An amazing agility year for a junior handler

This week I'm very pleased have Sara Bacon as my guest blogger. Sara is a junior handler who did very well with her three dogs at the Agility Team GB Junior Try-out day making it through to the second day and she also won the Novice Olympia finals this year - an amazing result for a young handler.

Over to Sara...

It has been an amazing agility year ending up with the selection day for the European Junior Open and Olympia. 

The dogs I am trying out with for the EJO are quite young. At the end of December Dream is 4 and Tor and Jay are 3. We do not start competing with the dogs until they are ready, so Dream has only 2 seasons experience, Tor and Jay only one. 

Trying out with 3 dogs might seem difficult but I wanted all 3 to have the experience as they could be doing it over the next 4 years and at least one of them should be on top form any time and in case of any injury or illness. To prepare for the EJO my dad adjusted our equipment to FCI heights and did some FCI courses. For 2 weeks before I just did a little bit of contact training but mainly walked and rested the dogs.  The courses at the try out were quite difficult but that was what I expected.  

Working 3 dogs did not give me too many problems as they are all large there was no extra course walking, and although they work differently I use the same handling style with them. The try outs are managed more like a championship class than a normal show. I am very excited and pleased that all three of my dogs have got through to the next stage.

I gave Tor a complete rest from Agility before Olympia just walks, and a little sheepdog training to keep her fit and lots of rest to help her recover from competing all summer. 

The organisation, and atmosphere at Olympia were amazing. All the organisers and competitors were so friendly and helpful. I was very lucky with the draw in the semi-final running 14 out of 20. There was only one clear before I ran so I knew I just had to go clear to be sure of getting to the final. I concentrated on getting my handling right and helping her as much as I could. 

It was a long time until the final in the evening, so we got as much rest we could. I knew that there were some fast dogs in the final. So I knew my best chance was to go clear. I was worried about how Tor would react to the noisy evening crowd, but it made her more enthusiastic and my plan worked. Tor had a decent time but more important the only clear.  

I am really pleased with the 2017 and very excited for 2018.

Thank you Sara (and a wee bit of help from her dad Mike) for writing an interesting blog.
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To find out more about Agility Team GB visit the Kennel Club International Agility pages and the YKC pages for the Junior Team.