Month: July 2021

I think that it is fair to say that the weekend went really rather well despite the weather doing its very best to spoil things – I never knew that there were so many weather apps or so many forecasters around but they were all mostly wrong. We did start Saturday with thunder and lightening but it didn’t scare those at the venue off one little bit. Sunday offered more of the same including the threat of torrential downpours but they were steered away to the north east of London thankfully. Attendance was down due to these forecasts but we are grateful to all those who took the option to stay on the rugby club car park, I would say that the groundsman was very happy too.

Thank you to all the competitors that did make it, the atmosphere around the venue was amazing, smiley happy people, the release from Covid restrictions clearly had a part to play and the fact that were able to run the show in the ‘old fashioned’ way helped enormously.

Many thanks to all our judging teams, almost all of whom honoured agreements made for 2020, to the stewards and scoreboarders who help so much towards everyone’s success. Congratulations to all our winners, especially Lorna Hilton & Lenny, Dog CC and Jodi Lunn with Fia, B Girl CC, good luck at Crufts 2022. Well done to all club members, what a haul of rosettes, (and points), were collected over the 2 days, success for 2 first timers too.

This show is only a success because NWK have an amazing group of helpers and we receive offers of help from competitors too, I cannot name everyone as there are too many and I would hate to miss anyone but the camping team deserve a special mention, this is a difficult venue to police and without Linda Plows, Vanda Fitter, Gaynor Taylor and Thelma Alexander taking up the task of seeing everyone parked up correctly plus those that sat on the gate until 10 pm (sorry but I might miss one of you as I know you arranged it amongst yourselves) a sincere thank you to you all.

Aylesford Bulls Rugby club were really welcoming and there were many compliments regarding the catering – the picnic box lunch was a huge success and the cream teas were amazing. The working surface was in perfect order so a great all round effort from them was appreciated.

Only one really rather annoying incident that involved several members due to one person wanting delay their arrival until way after the venue gates are locked at 10pm – there is a reason for this, Travellers make repeated attempts to gain access to the venue and is why we had someone manning the gate from Friday to Sunday during daylight hours, it is not unreasonable to expect everyone coming to the show to comply with the request to arrive before the stated closure time. That the Club Manager had to be got out of bed at 11.45 to let the late comer in was beyond unreasonable and could have lost us the venue in the future. Such irresponsible action could put our future use of the venue in jeopardy and a 2 day event gone from the calendar.

We hope to be back to even more normality next year, 23 & 24 July 22, without the need to cap entries although smaller shows have some advantages!

Eileen RestellE

REDCAR & DISTRICT DTC CHAMPIONSHIP OBEDIENCE SHOW 2021

Phew! Another show done and dusted after not being able to have one last year, and what a fantastic turnout we had. What may have seemed like a smooth running show, had us running in circles trying to sort various problems out! Firstly our catering people cancelled on us due to covid which made them short staffed. So, we quickly rang the best fish and chip shop in town who agreed to supply us with lots of boxes of fish and chips at very short notice. Then … Steve had to collect them on Sunday lunchtime only to find out that the route to the fish shop was closed because of a road race! Anyway, he smooth talked his way through and promptly collected and delivered. All of the judges seemed to enjoy them so job done. We had an incident of a ripped hand caused by a dogs claw, so that was a quick hospital visit, then a dog took ill and after calling the vets and making an appointment, the dog recovered thankfully, so is being checked out at her own vets, then unfortunately one of our judges took ill so was quickly replaced by our overall judge, Carole Patrick! The skip turned up two days late, the kitchen was locked on the morning of the show so Steve had to boil pans and the kettle in the motorhome to ensure the judges got their refreshments. But hey, apart from that, all went quite smoothly!

Our thanks have to go to every single person that helped out in any way that they could, from the people helping to put the rings up, to the people who helped take them down again, but I have to say, Bob Faville worked his socks off! Thank you Bob. Thank you to Wendy, Richard, Anne, Steve, the Rugby Club, our stall holders, etc, etc. I’m so sorry if I’ve missed anyone out but believe me, we are soooo grateful for any help we can get. Huge thank you to all of our judges and their stewards for ‘volunteering’ their services, we hope you enjoyed your day.

