When Sue met Harry
 Sue
Drew lives in Jersey. She is 54 years 'young' and has secondary progressive Multiple Sclerosis
which started when she was in her early 20s and has progressed steadily since then. She
is now a wheelchair user. This, however, has not stopped her from being an agility nut! Last year
she travelled to Hungary by van to represent jersey and the UK at PAWC VIII.
When I met Harry,
we broke every rule in the 'buy a dog book'. It was just before Christmas when I saw an
ad in our local paper for retriever/collie cross puppies, so my husband and I went to see the
pups.
We walked in to a
small kitchen where there were ten black pups all tangled together in a large dog basket and
one black and white Border Collie puppy, sitting on the floor in the corner. It was love at
first sight. He was so
tiny, alone and beautiful.
I found out later
that Harry and the other pups were 'illegal immigrants' brought into the island in the back of
a van. None of them had any papers or veterinary certificates etc., We were also told that
Harry was not really a Border Collie but most likely a pup from working sheepdog stock.
This little dog and
I have worked so very hard and we have the most incredible partnership. He helps me
around the house, keeps me fit and makes every day very special.
He is very conscientious when working with me
 Agility
Training
I started agility because I wanted to give something back to Harry. It is the perfect way
to say thank you especially as I can't take him for the kind of walks that able bodied people
can - good runs on the beach, long cliff walks etc.
it was a sport that we could both enjoy
and direct our energy into.
I started by
searching the internet to find out as much as I possibly could about disabled handlers. I found
Philippa Armstrong, the Disabled handlers association, Agilitynet, Susan Rekveld and her ParAgiity organization. After lots of emails with Susan, I became a member of ParAgility and
began my preparations to take part in the VIII PAWC
competition in
Gyula, Hungary on 3-6 of September 2009.
Susan introduced
me to Richard Partridge the UK Para agility PAWC
team leader. Richard was very helpful with lots of advice. He explained that I was the only UK
competitor going to the PAWC competition this year and offered all the assistance he could with
our venture.
 With
lots of help from our local Clubs, we started serious training in February of this year. Harry
and I trained hard every day at in two different locations - at home in our garden and at a
friends field. At home, we concentrated on weaving, practicing for five minutes, three times a
day. Harry really loved it, so I nicknamed him my 'weaver bird'.
We travelled daily
to the training field where we had set up our homemade equipment including jumps, a seesaw,
A-frame, dog walk, and a small tunnel. We had a very busy summer learning this wonderful game
of agility.
Hungary
As expected we did not
win the World Cup! But had the most fantastic time and met some marvellous people.
It was a very eventful journey to
Hungary. The biggest problem was my bright idea of camping! Believe me tents, MS and
wheelchairs do not mix.
To make the 4,000k drive more
interesting we had help from our friend 'Gertie' the Sat Nav. This little madam took us around
and around the French countryside and insisted
that we turn left into Hungarian lakes and fields. If we dared disobey her, she would announce
in no uncertain terms that she was recalculating. We did get our own back on her once or twice
by going back to the faithful old road map. That daft machine did give us some really good
laughs.
 PAWC
2009
So much happened during
the five days we were in Hungary. Firstly I should mention the weather. It was very very hot
and sticky. Unfortunately camping had really upset my MS, so our first stop in Gyula was the
hospital. With the help of three young doctors, a phrase book and the odd hand signal, it was
decided that an infection was causing the problem and a course of antibiotics was prescribed.
The next day we went to our free
training session where we met members of the Dutch and Belgium Para Agility (PAWC) teams. These
brilliant people adopted us.
Patricia and Henk
Fuchs, together with their dear friends. helped get us organized, gave us lots of details about
the event that only seasoned competitors would know, were very kind and became good strong
friends. You can find out more about Patricia and her three border collies at
www.in2Borders.nl
That evening the competition was
opened by a ceremony, led by the Mayor of Gyula with a procession of the judges, competitors,
trainers and dogs parading through the town to the stadium. Andi and her dog Pixi are already
agility stars in the Hungarian Young Agility Championships. The ceremony ended with a
demonstration of flag flying. All the countries gave small gifts to each other. We were twinned
with Slovenia and gave them a selection of Jersey Cream sweets and biscuits.
The next day we had our first event.
We got the start all wrong. We waited in the PAWC area which was just in front of the course.
