3,000 mile road trip with dogs ...

[DesireeE]

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

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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 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!



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:

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

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

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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.

Goodness me, that's quite lovely about your son aged 5 running with a deaf collie - what a marvellous team.

I Really enjoyed seeing the photos of your poodle(s), the one where it is all wet, does seem to show what a lovely face and demeaner the breed has.

Quite something to wake and hear the lions roar, a little different to a c0ck-a-doodle-doo and oh yes, the Montego, I do remember them and I see you had a proper tent too

 

[Chrishazle]

The demeanour of the standard poodle breed is variable - My late Aunt Joan used to breed toys (as well as Bichons and Papillons) and decided one time to also have 2 standards downstairs with Uncle Joe and family, his 2 daughters could do anything with either standard (an apricot called Sheba and a black called Fifi), Sheba was lovely but when we came to the front door (victorian terrace with bay windows either side of the front porch) Fifi would appear at the window in full bay and teeth and Mum would push the letter box open and shout "Joan, put that ******* dog in the garden!!" before we could go in.
Fifi earned her food when some idiot came over Joan's back fence intent on theft, was heard, Uncle Joe let Fifi out, scurrying noises then howls heard as villain went back over the fence, Fifi came back in with cloth hanging from her mouth which was also dripping blood!! Funnily enough no-one ever tried that again!

 

[BTB 500]

So they drove another 680 miles today (1,360 so far) through France and Spain and are now in Portugal. Off to the seaside tomorrow then on to the event venue for booking in on Tuesday morning.




Settled in for the night - Sheltie Tino on the left, Collie Sushi on the right:




Collie Beat (Sushi's dad):

 

[BTB 500]

Lidl car park in Portugal with nice big spaces and a shade to keep the sun off the dogs

(hope they weren't driving around with the side step out! )

 

[SpikyMikey]

Lidl car park in Portugal with nice big spaces and a shade to keep the sun off the dogs

(hope they weren't driving around with the side step out! )

View attachment 175180

I think they retract when the ignition is on

 

[BTB 500]

So the Junior Agility World Championships are drawing to a close in Portugal today after three days of competition. As mentioned this was my 17 year old son's fourth and last time at this event, and he was under a fair bit of pressure having previously won medals in both the team (three gold, two silver, one bronze) and individual categories (gold, silver, two bronze). This year started very badly as his young Sheltie - competing at this event for the first time - was spooked by the noise levels (loud hailers, whistles, air horns, shouting, cheering, chants, etc.) on the first day and had to be withdrawn. His Large team (which he was running the two Collies in) picked up faults in both qualifying rounds, finishing 4th in each and 4th overall - so no podium. These are dogs and not machines, so you never know for sure what is going to happen and there's always an element of luck involved even if the handler does everything right.

Anyway he managed to keep his cool and with the Individual Large Under 19 category (71 competitors) being his last hope for a medal went clear on the jumping round yesterday, winning the class by just 0.34 secs.







For the second round competitors run in reverse order, so having won yesterday he was last to go today ... his final ever run in Juniors, with everything depending on it. The German dog running immediately before him (lying in 2nd place) got eliminated so he 'just' needed a decent clear round on a very tricky course



Sushi clipped the wall at no. 11 but the brick dropped back into place without falling, so no fault



He kept it together and managed to get her round clear, playing it as safe as he could but still only 0.37 seconds off the winning time:





Second today was good enough for first place overall, taking the gold medal. So he'll be coming home as a world champion



And this was after Mrs BTB had to go out in her pyjamas to find him at 2AM this morning and drag him back to the camper van

Prize giving and closing ceremony later today, then most of the other competitors will be leaving. A few other families staying on for the European Open Championships next week.

 

[SmartAmg]

Brilliant! Congratulations to him, on his Gold medal. And being a World Champion. Not many can say that!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

So the Junior Agility World Championships are drawing to a close in Portugal today after three days of competition. As mentioned this was my 17 year old son's fourth and last time at this event, and he was under a fair bit of pressure having previously won medals in both the team (three gold, two silver, one bronze) and individual categories (gold, silver, two bronze). This year started very badly as his young Sheltie - competing at this event for the first time - was spooked by the noise levels (loud hailers, whistles, air horns, shouting, cheering, chants, etc.) on the first day and had to be withdrawn. His Large team (which he was running the two Collies in) picked up faults in both qualifying rounds, finishing 4th in each and 4th overall - so no podium. These are dogs and not machines, so you never know for sure what is going to happen and there's always an element of luck involved even if the handler does everything right.

Anyway he managed to keep his cool and with the Individual Large Under 19 category (71 competitors) being his last hope for a medal went clear on the jumping round yesterday, winning the class by just 0.34 secs.

View attachment 175524

View attachment 175522

View attachment 175523

For the second round competitors run in reverse order, so having won yesterday he was last to go today ... his final ever run in Juniors, with everything depending on it. The German dog running immediately before him (lying in 2nd place) got eliminated so he 'just' needed a decent clear round on a very tricky course

View attachment 175521

Sushi clipped the wall at no. 11 but the brick dropped back into place without falling, so no fault

View attachment 175526

He kept it together and managed to get her round clear, playing it as safe as he could but still only 0.37 seconds off the winning time:

View attachment 175520

View attachment 175541

Second today was good enough for first place overall, taking the gold medal. So he'll be coming home as a world champion

View attachment 175525

And this was after Mrs BTB had to go out in her pyjamas to find him at 2AM this morning and drag him back to the camper van

Prize giving and closing ceremony later today, then most of the other competitors will be leaving. A few other families staying on for the European Open Championships next week.

