Team
Cairntastic Success at KC Obreedience Trials
Report
from Team Member Suzanne Drew
|
Well, our ‘Cairntastic’ Obreedience team have had a fabulous weekend at the
Forest Oak Farm heat, in Gloucestershire. The Obreedience heat was held in
conjunction with a Rally competition, at this wonderful venue. We watched the
Rally competition in the morning, in fact two of our team members had entered
their dogs, and had good results. Rally is a fairly new canine activity in
the UK, starting in the US I believe, and is gaining popularity here, drawing
followers from various other disciplines. Our Obreedience competition was held in the afternoon, in the
beautiful indoor hall, that could put the big arena at Crufts to shame. We were one of five teams at this heat, and were drawn third in the
running order. First up were the Lancashire Heelers, followed by The Mini
Dachshunds, then us, a team of Jack Russell's with the Pyrenean Sheepdogs
last to go. For those who haven't seen the competition before, it is divided
into three sections. First is formation heelwork with the whole team
negotiating a variety of turns and a weave between cones. The judge is
looking for a coordinated team, starting, turning and finishing together.
This is far more difficult than it looks! And unless someone is kind
enough to video your team, it is hard to tell how coordinated your work
is! We felt we had done ok, but we all knew places where we could have
improved. Then come the individual tests, comprising 'Send to Bed', 'Stop
on Recall', and a Retrieve. Diane Hartopp and Dottie had the Send to Bed, and Dottie was
just so proud that she had done this exercise countless times in training,
that she decided to do a little victory circuit of the hall, before settling
down to show us how well she can do it! Wendy Laker and Isla had Stop the Dog, and showed us all how
it's done, including playing with a toy at the end, which Wendy has been
working hard to achieve, with a slightly stubborn girl! (Cairns stubborn? No!
) Andrea Bolden and Ruby opted for the Retrieve, and again did a
cracking job, with Ruby even singing as she brought the dumbell back, in fact
she may even have been singing our team song!
This was Oscar and my exercise, and although he does get very excited
to go find his 'Ratty', he managed to contain himself and only lost 1/2 point
for a crooked 'present'. We felt that all the teams had done well, and had no idea who
would come where. The places were announced in reverse order, and couldn't
believe it when we were down to the last two teams, and they announced the
other team in second, meaning we had won the heat! Needless to say, we, and our Cairns, couldn't stop smiling as we
collected our rosettes, prize cards and trophies! We did treat ourselves to a
chilled bottle of wine and cake for tea to celebrate! We would like to say a big thank you to all who have supported us, and
we are looking forward to the next heat at Horley Open Show at the end of the
month. Team Cairntastic
It was First
Place again at Horley!
Poor Ratty
hung out to dry after a soggy day being retrieved! |
