Can You Dig It Summer Show 2016

This weekend we were in Cheadle for our three day Can You Dig It Summer Show.

It takes months and months of planning and organising and weeks of heavy graft leading up to the show to make it happen. From taking entries and emailing out confirmations to mowing the grass and rolling the field. There's a lot of hard work done by a small amount of people before we even get dogs and people onto the field.

After weeks of heavy rain with little let up everyone knew it was going to be muddy, and the rain continued to come down in showers on the Friday. But the ground held, although we were all resembling a slightly unglamourous spa treatment by the end of the day, and a certain instructor could be heard complaining about "trench foot". 

None the less spirits were high, the dogs and handlers safety was paramount and only a few people needed a tow or push off the field. Come to think of it... it was the same instructor complaining about trench foot who also needed a tow off the field... The rest of us found this highly amusing of course.

With the show over for one day and the remaining campers onto the field without much issue we settled down, cracked open a can of cider and successfully ordered pizza to a field in the middle of nowhere.

Saturday morning arrived and it certainly felt good to roll out of bed and straight into the show. Best commute ever. The ground had dried out slightly overnight and superhero Nick jumped in the tractor and rolled the field to help the day parking area.

There was some great competition in the rings with some cracking runs from beginners at their first ever show and some impressive handling happening in the advanced class.

Outside of the ring a tombola was being held in aid of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, plus we donated the funds from the practise ring and the have a go flyball to the charity throughout the weekend. In the end we successfully raised £180 for Hearing Dogs! Amazing. 

Having recovered from her trench foot and getting stuck in the mud, Katie ran a Have a Go Flyball session on the Saturday and Sunday and we saw lots of people enjoying the chance to try a new sport. Katie had their dogs successfully retrieving a ball over a few jumps and even doing box turns after just a 10 minute session.

On the Friday and Saturday we ran pairs and team agility classes. Everyone was having fun with their friends and their dogs and some teams were formed from people who didn't know each other. In true Dig It spirit they all joined to have a blast with their dogs.

On Saturday night we moved the rings and secretaries marque onto fresh ground and were grateful of the help from the campers to get this done quickly. Kathryn Stickney taught some fantastic workshops, more cider was opened and chinese food was successfully delivered to a field in the middle of no where.

As it was going dark and we left for bed a slurred out-of-tune rendition of "I Will Survive" filled the campsite followed by hysterical laughter and then silence. Sounded like a good time was being had and it certainly gave a few of us a chuckle!

We were on fresh grass on Sunday and with no rain since Friday the ground held out with only minor mud issues here and there. 

Everyone was cheerful and happy and headed home after a very enjoyable weekend. The comments on our facebook page and agility group since have been overwhelming, with lots of praise to the organisers and team and thanks to the judges, ring managers and helpers who are a vital part to the running of an agility show.

It was great to have the support of Canine Magnetix and The Howl Emporium there and overall it was a brilliant weekend. Thank you to everyone who came along, competed, helped out and made the weekend what is was. 

Summer Shows... Done!

And just like that, it was all over! Our Summer Shows came and went in a blur. The wind certainly helped to get our tents up quicker on the first Friday, then came sunshine, rain and finally peace and calm descended on the field once more!
We had an absolute blast and it sounds like you all did too! Here are some lovely photos and comments from a few who attended. Without you guys, smiling & laughing, the shows wouldn't be as awesome as they are!

Awesome August: Can You Dig It Show

This year is flying! August already! The first Sunday of the month brought another of our Can You Dig It Shows.

The weather forecast had been dubious but thankfully the rain held off all day. Lydia set out the Jumping courses and Nigel very kindly offered to judge for the whole day, rather than just for the afternoon as had been previously arranged. Lou Cadman made a rare appearance to a summer show and judged the Agility for the whole day. The course standards were very high, challenging the more experienced handlers to find the fastest lines while keeping it very much do-able for the less experienced handlers and dogs.

