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Articles: Have I caught the Agility bug by Kerry Burns

6 years ago I adopted my first dog from the RSPCA, a 5-year-old German Shepherd Bitch called Ella. She had a rotten start to life, a true horror story, which meant she had to be in foster care for 18 months following a year in kennels, before she could be re-homed. I was told that she would need to go to obedience classes for socialisation and to keep her as active as possible. I looked into agility classes for her and was recommended to Sue White at Whirlwind agility. I believe it was here that agility got into my blood!

At my first lesson I was very nervous. Sue had reassured me that it didn’t matter that Ella was loud or old. We were taken into the waiting room for an introductory chat. Sue said, amongst many things, ‘agility is fun and can be very addictive. It won’t be long before you have 2 or 3 dogs’ I thought that will never be me!

2 years later I contacted the RSPCA to find out if they had any collie/collie type puppies. That afternoon I can home with a little 12-week-old collie pup, who had been born in a Barn, so I called him Barney. By this time, I had entered my first show at Wellingborough with Ella. We didn’t do very well but we had a fantastic time.

When Barney was ready for his first competition, I vividly remember a conversation I had with Sue. She was laughing about the fact that I had said I would never get another dog and then said, ‘it won’t be long before you are camping at shows’. I was adamant there was no way I was ever going camping!!

Barney’s first show was in September 2003 at Longleat. In the august I bought myself a Vauxhall Rascal campervan, fondly called the Noddy van. It was rather cosy – enough room to sleep 2 dogs and myself. Bryan camped out in the awning. Summer 2004 took me and 2 dogs on a tour of the country – Cornwall, followed by Pembrokshire, followed by a stop off in Derbyshire to collect my first pedigree dog – a Border Collie called Blaze.

3 dogs caused a bit of an issue with the noddy van. There was simply no way we were all going to fit in. There was only one option – a larger campervan was purchased in March 2005. A 5 berth Hymer campervan so plenty of room for 3 dogs and Bryan. This summer I have done my own tour – High peaks, Dashin dogs, Dogs in need and possibly Northern week. Back on the 1^st of September to return to school but off again on the 2^nd to Letchworth.

I’m still not sure when I became infected with agility, it seemed to creep up on me and take over rather quickly. I think I have even managed to pass on the agility bug to my sister Carina. She has just got her first agility dog Maggs, which she adopted from the hearing dogs for the deaf. Maggs is her second dog. She already has a German Shepherd, Abby. Carina and Maggs are about to enter their 1^st show at Weald. Good Luck to them both. Only 1 more dog and a campervan to go!!

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