Saturday night was AMAZING! Jackie Muir organised a number of fund raising events, from a tombola, to wack-a-mallow, and the pinnacle was ‘Braving the Shave’, having her head shaved – brave lady – all in aid of Cancer Research. Everyone joined in and supported her and raised a massive £371 from auctioning each go of the shavers, and £114 for wack-a-mallow! Obedience people are so generous! And that’s without the money from the cake stall and the tombola. Jackie, you are one very kind person.

Good luck at Crufts 2022 to our two winners – the dog ticket was won by Julie and Yoshi and the ‘other’ ticket by Karen and Rhyma. Well done you two, enjoy every minute!

Karen Davies

Well, what a fabulous weekend North West Kent Dog Training Club gave us at the Aylesford Bulls Rugby Football Club. It was a delight to be back at this well laid out and spacious venue, and from the stoic gentleman on the gate to those helpers wandering round to keep things ticking over, we could not have wished for more cheerful efficiency.

The weather wasn’t really with us. Thundery, humid, and oppressive topped off with torrential downpours on Sunday, it wasn’t ideal for working some dogs and neither of mine pulled out their best. That’s my excuse and I am sticking to it!

Saturday was a busy day, with the Ticket classes active and well attended. It is always nice to watch those competitors and dream. Meanwhile back in the lower classes, which I inhabit, and despite being the offspring of two accomplished ballroom dancers, walking a straight line with even the semblance of good deportment and accuracy defeated me today, and a return to wheeling around corners cost me dearly. I was still lucky enough to be in the ribbons on both days but as my school reports so often lamented “could do better” about sums it up. In my classes, despite quite fierce competitive natures, everyone still roots for their fellow competitors and congratulates and commiserates as appropriate. On Saturday I had a poor run in Pre-Beginners, which was ably won by William Forrest and Birkcross Gem. William and I have a friendly rivalry, and it was incredibly gallant of him to concede second place to me in Beginners rather than run off for second and third. He commented that he was more than pleased with his win and felt for me in my Pre-Beginner round. It was incredibly sportsman-like and indicative of the camaraderie of our sport in general.

Today, I was delighted that Vicky Bristow and her Havanese, Thistlesweet Jasmine, achieved a first in Pre-Beginner. I worked after her and she commented “please don’t tell me Eric has beaten me”. We hadn’t. We knocked up a cricket score with my seemingly drunken walking and Eric’s desire to disassociate himself from this fumbling buffoon of a handler out for a Sunday stroll.In Special Pre-Beginners Shirley Budgen and her helpers encouraged every single competitor through, offering helpful tips for future improvement. At the grass roots of our sport these kindly comments and words of wisdom are so valuable and greatly appreciated. I am always amazed at the ability of these senior and accomplished judges to see the positives in all of us and our dogs. Despite my less than stellar handling, we got ribbons. Lovely, lovely ribbons no doubt funded by the provision of sponsorship from CSJ Specialist Canine Feeds, who provided Salmon Oil, Platinum Natural Pet Food and Care, who provided many sample packages, and Fish4Dogs who provided lovely fishy things. Don’t you just love a goody bag with samples in it? I had them all laid out on the counter at home and gloated over them as special treasures. Now, there is nothing fishy, if you will pardon the pun, about how I acquired these treasures. I did a tiny bit of helping and received a reward. I also grovelled like crazy at the Secretary’s tent.

And so, the weekend drew to a gentle close. Around us, like over energized Wombles, the helpers from North West Kent were dismantling rings and collecting all manner of things. It must have taken hours to put up, it didn’t seem to take that long to take down however I am sure the clearing up went on until late in the afternoon. I do hope they avoided the rain, which torrented down and made the drive home rather challenging. Next stop Halstead. See you there.

Katrina Arnold