Beginners Agility - Lou Cadman

There were many talks and whispers of "this is my first show" heard throughout the day and we are always very proud and pleased to do our best to support and encourage agility newbies. As well as the first timers we also had a good range of experienced handlers showing us what they can do in the Advanced classes. Vic Royle got a little more than she bargained for when she asked for some cake and nearly ended up wearing it. Smiles and laughter all round! There was a real family spirit about this show, as there is at all Dig It events!

3 years on from this photograph and still the same club atmosphere, only now we have a sit on mower!!

A big, massive thank you to Sharleen Toller who kindly baked some delicious cakes to give to helpers for free! There was even a glutton free cake! Poor Sharleen couldn't run her dogs, but despite this she was still seen scriming for well over an hour. 

Ash was a busy bee scoring in the caravan and the results were quickly rolling out. Deb's face was a picture of shock and amazement when we announced that Beanie had won a class! Sue Bebbington rocked up late with Mia and only went and won her Jumping and Steeplechase classes with storming fast times! Mia the tiny pocket rocket! 

Cake, chuckles, lovely judges, lots of beginners, whippet zoomies and an early finish all made for a very very enjoyable day!  Thank you to everyone who contributed to make it so. 

Summer Fun Day!

This June we opened our doors and welcomed everyone to our Open Day and Fun Dog Show.
Have a go agility, have a go rally and have a go flyball. All for free! We want to encourage as many people to try something new with their dog and have a go at a dog activity.

The Dogs Trust attended to provide free microchipping and advice and a total of 20 dogs were chipped!

Our Fun Show started at midday and was very popular! Judge Dawn from The Paw Wash Groomers had a tough decision to make. As we rolled through the classes every aww'd and coo'd as we reached the Pleasant Puppy category. Aaron Roscoe, Signal 1 Producer, came along with his tiny pug puppy and they got 1st place! Everyone was nodding in agreement, she was just gorgeous and so well behaved. 

It all got a little silly as we got to best 6 legs and the deserving winner was a spotty dalmatian and its spotty legged owner! Now that's what you call Best Spotty 6 Legs!

The show finished with a great laugh in The Egg and Spoon Race! Hold your spoon and your dogs lead in the same hand and race to the other side. Such fun!

Once the fun show was finished there was still lots for everyone to do and we must thank Oscar Pet Food for kindly sponsoring the whole show. Monkey Dog Wear brought their great selection of collars and leads to sell, plus Windyways and Instructor Bex successful made a good amount for their fundraising with their table top sales. Of course we can't forget Bret in the Brunch Box who completely sold on of burgers! I'm glad I had mine as a cheeky late breakfast before the rush.

In the afternoon the Carrry On flyball team gave us a great demonstration and Lydia & Freddie got to show us that they are not only amazing at agility but flyball too!

We are pleased to announce that the Fun Show raised a whopping £100 for the Dogs Trust and thank you for everyone who came and participated in the day! The weather was glorious and we hope that you all enjoyed your day.

Check out our full gallery here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/digitdogtrainingclub/sets/72157645069884742/

See you next year!

Joyful June: Can You Dig It Show

A lovely quiet show this month for our unaffiliated Can You Dig It Show. The weather decided to kick start June with a glorious sunny day and pale, white legs appeared for one of the first times this year.

Newly qualified Judge PJ set out her Intermediate & Advanced Jumping course which the Dig It Instructors handled nicely. Katie & Bonny, Avril & Oakley and Avril & Dodger all managed 1st place in their classes. Sue & Rosie were narrowly beat in every run leaving them with three 2nd places from the day! Great to see some tight competition in the Advanced Medium runs.

Oscar Pet Food came along and kindly sponsored our Veteran & Anysize classes with some lovely prizes. Bex was selling some yummy homemade treats and running a tombolal, fundraising for her conservation trip to Mexico, not long to go now Bex! And of course we are always pleased to see Bret in the Brunch Box for some yummy lunch.

