Well what a journey it has been! At the
beginning of 2005 I set my agility goals for the year. I wanted to get Boo
to the first ever Kennel Club Olympia Agility Stakes. To do this you needed
to come in the top three in a KC Novice Qualifier Class at a standard Open
show. If the class was split into two then this went down to the top two in
each part and if the class was split into three then only the winner of each
part would go through.
STAGE ONE
The first few KC Novice Qualifiers I did, I messed up. I think it was the
pressure and nerves getting to me. Finally after a poor week at Supadogs in
June, we travelled up to the high profile but lovely Hinckley weekend show.
The Novice Qualifier here hadn’t been split so we had a class of about 400
Novice dogs to compete in. It was a tough course but Boo flew round and won
me the class! Yeay! At last I had qualified for the Semis at Birmingham
Champ Show in September.
STAGE TWO
This was a scary and tough stage. With Nic as my groom and Heather there to
stop me murdering Nic with my ‘stressy head’ we set off to Birmingham Champ
show. There were 46 dogs here and 35 of us would go to Olympia. We all knew
we just needed to get round and NOT get E’d, I think this was what made it
so tough out there. We did a morning warm-up and Boo worked nicely. Good
solid contacts and weaves etc. The afternoon course was testing but fair and
I knew I just had to get round it. I had been drawn to run first and Boo set
off well and we began a nice steady clear. But a seesaw trap nearly caught
him. Some hard work from me and Boo being such an angel saw us back on
track. The judge hadn’t faulted us and we finished in a clear round. With
lots of people making mistakes, myself and Boo were safely off to Olympia!
STAGE THREE
Aaaaagh we are at Olympia! We’re finally here and not too nervous at the
moment. We are due on at 11am. At about 10am we are given copies of the
course plan. Hmm I am not too keen on this. It’s a tough course and there’s
some areas that will be trappy for Boo. We have to study the plan as we
won’t get much time to walk the course so we need to know it before we go in
but also be prepared for things being moved a bit! The course being hard, I
knew I could take it a bit easy with Boo. If I could go clear that should be
enough to get me into the top ten. We have our briefing and eventually walk
down the tunnel to the Olympia main hall. Nic takes Boo from me while I go
and walk the course. We are lucky and get a fair amount of time to walk the
course. I manage to get round it about 4/5 times. The bell goes to signal
the start of the competition and I am already back with Boo playing with him
and ready. Amazingly we had been drawn first again!
I set Boo up on the start line and asked him to wait. Getting into
position I recalled over 1-3 front crossing between 3 & 4 then going through
the gap between 4 & 5 to leave him space to jump in and not take a pole. On
to the seesaw I front crossed again in the huge gap between 7& 8. I only
just made it which slowed Boo down a bit. Leaving him to complete the
dogwalk contact I ran ahead getting through the gap between 9 & 10 to make
sure he didn’t take the wrong course. 10 was a wall. I needed to give him
room to jump this and then make the weave entry. I slowed down and gave him
time to clear the wall, while he was in the air he got his weave command to
let him know the weaves followed. I crossed behind in the weaves so he was
on my left but stayed with him to keep him steady and clear as the weaves
aren’t staked there so move a lot. Pushing him over 12 I gave him space to
jump then turned into the tunnel. I crossed to the wing of 14 to keep him
away from the traps of 11, 16 & 12. He took 14 and I let him jump long but
this caused him to see the tunnel (7) He went off towards it but a sharp
call from me got him back on track albeit for a huge deviation. I pulled him
in for 15 then false turned slightly to keep him on line for 16. Leaving him
to get his A-Frame contact I ran to 17 so he wouldn’t take the wrong course.
I went through the gap between 17 & 18, STILL CLEAR… 19 & 20 all OK! ‘Woo-Hoo’!
Boo was clear. But would it be quick enough to go top ten? Yes I ended up
eighth; I was through to the evening at Olympia.
STAGE FOUR- The Finals
We had again been given a course plan to study. We had even less time
tonight to walk the course and the crowd would be loud and hyper. The course
was very tough with traps at every turn and gap. At 7.30pm we walked out
into that arena again. This time the noise and atmosphere was amazing. It
was dark outside and the coloured lights and music filled the hall along
with the cheering and clapping of the crowds. I will never forget walking
into that arena. What a buzz! We walked the course as it was being built. I
really had my work cut out here but I was going to go for it!
