Agility Dog Association of Australia Ltd

From the ADAA Chair ... March / April 08

I have missed out on a few ADAA activities in March being busy with our Lynda Orton-Hill workshops. However I hope those who travelled to Burrum Heads for Easter enjoyed their time on the beach as well as competing.

Coming up in May there are two major Agility events, the first is ADAA’s Dogmania 2008 – Canine Sports Carnival. Late Entries close 20 April 2008 so you only have a few days to make sure you don’t miss out on participating in this great weekend. It is anticipated that this will be a feature event on the Agility calendar because of the wide spectator appeal and public interest. It will be an excellent opportunity for members to demonstrate the fun and joy you can have in Agility (as well as the other sports participating over the weekend). If you aren’t ready to compete then please contact Sharon Dungey, Dogmania’s volunteer coordinator, to offer your assistance on one of the days as there are many tasks (not just scribing) that require help.

The other event coming up in May is the IFCS World Agility Championships (WAC). This year there are five ADAA members travelling to the event, of which two are officiating. Steve Drinkwater is Head Judge and Cathy Slot is one of the four Judges for the Championships. Three other members (Tracey Harrison-Hill, Mal Williams and Penny Mead) had booked to attend as spectators however, in the last two weeks, ADAA has been offered two dogs from the host country, Belgium, to enable Australia to compete in the WAC. This required approval from the IFCS as the governing body as well as Belgium Cynological Society V.O.E., the host organisation, to accept an entry with Australian competitors running dogs from another country, and of course the Board of ADAA to allow its members to participate. The Board has decided that Mal Williams (NSW) and Tracey Harrison-Hill (Qld), the two members attending with the most experience in running dogs (having previously handled their own as well other people’s dogs in Australian competitions) and also having a good understanding of competition strategy (through their judging experience) will compete and represent ADAA (and Australia) in the WAC for the first time. Penny Mead (NSW) will undertake Team Manager duties. Huge congratulations to all three of them, what a phenomenal development due to some great work by Steve Drinkwater in getting all of the arrangements in place once the offer of host dogs was received. Needless to say there is now a whirlwind of activity in collaborating with the owners of the dogs, as Mal and Tracey will have to work through language barriers, as well different training and handling techniques (Tracey is already overseas and so I understand she is sending home requests for agility shoes etc to be brought over). All of the competitors in the WAC will have set practice times on the competition fields on the day before the competition commences, Tracey and Mal will have to get to know their competition dog and develop a relationship, work out what words and signals the dogs require to complete the various obstacles and handling manoeuvres and make sure they understand any idiosyncrasies of the dogs before the competition commences. Arrangements are currently underway for them to go to the property of the one of the dog’s owners, as soon as they arrive in Belgium, to get in some much needed practice. In the meantime Penny Mead, as the Australian Team Manager, is busy organising official requirements (such as the Australian flag and national anthem), liaising with the owners of the host country dogs to organise access to the dogs, practice arrangements, and transport of the dogs to/from the venue, and then once they have landed, representing Australia in team meetings at the WAC. Whatever the official placings in the individual events that Mal and Tracey will compete in, Australia (and ADAA) will be a winner!!

Congratulations also to Damian Noud upon being elevated to a Level 2 ADAA Judge. This is a fantastic achievement with Damian completing all of his Level 1 requirements as well as the Level 2 training in less than 18 months, and we look forward to seeing his course designs on the ground in the future. A number of other Level 1 Judges are also working towards their Level 2 accreditation and we wish them well. For those who may be toying with the idea of expressing interest in Judges training, Level 1 stage has you judging on the field, but not completing your course design, this is left to more experienced Judges and takes away much of the pressure. If you would like to express interest in ADAA Judges Training Programme (officially or unofficially), please contact Natalie Kirkwood. As always, the more people there are to share the load, the easier it is.

ADAA will hold its Queensland Training Camp on 21 - 22 June 2008, the schedule and registration information is currently being finalised and will be available for members shortly. In the meantime, make sure you reserve these dates in your diary. This year registrations will be accepted for one day so if you don’t have a whole weekend to spend away from home, put aside one of the days.

Printed copies of the 8.1 Edition of the Agility Regulations are now available for purchase. Alternatively you can download the amendment summary page (the current version is document number POL-AR-002/002). Members should note that they have an obligation to report incidents that occur within the Competition precinct (excluding in a Ring), to an officiating Judge. This is for the safety and well-being of all members at both that, and future, competitions. The Board of Directors has released an Interim Kennel Cough Policy in an attempt to recognise the factors outside the Association’s, and Members’, control. Members should ensure that they are familiar with the Policy (as well as all of ADAA’s other Policies).

I would like to conclude with a couple of administrative matters that seem to arise on a regular basis. ADAA provides all members (new and existing) with the ability to register any/their chosen name for their dog(s). Once registered, this name (exactly as it is registered) must be used for all ADAA sanctioned events, including Competition Entries, dog measuring by Judges, Training Camps and Title Applications. If you would like to change the name of your dog this can be undertaken by lodging a request with ADAA and making payment of the associated fee (currently $10-00 per dog). Finally, once a dog has been measured by two Judges, there are very limited reasons for it to be presented for remeasure. These include if the dog was between 18 and 24 months of age at time of its initial measure and was within 20 mm of their height class maximum, or if requested to do so by an ADAA representative. In all cases, if a dog is presented for remeasuring the Judges on the day must be informed of this, and given an explanation of the reason.

May you enjoy your training with your dog and achieve your goals.

Cathy Slot
ADAA Chair

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