Fun dog show Monday 6th May

If you fancy trying something different this Bank Holiday Monday Jan (who runs Lacy and young Ruby) will be judging at the following show, I am going with Chewy lol !

 

The classes start at 12.30pm but but you can book in from 11am, there are Novelty and Obedience classes.

 

Andy…

Companion Dog Show

Held under Kennel Club regulations.  No puppies under 6 months

Only undocked dogs and legally docked dogs may be entered for exhibition at this show

in aid of Woking Citizens Emergency Fund

at The Send May Fair

Send Recreation Ground Send Surrey GU23 7EZ

Monday 6th May 2013  12 noon  Registration for classes from 11 am

Entry fees: £2 per class.  Rosettes for places 1st-5^th in all classes plus Best in Show. 

 

Breed classes start : 12noon  Judge: Carol Broadley

1. Any variety puppy (6-9 months)

2.Any variety puppy (9-12months)  Followed by Best Puppy in show

3. Any variety non-sporting  4. Any variety sporting

5. Any variety open  6.Any variety veteran (over 7 years)

Followed by Best in Show

 

Novelty classes start :  1pm  Judge: Kim Plested

7. Best veteran D or B – 7 years plus  8. Dog or Bitch with the waggiest tail

9. Best rescue D or B   10. Prettiest bitch   11 Most handsome dog 12. Best 6 legs  13. Best Brace

14. Best unlike Brace 15. Best trick 16. – Best Young  handler (handler under 12 year’s old)  

17.D or B the judge would like to take home

18.Companion Dog Club class –Any variety non pedigree Dog

19. Companion Dog Club class- Any variety non pedigree Bitch

 

Obedience classes starts: 12.30pm

20.Starters Judge: Chris Turner

Heel on lead, recall and sit. Sit stay ½ minute, Down stay 1 minute

(for dogs and handlers who have not won in any open or championship show)

 

21. Triers Judge: Julie Osborne

Heel on lead. Heel free. Recall - present and finish. Retrieve handler’s article. Sit stay 1 minute. Down stay 2 minutes ( for dogs who have not won in novice or higher at any open or championship show)

 

Further information available from Caroline Ashford 01483 768238,   www.newlandswds.co.uk or newlandsdogtraining@gmail.com  

 

 

 

DOGS IN CARS ON HOT DAYS

Your dog is vulnerable and at risk during hot weather and the Kennel

Club offers the following guidance to help guide you through the do’s and

don’ts travelling to and whilst at Kennel Club licensed events.

• When travelling to a show please take a moment to consider whether

the route to the show is on a busy holiday route, and leave earlier to

avoid increased time in traffic jams.

• If your vehicle is not air-conditioned seriously consider whether

travelling to the show is a good idea at all.

• The vehicle should be as fully ventilated as possible, and plenty of

stops should be taken, with lots of water available to drink.

• Ensure your dog is not sitting in full sunlight. There should be plenty of

free flowing air around the dog.

• When at the show, never leave your dog in the vehicle.

• Keep the dog in the shade – take your own shade, for example a

large umbrella and always have plenty of water available to drink so

your dog stays well hydrated.

• Avoid your dog taking part in unnecessary exertion, or from standing

in exposed sunlight for extended lengths of time.

Remember, if you feel hot your dog is very likely to feel much hotter and

dehydrated, and this could lead to dire results. Please look after your

dog’s welfare.

Warning: if your dog is found to be at risk, forcible entry

to your vehicle may be necessary without liability for any

damage caused.

Anyone whose dog is entered at a Kennel Club licensed event should

take all reasonable steps to ensure the needs of their dog(s) are met, and

should not put a dog’s health and welfare at risk by any action, default,

omission or otherwise. Breach of Kennel Club Regulations in this respect

may be referred to the General Committee for disciplinary action under

Kennel Club Regulations.

Right to refuse entries. Exhibitors/competitors are reminded that

show societies have the right under Kennel Club Regulations to refuse

any entry.

YOUR FRINDLY LOCAL DOG CLUB MEETS EVERY THURSDAY  DURING TERM TIMES AT LANCASTER HALL, SEND : FROM 6.30PM

 

Rooky Racers, 4 years old :-)

Just having a little dig back over the history of the Rooky Racers, and thought I would share (a very brief summary) how things have changed over the last 4 years :-)

It the beginning (before Rooky Racers) there was the Diana Brimblecombe Flyball Team run by the lovely Sarah North.... "back in those days" you had to travel miles to find a team to train with.  This is where Chris and I started Flyball.

