CRUFTS OBEDIENCE WORLD CUP 2008

Held at the NEC Birmingham on Sunday 9th March 2008

I would like to thank the Kennel Club Crufts Show Committee for the invitation to judge this competition, now in it’s 5th year, and I sincerely hope that the competition will continue for many years to come and hopefully with additional teams being tempted to enter from “mainland” Europe and further afield although I realise that the cost implications for this can be a huge barrier.

My team of stewards, every last one of them, is deserving of nothing but the highest praise, not only for their faultless performances in the Obedience Ring today, but for their help, dedication and advice throughout the months of preparation and rehearsal. They were as follows:

Ring (Caller) Steward Richard Kebble

Scribe Shelagh Page

Scoreboard Jane Sutherland

Collecting Ring and Bronwyn Bartley
Liaison with Competitors and
and Team Managers Mavis Mills

Dumbbells/DC Marker Maureen Ames

Scribe/Scoreboard liaison Sandra Coulson
and Scent Decoy

Additional help with Stays Ralph Smart

Richard made a terrific job of interpreting the test just as I envisaged it and, at the same time, fulfilled his ambition to steward in the main Obedience ring at Crufts. Shelagh was always in exactly the right place at the right time and scribed faultlessly. Bron and Mave, after unofficially helping the American judge to such good effect last year, were obvious choices as far as I was concerned and their experience proved invaluable in keeping the competitors and their Team Managers informed and in bringing them to the ringside at the appropriate time with the minimum amount of fuss thereby enabling handlers to be as relaxed as possible when they were required to work. Maureen was in charge of the huge number of dumbbells required for this competition, and for additionally unobtrusively indicating to me the dog’s starting point for Distant Control. She was spot on throughout, as was Sandra, my decoy scent steward at the end of the day, who additionally collected all of the judging sheets after each exercise from Shelagh before relaying them to Jane on the ringside scorecard and computer. Jane was a model of efficiency and was ready with all the answers when they were needed after the completion of judging. Additional and very special thanks to Ralph Smart, my friend for almost 40 years who was one of my caller stewards when I judged the Crufts Obedience Championships back in 1990, and who today provided additional help with the stay exercise. (The tie didn’t go un-noticed Ralph).

My thanks also to Jim White who was Chief Obedience Steward today and gave me every possible assistance to ensure that everything ran smoothly.

Finally I would like to mention Roger Thomas and Joan Shrimpton. They are the guys who operate the graphics computer which displays all the marks, results, messages etc onto the large screen. They do a great job and have done for many years. This year, for the first time, their computer displayed the “blue screen of death” on Saturday morning. On Saturday night after we had all gone home they had to re-input all of the World Cup data into a laptop using software which was alien to them because the graphics package which they use will not run on a standard pc. Such dedication deserves a mention even though they will almost certainly never read this.

Before moving to the results may I say that the tests today were designed to examine the capabilities of the dogs and their handlers and there were some super performances although I still feel that too many handlers were guilty, in heelwork, of unacceptable waiting on turns and of adjusting their pace, particularly when executing the normal pace figure-of-eight. Other significant point losers, apart from the more obvious ones, were extended and/or extra commands on the recall “stop the dog in the stand position” prior to Distant Control where many dogs ran on considerably after the command - even though the 4 positions were then largely executed without further penalties, and extra commands used on the Retrieve Over A Hurdle, an exercise which disappointingly proved a major stumbling block for many today, with 14 out of the 25 dogs failing to negotiate the hurdle in one or both directions. I was pleased to see that the vast majority of dogs made a really good attempt at the Sendaway and only 3 dogs brought back the wrong dumbbell in the Directed Retrieve. Just 2 dogs broke the sit stay and 6 failed to bring their handler’s cloth back in the Scent Discrimination.

May I say a huge thank you to all the competitors for their attitudes which contributed so much to the enjoyment of myself and my stewards. It was a privilege to judge each and every one of you.

INDIVIDUAL COMPETITION RESULTS:

1st 287½ pts. Mia Bosschaart and her Working Sheepdog (Dog) MAMA MIA’S TYKE. What a cracking all-round performance this was. On previous occasions when I have had the pleasure of judging Tyke I have always felt that he under-achieved and that, as a team, they were capable of so much more. Well, today they showed me just how much more with excellent set exercises to back up a really strong round of heelwork. Congratulations Mia on this win which I’m sure will stay in your memory for a long time. It will certainly stay in mine.

2nd 286¼ pts. Herbie Watson and his Working Sheepdog (Dog) OB CH WHATKNOW RAZZAMATAZZ.. It’s so easy to see why Herbie and Jazzie have been at the forefront of UK Obedience for so many years now – a terrific partnership who keep producing the results in abundance year after year. Another terrific round today and it was great to see Jazz crowned Obedience Dog of the Year 2008 on Saturday.

3rd 282¾ pts. Anneliese van de Velde and her Working Sheepdog (Dog) TWINKLE’S LADDY BOY. This was without a doubt the best round I have seen from Anneliese and Laddy with none of the crucial mistakes that have cost them dearly on other occasions. Well done on gaining this richly deserved place.

4th 272 pts. Danielle de Jonge and her Border Collie (Dog) MIKEY. A lovely round Danielle even though Mikey skipped round the hurdle in retrieve. Hopefully you’ll be campaigning him in the UK again this coming season.


TEAM RESULT:

1st HOLLAND – What a brilliant team performance this was with every member playing their part to achieve this thoroughly well deserved result. The whole team, under the guidance of their Team Manager Peter van de Velde, were so obviously “up for it” and this was evident in the handlers’ attitude when they entered the ring and attacked the tests with confidence and enthusiasm. Their reward was to see their dogs respond and give their all. A terrific result for a terrific team – I’m sure they’ll be back next year determined to get their “hat trick”. Well done and congratulations to everyone connected with the team.

2nd ENGLAND – 3 times winners of the competition, England put on a great show but it was just not to be today. Let’s not take anything away from them though, this was a good team effort and in 5 years they’ve never been out of the first two places. Congratulations to all of them under the control of their new Team Manager Stella Henstridge.

3rd BELGIUM – I would imagine that this team, led by team member Lucie van de Casteele-Claeys, were delighted to get 3rd place today, especially after one of their dogs became unwell and had to be replaced at the last minute with their reserve dog.

4th WALES – Jen Jessop led the team and they put in a spirited performance to gain this place. We saw some really good work from them all but unfortunately the scent failure pushed them a little way down the line.

Judge – Roy Page