Agility Team Scotland's Big Adventure

On 15 May the first-ever Scottish agility team set off for the Belgian town of Neeroeteren and the 2012 World Agility Open Championships. This was only the second time Scotland had fielded a team at an international agility event, and the first time that any of the team members had competed abroad. The fun was about to begin...

In fact, it all started in October last year when Team Manager Tricia Elms, Assistant Team Manager Kerstin McDonagh, Team Treasurer Monica Kerr and a large number of willing helpers organised the selection competition. The event judges John McEwan and Blair Cochrane - both highly-experienced judges - had designed a wide variety of courses, which really tested the hopeful handlers' skill and ultimately ensured that Scotland was represented by a strong team.

Once the selection process was over, the hard work of raising money to cover the cost of the trip started.

Tricia Elms said, 'The team couldn’t have asked for better support from the Scottish agility community. Fundraising had already started in late summer of 2011, but it really took off after the team selection day.'

First off the mark was Fair City DTC, which offered the team the use of its indoor training facility to hold a fun competition. Soon other clubs followed suit by offering the team the chance to run a pay-on-the-day practice ring and set up second-hand book stalls. As things gathered momentum, many of the Scottish clubs and small business operators, including  some clubs and show organisers in the North of England, offered camping spaces, free entries and various products and services as prizes for the Grand Raffle the team had planned. Kingdom of Fife club even donated a brand new weave!

Individual supporters also came up with their own fundraising ideas. One supporter decided that raising money through a sponsored stop-smoking effort was just the incentive she needed to achieve her goal, while the sister of a team member chose to lose weight to raise money for the team. The fact that she suffers from fibromyalgia, a debilitating and painful condition, only makes her achievement even more remarkable. Two of the younger and fitter supporters raised an impressive amount by doing a sponsored walk.

Eukanuba’s mission is to enhance the well-being of dogs by providing world class nutrition designed to feed dogs as nature intended – as carnivores.  Meeting the nutritional needs of active canines such as agility dogs is paramount to improving their endurance and performance. 

While it is true that dogs can survive without animal protein in their diet. Working dogs especially do benefit when fed as meat eaters. The general rule is to feed a highly digestible, high quality source of animal protein. Nutritionists refer to the biological value (BV) of a protein when talking about quality. This basically means the proportion of protein which can be used by the body - the higher the BV the greater the efficiency of the protein. Good quality animal protein, from chicken, fish and eggs, has substantially higher BV than cereal or vegetable sourced proteins (e.g. maize gluten, wheat gluten, soya). 

Excellent quality animal-based proteins will help support many bodily functions, such as the immune system, coat and skin condition and lean muscle mass. It can also be used as an energy source, something that working dogs, particularly agility dogs need a lot of.

 Team members baked cakes, made and sold fleece tuggies and pestered work colleagues with numbers boards and grand raffle tickets. All bets were off when it came to fundraising!

'When Eukanuba agreed to be our main sponsor, it gave the team a real boost,' said Tricia. 'This sponsorship, plus the efforts made by team members and supporters, allowed us to cover all the major expenses involved in the trip, including team outfits, accommodation, Eurotunnel travel, fuel and the event entry fee. This had been our aim from the start, since we didn't want financial issues to stand in the way of the best dogs and handlers trying out for the team. But setting yourself a goal and achieving it are two different things. We couldn't have done it without all the help we received. So we thank the Scottish agility community for their generosity.'

Ian Watts Photography

At the show
Once the team arrived in Belgium and the competition started, it soon became clear that Scotland was well able to hold its own against countries with far greater international experience.

'We were made very welcome by the other countries and the event crew, and we received many compliments on our dogs, handlers and organisational abilities,' Tricia said proudly. 'The team spirit was second to none and everyone pulled together to make the trip a success. A special mention must go to the grooms and reserve handlers who had travelled with us. Their hard work was much appreciated by the competing team members and management.'

After three days of competition, highs and lows, sunshine, thunder, torrential downpours, bruises, sweat and – yes, some tears - the team could look back at some fantastic results. The first suggestion that the Scottish team was right up there with the rest of the world came when all team members qualified through to the second day of competition, avoiding the dreaded disqualification from further progress, courtesy of a double elimination or joining the bottom 20% of competitors in the individual pentathlon. Further indication of the team's qualities came in the form of two 3rd places in two legs of the Team Agility Pentathlon, and a collection of rosettes in the individual events.

