Joanne Williamson's Introduction

COREY-BIS Am/Can/Bda Ch Parcana Lord Corwin, OA, CDX, HC


Joanne Williamson of Cranford NJ (Balgrae)
Sun Jun 22 1997

I have had Beardies since 1982. My first Beardie is still a member of the family. His name is Am/Can Ch Sir Dworkin of Arrochar UD, HC and he will have his 15th birthday in December. He doesn't do any Agility but likes to run around and bark while the other dogs do. The other current house dog is Ch Britannia Sweet Black Angel HCTs (Lily). Although I have done obedience and herding training for a number of years we started agility about one year ago.

My three agility Beardies are:

Am/Can/Bda Ch Parcana Lord Corwin CDX, NA, HC (+ 1 leg on his UD).. Corey is one of the oldest dogs to earn an AKC NA (at 11.5 years) but he can still give the younger dogs a race. Now that he understands weave poles, he will be working on his Open title.

Ch Balgrae's Rob Ruadh HT, NA, JHDs.. Rob is my "autopilot" Beardie and at three my youngest. His runs are either magnificent examples of distance control {because I can't run that fast) or total disasters. His favorite trick is to bark loudly at me whenever he thinks I've made a handling error.

Ch Balgrae's Sean Mackay CD, HS, STDs, JHDs.. Sean is the newest to Agility. I started him about 2 months ago and he earned his first two AKC Novice legs last weekend with placements. He will never be my fastest dog but I suspect that he will be the most reliable.

I started Rob and Corey in agility in order to participate in the first Specialty trial in Orlando so I didn't bother teaching them weave poles. Since it is difficult to do agility in the winter here I started weave poles in
mid-March. By fall all of them should be proficient enough to start NADAC. I don't plan on running in USDAA since all my boys would have to jump 30" and I feel that is too high. We do this for fun after all!

I find it a real challenge to run all three dogs on the same day. I have to remember they are all individuals and handle them, accordingly. And sometimes I forget..like last Sunday I crossed behind Sean after I had sent him to a tunnel..and he incurred a refusal because he turned around to see where I had gone..I had forgotten that I was not running one of the more experienced dogs!

I am also taking the correspondence course in Agility Course Design that is offered by "Clean Run". I find I am learning a lot about handling from course analysis. And when I'm not doing agility, obedience or herding (or grooming!), I work for Merck Research Labs as a biochemist. And in the spare time I have left over have an occassional conversation with my husband who unfortunately is not a dog person..but since he is a wine enthusiast will be coming to the Specialty.

BAD enough? Joanne Williamson
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Dear Joanne,

What a lively introduction! I can just picture you and your agile Beardies. Most of us training and trialing can recognize our Beardies in yours. Some of us have autopilots and others have steadier dogs who need to be taught how to run faster. Yesterday at a NADAC event, Tammy Wiebe, our Specialty Judge was giving us clues on how to pick up speed, namely by moving out ourselves and trusting our dog will move with us, especially for the more reliable ones--in other words not breaking our stride to give voice commands but leading out more with our bodies. I am eager to see if that helps those whose dogs are obedient and tend to heel, as for ours, they are both autopilot types and don't need encouragement for speed!

Your correspondence course in Course Design sounds fascinating and those of us on BAD would love to hear more about it!

I notice that you have all male champions doing agility with quite a bit of herding and obedience experience! We are working with two male champs ourselves. Many who come to agility with a firm foundation in the performance areas tend to progress rapidly, as long as we are handling properly, since the agility part is what a Beardie is all about! The agility boys tend to run with speed and it is a great joy to see a bitch out there running with the same vigor.

Thanks so much! Keep up the great work! Look forward to seeing you at the Specialty.

Libby


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