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To Russia with love
 When
Aussie Steve Drinkwater was stationed at RAF Lynam for several months last year, his outspoken
and very firm views attracted a certain amount of attention! His first article on English
agility, published in several parts in Clean Run and Clean Run Australia and on a
Russian agility web site, didn't pull any punches. Having returned to Sydney, he was asked by
agility web master Alexander Karandasov (aka A.Gility) to write an introduction to his second
article on his experiences in Britain for Russian agility enthusiasts. Had Steve's views
softened in Australian sun?
Agility in England is huge. There can be two or three
competitions happening on the same weekend (only one or two hours driving distance apart). My
first experience with an English competition had approximately 400 dogs entered (with another
couple of competitions happening the same weekend just over an hour away). My second experience
was one of the biggest English Agility shows on the calendar. The competition was held at
Longleat Estate in Wiltshire, with 2,000 dogs entered!
The UK Agility system uses a win-out system to allow only
the very fast dogs (with luck on the day) the remote chance at a win and the opportunity to
move up (win-out). They also still jump 760 mm (30") for the Maxi (large dogs). Despite these
differences in the system that I prefer and know here in Australia, the majority of English
competitors that run Working Sheep Dogs (WSD)/Border Collies/Working Collies enjoy their sport
immensely. On the whole they display good sportsmanship and a real love of Agility.
Nonetheless, there are some disgruntled handlers that do
not run working dogs and struggle to ever win-out of Starters let alone the higher classes.
These handlers with the non-working type dogs I admire the most. They are up against a system
and odds that are stacked against their chosen breed -if it is not a WSD or the like - and yet
they love the sport as much as anybody.
Some will choose a WSD for the second dog. Others will
stick to their breed and just enjoy the sport for what it is, a good run and play with your
dog.
I recommend anybody travelling to England to seek out an
Agility club, or a person you know is involved in Agility and get along to some weekly training
and/or a competition.
The UK system is different, but the people and the dogs
involved in Agility are the same the world over! We all care about our dogs and are passionate
about our sport.
G'day from Steve
To learn more about Russian agility, visit
http://www.agility.ru. Even though agility is still a new
sport in Russia, their team won the Small Team competition at The World Championships 2002 in
Dortmund. And that's not just borsht!
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