Agility

This report signifies the end of my second year as President. The time has really flown by and I realise that I haven’t accomplished nearly as much as I had hoped. Hopefully, I will get a chance to rectify that if I am elected again.

Agility has always been an innovative and evolving sport. This, to me, has put this sport above other dog competitions. There have been many changes over the last 20 years, far more than the traditional competitive sports. Agility has grown rapidly and is now by far the biggest and most spectator-friendly dog sport. There have been some changes to agility this year with the introduction of new rules in July. Some equipment will change also and that will be seen from January 2012.

We continue to have a steady inflow of new members. Some stay only for a few weeks while others become addicted and stay right up to the competition classes. However long they stay, their dogs are better off for having some quality time with their owners. The joy you see in your dog's face as he negotiates his way around an agility course, or even just two or three obstacles never fails to excite. The dogs are amazed that they are allowed to run and jump - and that you are doing it too!

During the year we have successfully held five Tuesday night trials and two Saturday trials. These events are very labour intensive and our committee work extremely hard before, during, and after the event. We are fortunate that we have a large group of willing workers, as well as the committee, who are always happy to lend a hand.

Volunteer organisations everywhere rely heavily on club members to stage events. Unfortunately, it seems that in society in general, volunteering and joining in club activities is becoming less popular. Many people who are time- poor, but still want the best for their dog, are happy to come to agility, but perhaps don’t realise the work involved in running a club. We all need to pull together to make the club work.

At our July Trial we used a new computer program designed by one of our members, Greg Gowing. This program will be used at next year's National Agility Trial in June. The program allows for ringside entry of results and speeds up the reporting and recording process for our trial secretary, Val Leslie. It was a great success and we look forward to further technological improvements. As I said before, Agility is an evolving and innovative sport!

Agility is like an addiction causing many competitors to ignore other events in their life such as family lunches, birthdays, visiting relatives, overseas visitors and even their health. There have been two instances this year with agility competitors that have made me stop and think. The first one involved our previous president, Graham Elven. Graham had not been feeling himself but decided to come to an agility trial anyway. However the next day, having consulted a doctor, Graham found himself being rushed to hospital for heart by-pass surgery. The other was a similar incident with a competitor calling in at hospital on the way home from a trial. The moral is that we should all listen to our bodies and have regular health checks - agility can be stressful!

There are other events in life, apart from health issues that should be more important than agility (is this possible?).  We should always aim to keep our addiction in control! This year I became a grandparent for the first time, and although I missed events in my own children’s life because of dog activities, I don’t intend to be doing the same as a grandparent. Balance is important. So taking the occasional weekend off to attend to other matters should be encouraged. There is also a sound dog training reason behind this. I am a firm believer in training more often than competing. I find that for me, when the balance turns the other way, Jed and I do not communicate as well as we should.

All our members who compete in Dogs NSW competitions have had a very successful year. At the recent Festival of Agility (akin to a grand final weekend), several of our members were placed in the Agility and Jumping Dog of the year competitions. Also in the teams’ events, where we compete against other agility clubs, we came in second. A terrific result!

ADC’s committee has, as always, worked well together this year - we are learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses and complement each other well.  Each week there are many extra jobs to be done to ensure the smooth running of training nights. We are lucky to have Vanessa and Michelle manning the office each week and several members - special mention to Warren - who tow the trailers in and out of storage. Thank you.

Elga, as Chief Instructor, works diligently to provide interesting and challenging course set-ups on which to practise our skills. The Beginners time slot is always labour intensive while we train the new club members to erect the equipment. It seems that no sooner have we organised them that they are promoted to the next level! We are grateful to our instructors for giving up their time, and for some, travelling a long way.

ADC is aiming to provide extra support for our instructors by holding workshops during the year (when the trialling calendar allows). Last November we invited Ronnie Shawyer to hold a workshop for our instructors and this year we have two planned - with Greg Collins, which is open to instructors and the advanced classes and with Sue Hogben, which is open to everyone. Hopefully our skills will improve and we can pass on more knowledge to the beginner classes.

The end of the year is rapidly approaching and we will soon be planning our Christmas Parties and annual ‘working bees’.  Life as a club member is almost a full time occupation! Just as well it’s great fun!

Happy Training and Trialling

Robyn Jones
President.