GB Team Selection Dates

The WBSDS and the BSDA of Great Britain are pleased to announce the selection dates for the agility team to represent Great Britain at the FMBB World Championships in Ljubljana (Slovenia) from 8 - 11 May 2008.

The selection will take place in two stages.

The first event will be held on Sunday, 14 October 2007 when a squad of 16 dogs will be selected. The selected dogs will train during the winter and then attend a second selection event on Sunday, 23 March 2008 when the final squad of eight handlers and dogs will be selected for the individual competition.  Also the best four from the selected eight handlers and dogs will be chosen for the team competition. Both selection events will be performance based, under FCI rules and run in a similar format to the WC.

Both selection events will be facilitated and judged by Steve Croxford at a venue on the A5 between Hinckley and Lutterworth.

Full details of selection and registration forms are available from the website of either Society  http://www.wbsds.org.uk/bsdwc2008.htm or http://www.bsdaofgb.co.uk/agility.htm

BSD World Championships 2007
by Mike Bacon (Team Manager)

 The biggest GB BSD Agility group ever travelled to Le Touquet for the FMBB Belgian Shepherd Dog 2007 World Championships. Nine competitors and their dogs, eight grooms and three supporters made the relatively short coach journey of three hours to France. More supporters joined us at the weekend, and we were pleased that Dave Ray and Alan from Premier also called in. 

Le Touquet was a good location as it is a beautiful holiday resort for Parisians. Because it was the beginning of the holiday season, there was room for the influx of BSD enthusiasts. In addition to agility, there were obedience, showing, herding and character tests as well as the World Championships in Mondio Ring and RCI which are similar to Working Trials PD. There were two dogs from Britain competing in the Mondio and one in the RCI. They joined us for the opening and closing ceremonies, making an impressive GB contingent.

The venue was a huge equestrian complex but unfortunately, the part we used was not a suitable standard for a world championship event for any of the disciplines. The area allocated for agility was a rough wet paddock. Combined heavy rain, strong winds and high tides (yes) meant it had to be abandoned on Saturday morning and the whole event moved by an army of agility competitors to a nearby rugby pitch. This provided a much better surface but was a bit removed from the main event. With added problems of wobbly flat jump cups, very light poles and the continental practice of not staking down equipment we knew it was going to be a difficult test.

The standard of the opposition has always been very high. Many of the competitors also represent their countries at the FCI All Breeds World Agility Championships with BSDs and other breeds. This year we noticed that overall the standard right across the board was extremely high. Countries that have not done so well in the past have really applied themselves to training programs and raised their standard considerably.

Our squad contained some handlers and dogs new to this level of competition. Everyone gave it a very good shot and kept trying throughout the weekend. We managed to keep a positive attitude and supported each other through some very trying conditions and situations. Andy Brown with Skye, Dianne Griffin with Inka and Julie Saunders with Razzle qualified through to the Individual finals. David Leach with Rusty, Andy Brown with Skye, Anne Challis with Timber and Diane Griffin with Inka represented GB in the Team final. Unfortunately in spite of having the fastest time overall a few faults kept the team out of the placings and they ended up 10^th

It was pretty much the same story in the Individual final. In the Jumping Individual final, they all had really good runs with some unlucky faults. This left some ground to be made up. In any case, there is no place for the steady clear in this level of competition, so in the final agility round it was flat out or bust. Sadly we were not to have an Agility Champion again this year, but all of the competitors found the experience very useful and are keen to try again.

Most importantly, we have a growing group of people competing with BSDs who now have experience of this level of competition and the drive to carry on working towards raising our standards and winning the individual and team titles again.

Full details of the event and the results can be found at http://chienplus.com/fmbb2007

The team was comprised of:-

The Individual competitors were:-

Thank you
The organising societies Belgian Shepherd Dog Association of Great Britain and the Working Belgian Shepherd Dog Society would like to thank Steve Croxford for facilitating selection, Trainers Helen Brown, Jo Frazer, Maria Stein, David Munnings. Louise Challis for arranging training and the strip. Tuff Stuff for their sponsorship. And also the FMBB for putting on the event each year, and the French organisers for an unforgettable experience.

 BSD Worlds Team Selected

The selection day for the Great Britain Agility Team for the FMBB Belgian Shepherd Dog 2007 World Championship on 10-13 May 2007 took place on Saturday, 24 March. The competition was outside in a large grass paddock to match the venue for the World Championships. It was fortunate that the weather stayed dry but it gradually changed from cold and overcast to freezing and very windy which caused problem with the electronic timing.

A lively, good natured competition took place with a lot of excellent runs over four very challenging courses - two Agility and 2 Jumping. Double individual world champion Andy Brown with Skye are entitled to compete in the Individual competition as defending champions. Eight other handlers and dogs can also compete in the Individual competition, four of which from those nine can compete in the Team competition.

Both the Individual and Team selection were done entirely on the success in the selection competition. The Team will consist of the following handlers and dogs.

Team

Joining them for the Individual competition will be the following handlers and dogs:-

Individuals

The 2007 FMBB Belgian Shepherd Dog World Championships will be held in La Touquet France, about 45 minutes drive from Calais. As well as Agility, there will be World Championship competition in IPO, Mondio Ring, (two disciplines similar to Patrol Dog level working trials) Obedience and Breed showing and assessments. Details can be found at http://chienplus.com/fmbb2007/

The sponsoring societies Belgian Shepherd Dog Association of Great Britain and the Working Belgian Shepherd Dog would like to thank Steve Croxford for facilitating the event, judging and providing a range of  FCI type courses that simulated those at the world championships.  Also ensuring the day ran smoothly were the team manager Mike Bacon, June Le Fevre who scribed and provided the running orders, score sheets, accumulator sheet, and most importantly hot drinks and biscuits, and Ken and Sue Bowe who were time keeper, and scorer. June and Sue compiled the accumulator sheet, and Margy Pratten provided overall adjudication.

FAO Competing Belgian Shepherd Agility Handlers

As you maybe aware, discussions are currently taking place with regard to the BSD World Champs team selection processes for 2007.

As a member of the BSD Agility community your views and opinions are vital to ensure the GB Team is given the best possible chance of success. Please join the debate and voting on the BSD Agility Forum by sending an email to the following address: bsdagilityUK-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

At present our breed specific clubs are busily discussing a way to jointly build and manage the Team to send to the BSD World Champs 2007. Please help assist them by letting them know your opinions.

Also the BSD Agility Forum is a great place to discuss Agility related queries and opinions with the only restriction that you must treat others how you wish to be treated.