Agility Cattle Dogs!

I spent today with a group of Australian Cattle Dog handlers and their dogs (and one or two other breeds) working on their agility skills. The group's aim is to compete in some team events as an ACD team, but first we need to get them all up to standard. We worked on contacts, turns, send ons, positioning and line, and some weaves. The youngest dog was a 6 month old, gorgeous red girlie, so we were able to talk about how important interactive play is, and how to prepare a puppy for agility in small doses. We did tiny recalls and send ons over poles on the ground and through a wide weave channel (just 4 to 6 weaves) and through a tunnel. Quite enough for a baby!!

The most experienced dog/handler partnership was Kylie Birch and her blue boy Tooey (sp?). High drive, accuracy and suppleness - just some tweaking to do after his 3 month layoff. Watch out in the ABC Qualifiers!

In between we had all the range of experience, which made for interesting work as we needed to break things down for some dogs, and extend them for others, so spectators (if they were watching) could see what the foundations should be and what sort of progression to expect.

After a chill out at lunchtime, we tackled a couple of courses using the morning's learning. I was really impressed with the progress made, in handling and in the dogs' confidence.

The day was held at Staverton near Daventry, at the ground used for the agility trials for the European Open team selection in April, so you get some idea of how spolit we were with facilities, equipment, and warm welcome. And the sun really shone, and the day was mild, and all the dogs were lovely, and the handlers were great. Hope we can find time to do it all again sometime!!

For more details of ACDs, go to : http://www.acdsocietyofgb.com/