Congratulations to you all, a wonderful achievement!

 

[SpikyMikey]

That's an amazing effort. Bet you're proud.

I showed Mrs S (who used to run one of our black Labs just for fun) the courses.
"My Goodness, that looks difficult" she said....or words to that effect

 

[Dippo]

And this was after Mrs BTB had to go out in her pyjamas to find him at 2AM this morning and drag him back to the camper van

So the moisturiser helped him pull?

 

[DesireeE]

So the Junior Agility World Championships are drawing to a close in Portugal today after three days of competition. As mentioned this was my 17 year old son's fourth and last time at this event, and he was under a fair bit of pressure having previously won medals in both the team (three gold, two silver, one bronze) and individual categories (gold, silver, two bronze). This year started very badly as his young Sheltie - competing at this event for the first time - was spooked by the noise levels (loud hailers, whistles, air horns, shouting, cheering, chants, etc.) on the first day and had to be withdrawn. His Large team (which he was running the two Collies in) picked up faults in both qualifying rounds, finishing 4th in each and 4th overall - so no podium. These are dogs and not machines, so you never know for sure what is going to happen and there's always an element of luck involved even if the handler does everything right.

Anyway he managed to keep his cool and with the Individual Large Under 19 category (71 competitors) being his last hope for a medal went clear on the jumping round yesterday, winning the class by just 0.34 secs.

View attachment 175524

View attachment 175522

View attachment 175523

For the second round competitors run in reverse order, so having won yesterday he was last to go today ... his final ever run in Juniors, with everything depending on it. The German dog running immediately before him (lying in 2nd place) got eliminated so he 'just' needed a decent clear round on a very tricky course

View attachment 175521

Sushi clipped the wall at no. 11 but the brick dropped back into place without falling, so no fault

View attachment 175526

He kept it together and managed to get her round clear, playing it as safe as he could but still only 0.37 seconds off the winning time:

View attachment 175520

View attachment 175541

Second today was good enough for first place overall, taking the gold medal. So he'll be coming home as a world champion

View attachment 175525

And this was after Mrs BTB had to go out in her pyjamas to find him at 2AM this morning and drag him back to the camper van

Prize giving and closing ceremony later today, then most of the other competitors will be leaving. A few other families staying on for the European Open Championships next week.

Wow!!! What an awesome result and cracking pictures, loving that one of The Champ and his team mate Sushi, I don't know how Mrs BTB managed to hold her camera steady, she must have been bursting with pride and shaking like a good'un ... fantastic!

Shame about lovely little Tino, never can tell what will happen on the day 'tis true, but I hope she settled down and managed to build here courage back up, wouldn't like to think it put her off for good.

Those courses blew my bonce, tried following them around and got lost on 'paper', wouldn't have a hope in doo-dah, for real, bit like the Krypton Factor from where I'm sat

I'm chuffed to bits for you all, and what a great day for celebrations indeed

 

[BTB 500]

I showed Mrs S (who used to run one of our black Labs just for fun) the courses.
"My Goodness, that looks difficult" she said....or words to that effect

I run a Collie (Sushi's faster sister ) in grade 7 / championship and wouldn't have fancied those one bit, even without all the pressure of a major event being live streamed round the world!

 

[BTB 500]

So the moisturiser helped him pull?

I'll ask, but his girlfriend is probably hoping not!

 

[BTB 500]

Shame about lovely little Tino, never can tell what will happen on the day 'tis true, but I hope she settled down and managed to build here courage back up, wouldn't like to think it put her off for good.

Those courses blew my bonce, tried following them around and got lost on 'paper', wouldn't have a hope in doo-dah, for real, bit like the Krypton Factor from where I'm sat

I'm chuffed to bits for you all, and what a great day for celebrations indeed

Tino (a boy btw - Valentino) has only been competing for 12 months, but he's won up to grade 7 (the top level) and already won a championship class. It was a real shock that he was so upset by the noise there but hopefully he will be OK in future. My son's Papillon cross (also a 'medium' dog) was also a little spooky at Tino's age but grew out of it - he was 7 or 8 when he first competed at the World Champs. He won five medals there in three years (including three golds) before retiring last year.

 

[SpikyMikey]

Wishing them a safe journey back...obviously it will be slower given all that prize winners loot they'll be hauling

 

[BTB 500]

Wishing them a safe journey back...obviously it will be slower given all that prize winners loot they'll be hauling

They are at the venue for another 10 days as the European Open Championships (for adults) start with booking in on Tuesday.

Tino and Sushi (who won today) are both in the GB team however Tino probably won't be running. Amazing to qualify, and at two and a half he'll have many more opportunities in the future.

 

[BTB 500]

Medal presentation tonight just before the closing ceremony:



Then a celebratory meal ... he was even allowed a beer



His final GB caps in Juniors:

 

[Smart320]

Fabulous achievement, I think I’ve done well when I get back home safely having walked our Cockapoo for an hour in the local fields

 

[SpikyMikey]

They are at the venue for another 10 days as the European Open Championships (for adults) start with booking in on Tuesday.

Tino and Sushi (who won today) are both in the GB team however Tino probably won't be running. Amazing to qualify, and at two and a half he'll have many more opportunities in the future.

Blimey, it's full on this serious agility stuff

 

[SpikyMikey]

Medal presentation tonight just before the closing ceremony:

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Then a celebratory meal ... he was even allowed a beer

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His final GB caps in Juniors:

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Crisps - the food of champions