Unfortunately the heat, noise and effect of watching other dogs running was to much for Harry
and, by the time we started, he was very overexcited. As complete beginners, I don't think it
was too bad. We finished the course with just four faults! Unfortunately we were E'd
 The
Dutch PAWC coach had been very kind and had helped me and Harry. She said I should not think of
him as a dog but a 'Ferrari with no brakes... pssssssss'
The storm
That night we
had an incredible storm - thunder, lightening and flooding. You name it, Hungary threw it at
us! And we were in a tent! All I can say is that was the end of camping for me. I'll never
never step foot in a tent again! It was truly terrifying. I was curled on the floor, holding
Harry who was petrified. Dave was actually hanging on to the inside of the tent, keeping us
safely on the ground. We were really lucky as only half the tent was flooded and we didn’t have
any structural damage to the frame or canvas.
So, it was up at 6am with five hours
sorting out all our gear. Dave had no dry clothes. Driving around Gyula, we found that there
were no laundry, dry cleaning or drying facilities! We just had to make do and hang everything
out to dry around the campsite.
 So three very soggy Brits went on to
the next event. I kept Harry outside of the stadium until just before our event. We actually
did a lot better with fewer faults but we were still E’d. It did, however, show a steady
improvement, so I was hopeful for the following day and the last event.
We moved from our wet soggy tent to
an apartment at the campsite. Phew! I felt human again and was looking forward to a good nights
sleep.
The other competitors had a few good
jokes about the Brits flying home in their tent, or swimming inside the tent! It was all
in good fun, and we had a laugh. In a way, it helped break the ice, and we got to know the
French, Swiss and Germany para-agility teams.
 The
last event
I should explain that on the two previous days Dave, Harry and I had been stuck in very hot
weather for hours due to delays in other events, so we decided to wait in the cool at the
campsite. The result was that we arrived at the stadium 40 minutes before our start to be told
the events were running early so I had no time to prepare, walk the course etc. It was just go
for it.
Unfortunately this ended in Harry
having a nasty crash, bouncing off the seesaw. From my perspective below in a wheelchair, all I
saw was Harry flying up and drop straight back down. He did not appear to hurt himself but had
a real scare. He then went a bit mad with lots of barking etc. I tried to continue the course,
but he was too frightened to go on. John Gilbert, the British judge, helped and got us going
again. We went on to the weave but Harry would have none of it. After three attempts, I got him
on to the dog walk but he was crawling on his tummy.
Arnaldo Benini, the Italian judge and Petra Patricia's coach came into the ring and helped me get Harry across the dog walk with bits of chicken and
loads of encouragement. We then went on to finish the course with lots of applause and cheering
from the audience.
Next was the Closing Ceremony, with
lots of prize giving, cheering, clapping etc. It was hugely emotional as, by now, we had become
friends with many of the PAWC competitors. After all the awards had been given out, there came
a surprise. Harry and I were called to the presentation table and given a plaque and an
enormous bag of dog biscuits as a special award to say ‘Thank you for attending and well done.’
it was just wonderful. Everyone gave us a big cheer with loads more flag flying and applause.
 To
finish the competition, the Belgium coach's did his end of competition dance, which was a bit
like a Michael Jackson moon walk. I understand this routine is a long standing tradition. When
lots of people joined him, I thought, 'Well why not! I’ll join in and give them a good
wheelchair dance.' It was a brilliant way to end five fantastic days.
 That evening we had a Hungarian
goulash party with the Dutch and Belgian PAWC teams. Lots of French, Swiss and German people
dropped in. T-shirts, email addresses, hugs and kisses were exchanged with everyone having a
great time.
All in all we had a really wonderful
experience and hope to have the opportunity to repeat it next year in Switzerland.
 Fund
raising
In addition to taking part in this event we did some fund raising for two of our local
charities, the JSPCS and the MS Society. I'm please to say we raised approximately £1600.00.
Pets as Therapy
(PAT)
Whilst training for our trip, I had also applied for Harry and I to work with the PAT charity
in Jersey. Upon our return, we had a lovely surprise, Harry had been accepted as a PAT dog. I
am very so very proud of my little working sheepdog who is now an assistance dog, agility dog
and therapy dog - not bad for a little boy with no special papers.
Sue's son Simon made this video to
promote their adventures
YouTube - Sue & Harry
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