3,000 mile road trip with dogs ...

[BTB 500]

No, not me, but Mrs BTB and BTB Jr left for Portugal in a borrowed camper van at 02:30 today. 4 hours' drive down to the Eurotunnel, then they are planning to do another 3 hours or so and stop somewhere past Le Havre.

Three dogs on board, which 17 year old BTB Jr is representing GB with at the Junior Agility World Championships ("JOAWC") next week. Shown here after winning on to the team at the first tryout weekend back in March:



He then qualified two of the same dogs for the 'adult' Team GB at the European Open Agility Championships ("EOs") taking place at the same venue the following week. So not far off three weeks away in total.

Home - Abrantes25

agilityabrantes2025.pt

There's a Senior world champs ("SOAWC") for handlers aged 55+ and 65+ too, but someone has to stay home and look after the other 9 dogs, 9 chickens, 3 horses, and cat

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

No, not me, but Mrs BTB and BTB Jr left for Portugal in a borrowed camper van at 02:30 today. 4 hours' drive down to the Eurotunnel, then they are planning to do another 3 hours or so and stop somewhere past Le Havre.

Three dogs on board, which 17 year old BTB Jr is representing GB with at the Junior Agility World Championships ("JOAWC") next week. Shown here after winning on to the team at the first tryout weekend back in March:

View attachment 175040

He then qualified two of the same dogs for the 'adult' Team GB at the European Open Agility Championships ("EOs") taking place at the same venue the following week. So not far off three weeks away in total.

Home - Abrantes25

agilityabrantes2025.pt

There's a Senior world champs ("SOAWC") for handlers aged 55+ and 65+ too, but someone has to stay home and look after the other 9 dogs, 9 chickens, 3 horses, and cat

Wishing them both safe travels and good luck with the competition

 

[Gollom]

No, not me, but Mrs BTB and BTB Jr left for Portugal in a borrowed camper van at 02:30 today. 4 hours' drive down to the Eurotunnel, then they are planning to do another 3 hours or so and stop somewhere past Le Havre.

Three dogs on board, which 17 year old BTB Jr is representing GB with at the Junior Agility World Championships ("JOAWC") next week. Shown here after winning on to the team at the first tryout weekend back in March:

View attachment 175040

He then qualified two of the same dogs for the 'adult' Team GB at the European Open Agility Championships ("EOs") taking place at the same venue the following week. So not far off three weeks away in total.

Home - Abrantes25

agilityabrantes2025.pt

There's a Senior world champs ("SOAWC") for handlers aged 55+ and 65+ too, but someone has to stay home and look after the other 9 dogs, 9 chickens, 3 horses, and cat

Good luck to him!

(Seems a very favourable ratio of the fairer sex to males.... )

 

[BTB 500]

(Seems a very favourable ratio of the fairer sex to males.... )

Yes there are only two other boys in the Junior team!

Kennel Club announces YKC Agility Team GB 2025 | The Kennel Club

The Kennel Club has announced the team who will represent Young Kennel Club Agility Team GB at the Junior Open Agility World Championships

www.thekennelclub.org.uk

This is his last year in Juniors as it goes by age on December 31st rather than the date of the event (his birthday is in December so he's competed in the 'Under 19' category since he was 14!).


The adult squad is a bit more 'gender balanced'

Kennel Club announces Agility Team GB 2025 | The Kennel Club

A portrait of Crufts 2023 Best in Show winner was unveiled at Crufts 2024

www.thekennelclub.org.uk

 

[SpikyMikey]

Fantastic; wishing them safe travels and clear rounds

 

[Dippo]

How come he's got three dogs, and the others have one or none?

 

[BTB 500]

How come he's got three dogs, and the others have one or none?

You can qualify multiple dogs for the tryout process by getting them to Crufts finals etc., or failing that by doing well with them at an open 'pre-selection qualifier' (PSQ) weekend at the start of the year. Then at the tryouts they get selected (or not) for the team based on their performance there. So everybody on the team has at least one dog, but can go through with more if they each do well enough. Dogs all work differently so running multiple ones well isn't easy and many kids can't cope with this (or the tricky courses at this level). It's even harder if you have different sizes (there are four: small, medium, intermediate and large) as at the actual Championships the classes for them often run simultaneously in different rings so (a) you have more courses to learn/remember and (b) you may have to rush from one ring to another and run again with little time to catch your breath. This is my son's fourth time in the team and he's had three dogs each time - two large and one medium (but not the same ones every year). Handlers get awarded a (physical) GB cap for representing their country - this is per dog, so he has twelve of them now Plus two 'adult' caps for this year's EO team.