We wore team colours that were a fetching shade of grey ! (spot Chris, and yes, even in those days he was on his phone lol!).

Sadly Sarah decided to fold the team, at which point most people gave up Flyball... however from the ashes two new teams were born.

First off the mark were the Rooky Racers, and a few months later Bone Idol (hence the good friendship between these two teams). 

Our first ever race was in Division 7 at Fairview Farm on May 4th 2009, with a declared time of 21.70 we were seeded first in our division.

Full of anticipation of a good days racing and easy wins Muttley, Milly, Tosca, Indy & Indie set off to demolish the competition....

Rooky Racers 21.70

Shooting Star Rebels 22.04

Malmesbury Monks 22.06

Bassett Allsorts 22.11

Soxon Runners 22.41

Fourpaws Running 22.44

...we ended up coming last with a best time of 23.21 (!) lol.

Since then Indy and Indie have moved on but still race with other teams closer to where they live.

Four years later we now have 4 open teams, 2 that run under 20 seconds and a fastest ever time of 18.81 seconds.

A lovely group of dogs and people that make being with the Rooky Racers a real treat (and gets me out of bed every Saturday morning to help run training with a hang over !!).

Some then and now photos:

Training chute:

2009 = Chris fixed special chute:

Now = Nigel multi level luxury GTI chute:

2009 = x1 Peter Cave KV9 

Now = x2 Black Brain from Belgium (First team in the UK to get these... )

2009 = Our first ever starters team get 1st in London.

Now = Alfie and Benji from London 2009 join Milly and Harry in 2012 to get 1st at the BFA Champs Div 22

In 2 weeks time (27th/28th April) we hope to have 6 teams racing at Cantley Park in Wokingham, quiet a few people will be camping over and I think a few beers might also be consumed... 

So any dogs who are in the Rookys ... whether in starters training or open who want to race at Cantley please let me know.

If you cant make it but want your dog to compete we should have enough spare hands to pick them up and race them on the day, just collect them in the evening !

You will find us at Cantley by looking out for our tall red flag and big event tent :-)

Andy

Movers and Shakers - March / April

The latest movers and shakers !

Well done Summer on gaining 5000 points and her Flyball Dog Advanced award at Fairview Farm in March.

Future shakers to keep an eye on:

Mist and Young Ruby are close to 1000 points and their Flyball Dog Intermediate awards.

Lacy is close to 3000 points and her Flyball Dog Graduate award.

Blimey, talk about girl power :-)

Congrats and happy racing,

Andy

Raw dog food suppliers review - by Chris

My review of 3 suppliers of raw dog food and my preferred choices in the summary

Natural Instinct. - www.naturalinstinct.com - Customer service excellent. As they are literally just round the corner from us, we can pick the supplies up and therefore no delivery charge. Handling the 1kg tubs of Working Chicken is easy and stores well in the freezer. Quality of food seems fine though you are paying for the addition of veg. Defrosting the food is easy as there is no spillage and all the juices are contained within the tubs. Scoop out the food for the dogs and they wolf it down. With 6 dogs, we feed chicken wings in the morning and each dog gets 1/2 tub of Working Chicken in the evening. So 3 tubs used each day. We would buy 80 tubs per order to get the 30% discount but it still works out quite expensive compared to the other suppliers. Dog poo is minimal, though you can see remains of veg in the poo. The main concerns of this supplier is that they are more expensive than the others and the sheer waste of the used containers and sleeve wrapping. 

TheyLoveIt dog food - www.theyloveit.co.uk - only sells chicken products so we buy the bulk 40 x 1kg blocks of minced chicken and bags of chicken wings. Delivery charge is about £10. The blocks of 1kg minced chicken are not individually wrapped, so handling require cleanliness. Storage in a chest freezer is easy. Defrosting them is messy as the resultant blood juice can go everywhere so you will need to buy sealed plastic tubs to put each block in. We defrost 3 blocks per day, and feed chicken wings and 1/2 block of food per dog in the evening. Cleaning up the containers afterwards is a must and then restore with new frozen blocks to defrost. Chicken wings come in bags and are not so easy to store as they are irregular shapes and don't utilise freezer space very efficiently. This supplier is effectively a third cheaper than Natural Instinct (but only if you buy the bulk packs of minced chicken). Quality of minced chicken is good. Dogs wolf it down and their poos are minimal. We also feed additional veg to go with this stuff for variety and nutrients and to stop their poos going white and powdery. Good delivery service and price was £10. No real concerns of this supplier though you do have to be comfortable handling raw blocks of meat with no wrapping . Wish they did other types of meat too though. 

