Queenstown's official dog agility club, for everyone interested in training their dog for fun or to compete
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Reading Cinemas is having an advanced screening of this cute wee family movie on Father’s Day, and if that piques the interest of anyone you know tell them to come to our fun run day on 28 September at The Church in Gibbston Valley to see our demo/have-a-go set-up in real life 🐶🎥🎞️🐕
If you've ever thought 'I don't think I can do dog agility, I can't run fast enough', then Teresa is the inspiration you're looking for. Nothing holds her back, but now she needs help from the dog community. QDAC, can you step up?
Fundraising to help Teresa beat cancer again
Perfect morning for agility training!
Jess and Sarah, two of QDAC’s junior members, competed this weekend at the South Island interschools champs. Jess and Zoom won both the experienced agility and experienced jumper titles. Jess also picked up a 3rd in experienced jumpers with Flare. Sarah, having her first time out competing, came second in open jumpers (competitors are assigned a dog at random and have 10 minutes to learn how to run it). Jess got 3rd in the same class with little Nugget, a border collie x papillon. Between the two girls they gained enough points to take the Top Schools trophy back to its rightful home at Wakatipu High School.
Did you graduate last week from our foundation class? If you search up QDAC members you can ask to join that page and see all the information about club classes.
Hey everyone, at our AGM, we had two people appointed as our social media coordinators (combined age of 30). We now have instagram again: qdac2024. You might recognise the profile photo of a certain insane heading dog.
Thank you to all those who took time out of their evening to attend tonight’s AGM 🙏🏻
We are pleased to announce this year’s committee is:
President - Melissa Read (membership coordinator)
Secretary - Alice Sutcliffe
Treasurer - Kerry Donnellan
Executive Committee:
Jo Lundgren
Amanda Dyer (website & foundation administrator)
Jessica Wilkinson
Sarah Taylor (social media coordinator)
Nicole Wilkinson (training and events coordinator)
Aviva Wood
A big thank you to the outgoing committee members who have each made a huge contribution to QDAC 👏🏻
Did you finish our recent foundation class a couple of weeks ago and join the club? Remember, you can now come to beginners training at 6 pm on Wednesdays.
The WHS school magazine had a fabulous write-up this week about Jess’s wonderful achievement at our Champs show last weekend, where Zoom became an agility champion dog in both agility and jumpers, all on the same day!!
With our ribbon trial coming up, it's timely to mention our sponsors. Biggest thanks to Happypet Products, who have again come on board to provide enough yummy treats for one lucky dog in each class. Remember, you don't have to win the class to win the treats - so long as you make it to the start line, you're in to win. As you'll see in the photo, Zoom definitely recommends HappyPets treats as the ONLY reward he wants when he wins a big class.
If you are a lucky winner or placegetter in any classes this weekend, your ribbon has been sponsored by Aspiring Canines who have come onboard this year as a new sponsor. QDAC totally recommends Aspiring Canines for your dog training needs, especially those more tricky problems.
Congratulations to our foundation graduates tonight: Margot, Suki, Romeo, Fina, Piper and Mokka 🎓🐶🌟
We hope to see you all our beginners class soon 🙌🏻🐕🐾
If anyone’s interested in having a go, email [email protected] to go on the list to be contacted when our next class is coming up ☺️
So DAC is over for another year. Bring on next year! The last two days of competition brought more hot, hot weather. Didn’t seem to matter how many bottles of water I took, we were always looking for more. But on our last night the black clouds rolled in and thunder started. Somehow I ended up in a caravan with three times as many teenagers as I’d started with. But at least it was dry.
Staying on site means camp cooking. Two of the QDAC competitors made the most of the rented caravan coming with a Weber-q. Sausages were a success. Crumpets on the bbq….well it was the only breakfast on offer on the last day so they were eaten.
A definite hit of this year’s show was the Thai food stall. When all was packed up, we got in one last visit for lunch of dumplings and spring rolls. Packing up meant one last visit to the rubbish bins - the organisers did a good job keeping the bins and toilets regularly empty, but that many people make a lot of rubbish!
Next year DAC moves to zone 3 - lower North Island.
I will post results from our three competitors at the conclusion of the show so today’s update is just to give you some idea of what goes on when hundreds of dog enthusiasts gather in provincial NZ towns. First off, trying to shovel enough protein and fats into a teenager who is, at various times, running five dogs, can be a challenge. Pikelets with jam and cream was a winner. Not so sure about the straight cream however. Maybe not a great parenting moment.
Having to pack light for handlers so you can fit enough in for dogs when you’re away for two weeks is a challenge so you do get to know the laundromats of provincial NZ.
DAC attracts many dog-related retailers and it would be a tight-fisted handler who managed to avoid being parted with their $$ in return for some brightly coloured fluffy toys. There are also massage therapists for dogs and humans. Flare is carrying a slight muscle pull so took the opportunity to try out the $5K vibrating massage bed.
