I
am so proud of Barkitty regulars Sam & Tizzy, who did FANTASTICALLY well at
Crufts! They won the British Open Agility Class, and placed second overall.
Here
is a clip from the TV coverage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C_fxiNQHS4&feature=youtu.be
We
are so pleased for Sam and her gorgeous girls! A lot of hard work went into
this well deserved win J
Sam
answered some questions for a magazine, and has kindly allowed me to share them
as I thought they’d be of interest;
1. How long have you been competing in
agility and how many dogs do you run?
I only run Tizzy, have been competing
in agility for 10 years. I have 4 dogs now, 2 older retired pensioners and a
youngster.
2. How old is Tizzy? I
understand she has had some health issues, (please elaborate if you don’t mind)
how is she now?
Tizzy is 5 years old, she has
(Cobalamin Malabsorption) Vitamin B12 deficiency. This we discovered at
11 months, the vet misdiagnosed it as liver and kidney failure, he was about to
put her to sleep, he actually had the needle ready to go in and I wouldn’t let
him put it in her. After he’d physically thrown me out of his surgery with an
11 month bundle of fluff and bones in my arms, I managed to get him to refer me
to a specialist with hours. With support from the agility community I got her
to Davies White Vet Specialists and they diagnosed the deficiency from her
original blood tests the vet had carried out and verified it by some additional
tests. After the first jab of B12 she picked up and has gone from strength to
strength. I had walked through their door at 8:30am, they said if I’d gone in
at lunchtime I would have taken a dead dog in, we were very very lucky!
It took a while to get it balanced
and to know how much and how often she needs, every dog is different but there
is a range your aiming for so it is possible to work it out over time, but now
she only has an annual blood test to check we’re still on track and from day 1
leaving the specialists I have done the jabs, she’s so good with them, she
doesn’t question it. We are now on first name terms with a new vet though…
For Tizzy symptoms
were, huge loss of weight, she should have been lacking in energy (she bucked
the trend there!) constant upset stomach, then ended up on a drip a few times
in 1 week.
Working with Heather
Noddle (another agility competitor who also suffered having to deal with
condition in a dog) and support from her litter brothers sisters and breeder,
there is now a DNA test available for it. We worked with the PennGenn University
Tizzys health is
fine now, we do manage it and I’m very careful with her food, we are fortunate
to be sponsored by Kronch whose food I love she also has raw once a week to.
I’m also careful on what treats I use for any shaping, Active Balance & T
Touch we do. Her jabs are every 5 days with a concentrated version of the B12
available so I could reduce the size of the needle along with less liquid. I’m
going to have to do it for life so I am conscious of what improvements I can
make for her.
There is now details
on the KC website here;
3. What special preparation did
you both do before competing at Crufts and do you have a regime to prepare for
competing generally?
We worked with K9 Athlete on
performance, exercises & physio and Active Balance using their equipment,
advice and hydro expertise.
We did do 6 nights
out of 7 working on exercises given for 3 months prior to the green carpet. We
did a lot of prep as Tizzy had actually been out of action injured since June
2013, 6 runs at KCI when we thought she was ok to run, turned out she wasn’t
quite, but she qualified and I took her back out again for more rehab, the
first time back in the ring was Thursday of the British Open and I am just
soooo proud of her.
I have previously
worked with Mind to Win to as going from grade 1 to 7 in 12 months was quite a
shock so needed some help to prepare mentally for the start lines out of grade
1 where I’d been un until Tizzy came out.
4. What are your thoughts about
the European handling that is becoming so popular in this country?
The handling suits Tizzy so I use it,
shes what’s important. She took to it straight away and made me better for her.
I’ll use what works for her. I still use more “traditional” handling to, it all
has its place for different situations. The important thing is I am consistent
for Tizzy, again shes what matters. I just want to make her look good.
5. Tell us about Tizzy at home
and if she has any funny habits that entertain you.
She is the biggest cuddle monster,
she spends more time upside down than any others.
She has a feisty
side that sometimes comes out, I’m seeing it more and more as I learn more with
her, at the end of a great run when she knows shes been ace she does a funny
growl before grabbing her toy.
We do have a very
special connection after what the vet put us through. I don’t think I’ll ever
have that with another dog, I’m not sure its normal lol.
Shes quite chatty
when we’re playing, she listens to everything, is totally focused all the time,
she really is amazing, that sounds corny but I have only said No to her once,
at DIN on a walk with friends and she was lead astray by a spaniel so wasn’t
really her fault…
6. What are your top 3 tips for
enjoying and being successful at agility?
Enjoy & be consistent for your
dog
Enjoy your friends and our sport, be
a nice person to as many people as you can be
Learn to bake cakes!! She cost me a
fortune in cakes so I had to learn to be Mary Berry…..
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