As the courses changed to Beginners Jumping we saw more success from Sue & Mia, earning 1st place and Katie & Milo getting 2nd! Plus Luna, not to be outdone by big brother Dodger, had a cracking run (helped by Adele of course) in Beginners Agility. 

Quiet entry numbers brought an early finish to a fantastic, relaxing day. It is nice to see people coming to Dig It when there is so much choice for shows over the summer nowadays. We hope that everyone enjoyed themselves! Next month is UKA!

Easter Eggility Show

Easter Weekend is a busy time for agility shows which makes our little competition perfect for new or experienced competitors looking for a gentle day.

Our combined Intermediate and Advanced courses gave the competitors the perfect balance of small sections of handling mixed with smooth, skill testing parts. We had a large entry of new beginners coming along for their first show and we were really pleased to see everyone getting involved and learning new jobs such as scriming! 

Newly qualified Judge Bex did a full day in the Agility ring and newbie Judge Nigel covered the Steeplechase. They both said they had a marvous time (honestly, we didn't force them to say that) and we look forward to seeing them in centre spot again soon. 

As the results started rolling in the chocolate started rolling out, with cream eggs and chocolate bunnies for those lucky rossette winners!

Instructor Holly and Indie had a storming time winning Agility and Jumping! Rachel & Daisy pulled off a 1st in Agility and a 3rd in Jumping and Sue and Rosie fought off some close competition to get a 1st in Steeplechase! 

Ruth was there with her camera and got some great shots, except for the short rain break in the middle of the day. You can see all of the photographs on our Flickr page! 

http://www.flickr.com/people/digitdogtrainingclub/ 

Not long after a hearty lunch of burgers and bacon baps from The Lunch Box, the day started to come to a close around 2pm. A gentle day finished in style and rumour has it that a certain Dig It Chairperson spent the rest of the afternoon having a well earned snooze! What bettter way to spend your Easter Sunday!

Amazing April: Winter Series Show

Ahh. April is here! Daffodils. Lambs. And the last of our Winter Series Shows!

It was a mostly dry day throughout with one or two short spells of heavy downpour. Ruth kicked things off with a fast, flowing Beginners Jumping that rocketed out some sub 30 seconds times. Over in Ring 1 Matt's Intermediate Agility tested the handlers ability and in Ring 3 the Veterans and Anysize plodded around a comfortable Agility course.

The day ran quickly, although help was surprisingly scares at times, and everyone was itching to hear the overall series results!

Gill Vann from K9 Skool was running a Rescue League throughout the Winter Series and she was busy scurrying around collecting results, while also running her dogs and doing a spot of scribing.

Onto Steeplechase and everyone cheered as Deb and Beanie managed a great clear run! 3rd place! Hurrah Deb, all of that patience is starting to pay off.

Everyone was in great spirits as the day started to come to a close and jokes and laughter were wafting across the radios from ring parties to scorers box.

The Rescue League was announced and up in 1st place, our very own Sue with Rosie! Not only that but they also took Winter Series Medium Advanced 1st place! Two very pretty rosettes for them.

More instructor success came as Lou and Poppy took 1st place in Small Advanced Winter Series and Bex and Gemma 1st place Small Intermediate Winter Series! 

Back to Dig It and both trailers were unloaded onto the field and the rings were erected for our outdoor training rings and our summer shows! It is so exciting to see the field set up in all its glory. Summer is definitely close by!

Thank you to all for making our Winter Series the enjoyable, friendly and fun atmosphere that we all love!

Mild March: Winter Series Show

March is upon us and spring is definitely in the air! I thought I was late when it was light and I was still at home but no, thankfully the sun is starting to peek its head out for longer each day!

Lou had staggered out of hospital and right into the show on Sunday, looking a little green around the gills, but stubbornly Judged for half of the morning. We were all pleased to see her up and about although also pleased to see her go home to rest at lunch time.

Three rings were running once more with FAB and On Track Agility Clubs taking charge of a ring each. The Show ran quickly and smoothly, although the exercise arena was a little stretched at times with some of the little dogs being run over by 100mph collies.

