Author: admin

Rik and I enjoyed a fun weekend of agility at the CCATS (Christchurch) champ show this weekend. It was pretty hot with a strong wind which kept us nice and cool, although it caused havoc with the wing jumps.

After creating a blog called the Five Fault Club, perhaps it was karma that on Saturday we had five faults in all four classes! I was very pleased with all of these runs. Our Intermediate was the smoothest run we’ve done so far at this level, and in Jumpers B I used my backside cue in a situation I’d never anticipated when I trained it – and Rik got it right.

On Saturday night I stayed at my friend Gayle’s, along with another friend Liz, and we had lots of fun. Gayle has been working hard with her dog Breeze and today she got her first champ show ribbon, a 2nd place in Starters – well done!

This weekend there were also agility shows in Whangarei and Feilding. Which show did you go to? Which run were you most proud of?

I am on the committee that will be hosting the 2019 NZDAC in Cromwell, and I came to this year’s event with a critical eye, looking out for mistakes that we could learn from to make it even better next year. Aside from the obvious issue of the surface, I have to say that Zone 3 did a phenomenal job with the organisation of the show and Zone 5 has a very tough act to follow!

Here’s my take on what went well and what could be improved on.

Continue reading “NZDAC 2018 – What a Show!”

Welcome to the Five Fault Club! I’ve been thinking about starting an agility blog for a couple of years now and recent events have inspired me to finally take the plunge. My vision for this blog is to provide the agility community with somewhere to share their opinions, and also a resource for newcomers to find the answers to some of their burning questions. Guest posts are welcome, so please email me on fivefaultclub@gmail.com if you have something you want to get off your chest.

I tried out the phrase “Five Fault Club” at SCDTC training the other night and everyone had a different interpretation! To me it is a reminder that agility is about more than just winning, and that you can approach the sport with two mindsets – you can moan because a rail came down, or you can choose to celebrate because your dog did seventeen obstacles perfectly and nailed a hard weave entry. I used to spend a lot of time in the former camp but I am now striving to stay in the latter!

For those who don’t know me, I’m Kate and I’ve been competing in agility for more than twenty years. The photo above is from my first NDOA (now the NZDAC) at Auckland in 1997, with my Sheltie “Funzie”. I’m now up to agility dog number four, a Heading Dog named “Rik” with whom I competed at my 22nd consecutive NZDAC last month.