 

[BTB 500]

One of the other parents is pretty handy at filming & editing and has done a short video of the Junior world champs each year:


2022 (Finland):

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[SmartAmg]

Good Luck!

 

[DesireeE]

No, not me, but Mrs BTB and BTB Jr left for Portugal in a borrowed camper van at 02:30 today. 4 hours' drive down to the Eurotunnel, then they are planning to do another 3 hours or so and stop somewhere past Le Havre.

Three dogs on board, which 17 year old BTB Jr is representing GB with at the Junior Agility World Championships ("JOAWC") next week. Shown here after winning on to the team at the first tryout weekend back in March:

View attachment 175040

He then qualified two of the same dogs for the 'adult' Team GB at the European Open Agility Championships ("EOs") taking place at the same venue the following week. So not far off three weeks away in total.

Home - Abrantes25

agilityabrantes2025.pt

There's a Senior world champs ("SOAWC") for handlers aged 55+ and 65+ too, but someone has to stay home and look after the other 9 dogs, 9 chickens, 3 horses, and cat

That's brilliant and you must be very proud of him. I can only imaging the enormous amount of work he has put in with your dog to get that far and achieve such high standards and hats off to him for sure, what a superb achievement to represent GB in getting that far and wishing him and the rest of the team all the very best for what's coming up next. I hope they have a whale of a time and I know the bow-wows will all have a ball.

Back in the day I used to do agility with one of my Great Danes just for fun of course, as she could never compete with the likes of the speedy Border Collies. But she invariably got a clear round and would come away with the 'judges special' rosette, which made me feel chuffed small things and all that ha-ha

I had to smile at one event, the course involved a small boxed area marked with poles on the ground, something like a metre square IIRC, there was a lot of discontent amongst participants calling it out and being very unhappy about it. Anyway, we were one of the first to go round and my gal went down inside the area and stayed there until we were told to move on, after that there was no contest, as if a Dane could fit inside the box, so could every other dog present too and it did cause a bit of a laugh and applause from the crowd as we exited the ring.

 

[Smart320]

Good luck and a safe trip

 

[BTB 500]

That's brilliant and you must be very proud of him. I can only imaging the enormous amount of work he has put in with your dog to get that far and achieve such high standards and hats off to him for sure, what a superb achievement to represent GB in getting that far and wishing him and the rest of the team all the very best for what's coming up next. I hope they have a whale of a time and I know the bow-wows will all have a ball.

He does run our dogs sometimes, but he's been very successful with ones he trained from scratch himself (with our help & guidance of course). He had his first dog of his own (Woody, a Papillon cross) when he was 7

Back in the day I used to do agility with one of my Great Danes just for fun of course, as she could never compete with the likes of the speedy Border Collies.

There used to be a few Great Danes in agility, and there was even a club called Harlequin Agility which I think still exists (pretty sure I trained some of their instructors many years ago). I started in agility with Standard Poodles

I had to smile at one event, the course involved a small boxed area marked with poles on the ground, something like a metre square IIRC, there was a lot of discontent amongst participants calling it out and being very unhappy about it.

Ah the 'pause box' - that was still a 'legal' obstacle until a few years ago, although I only ever saw one in the ring once. Most dogs treated it as a long jump (because of the marker poles)!

 

[BTB 500]

On the subject of driving - Mrs BTB is finding the camper van hard work! It's a 3.5 tonne Fiat Ducato LWB/hi-top conversion, automatic and LHD (it belongs to her dad who delivered it from Germany to our house last week, flew home, and is flying back to pick it up again at the end of the month!). It's rather less powerful and slower than our Vito, and seriously affected by crosswinds. She's also struggling to get a comfortable seating position as she has much shorter legs than her dad! By 2PM they had got to Le Mans so seem to be pushing on further than planned today ...