But final proof of the team's success came late on Sunday, the final day of the competition, when the medals were presented during the closing ceremony. Team member Natasha Davis and her little PJRT Indie were called to the podium to receive the Bronze medal for the Individual Biathlon to huge cheers from the rest of the team. And when Laura Innes with her collie Kadyn and Donna Kerse with her collie Ace climbed up onto the podium to collect their well-deserved Silver and Gold medals from the Games Championships, the whole hall erupted. The sight and sound of competitors from other countries clapping along and attempting to dance the highland fling as Scotland The Brave rang out over the PA system will probably be one of the best-remembered moments of the whole event.

Any plans that Tricia, Kerstin and Monica had of taking a break after returning home were scuppered by the announcement that next year, the World Agility Open Championships will take place in Spain.

'The logistics are such that we need to start planning the trip and how to fund it immediately. We also hope to continue to work with Eukanuba again since their sponsorship was one of the keys to the team's success. Tricia concluded.

The plans for Scotland’s WAO team selection day are already being made.  It will be held at the Howe Country Centre on Saturday, 13 October 2012.  The team management are also planning a fun show to follow on the day after the selection day.  Schedules for both will be available soon.

For further information on Agility Team Scotland, please visit http://www.agilityteamscotland.webs.com

Go Team Ireland

This year the WAO Championships were held in Neeroeteren, Belgium on 18-20 May 2012. The team travelled over by various different routes at various different times and all arrived safely, if a little tired.

Thursday
The day started with the Veterinary Check for all dogs and also measuring for those dogs that hadn't been measured last year. All dogs measured into their correct height, unlike poor Italy who had to send a dog home as it was over height!

Next, was the practice Session in the Main Ring to get our dogs used to the equipment and the running surface. As we had 14 dogs, we were allocated 28 minutes in total, 2 minutes per dog. Teams were encouraged to bring a CD with music that could be played while practice was going on. Hearing Jedward singing Put the Green Cape On I'm sure helped our handlers put a spring in their step!

The Opening Ceremony took place at 6.30pm. Jenny Hale carried our flag and led the team out into the Main Ring. Everybody looked very smart - the handlers in their green Team Ireland uniforms and dogs in their wonderful sparkly collars and team leads.

Friday
The day started bright and early at 7.30 with course walking. We were somewhat unlucky to be drawn in the Group that had to negotiate first - and probably the most difficult - course of the entire weekend. This was an agility course by UK Judge, Lee Gibson. Our only dog to succeed in getting around was Donal Ayton and little Oscar.

Our dogs ran in various other classes during a very long day. We had some lovely rounds but with bad luck here and there, things just didn't go our way.

Saturday
An even earlier start today - 7.00 course walking! We were delighted to have four of our dogs go through from Friday to the second round of the Individual Pentathlon. Well done to Donal Ayton and Oscar, Karen Kelly and Shep, Mick Byrne and Molly and Liam O'Brien and Mojo.

The second and final part of the Games class took place. Sheila Maher and Holly finished up in 14th place overall which was very commendable with Sheila being new to this class.

Sunday
Today was the final round of the Individual Pentathlon. Well done to Oscar, handled by Donal Ayton, the only Irish dog to qualify for the Final. He had survived four gruelling rounds over the previous two days to get into the top 20 dogs, and then kept his head to negotiate his way round yet again in the Final.

Four of our Team dogs and handlers made it through two rounds on Friday and two rounds on Saturday to qualify for the Speedstakes Relay on Sunday including John Ward with Stan, Sheila Maher with Holly, Sinead O'Donovan with Tiggie and June Archbold with Lily. Well done, guys. You all coped really well with the added stress that comes with being part of a Team.

Thank you
We are grateful to the following people who made it all possible.

  • Patricia Dunn, our Games Coach who worked tirelessly both before and during the event, We couldn't have managed it without you.

  • Groomers and minders - Jenny Hale, Debbie O'Neil, Eilish Timoney, Evelyn D'Arcy, Geoff Archbold, Helen Ward, Nigel Tate. You all did a great job looking after our team's many needs, keeping them calm and cool, getting them to the start line at the right time whilst looking after all the dogs needs as well. You were brilliant!

  • Team supporters - Thank you to everyone who travelled out to support the team. We more than held our own in the volume level created and also in the dance move department! It was great that each team member got a great cheer to welcome them into the Ring and even louder cheering after their round. It was also great that some of you were able to give up your time to help out at the event. This was very much appreciated by the organisers.

  • Fund raisers - A final big thank you must go to everybody who supported the team either by donating money or fund raising or both. Sending a team to Belgium would not have been possible without you all. €10,400 was raised which was absolutely fantastic. 

So, a great experience for all concerned. Go go Team Ireland

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