The agility thread

sarah.oxford said:
Me neither. The thought of how many Es we've had this year is terrifying.
We have however, had 15 wins , of which 4 have been Grade 6, so we are nearly there.
I feel like we have had a ridiculous amount of fastest 5f, usually with a pole down.
I constantly remind myself that everyone has a different journey, and every breed is different.
Last night my friend qualified for Crufts at the LIHS with her relatively inexperienced dog who hasn't quite reached 3 years old. She's also been selected for team GB. The stuff dreams are made of, but hell that girl can run and her training and thus dog's skills are phenomenal. I must not compare.
It's been a strange year for agility. Matrix changes seems to have been the talking point and I remember being at Caerphilly and being told about the immediate changes in disbelief.
I don't think there has been a bigger talking point since the intro of intermediate height, although of course that was mainly positive.
I'm still struggling with how this new matrix is supposed to improve things.
I haven't personally been affected, meaning my dog hasn't yet had time faults, despite being a 'less conventional breed' at G6 level.
However..... I teach beginners, and it's bloody hard to convince them they are good enough to compete. One of my clients has a chihuahua and she ia a junior, with a very supportive mum. Obviously micro height would be a huge benefit for this partnership, but even as it stands they are a speedy pair in training, confident and consistent.
Unfortunately at shows while they are getting clears and confidence is growing, the little dog is not yet reproducing what she shows in training thus they have had wins, with time faults.
Because of this and every story I hear of people consistently missing out by a couple of seconds, I will continue to strongly support the groups trying to get a review on the new matrix. I'm gutted for the people affected and I really hope that this situation is resolved sooner rather than later.
Maybe 2026 will be a more inclusive agility year, allowing all competitors the chance to achieve their goals, whether that be clear rounds and warrant points, or Crufts qualification.
My goal is consistency. And I don't mean consistantly getting Es or fastest 6f (Arthur I'm talking to you 🤣)
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Most of my agility friends have only been doing it for a couple of years. Recently a friend ran her golden retriever for a clear round, but the timer wasn’t working. They’re obviously not a fast breed and got a time fault
On her replacement run - she would’ve been really pushing him and they won the class, but she didn’t go up another strike and it was so sad for them.
 
sarah.oxford said:
Me neither. The thought of how many Es we've had this year is terrifying.
We have however, had 15 wins , of which 4 have been Grade 6, so we are nearly there.
I feel like we have had a ridiculous amount of fastest 5f, usually with a pole down.
I constantly remind myself that everyone has a different journey, and every breed is different.
Last night my friend qualified for Crufts at the LIHS with her relatively inexperienced dog who hasn't quite reached 3 years old. She's also been selected for team GB. The stuff dreams are made of, but hell that girl can run and her training and thus dog's skills are phenomenal. I must not compare.
It's been a strange year for agility. Matrix changes seems to have been the talking point and I remember being at Caerphilly and being told about the immediate changes in disbelief.
I don't think there has been a bigger talking point since the intro of intermediate height, although of course that was mainly positive.
I'm still struggling with how this new matrix is supposed to improve things.
I haven't personally been affected, meaning my dog hasn't yet had time faults, despite being a 'less conventional breed' at G6 level.
However..... I teach beginners, and it's bloody hard to convince them they are good enough to compete. One of my clients has a chihuahua and she ia a junior, with a very supportive mum. Obviously micro height would be a huge benefit for this partnership, but even as it stands they are a speedy pair in training, confident and consistent.
Unfortunately at shows while they are getting clears and confidence is growing, the little dog is not yet reproducing what she shows in training thus they have had wins, with time faults.
Because of this and every story I hear of people consistently missing out by a couple of seconds, I will continue to strongly support the groups trying to get a review on the new matrix. I'm gutted for the people affected and I really hope that this situation is resolved sooner rather than later.
Maybe 2026 will be a more inclusive agility year, allowing all competitors the chance to achieve their goals, whether that be clear rounds and warrant points, or Crufts qualification.
My goal is consistency. And I don't mean consistantly getting Es or fastest 6f (Arthur I'm talking to you 🤣)
Click to expand...
I have been guilty of looking at people doing so much better than me with a tinge of green, but a very wise friend once quoted me "Comparison is the thief of joy" and this is so true so I just enjoy my shows now.
Zig only did 4 KC shows this year, at which he eventually won up to Grade 3, but over those shows he had 30 runs ( weekends and one Easter show, he wasn't doing millions of classes a day !) he had 7 x 1sts, 5 x 2nds, 2 x 4th, 8 x 5 f, 3 x 10 and 1 x E. He got his bronze agility warrant too.
At A4A he has gone to Novice performance and Senior steeplechase, and up to advanced at our local summer independent show.
And fingers crossed , we have come second in the Old Fogies league, more correctly known as the Agilitynet Senior league , platinum section .
So I'm very proud of my gobby little bionic dog, who could no doubt do much better with a younger more athletic handler but I'm not sharing !
 
MurphysMinder said:
So I'm very proud of my gobby little bionic dog, who could no doubt do much better with a younger more athletic handler
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I've been trying to palm Fen off to a younger handler but apparently no one wants to run a dog who nips you when he thinks you're telling him the wrong course, who knew?! 🤷‍♀️😉

We're not at the point where we're looking at stats, we're getting faults and time faults on every run but it's because his lordship likes to take detours to check on the audience and/or prefers his own courses. I'm sure I might feel more worried about the new matrix if it wasn't for that. Not that I think we will ever be winning as he's never going to beat the super speedy little cockers.
 
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