Enjoyed some time watching and what a fun event it was, but also with some astonishingly skilled performances! Another day of events tomorrow and plenty of space to park & watch, even bring your dog along with you to walk it.

Lots of breeds taking part, many of the usual suspects BC's, JRT's; but also lots of Spaniels, Mixs, Poms with a wide vareity of experience and standard, including Veterans and even (I think) a Kelpie though it was penned by a tent with another dog not competing.

I have some video footage, which I hope to share for people to see a real event and judge for themselves. It'll take a day or two to do uploads and make it available however, for now some ... ( Go direct to YouTube uploads from this event )

Here's some snaps of teams waiting their turn & in the warm up area :


"Hey, it's our turn next!", the Spaniel's tail never stop wagging, and she was raring to go.


The line up, dog's anticipating the off. Note mix of breeds, and there's a Spaniel rolling about on grass, with another dog out of shot jumping up on owner in anticipation.


Warm up area, game of tug, whilst the smaller dogs compete, larger were being readied. Some Whippets(?) were running about free out of shot.

You could hear marks not being awarded for any obstacle where the handler was not in good control, endangering the dog's safety.

Found this while looking for something else, thought you might like it. You may already have seen it. I think many people forget what the Border Collie has been bred for over generations
Border Collie Trust GB

We considered dogs from there, think their first test for a potential BC owner was if they were intelligent enough to find the place, from just a map!!

Oh, the link didn't show the page I meant
Here it is
I particularly like the over generations bit
http://bordercollietrustgb.homestead...er_Collie.html

Yes it's a good article, but good habituation from 8 weeks to noise seems to help a lot. I'll pm you the link of that page, I found how to "capture" it

I met a lovely rescue BC (lived with the Springer shown) who'd had 4 homes, didn't like men apparently, and I got asked to treat it, but it was all over me like lightening, and about 20 minutes later I could actually massage his hips with dog leaning against me

Here we go! First video clip is now available, a general scene taken shortly after arriving, whilst small dogs were competing Agility Nuts - Ruddington General Scene, Saturday 14th May 2011 (now available in youtube see below).

You can see where ppl have camped, car parking, dogs waiting to compete, dogs spectating, and dogs being prepared for the competition. Also judges and the general atmosphere. The dogs were mixed standards.

Go direct to YouTube uploads from this event

Nice thread Rob. Looks like a nice smallish(?) chilled show. Just how I like them.
I try and do far more of these types of shows with my lot, just for the more relaxed and fun environment. It's more enjoyable for us and consequently the dogs too.
Will be at the big Agility club show over the summer mind (along with the great majority of many competing agility-ers I suspect), which is a much larger affaire.

Hoping we're going to have a lovely agility season this year. And I'm definitely (note: positive mental attitude) going to push myself as much as possible to be a better handler and give my lad 100%.
Should be fun

__________________

Am uploading to You Tube now, which hopefully will improve the bandwidth and accessibility.

YouTube - Agility Nuts - Ruddington 14th/15th May 2011 General Scene & JRT in Action
YouTube - Agility Nuts - Ruddington 14th/15th May 2011 General Scene 2
YouTube - Agility Nuts - Ruddington 14th/15th May 2011 Getting Ready for the Off!
YouTube - Agility Nuts - Ruddington 14th/15th May 2011 Warming Up & Playing
YouTube - Agility Nuts - Ruddington 14th/15th May 2011 - No Bodies Perfect Not Even The Dog!
YouTube - Agility Nuts - Ruddington 14th/15th May 2011 - Camp Site Survey, Some Like it Cool!
YouTube - Agility Nuts - Ruddington 14th/15th May 2011 - Veteran Border Collie

And finally my favourite!
YouTube - Agility Nuts - Ruddington 14th/15th May 2011 - That Springer Spaniel With Waggy Tail

Unfortunately I missed video of the top competitors on Sat 14th, intending to video more runs on Sun 15th. Delayed on day and taking the dog, he had to mark about 100 times before I risked taking him near the rings

The Springer Spaniel, I followed because the dog was expressive and easy to read, I could not have guessed it was it's first comp for a year.

My camera work on Sunday was deficient, nothing useable apart from the Veteran very late on, when the rings were starting to be dismantled.

Glad the style of event and general conditions for dogs and their happiness to take part has been positive. Obvously the dogs excitement and eagerness at such events is the best answer to certain questions posed in a (closed thread) Agility - Please explain

That's the reason the clips focussed on "behind the scenes" general, rather than following the action; of which I'm sure there's 1000's of clips available already of high performance rather than fun competitors.

Everyone who attended seemed very enthused and inspired, it was a great day out, even if you just spectated, and I even on Sunday met a dog that normally walks in the park, but was with the owners father who stumbled on the event, detouring off a foot path.