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CHESVALE DTC Open Obedience Show
Sunday 29th August 2021

Our first show in 2 years due to the pandemic and after the initial shock in realising that Clare Williams and myself are not ‘match fit’ the show turned out to be fantastic!

With 25 of our members on hand to help set up, rake all the rings from grass clippings, work all day and finish off leaving the showground in perfect condition it reminds me of how lucky we are to have such a supportive membership. I would like to thank them all personally, but it would make this post even longer so consider this a collective pat on the back with an extra one for Clare Williams our show secretary and my partner in crime without whom we couldn’t run the show.

Thanks to our super judges and their stewards who gave their time freely, with many competitors giving thanks for their efforts and for the help, advice and the time they gave to everyone who came into their ring. Our entries were 23 in Special Pre-Beginner, 30 in Pre-beginner, 38 in Beginner, 87 in Novice. The numbers were down on our previous August show which I’m hoping was a just a blip because of the 3 day show being put on at Plantation Park but after losing so many shows over the last 18 months every show is precious.

The weather was perfect for the dogs, with cloud cover and occasional sunshine but never too hot. Our new caterers were on hand to not only cater for the competitors but also supplied a great buffet lunch for our judges and stewards. One thing Chesvale is renowned for is our catering and no-one goes home hungry!

The training rings were manned by Donna Bastin and Sue Monk who worked tirelessly throughout the day, starting before judging commenced and ending with us having to call a halt to it at 4.30 p.m. Our chosen charity was The Thin Blue Paw, a charity that provides care for ex-service dogs in need of support when their organisations can no longer care for them. Donna and Sue took £167.55 on the day and Chesvale will make this up to a round £200.00 to donate to this wonderful charity.

We would like to thank YuMOVE for their support and donations of a year’s supply of their super product, Adult Daily Bite, for our winners in each class and a large tub for 2nd and 3rd places. One competitor won 2 classes and was a small dog so probably has 6 years’ worth of supplements!

I have already posted photos of the day which I hope will be an inspiration to newcomers to the sport showing so many different breeds taking part and being successful in their own way. The atmosphere at the show was fantastic, relaxed, friendly with a minimum of restrictions but with everyone being considerate regarding social distancing. We were touched by the number of wonderful remarks and thanks given to us on the day and in some posts on Facebook, it is always great to hear that you have ‘done good’!

Final thanks go to all the competitors who came to the show, it was lovely to see so many old faces and many new ones. We look forward to welcoming you at our 2022 shows on Sunday 1st May and Sunday 28th August 2022.

Carol Spencer
Show Manager and proud Chairman

WOW – That was different but seemed to work. Thank you to all at Wirral and Wigton for joining us in what was a great three-days of Championship Obedience Shows. The three committees and helpers worked well together and made the whole process easier for each club, enabling all three Champ classes to take place this year.It felt like only yesterday since our last show, but it was two years, how things have changed. Because of COVID we needed to make the show as safe as possible for everyone, we had a new entrance for day parking which worked very well, allowing more space for camping, I think this will be carried forward to future shows. We had a new catering service, I think everyone would agree was a great success, and packed lunches for our judges which again I feel worked well, it meant we didn’t have ‘crowds’ in a catering marquee, also considerably less work for our very small committee! Thank you to everyone for being COVID aware and acting sensibly in these strange times.Thank you to all our judges and stewards and thank you for accepting the changes we put in place to allow the show to go ahead. We will have to see what next year brings.

Thank you to all our competitors, I hope you enjoyed your weekend of shows. Well done to all our winners, it was nice to see such a variety of breeds in the line ups, I’m sure Alison will be posting many photos before long!!

Again, my thanks to Wirral and Wigton committee and members for joining us at this brilliant venue and helping to get the Obedience Shows up and running again.

Lesley Alsop

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

Well, what a fabulous weekend I’ve had.

I was at the Willow Farm Exemption Show in Doncaster, organised by Wendy Nottingham and her team. 3 classes on Saturday – Pre B, Begs and Novice, plus ‘have a go’ Hoopers and a couple of fun events – a ‘pairs’ competition and a ‘team challenge’ – both well supported, and then A, B and C on Sunday plus another chance to ‘have a go’ at Hoopers. Capped. Full running orders. No stays of course. Scent in with ring work, but to the side of the main ring area.

Classes designed to motivate and reward.Rosettes for 1st to 6th, plus rosettes for ‘best BC’, ‘best Gundog’, ‘best GSD’ and ‘best crossbreed’.

An event that was small enough to be Covid safe and incredibly relaxed and friendly, but big enough and competitive enough to feel like a proper show. Even the weather stayed reasonable. I loved, loved, loved it.

Thanks to every single person and dog that was there and therefore contributed to making this weekend. Oh for many more such events – a really fabulous way to encourage newcomers, as well as give us old timers a big enough challenge.