Avril championed the day by doing the triple with her youngster Dodger! Agility, Jumping and Steeplechase Win! Adele and her newbie Luna also performed really well and Rachel and Daisy got 3rd place with Daisy's first show on Standard height in Beginners Jumping. Wowie. It's so heart-warming to see dogs that have come through Puppy and Bronze Obedience at Dig It now starting to find their confidence and produce results at Agility Shows.

One of the comedy moments was Christina running Echo for Rachel! Poor Echo did a lovely stop contact on the dog walk, and Christina, not expecting it, was looking all around thinking she'd lost him! Her fellow Advanced competitors were very... supportive?! (We're laughing with you honest!).

Quickly we were finishing up and the scorers were struggling to keep up! With the night still light we had packed up and gone home for a reasonable finish time!

Only one more show left to do and at the end of March our Club Competitions start outside. Winter shows are brilliant for training and keeping our dogs fit, but we're all itching to start getting out onto the grass!

Fantastic February: Winter Series Show

What's this, no rain! February brought the sunshine to our show, but of course we couldn't avoid the mud. Three rings were opened up with FAB Agility Club and Tailwaggers Agility Club running a ring each, the show was nice and relaxed! Big thank you to them for their fabulous ring parties!

Becky Sargent honoured us with her first time judging and said she loved seeing the high standard and different breeds in Beginners Agility. We gave her a bright rosette in her favourite colour!

It was nice to welcome back lots of stalls and we even had a charity selling cute little fluffy chicks and cream eggs! The atmosphere was friendly as always and Bex was approached by a stranger and asked to run her dog which she thoroughly enjoyed! Oscars became our new sponsors of the Veteran and Anysize class and the rosettes looked great with printed tails.

Deb and her youngster Beanie managed half a clear round which was met by much cheering from Lou, be it quiet and collected cheering! There were many new entries and it is always a pleasure to see new handlers and dogs starting their agility journey at Dig It.

Nick was back on the scene and Lydia set him to work scoring on the laptop, without telling him much about what to do. Despite this he took it on like a pro! Watch out Ash, you may be getting replaced.

We finished in style at a reasonable time, with all hands on deck to pack away. Don't forget you get half an hour free arena hire if you help to pack away and unload at Dig It, plus half an hour if you help to set up on the Saturday!

See you in March! Our Club Competitions start in March also, last Friday of the Month!

Dazzling December : Winter Series Show

We welcomed December in with another Winter Series Show. As the sun rose on a new day the burger van was a welcoming sight for some of us who had arrived before breakfast!  Entries were limited to keep the show to two rings and it was much smoother to organise and manage. We had plenty of help and everyone had more space and room to relax.

The competition soon heated up with many Dig It Members taking home prizes! Rachel & Daisy had an amazing first show getting placed in every class and even taking home the 1^st in Steeplechase. Bex’s dog Gemma didn't let age stop her as she took home two 1^st and a 2^nd, despite being 11 years old! When the results were announced Bex reached a pitch of squealing that only dogs could hear! Avril & Adele brought out their "pups" for their first show and Luna took home a 6^th and Dodger a 3^rd! Also Dianne had a lovely run with Jess for a 2^nd place and Ella and Woody had two 1^st in Intermediate! Advanced is not far away for them!

Our Judges were fantastic and it was great to welcome some Kennel Club Judges who are fairly new to the position. Our shows don’t just cater for newbie dogs. We also had first time Judge Matt who thoroughly enjoyed himself and has promised to come back again. I guess we aren’t so scary after all. I particularly enjoyed his Steeplechase course (but that may be because we won it)!

Greyhound Gap brought along their fabulous cake stall which caused a lot of Christmas diets to be broken, or temporally put on hold, and the Agilitywear stall was busy handing out and taking orders (I am looking forward to getting my new Dig It hoody at the next show!). Oscars were there with some great dog goodies as well as Monkey Dog Wear with their amazing leads and collars. All of this shopping almost left no time for agility.

