Commitment and dedication to win

Announcing the Agility Team GB squad is exciting news for some handlers and understandably disappointment for others.

Being called up for the national squad is a huge achievement. It takes a lot of commitment and dedication to win points at top level competitions in the UK and to maintain a high level of performance; plus the competition increases each year.

50 dogs and handlers have been invited onto this years squad. This is a large squad, although a similar number to the last few years. Approximately 10% will drop-out due to many reasons along the way which is natural and others on the Development Programme maybe there for the longer term.

The handlers on this years squad experience a combination of training, education and practice over the winter aimed at preparing them for the Performance Weekend in April (5 - 7).

Anyone who didn’t get called up this year but are interested in international competition, then my advice is to book into the PW; you never know, you maybe spotted for development for the 2020 squad. which will be a historic year in the agility diary as the UK host our first European Open.