Dawn Cox

So after sixty years plus stays look like they have finally gone – Is it right? I think it is probably right, it will definitely free up time and make life easier for most clubs who run the shows.

It made no difference to me personally except for the way, in some instances, how you would mark them. My own thoughts are that you have to look to the future – Obedience has largely never changed, but in one way or another it has.

I remember years ago sending a letter into Obedience News about people complaining about folks at the shows playing with their dogs, but the same people never complained about harsh handling. The letter was described as smutty and sarcastic and it was, but at least the letter worked because now people do play with their dogs, and the harsh handling has now almost gone thankfully.

Now it’s motivation and rewards, I also remember when a certain team who was denied ticket wins because the dog was deemed too flashy and bouncy by some judges who were still thinking about the old style in their heads. Of course that team became a legend and proved beyond doubt that nothing can stay the same for ever as now most teams train with the idea of flash, enthusiasm, and precision – so in one way or another we have to move on.

I still say there is nothing wrong with obedience and its enjoyable but would like to see more variety especially in the lower classes. If by any chance we get an influx of more people starting obedience do you really think they would want to be doing the same things for the next sixty years?

Just a thought now that it looks like stays have gone, could it be possible that we have a full running order for all the classes, I know there are a lot of people who do not want any change, well that’s fair enough that’s their choice, these are just my thoughts as I’ve never stood still with anything, always looking to the future, sometimes it works, sometimes it don’t, but if you don’t try, you will never know – Stay safe folks

REEDYFORD D.T.C. Show Saturday 29th February 2020

On behalf of the Committee of Reedyford DTC I want to thank all the Judges and Stewards for giving up their time to judge for us yesterday, without you all we wouldn’t have a show. I hope you all enjoyed your day as much as we enjoyed having you.

Reedyford DTC is a small club with only a handful of Committee members working so hard on the day of our shows, and this time has been no exception. everyone gets stuck in to make our Show run as smoothly as possible. As well as the Committee we are very grateful to have much needed help from the early morning crew at silly o’clock to help with setting up the rings and anything else that needs to be done although not Club members are always there to volunteer there help on show days .
Me & Lynne went over to Croft Top on friday teatime to put up direction signs ad drop most of the show stuff off ready for morning and to say we had a couple of OMG moments is an understatement, firstly the road just before you turn into Croft Top was knee deep in flood water right across the road, then when we pulled up at Croft Top you couldnt even see the carpark it was a proper pea souper fog and a river running down the lane towards the arena, thankfully the weeks of heavy rain turned into drizzle overnight, with a very cold start to the day next morning.

An early start on Saturday and in just over an hour we have set up a show a quick brew and bacon butty then all ready for the off. Thank you Elaine and the stay ring team..

I also want to thank all the competitors for giving our show the support needed to keep this show. As far as I am aware you all enjoyed your day with us , I received many compliments, also lots of lovely comments regarding the food served in the cafeteria, Elizabeth did an amazing job and never stopped all day long.

Not one complaint from anyone also and can I also add that anyone at all that asked for easily accessible parking so they didn’t have to walk up and down the lane got it , Congratulations if you went home with a rosette and one of our trophies, I saw quite a few happy people walking out clutching their rosettes & prize cards making their journeys home all that much better.

I would also like to give a BIG thank you and thumbs up to everyone for cleaning up after their dogs, you did us proud, We left Croft Top SPOTLESS again and got another compliment to pass on to each and everyone of you from the owner who in her words “ your lot are a lot cleaner than the horsey people.

Good Luck to everyone competing at Crufts next week, Obedience Championships, KCGC Special Pre Beg finals, Rally and All of the Inter regional teams especially our very own Northern Team, enjoy your special day with your dogs, Hopes & Dreams can and do come true.

Hope you all had a safe journeys home with your precious 4 legged cargo.
Our next show is to be held on the Saturday 6th March 2021 here at Croft Top Equestrian Centre. Haslingden, BB5 2DP easily assessable from both the M6 and M62

Kym Pearson

Lune Valley DTC – Winter Show 25th January 2020

Just to say a big thank you to everyone who made our Winter Show another success.

To all our Judges and Stewards, you know what a ‘rare breed’ you are and how difficult it is to find you! So thank you to you all for allowing another show to go ahead.

Thank you to Pat Wilson for an excellent job as Chief Stay Steward, thank you to all our stay steward volunteers, your help is much appreciated.

To all our competitors who seemed to be a happy bunch with no complaints, well done to all our winners, good luck to you all for the season to come.

Last, but by no means least, thank you to our small band of Lune Valley members who set up, take down and do all the jobs in-between, mostly with a smile on their faces!

Hope to see you all at our Summer Show 1/2/3rd August 2020.

Lesley Alsop
Show Secretary