A note to anyone that hasn't yet competed but are thinking of doing so:
A year ago Buddy and I went to the Dig It Halloween show. It was our first competition and some of it was outdoors, whereas all of our training had been indoors.
In his first agility run he did a nice wait, he jumped the first fence, rounded the second fence and legged it towards the trees where he had picked up a scent when he was near there 2 hours earlier. I managed to coax him back to do a few more jumps and onto the dog walk where he stopped and stuck his nose in the air to see if he could find that scent again.
On his second run on the same course he jumped fences 1 & 2 then stopped and looked at me before making another run for the trees.
On the indoor course that day I backed up and briefly fell onto the tunnel, giving some amusement for the other waiting competitors. We eventually got around that course on our second attempt, with a stop for a lot of barking at me from Buddy, and we got a 4th place.
My thoughts on the day were that I would have a hard job getting this little black nutty, sniffy dog consistently around any course and I would have my work really cut out at any outdoor competition.
We entered the Dig It Winter series as a beginner which has courses with no weaves and no seesaw . It was initially a struggle but we managed get around a few courses, got some clear rounds and by the end of the winter series we even got a first place.
The relaxed atmosphere at the Dig It shows and the help from both fellow tailwaggers and other competitors helped me a lot. I'd gained enough confidence by the end of the winter series that with a little encouragement from Louise and Dave I entered a few outdoor KC shows.
In our first few shows we had quite a few mishaps (to list just three misdemeanours: Buddy went off sniffing sheep poo; I knocked a pole off with my hand spoiling what would've been our first clear jumping win; Buddy ran out of the ring to check on barky dogs or random people).
Then it seemed to click for both us, I got to feel that I had a better idea of what I was doing and Buddy became more focussed in the ring. We won 3 jumping in one weekend and went to grade 2. The little bugger has hardly stopped winning since.
Today, one year on after our Dig It debut, he's won his 2nd jumping at Grade 4 and we've both had a hell of a lot of fun getting there. I'd like to think that I'd have enjoyed just as much had he not won anything as I can see how much he really enjoys doing it.
If you've not competed yet and are thinking of doing so then the Dig It winter series is a good place to start. There will be failures to begin with and there may be times when you look like a fool but the rest of the competitors have already been in that position and you will get nothing but support. If you find that you've had half the fun that I've had then you'll have still had a lot of fun.
- Rob Archbold. Agility Competitior. Tailwaggers Member.
