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Stockbury Dog Club Display Team 2008

  
 

Display at Lord Whisky Animal Sanctuary Saturday 3rd May 2008

  


The team put on their first display of the year at Lord Whisky on Saturday afternoon. It is quite often hot when we visit this venue and this visit was no exception, another sizzling Saturday with the sun firmly shinning and a temperature of 20+ degrees.
It was really good to get a team of ten for the display, if fact it should have been eleven as Sue with Tia was there but could not participate in the display due to the start time being rescheduled a few minutes before we were due to start. The display was put back form 1:00 to 2:00pm which meant the dogs and handlers had to wait an hour.
With the team ready to enter the ring Mick started the commentary by saying about the club then introduced each handler and dog.
First in was Roger with Ben followed by Cheryl with Charles, Su with Freddie, Ros with Lucy,  Brenda with Chester, Janet with Puffin, Mike with Jack, Anne with Mizzie, Janet with Smokey, Terry with Alfie.

This years routine started with exercises to demonstrate dogs passing each other in opposite directions. Other exercises followed featuring the normal basic commands, sit and down stays plus recalls but with some distractions created by handlers with or without dogs walking between the dogs in the stay. The purposes of the exercises in the display and the reasons we practice them were explained by Mick in his very informative commentary.

The display lasted about 20 minutes finishing with the handlers shaking the dog's paw and making a big fuss of them.

Well done Su with Freddie taking part in a display with the team for the first time in fact all the handlers can be proud of their dogs as they all put on a good show.

It was nice to see Nicola and Mike coming along to support the team as well as some of the handlers family members.

The next display is again at Lord Whisky on Saturday the 7th of June.

Display at Lord Whisky Animal Sanctuary Saturday 7th June 2008

The team were again at Lord Whisky for their second display of the year. This time the display started at the scheduled time of 1:00pm with Roger with Ben leading out followed by Cheryl with Charles, Su with Freddie, Ros with Lucy,  Brenda with Chester, Sue with Tia, Mike with Jack, Anne with Mizzie, Janet with Smokey, Terry with Alfie.

The display was the same as last time with commentary by Mick explaining the moves. Unfortunately Ben and Lucy were a bit edgy as prior to our display the sharp noises from a police dog demonstration using guns upset them plus balloons going pop during our display added to the problem. Although not on their normal form they did manage to complete the display. The other dogs seemed to cope with the noises and other distractions and with their handlers put on another good show.

The next display is at the Hyde Housing Fun day at Loose starting at 1:00pm.

 

Display at Hyde Housing Fun day at Loose Saturday 21st June 2008

This was the first time the team had been to the Hyde Housing fun day and fortunately the weather stayed fine despite changeable forecasts. The event was staged on the King George V Playing field, Walnut Tree Lane, Loose and had the normal distractions for the dogs to cope with bouncy castle, hot dog / burger stall, football beat the goal keeper, balloon man, etc. Much to Ben and Lucy's relief the organisers kindly stopped the balloon man during the display to try and avoid busting balloons upsetting the dogs. Basically the same team as last time except for Sue with Tia and Felicity standing in for Terry so the nine dogs and handlers after a quick warm up were ready to start at 1:00pm.

As usual Roger with Ben lead the team out followed by Cheryl with Charles, Su with Freddie, Ros with Lucy,  Brenda with Chester, Anne with Mizzie, Mike with Jack, Felicity with Alfie, Janet with Smokey.
The display went well aided by Mick's usual very informative commentary. All the dogs worked well completing the exercises with Charles performing his normal party piece as a signal to bring the display to a close.
The display which took the planned 20 minutes was then followed by the opportunity for the spectators to come into the ring and after asking the handlers make a fuss of the dogs.

 The next display is at Labrador Rescue Reunion Day on Sunday the 29th of June on Stockbury Playing Field, behind Stockbury Village Hall. Display scheduled to start at 3:00pm.
 

Display at Labrador Rescue Kent Reunion Day Sunday 29th June 2008

We have been to Labrador Rescue for a number of years but this time it was at its new venue on Stockbury Playing Field and earlier in the year than normal, always been in September before.
For the third time this year a ten handler/ dog team took part in the display. In fact the same that were at Lord Whisky on the 7th June, Roger with Ben followed by Cheryl with Charles, Su with Freddie, Ros with Lucy,  Brenda with Chester, Sue with Tia, Mike with Jack, Anne with Mizzie, Janet with Smokey, Terry with Alfie.
Unfortunately Ben and Lucy were again very edgy and seem to have become panicky in the display environment.
They are both twelve in two months time and as they are now finding displays stressful this will have been their last display, we think they did their first display about eight years ago so not a bad run.

The display went well, a couple of runaways to the amusement of the spectators who seemed to enjoy the display.
Mick was again doing a grand job on commentary, explaining the various sequences. The display ended as normal with the dogs in a circle being thanked by their handlers before exiting the arena.

The next display is at Tovil Fete on Saturday the 23rd August.
 
 

Display at Tovil Fete on Saturday 23rd August 2008

This was the first time we had been to Tovil Fete which was situated on an open green area adjacent to the residential area but also to the river and a wooded area. It seemed a popular fete well attended with lots of stalls, live music and plenty of sunshine.
The display started at 1:15pm when Mike with Jack led the eight strong team into the display area followed by Cheryl with Charles, Janet with Puffin,  Brenda with Chester, Sue with Tia, Anne with Mizzie, Su with Freddie, Terry with Alfie.
The display went very well, the cross over was the best this year. It was good to see the hard work put in by the handlers and their dogs together with the extra practice sessions on Sunday mornings paying off.

What better way to end a display on a hot August day but to partake in an ice cream, well Tia thought it was a good idea.


Looking around she was not alone, Chester was also seen eating one.

That looks good--- ---Going--- ---Going--- ---Gone

 

Ice cream upsets Charles the Basset so Cheryl made up for it with her monster ice cream.


 

We have one more display this year which is on Saturday 6th September at Lord Whisky.
 

Display at Lord Whisky Animal Sanctuary Saturday 6th September 2008

This was the third visit to Lord Whisky this year so with this in mind and the fact we only had about half the normal team available we did something different to our normal routine.

Although the weather was dry during the display the earlier rain had put a lot of people off so the number of spectators was very sparse compared to what we normally get at Lord Whisky.
We started our display, which this time was in two parts, at 2:30pm .
First part was using two young dogs to show how the dogs in the main display team were trained in basic on lead obedience. This included being able to walk calmly past another dog and for the dogs to be settled while the handlers held a conversation. This was demonstrated by Mike with his 18 month old collie Jake (tri) and Roger with his 17 month old collie Jack (b&w). They also joined in the second half of the display completing  the on lead exercises only.

The second part of the display was to demonstrate the training of various parts of our normal display routine, on and off lead.
This was done by following commands from Mick who was doing the commentary.
The dogs were put through various exercises walking to heal, sits, down stays, left and right circles etc.
Team members were also asked by Mick to complete individual exercises such as distance recall with a down part way back to the handler. All the exercise were well demonstrated by Mike with Jack, Cheryl with Charles, Brenda with Chester, Su with Freddie and Janet with Puffin.

This was the final display of the year, it has been one of the busier years with six displays completed. I would like to thank all the handlers with their dogs who took part in the displays for their support during the year. It is a big commitment to put in the time and effort for training, the practices and then to travel to the various events. So to get teams of between eight and ten to all the displays except the last one was a great achievement.
I would also like to thank Mick for providing the very informative commentary at all the events.
Thanks again
Roger