Agility has its Perks
We caught up with our young agility expert Sally Perks as she heads into competition season with her talented dog, Dream.
As well as her young cocker spaniel she trains Cavi, a working cocker belonging to Mole Valley Farmers’ Product Manager Jon Lawrence.
We are proud to sponsor Sally and excited to follow her as she travels across the country honing the pair’s talents. At the end of February, Sally started working full-time in her job at a doggy daycare centre just outside Cullompton. She said she’s loving it and it’s good experience as she pursues dog agility full-time. Dream can come along to work with her and gets to play with Cavi once a week.
She said: “Dream is doing really well. She had her first big show which was the Junior Agility Championships. She didn’t get any results, she just made some baby dog errors but it’s great experience and she’s making a lot of progress. She’s starting to do much harder agility and she’s even getting the hang of the seesaw.” Last time we spoke to Sally she was working on body awareness with Cavi.
She added: “He’s starting to know how his body works and where his body is. “Whereas before Cavi would knock down every single pole in an exercise, he now only knocks down one or two which is really good progress. He has also worked out he can’t just run straight into a wall, which is always good!” Dream is coming up to a busy show season. It’s already kicked off with a couple of Kennel Club shows in April.
“She did get eliminated but she learnt lots. She went slightly wrong on her weaves but I made her go back and redo them in the ring. “A massive thing with young dogs is maintaining their criteria from the start. The run might have looked prettier but if I didn’t go back and make her do it properly then Dream wouldn’t have learnt. “In her second run she got a four-second penalty but I’m confident she would have won the class or at least come a close second if she hadn’t, so it was very promising.
“Mostly, it was good to see Dream get her confidence back and start enjoying agility again after a wobble earlier in the year. And even if she didn’t place it was a successful day and I’m confident that in her next few shows, she’ll get her jumping win!” From this month onwards she’ll have two or three shows a month, including some Crufts qualifiers which Sally is excited about.
“I’ve even invested in a tent for the show season so we can save a bit of money by camping. We’re not a camping family so I don’t have much experience with it but usually, there’s a great atmosphere at the show campsites so I think Dream and I will love it. “The only problem might be my older dog Daisy - she tends to bark at everything that passes but hopefully she’ll get used to it quickly.”
With Sally putting the dogs through their paces in the agility ring it’s essential they have enough energy to concentrate and perform. Sally gives both her dogs our Country Dog Salmon and Sweet Potato kibble which is specially made for working and sporting dogs. She said: “The kibble is great for the dogs and it keeps them going throughout training. They love the turkey and chicken Premium wet tins so I save that as a special treat for them.”
We’re keeping our fingers crossed for Dream and Sally and hope the weather is kind to them as they travel around in their tent this season. We’ll be catching up with Sally again soon to find out how they got on.
Follow Sally’s agility journey on Instagram @sallyperksagility or find out more about agility classes near you at agilitynet.co.uk