 

[SpikyMikey]

On the subject of driving - Mrs BTB is finding the camper van hard work! It's a 3.5 tonne Fiat Ducato LWB/hi-top conversion, automatic and LHD (it belongs to her dad who delivered it from Germany to our house last week, flew home, and is flying back to pick it up again at the end of the month!). It's rather less powerful and slower than our Vito, and seriously affected by crosswinds. She's also struggling to get a comfortable seating position as she has much shorter legs than her dad! By 2PM they had got to Le Mans so seem to be pushing on further than planned today ...

Seems like you can't win with a Ducato ; our local Ambulance trust replaced some of its Sprinters with them. Problem is apparently, if you're over 6 feet tall and wearing work boots it's almost impossible to drive them. The seat doesn't go back far enough and the pedals are set too close together !
Hope the air-conditioning is fully functioning

 

[MissyD]

That's great @BTB 500, keep us updated with how they do and hope the journey goes OK for them all

 

[BTB 500]

So 680 miles covered today, stopped about 20 miles from La Rochelle ... more than halfway to the Spanish border. At the beach with the dogs now

 

[BTB 500]

Hope the air-conditioning is fully functioning

The van aircon is OK so far but unfortunately it doesn't have a mains unit to use when parked up (they will have hookup on site). Last week it hit over 40C at the competition venue but it's forecast to 'only' be around 36C next week so they may need their fleecy tops yet

 

[Chrishazle]

Here's hoping they all get "BTB" (back to base) safely and successfully, and hopefully with big smiles on faces and trophies as well.

 

[DesireeE]

He does run our dogs sometimes, but he's been very successful with ones he trained from scratch himself (with our help & guidance of course). He had his first dog of his own (Woody, a Papillon cross) when he was 7



There used to be a few Great Danes in agility, and there was even a club called Harlequin Agility which I think still exists (pretty sure I trained some of their instructors many years ago). I started in agility with Standard Poodles



Ah the 'pause box' - that was still a 'legal' obstacle until a few years ago, although I only ever saw one in the ring once. Most dogs treated it as a long jump (because of the marker poles)!

Starting at a very young age then being only 7, and it was always great fun to see the tiddler zooming around the course at break neck speed. I trained at Clevedon Agility with my gal and funny enough she was a Harley, but when we were doing the rounds, at that time she was the only Dane, so still quite a novelty. I bet your poodles were quite something to see in action, I'm thinking you gave them something like a lamb cut and not English saddle or continental then, to avoid knocking anything down or over with that profusion of glorious mane/ruff.

I think my favourite venue was at Longleat, as folks were allowed to camp out on the grounds which also meant you could get to go around the safari park etc. - brilliant if the weather was on your side.

Well that's interesting about the pause box and I'm not surprised it's gone, I can't say it seems rather fair to try an stop an enthusiastic dog from going hell-for-leather to suddenly becoming static when there is no obvious to them obstacle like a table would be.

 

[BTB 500]

Starting at a very young age then being only 7

This is my son competing at maybe 5 years old with one of our Collies (who was completely deaf from birth):

I trained at Clevedon Agility

I used to go to quite a lot of shows over that way ... Severnside and Clifton are the ones I remember offhand but there were definitely others.

I think my favourite venue was at Longleat, as folks were allowed to camp out on the grounds which also meant you could get to go around the safari park etc. - brilliant if the weather was on your side.

I camped at Longleat every year, in a tent to start with then eventually in a caravan. We were woken every morning by the lions roaring when they were fed!

I bet your poodles were quite something to see in action, I'm thinking you gave them something like a lamb cut and not English saddle or continental then, to avoid knocking anything down or over with that profusion of glorious mane/ruff.

Yes, lamb clip. I had friends who ran them in full show trim though! This is my first one running in a Spillers final at the Middlesex County Show in 1993:



And at the first week-long Dogs in Need show at Malvern in 1992 (in the pouring rain):



Back to motoring, I had a Montego 2 litre estate back then

Well that's interesting about the pause box and I'm not surprised it's gone, I can't say it seems rather fair to try an stop an enthusiastic dog from going hell-for-leather to suddenly becoming static when there is no obvious to them obstacle like a table would be.

The table was dropped at the same time - it was 2019. Again it was hardly ever used, apart from the start/finish in knockouts and gamblers when timing was still done with stopwatches.