Stour Valley Newsletter March 2011

www.stourvalleyagilityclub.co.uk

Founder and Hon. PresidentFrances Elliott

Honorary MemberMary BakerAudrey Weekes

CommitteeChairmanCarol Maclean 01303 874190Email cazmaclean@hotmail.comSecretaryMelanie Buxton 01797 270769Email: mel@wagnbone.co.ukTreasurerJudi Cross 07962900942Email: judiacross1@btinternet.comOrdinary MembersDee Morgan 07973671069Email: deemorgan@talktalk.netElaine Smith 07903321821Email: elaine1milo@aol.com Sue Culmer 07761344726Email: s u e @ m a g i c a g i l i t y k 9 . p l u s . c o mNorma Thompson 07796 180231Email: pollynjack@btinternet.com

InstructorsMelanie Buxton Dee Morgan

Sue Culmer Norma Thompson

Judi Cross Elaine Smith

Christopher Phillips Jennifer Bannister

Dear Members,Hi all, firstly I would like to congratulate Dee

and Candy who once again qualified forObedience at Crufts and came 11th out of thetop 20 in the country.

Quite a fantastic achievement for anyonebut considering Dee is currently gettingtreatment for Breast Cancer and has justcompleted six harrowing courses of chemo,she makes us lesser mortals very proud ofher.

I am sure all of Stour send her our bestwishes.

Even more good news as Nick and Daisyare to join the UK team for the IMCA worldCup in Holland in September, along withRichard Partridge, team leader and David andDianne Maylam (ex Stour members). We wishyou loads of success and a wonderful time.

Flying over the Long Jump

Should any of you see Dee Mel or Norma,who are all either going through or hadtreatment for cancer dressed like this, seephotos below, please let them know thatalthough Stour think you are wonderwomanthe rest of the world may not like your dresscode, should however this person be slightlylarger and have stubble can you please callNicks wife!.

Carol - Chairman

Training day with Dave Munnings

Saturday 2nd April 2011

We have been lucky enough to book adate in Dave Munnings‚ busy diary to cometo Stour Valley to do a training day. Becauseplaces are very limited the workshop is openin the first instance, to members who helpedat the show 2010.Those members whohelped for 2 full days will not be charged.Those who helped for 1 day will be charged£10.00 and to non-helpers the cost is£ 2 0 . 0 0 .

Dave Munnings is one of the UK’s top agilitycompetitors having won every major UKfinal in the last 6 years and has representedhis country on many occasions at eventssuch as the European Open and the FCIWorld Championships where he won abronze medal in 2005 and a silver medal in2010. Dave has created his own uniquehandling system that is very consistent anduser friendly, having successfully taught it tothousands of students both in the UK andi n t e r n a t i o n a l l y.

Dave will train all level of dogs and usesvery motivational methods for speedingdogs up, tightening turns and teaching dogsto work away from their handlers at speed.He runs fast with his own dogs but doesn’tjust train that way, he trains a lot of handlerswho have very fast dogs but cant run veryfast themselves and has very good results.He has helped people to reach advancedstatus and others to win out ofelementary/starters etc.

Check out one of his many videos on theYo u Tube website:

w w w. y o u t u b e . c o m / w a t c h ? v = s c S 1 d G Q t u o s

C o m p e t i t i o n

R e p o r t

We are soon to

embark on our summer season of

outdoor shows as the indoor ones

are coming to an end. There have

been some of us competing through

these cold winter months and here

are their results:

Handler: Elaine Smith

Dogs: Ben, Roxy

Results: 8th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd and aclear round.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Handler: Dee MorganDogs: Candy, CheyResults: 9th, 2 x 4th, 3rd, 2 x 2nd and13 clear rounds.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Handler: Jennifer Bannister

Dogs: Tilly, Jack

Results: 10th and a clear round~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Handler: R o z

Dogs: F e r g u s

Results: 3 clear rounds~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Handler: Sue Culmer

Dogs: Toby, Basil, Zebedee

Results: 4th, 3rd, 2 x 2nd and 3 x 1st.