DAC isn’t just about the competition. Many people attending have agility friends around the country so evenings are a chance to get together with people you might not have seen for a year. Fun to be had, before retiring to the cramped conditions of caravans or tents.
It’s a good meeting point for other purchases that might need the agility delivery network. This year QDAC have bought two new tyres which are making their way to invercargill after DAC, where they will rest for a couple of weeks before they can be uplifted and brought to their home.
Did I mention 7.15 am? Course walk is at 7.15 am for the first classes. Jess the teenage handler is complaining that I won’t let her walk the first course in her pyjamas and a blanket. For those new to competing, don’t worry. 7.15 is a hell reserved only for the nationals because of the big number of competitors in each class.
As some of you know, labour weekend each year brings the NZ dog agility championships, (DAC). For our newer members, I’ve been asked to post each day to give you a little taste of what it’s all about. This year we have three members from QDAC competing: Lesley, Jess, & Nicole, although in part due to Nicole being injured & in part due to Jess stealing her dogs, she may not get too much ring-time.
Agility in NZ is split into five zones and DAC moves between them. This year is Zone 1’s turn. Zone 1 covers the north of the North Island. And so we find ourselves in Morrinsville. Which as you can work out, has taken a wee bit of driving. Through some interesting weather. Along the way, Jess and Nicole were lucky enough to get to stop in at a German Shepherd breeder in Bulls for puppy cuddles. Managed not to buy one but thats always a risk when you visit breeders.
On arrival in Morrinsville, Jess immediately stole a little black and white six month old staffy and set about teaching it how to be her dog. Sadly, his owner returned with our caravan and recovered his pup.
With everyone gathered (I think it’s about 350 dogs), the show kicks of tomorrow with a full round on agility classes (starters, novice, intermediate, senior) followed by agility champ of champs (only for those dogs who have agility champ status), jumpers champ of champ (those dogs who have jumpers champ status), a couple of junior dog training classes (for handlers under 20 years), and junior handler of the year which the handlers have to have qualified for over the year.
Lesley will be running her three dogs in the agility classes, Nicole will possibly sneak a run with Flare in Novice, and Jess will run her dogs & Flare, in the agility classes, then add another two for the JDT classes & run Coke and Zoom in handler of the year.
I’ll post some photos and videos of the action tomorrow.
It was a busy night at training tonight - and so lovely to see dogs learning new tricks in our foundation class 🌟🐕💕
Here are some shots of our hardy runners taking part in our "Jog with your Dog" fundraiser on Sunday - thank you to all that took part - we couldn't have asked for a better day!! ☀️ 📸🏃♀️🏃🏃♂️🐕🐩
And they’re off and running… 🐕🏃🏼♀️🏃🏼🏃🏻♂️🐕
Our fun run is about to start, but our agility “have a go” course will be set up for the next couple of hours if you’re keen to come and check it out at The Church 🐕
📣Jog with your dog, our annual club fundraiser, is happening today! 10 am at The Church in Gibbston Valley (map link below). It will be a great day for it so get those weetbix down, dig out your running shoes, wake the dog (or no dog, that's ok too!) and come join us for a great morning! ☀️🦮🏃🐕🦺🏃♂️
Don't forget, there is great food and drink at the venue after the event along with a Have a Go agility setup for your dog!☕️🍺🍔🍕🥗
Can't wait to see many of you there! 📣👏🤩
★★★★★ · Restaurant
If you’re considering pet insurance have a look at this new partnership between Dogs NZ and PD Pet Insurance. In a win-win, if you use the Queenstown Dog Agility Club referral code 🌟104707🌟you’ll help with our club fundraising too! Go to https://quote.dogsnzinsurance.co.nz/Quote/Welcome for a quote. If you have existing insurance you’re considering switching you’ll need to call on 0800 738 470 🐶
Congratulations to Alice and her four year old German Shepherd, Kyro, who have graduated from the beginners class to the pre-competition class. Alice is in the process of registering herself and Kyro so they can start competing.
A big woohoo to the QDAC winners at Southland Champs show. Wee Inca (handled by Lesley Lee) showed all the big dogs how Jumpers B is done, making easy work of a course that confounded many, to pick up their first win at this level. And Zoom (handled by J2) screamed around another of the Jumpers B courses to take his 3rd win to upgrade to Jumpers A.
Congratulations to our junior handler, Jessica Wilkinson and her dog, Coke, who were selected for the senior position on the Junior Dog Training (under 20s team). At the national championships in October, this team will take on 5 regional teams of adults from around the country.
Queenstown
9302
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Awesome work by all our Foundation members today…but the stars of the day were Julie and Stanley for putting this combo together like they had been doing it for years…. Well done guys!!👏🏻✨🐶
Cargo - Gantleys Pub
Beautiful day for training..