My Friend Helen ran first and lost Pop into trap one. Instead of going 4-5
she went into the wrong end of the weaves. The dogs were jumping no. 4 long
and at an angle so were facing the weaves directly. MADs friend Alan
Clements ran next and had 5 at the weaves. To be honest I was concentrating
on Boo so didn’t know why (later Alan said it was ‘all down to his crap
handling’, but it was simply a fly-past on the weave entry.) Now Boo’s turn.
Deep breath and Boo is in a wait I walk to the other side of 2 and turn to
release but the first jump is a solid jump and Boo can’t see me. I have to
move across before he sees and goes. We’re off. I push out to 4 and then
false turn to bring in for the A-Frame. I now have to beat him to the end of
the A-Frame to cross here and push over 6. (The A-Frame was straighter than
shown here. It was facing 7 rather than 6. Trap 2) I then go through the gap
between 6 & 7 or Boo might go into the wrong end of no 8 before doing 7
(Trap 3). I push over 7 and into the tunnel avoiding the weaves (Trap 4)
Recall over 9 front crossing also so that Boo is now on my left (This avoids
Boo going back up the A-Frame or over 6 (Trap 5). I push him into the weaves
avoiding the tunnel entrance again (Trap 6) and run as fast as I can to get
in front of him. I hope he is a good boy and stays in the weaves regardless
of what I am doing… He does and by the time he has finished them I am
nearing the wing of 12, this cancelled out the risk of him jumping 3 again
(Trap 7). We now have a sprint to the dogwalk trying to avoid jumps 19, 17,
3 etc (Trap 8). I can see his eyes darting and looking what to do. He spots
the dogwalk and hits it beautifully. I run the dogwalk with Boo on my left
and send him into the tunnel. I now really need to run as I want to make it
from the far side of the dogwalk and pick him up with a front cross at the
end of the seesaw. I make it and push him over 16, front cross at 17 and run
18, 19 & 20 with him on my right… YEAY! We are home and dry, another clear
for Boo and a really good one at that.
If I had to pick out where we lost time it would have to be first before the
A-Frame as Boo did head towards the weaves, then a big turn between 6-7
where we lost time and also a hesitation onto the dogwalk. But that is
nitpicking and bar the turn to 6-7, didn’t notice to anyone. He really is a
star! A huge game of tuggy follows.
The next to go missed the A-frame contact, Natasha got Eliminated between 9
& 10 on the A-Frame trap, next dog repeated the first E into the weave trap,
then Sue Frazier was E’d jumping 3 instead of 12. Marc went next and put in
a seamless round to take the lead by just over ½ a second. A few more E’s
and it was all over. Boo had come second at Olympia!!!
THE END
They lined us all up and we walked out into the arena. The crowd was
cheering and clapping. Boo was awarded a lovely crystal bowl and we did a
lap of honour around the arena before going out. We were met outside by
friends and family then taken straight up for a champagne reception and
photos. Boo loved all the attention and managed to find an empty plastic
bottle to play with while his mum chatted and smiled. We then went onto the
KC stand where all the kids came to make a fuss of the dogs. Boo was in
heaven with all this love! We left at about 9.00pm and headed home.
Olympia was the most amazing experience. Stepping into that hall will stick
with me forever, racing to complete a clear round to cheers and screaming
from the crowd of hundreds, and Boo’s wagging tail is a great memory. I am
so incredibly proud of Boo. He wasn’t fazed by the crowds, horses or noise
at Olympia. I knew even though I was nervous he would be calm and focused
when running. My nerves and the atmosphere/ noise etc just didn’t make the
slightest bit of difference to him he was my rock as always. Boo really is
my golden boy, I couldn’t have dreamed of a better dog.
Thanks to all the MAD people. You have all been so supportive. Thank you Joy
and Yvette for making a special effort to set up courses and exercises that
were tailored for Boo and Olympia. Major Thank you to Heather for setting
time aside to work with me and Boo and for being there throughout Boo’s
journey and being so pleased and proud of us. Mostly Thank You to Nic for
being there all the time. You always believed in me and Boo and the pride on
your face when I ran my final run at Olympia meant everything to me.
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