Mud Slinging

Tuffley!

One of my favourite shows of the year; great trophies and pretty rosettes, great company, a Cider Tent, lots of stalls, the beautiful backdrop of Berkeley Castle with a large exercise area but this year was different... I was ill and the show ground was threatened by a rising river and MUD!

Now, lots of shows have been disappointingly cancelled by rain and flooding this year but last weekend Lansdown went ahead (and I hear incurred costs of over £1,500 having everyone towed offsite in doing so). Tuffley also bravely opted to go ahead.

The entrance to the camping was trashed before Friday evening and people were being towed to their pitches from day one, by Saturday the path ways between rings resembled that of a festival and by Sunday the rings were holding some surface water (particularly Ring 7).

Spirits AT the show were reasonable high, Tuffley had a number of 4x4s assisting with moving people around and everybody seemed well prepared with waterproofs and a 'once you're wet, you're wet' attitude. I scribed for Dairin on Ring 7 on Saturday (it was all I was good for) and saw 2 handlers end up on their bottoms but not a single dog nose-dived (whilst I remember - Thank you to the A-SITters who lent a hand on this ring when the people who were down to help were nowhere to be seen).

What seemed to put a downer on what was otherwise a salvageable event were the comments made on Facebook about the 'risk' factors of the mud. People hiding behind their computer screens, 'trolling' as Matt puts it. I would say that pretty much everybody having a 'dig' at the organisers and competitors had not actually been to the show ground and seen the rings for themselves. There were a couple of pictures posted on Facebook but most were of the festival-type walk ways BETWEEN the rings, not actually of the rings. And people were therefore opting to stay at home based on that and other things they had read on the internet posted by people who weren't actually at the venue. Here is what I would say is an accurate picture of Tuffley at the END of the show (so at it's worst) taken by Debbie Fuller. You will see that the walk-way is trashed but that the rings still contain grass.

Judges carefully constructed their courses around the worst part of the rings which had been used the day before, if they are anything like me, they would have thrown away course plans which they had planned weeks in advance in favour of a course they designed on the spot using what they had in the way of ground and reducing any tight, twisting manoeuvres. Handlers ran through the muddier bits (and the odd puddle by Sunday) and dogs were left running on the green stuff.

For not the first time this year, we walked each course and made our decision on whether to run our dogs based on each individual course and how the ground was used in that ring. Anybody who knows me, knows that my dogs are the most precious thing in the world to me, I would do anything for them and love them with all my heart. So it is understandably upsetting to read comments on Facebook insinuating that people running their dogs at Tuffley didn't care for their dogs safety or love their dogs enough. Based on the fact that these people were not at the show to view the ground or courses for themselves I can only assume that they did not want to get their hair wet or their clothes muddy and therefore used the risk which they could not actually accurately assess as an excuse which reflects well on them and badly on others who were just trying to make light of a bad situation.

I don't know Kirsty Bennett but she wrote this on the Agilitynet Facebook page and I think it is a fair description of the show:
"Just back from a lovely day at Tuffley. Yes, it was wet and there was mud but we were safe enough and I saw no dogs slipping at all. Best of all, nobody was moaning!! We walked a course with a few puddles in it and everyone was joking about whether the puddles were part of the course instead of whinging about the position of the obstacles :) It was lovely! Most of the rings were just a bit muddy, not too wet and certainly no problem for my dogs or, miraculously, for me! Thank you to Tuffley for keeping the show going so I could make my own decision about running my dogs and to those of you who didn't come so I could get all my runs in before 12 and be home in time for an afternoon nap ;-) Definitely booking camping next year!"

In the past year Hex has hung herself on a tyre (below, for those who haven't seen it), spun herself off a dog walk and caught a jump at a funny angle putting her out of action for 5weeks, all 3 of these incidents happened on bright sunny days.

Coincidentally a dog also dislocated its hip on a tyre at the KC Festival the same year this video was taken (on a beautiful August day). Agility is a sport which contains an element of risk, (most sports do!) the weather can increase the risk, but it also increases the risk when you walk your dogs or throw a ball, even driving your dog to the vets has increased risks when you drive on wet roads or in the fog. The way my guys push each other around on walks (see video below) they'd be far more likely to injure themselves tearing around on a walk that day than under control for 30seconds in a ring. If you really don't want to put your dogs at risk, don't do agility! Do Obedience, if it's a Pedigree, then show it but don't judge me for letting my dogs do what they love best whether it's wet or not.

Some of the top handlers in the UK ran at Tuffley, if the conditions of the ring were that bad, do you really think that they would not only risk their Champ dogs, but also their reputations and in turn their careers for running their dogs in such conditions?

If you want unfavourable conditions let me take you to the European Opens 2010 in Liberec with the following video. I wasn't there, so I am unable to pass judgment based on media propaganda as to how bad the entire European Open was, but parts of the rings shown in these clips look pretty dire. A couple of dogs do slip and/or misjudge jumps (which often happens at most shows) but this video actually provides an extremely good look at how well our K9 Counterparts cope with uneven surfaces, wet surfaces and tight turns - you can see every limb and muscle working wonders in slow motion. We must remember that much like the vehicles towing everybody around the show ground, our dogs have '4 wheel drive' and are built for what they do. We on the other hand have two wheel drive; our brains, not our bodies are the strength of our species and that's why most of the competitors in this video end up flat on their arses!  

My dogs will always be pets first and foremost but I employ them to do a job and that job is agility, I give them holidays, I give them time off when they're sick and I pay them a pretty sweet wage in toys, livercake, food, walks, a roof over their heads, specialist treatments at SMART and they love their job raining or otherwise. Much like Sheep Dogs, Gun Dogs, Sniffer Dogs and Search & Rescue Dogs my dogs see Agility as their purpose and as working dogs they thrive in their working environment. 
The last show Sprite attended, his joints and kidneys were failing him, he had one eye, I had retired him 2 months prior and I decided to take him for a lead walk in lunch break, as we passed a ring he pulled on his lead and sat in front of a jump in the ring ready to start a run he was not physically able to do - nobody can tell me that my dogs would rather have a walk than go to a show and run.


This is not a well constructed piece of writing, despite my A-Level in English Literature I would still disappoint my teachers by not planning my piece, I just write things as they appear in my head and type it how I'd say it - hopefully it makes sense. Nobody made any comment DIRECTLY aimed at me, but that doesn't mean that their comments on open social networking sites and forums didn't have an effect on me. My main point I guess is that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, everybody has had different life experiences and have taken different life lessons from these, everybody's dogs are different, some more careful then others, some like the mud, some don't and that's fine. I respect that some people saw it as too much of a risk and wanted to stay warm and dry but some people stated OPINION as FACT and that's just wrong - suit yourself and don't sling mud based on the speculation and cynicism you have picked up from others; Negativity breeds negativity. Let those of us who want to sing in the rain do so. No matter where you go, or what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. (I am aware that my English teachers would now be disappointed with my use of punctuation).


Tuffley Results:


Anthony & Amy - 6th, G1 Jumping
Gill & Kassey - 9th, 1-7 Jumping
Gail & Stitch - 1st, 6-7 Jumping
Gail & Stitch - 1st, 1-7 Jumping
Gail & Stitch - 3rd, 6-7 Agility
Gail & Stitch - 4th, 1-7 Agility
Gail & Hex - 11th, 1-7 H/Skelter
Gail & Hex - 20th, 1-7 Jumping