2011 Show News

Just to remind everyone the club show is onSeptember 17th and 18th this year and we willbe needing all club members help over theweekend and on the Friday before with thesetting up so please put the dates in yourcalendar, we will try and have a show practice

evening as we did before to show all thenewer members whats involved before theevent. Those of you who have offered to be apart of the show committee, many thanks, andwe will be allocating jobs out soon and thoseof you new to the club we would like to askyou to offer some help on at least one of thedays at the show. Details will be availablenearer the event.

The profits from the show allow us to keeprenewing and upgrading our equipment,subsidise training and venue fees and enablethe club to offer training days as a thank youto those that help at our annual show.

We may well be setting up a showcommittee to share out some of the pre-showpreparation, so thank you to those that haveoffered that help.

Thank you from all on the Stour ValleyCommittee.

Sue Culmer

Axstane Agility ShowAxstane have asked us to provide a ring

party for their show to be held on June 19th2011.

If you are entering this show or would justlike to come along and help please let yourinstructor know.

They always provide a ring party for us atour show, without other clubs offering theirhelp at our show we could not have one soplease be generous with your time. A l lrefreshments and lunch are provided free ofcharge.

Barking DogsWe still seem to have an issue with dogs

barking at club and I am the first to admit Ihave one of them! It is all so easy to switch offto the constant noise but to others andparticularly to instructors it can mean thed i fference of a member not hearing aninstruction and hearing one. As an instructormyself I don’t want to keep repeating myselfover barking dogs so if you do find yourself inthe situation that I find myself in with a dogthat barks do ask us to stop our dogs barkingand ask any one of us for any tips on how todo this. My tip is a water bottle. I keep one onme and when my dog barks I just give her aquick squirt which seems to do the trick and areward be it verbal or treating to let her knowshes done good! Patience and consistency iswhat I keep reminding myself!

Our We b s i t eYou may or may not be aware that Stour

Valley have a website. It gives you all theinformation about the club, whose who andalso copies of all newsletters are displayed.

We are always looking to update it andwould appreciate it if you have any pictures orarticles that you would like put on the websitethen please send to Nick. His email address isnicholasclarkson@gmail.com for referenceour website address is on the first page at thetop of the newsletter.

Shows and SchedulesIf anyone is interesting in competing then

you can download show schedules fromwww.agilitynet.com

There is still time to enter the unaffiliatedshow to be held on Sunday April 10th 2011 atHaguelands, Burmash Road, Dymchurch,Kent TN29 0JR. In aid of MAADHS (Mixedability Agility Dogs and Handlers).

A local show and and you will find it to be agood introduction to competition without thepressure. It’s a fun day out and all moneyraised goes to charity. Schedules can befound on the table at club.

Dee Morgan on behalf of the Committee

Diary DatesAnnual General Meeting

Thursday 31st March 2011 - This is a veryimportant date for your calendar. This iswhere you decide who you want to managethe club for you.

Its also an opportunity to ask questions andto meet every one else. The committee will beannouncing the winners of our annual awardsso don’t miss it!

N o t i c e B o a r d

Important ReminderWe would like to remind all members to arrive ontime, particularly those in the first two classes, toarrive at 6.30pm if you are able, to help set up thecourses for the classes so that we can start ontime and also before leaving at 9pm can you allplease help to put equipment away.

Also in classes where there are mixed heightstraining would you please help the instructor toput poles up and down when asked. Thank you.

Payment DatesApril 1st 2011 £15.00

May 6th 2011 £12.00

June 2nd 2011 £15.00

Show SchedulesAnyone looking to compete, log onto:

w w w.agilitynet.com or

w w w. a g i l i t y e y e . c o . u k

A d v e r t i s e m e n t sFor all your canine massage requirements

please contact Elizabeth Ford on 01233502536 or go to her websitew w w. d o g s c a n h e a l . c o . u k

Agility Equipment

For good quality made agility equipment,highly endorsed by Toni Dawkins, pleasecontact David or Angela on 01233 733024.

Club Clothing

If anyone would like to purchase club clotihngthis can be found on our website:

www.stourvalleyagilityclub.co.uk

Wishing you all a very happy and relaxing Easterand a great Royal We d d i n g !