It was a long day and people were flagging a little as we reached the final Steeplechase classes. Well done to all of you hardy guys that stuck it out to the end! The atmosphere was friendly throughout and there were a lot of people supporting each other while course walking and competing, with the occasional friendly banter here and there.

With the second show now done winter is truly into the swing of things! Entries are filling up fast so get your butt moving if you haven’t yet entered our 2014 shows! The future is bright.

Remember November : Winter Series Show

The first show in November marks the start of Winter and it was a tad chillier than anticipated! We had a busy show and due to someone not being able to count (Lydia) we ended up with more entries than planned so opened up a third ring for Steeplechase.

There was cheer and laughter in the air (very loud laughter from Avril) and a number of instructor misfortunes contributed to the enjoyment. Sue never made it to the show due to her house mate leaving for Birmingham with her car keys! Then I covered myself in hot chocolate while doing the drinks run and had to lose my jumper (brr). Lastly Katie's Springer, Milo, jumped up at her and ripped a big hole in her jeans and she had to wrap a jacket around herself apron-style to hide it!

There were plenty of mishaps in the ring too! Rob and Buddy (famous from previous posts) had a cracking run until Buddy somehow mistook a jump and got stuck with his front legs on one side and back legs behind, with the pole under his armpits! He eventually managed to scramble over and didn't even knock the pole down. Lou's dog Twiggy somehow got in between the timer and the jump wing (no one quite knows how) and then her other dog Poppy had a wild run; firstly self-releasing off the seesaw and then running off the dog walk and over the finish jump, leaving Lou stood at the second to last jump waving goodbye!

However it wasn't all bad. Intermediate was definitely the busiest class this time and it's pleasing to see that a lot of dogs have moved up the grades during summer. The show still had its beginner appeal and Deb had her first run in a new place with her youngster Beanie and they did really well. Bex and Gemma got placed in every run. Katie and "baby" Milo got a 2nd on his 2nd Birthday! Sue, Avril, Lou and Sheli all got placemets with their dogs and Adele and Oliver beat Lou to 1st place for once!

We had some great judges putting together lovely courses and we all really enjoyed running Emma's Steeplechase. Rachel ran Emma's dog Tess, but half way around she realised her mum was in the ring and had to run over to say hello! Poor Steve our website designer then got bullied into scribing for Judge Emma, who happens to be his daughter.

Away from the agility everyone couldn't help but notice the new added muscle to the show in the form of a tall welshman! It was a great help having two guys at the show and Nick (Mr. New Guy) and Ash are always a welcome sight when it comes to packing away time. Even if Ash was wearing a very bright, pink hat. It clashed a bit with his ginger hair!

It was a late finish but the spirits and atmosphere were high as usual (although I think it's safe to say we all collapsed once we finally got home at 8pm)! December will be back to the plan of 2 rings and away before 6pm!

Spooky Halloween Show

Mwhahaha. This weekend we took our masks off and let the inner-scare show for our Halloween Agility Show!

The weather blessed us and we were able to have our Fancy Dress Agility outside. This was a lot of fun, you had to collect a pair of devil horns from Jump 2 and then wear or carry them for the rest of the run. Scary Sally was the Agility Judge and it was her first Judging appointment! She did a great job and said she'd enjoyed herself.

The aim of Dig It Shows, as always, is to encourage new dogs and owners to enjoy their first show in a relaxed environment and in theme to our last post, we were so pleased to see a lot of baby dogs coming along for their first show! Big up to Bowie, the blue merle Australian Shepherd, (named after David Bowie) who got his first clear round and won the class! Well done them.

We had cakes for breakfast and lunch and finished the day nice and early. Every level ran the same course which is a nice little change for beginner and advanced handlers alike, and the atmosphere was extremely happy. Lydia pulled out all of the stops and made some fabulous rosettes which everyone found very special.
A themed show really boosts the fun and friendly atmosphere and it was a day filled with laughter.... albeit slightly evil laughter!!