Manifold Valley Meats - www.manifoldvalleymeats.co.uk - variety of meat types that come in 1/2kg sausages. Delivery about £12. We bought minced chicken, beef and tripe sausage, chicken wings and ox hearts. Handling of the sausages is fine and with 6 dogs, we feed chicken wings in the morning and defrost 3 sausages per day for their evening meal. Handling of the sausages is fine though it can be tricky to cut the wrapping off from frozen. We found cutting the wrapping off from defrosted was messy so stuck to cutting off from frozen . Defrost in sealed plastic containers. Chicken wings come in boxes and are much easier to store in the chest freezer. It also means the wings don't get stuck to each other and so just select 6 wings from a box and feed directly to the dogs from frozen. They love it! I like the variety of meats this supplier does though unwrapping the sausages is a bit of a pain. Dogs poo is firm though a bit powdery. We add ox heart to the meals to loosen the poo a bit. Good delivery service, good food. Price overallis pretty much the same as theyLoveIt and 30% cheaper than Natural Instinct. 

Summary - All 3 suppliers provide good or reasonable quality of food. All our dogs have benefited enormously from changing from dry kibble to a raw diet and all have superb glossy coats, better breath, reduced poo output and skinny dogs have put on weight. 

The ease and convenience of the food from Natural Instinct is very good though more expensive compared to the others. TheyLoveIt provide only chicken type food and as there is no wrapping, then the reduced cost reflects this. Manifold Valley provide a variety of raw food type for a very good price. For both TheyLoveIt and Manifold Valley, we are able to feed 6 dogs quality raw food for a total of about £2.50 per day. 

From now on, per month, we will buy 40 x 1kg blocks of minced chicken from TheyLoveIt and 5 x 3kg boxes of Chicken Wings from Manifold Valley that will include some sausage blocks of other meats for variety. 

Next Starters Competitions

I had a question about the next starters competitions we will be entering.

We will probably be entering one team for the 13th April competition at Acremead in Abingdon.  This will be run by the MadMutts and (so far) they always finish on time and are well organised.

The down side is this venue takes 45 minutes to get to and there is not much to do while you are there… so perhaps better for those starters who are happy chilling with a book for a few hours !

We will definitely be entering one or two starters teams at Cantley Park in Wokingham on April 27th.

This will be a Dream Team competition so might over run, but luckily Wokingham is very local for most of the team, there is a pub near by, a field to walk around, the town centre is also fairy close… and you can even go and feed a carrot to my daughters horse !.

Let me know if you are interested in entering any of these (I have Tess down for Acremead).

Cheers,

Andy

Pet Fayre Update

 

Pet Fayre is an independent pet shop in Lower Early which has supported the Rooky Racers since we started with 10% of everything they sell.

In a few weeks they will be moving next to Kei's Peking Restaurant in the same Maiden Place shopping precinct.

This is to make room for a new Sainsburys Local store.

With Pets At Home now open down the road they could do with all the support they can get.

Don't forget you get 10% off everything in store or off the internet, and that anything not listed can be ordered in.  (You now get a discount card in the shop so you don't need to ask each time you visit).

Janet is very friendly and is happy to get prices up front if you ask

http://www.petfayre-reading.co.uk/index.html

Are they expensive?…. no, not at all… a quick compare of prices below:

Burns Adult Complete Pork & Potato 15Kg

Pets At Home = £47.19

Pet Fayre = £47.17 ( £42.45 with 10% discount) £4.74 Cheaper

Wagg Complete 2.5Kg

Pets At Home £3.29

Pet Fayre = £2.04 ( £1.84 with 10% discount) £1.45 Cheaper

James Wellbeloved Adult Complete Dog Food Duck & Rice 15Kg

Pets At Home = £42.00

Pet Fayre = £41.58 ( £37.42 with 10% discount) £4.58 Cheaper

So if you live out that way please support your local independent store

Andy

Hearing Dogs For Deaf People Raffle Tickets

I have some raffle tickets for the Hearing Dogs Spring Raffle.

£1 each

1st prize £8000 or a Skoda Citigo
2nd prize £1000
3rd prize Overnight stay for two at Champneys Henlow Resort with food and two treatments.

Runner up prizes of a Hearing Dog soft toy.

I will bring these next week, let me know if you want to buy one.

Thanks,

Andy