of
handling from the Island's competitors is as good as any even though we may not all have the
same level of experience. Very few now are multi-purpose handlers as most have focused on one
or other discipline but some (including myself) still like to have more than one string to
their bow! The Large dogs are primarily collies, but there are a great variety of other breeds
making their mark in the Medium and Small groups.
So
there are many similarities between us and you, but there are a few things here that I for one
reckon we have the edge over you with! If you're not so sure, why not pay us a visit and decide
for yourself.
About the author...
Debbie Martin
has been a member of Ramsey DTC now for over 20 years (eek!) and Chairman for a good part of
that, too. Five years ago she decided to give up office work and put all her experience with
dogs and dog training to good use and so Busy Bee Dog Training was born. She says that she's
very likely to make a million or take early retirement but being able to earn a living doing
something she loves is fantastic. The job satisfaction beats anything she ever found in
shuffling paperwork!
Debbie
now has two collie bitches,
having lost her boys over the last two years. Amy (Foxbarton Bee's Knees) is still working on
making her mark on the dog world, although she has more than made her mark on Debbie's
heart! Sadly following an injury while competing at agility, they've had to give this up and
move their focus on to competition obedience instead. Bea (Mykellnmark’s Silver Lining B Ex,
AW(S)) is now ten years young and is due to make her sixth appearance at Crufts 2013,
completing a hat trick in both obedience and agility. She is a dog in a million and is just one
elusive win shy of Grade 7 Agility and C only obedience, a rare achievement by any standards.
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