Bob

Biography

I began Agility at Scunthorpe in September 2001 with my collie, Skip. I had recovered fully from a Kidney transplant the previous summer and being too old for most ball games I looked upon this merely as a way of exercising my dog, and getting out of the house one night in the summer.

How things have changed, we now own 5 collies, 3 from pups and two rescue dogs, I am training either myself or others almost every day, and competing most weekends. Skip was the catalyst as he worked a clear round in his first show, won the starters class in his 2nd and by May 2002 I was at the dizzy heights of Intermediate Level with very little idea how I got there or what to do now.

The arrival of Flynn a headstrong collie with high drive and speed, in April 2002 led me to seek help from the best trainers I could find and in the summer of 2003 I began training with Greg Derrett a top handler who had World Championship medals in 2004 and 5. I owe all my success to him and much of his methods are used in my training

In my opinion Agility training for competition is all about training the dog to work the equipment independently, and for the handler to give clear, concise, consistent signals to the dog. Once this is achieved competing becomes much easier at all levels and there is no limit to what you can achieve with hard work, practice and a love of your dog.

I have had modest success on the Agility circuit, Flynn and Meg both reached Senior level within a year of competing, the latter going on in 2006 to achieve 4th place in the Pedigree Team Individual Round at Stoneleigh, win the Dog Agility Rescue League Final, and with her mate gain 1st place in the laser knockout pairs heat at Norfolk to qualify for the 2007 final. She has also gained her 1st Senior win putting her on the road to advanced level.

More importantly of 21 handlers that trained with me on a regular basis over the past year, 14 have won into the next level.

Of these the youngest is 12 and the oldest is (well older than me anyway,) proving that these methods work whatever your age.