All classes are taught solely by Christina Williams, a Kennel Club Accredited Instructor (KCAI) in Competitive Agility at Specialist level.
I have had dogs for over 30 years, firstly rescues of all shapes and sizes, from a Jack Russell to a labrador and many crosses. I discovered English Springer Spaniels in 2004 and fell in love with the breed and their versatility and I seem to have been collecting them ever since. Mine are all from working lines so need a job to do, if agility hasn't been for them, I have tried hard to find something they enjoy to keep them occupied. I do lots of clicker training with the dogs at home either agility exercises, gundog work, scent work, canine freestyle moves or tricks.
This is Dougal (an English Springer Spaniel) one of the dogs DRAT was named after. He was my first proper agility dog. After attending classes for a few years at a couple of clubs, I found Greg Derrett's handling system which taught me to be consistent in how I asked him work, he sped up and started to work further away from me as he was able to predict where we were going next. Amazingly, despite being measured just into large height at KC, he won out of Kennel Club Grades 1 & 2, achieved his Silver Agility Warrant and also won into Champion level in Performance (Standard height) at UKA. I lost him in February 2013 after he just turned 9.
Brodie, also an English Springer Spaniel (ESS) came along in summer 2010 and he started his training more or less as he walked through the door at 8 weeks old. No jumping but a lot of body awareness exercises, clicker training, contact position training and foundation grid work. Frustratingly, he is also just large at KC but also Standard at UKA. Brodie is very soft and shuts down easily if he thinks it is all going wrong, but as his confidence has increased and so has his speed, again I will credit the handling system. He has also won into Champion level in Performance at UKA, and he won into KC Grade 5. He is now retired.
I have five other Springers, Euan (Dougal's great nephew) was a bit more heavily built so his conformation wasn't ideal for agility so he had a career change before he even started, he has done some gun dog training and has passed his Gundog Club field tests at Grades 1, 2 and 3 all with Distinction. He loves his scent work and can now find and indicate on a variety of substances and has worked in live venues.
Maggie, was bred as a gun dog, but was born deaf so cannot hear whistles etc. She is very high drive and training proved to be more tricky as I have had to review my training methods slightly and although she can't work for a 'click', she does work for a vibration on her collar or a thumbs up. Verbal cues are out of the question so I worked very hard on teaching her distinct physical cues, the handling system again came into its own. She is tiny and measured into KC Medium. She also found the show atmosphere hard to cope with so retired after a year or so, she also loves scentwork and will indicate on a number of substances, She also enjoys coming beating on a small shoot over the winter.
Callum and Glenn, are Maggie's younger brothers who I hand reared along with the rest of the litter when, very sadly, their mother died shortly after an emergency caesarian in September 2016. Callum enjoyed his agility training and has just started competing when arthritis in both front feet brought it all to an end. Glenn loves his work as a gundog and has passed his Gundog Club Field Tests Grades 1 and 2 also with Distinction, and Grade 3 with Merit, he does a little bit of agility training also and has won into Novice Performance at UKA. They both enjoy scentwork.
The latest addition is Fraser, Callum and Glenn's nephew. He has taken to agility like a duck to water and will hopefully start competing in 2023.
I have been involved in agility since 2003 and been competing since 2005. I started teaching agility in 2005, judging at UKA shows in 2009 (passed my Approved Judges Assessment in February 2014 and December 2019) and KC shows in 2013 (having passed the appropriate exams in September 2013, and passed the online Judges Exam in 2019). The highlights so far have been judging the final of the Fitzpatrick Referrals 4th Height Jumping Cup in 2016, the KC Olympia Novice Qualifier at Norfolk Easter in 2019 and the Agility Club Starters Cup Qualifier at Norfolk Easter in 2022.
I am an Agility Club Approved Basic Instructor (October 2006) and passed my KCAI assessment in July 2016. To find out more about the KCAI scheme please click on this link:
www.thekennelclub.org.uk/training/kcai/
I have been lucky enough to turn my hobby into my career and teach people how to teach their dogs agility.
I have had dogs for over 30 years, firstly rescues of all shapes and sizes, from a Jack Russell to a labrador and many crosses. I discovered English Springer Spaniels in 2004 and fell in love with the breed and their versatility and I seem to have been collecting them ever since. Mine are all from working lines so need a job to do, if agility hasn't been for them, I have tried hard to find something they enjoy to keep them occupied. I do lots of clicker training with the dogs at home either agility exercises, gundog work, scent work, canine freestyle moves or tricks.
This is Dougal (an English Springer Spaniel) one of the dogs DRAT was named after. He was my first proper agility dog. After attending classes for a few years at a couple of clubs, I found Greg Derrett's handling system which taught me to be consistent in how I asked him work, he sped up and started to work further away from me as he was able to predict where we were going next. Amazingly, despite being measured just into large height at KC, he won out of Kennel Club Grades 1 & 2, achieved his Silver Agility Warrant and also won into Champion level in Performance (Standard height) at UKA. I lost him in February 2013 after he just turned 9.
Brodie, also an English Springer Spaniel (ESS) came along in summer 2010 and he started his training more or less as he walked through the door at 8 weeks old. No jumping but a lot of body awareness exercises, clicker training, contact position training and foundation grid work. Frustratingly, he is also just large at KC but also Standard at UKA. Brodie is very soft and shuts down easily if he thinks it is all going wrong, but as his confidence has increased and so has his speed, again I will credit the handling system. He has also won into Champion level in Performance at UKA, and he won into KC Grade 5. He is now retired.
I have five other Springers, Euan (Dougal's great nephew) was a bit more heavily built so his conformation wasn't ideal for agility so he had a career change before he even started, he has done some gun dog training and has passed his Gundog Club field tests at Grades 1, 2 and 3 all with Distinction. He loves his scent work and can now find and indicate on a variety of substances and has worked in live venues.
Maggie, was bred as a gun dog, but was born deaf so cannot hear whistles etc. She is very high drive and training proved to be more tricky as I have had to review my training methods slightly and although she can't work for a 'click', she does work for a vibration on her collar or a thumbs up. Verbal cues are out of the question so I worked very hard on teaching her distinct physical cues, the handling system again came into its own. She is tiny and measured into KC Medium. She also found the show atmosphere hard to cope with so retired after a year or so, she also loves scentwork and will indicate on a number of substances, She also enjoys coming beating on a small shoot over the winter.
Callum and Glenn, are Maggie's younger brothers who I hand reared along with the rest of the litter when, very sadly, their mother died shortly after an emergency caesarian in September 2016. Callum enjoyed his agility training and has just started competing when arthritis in both front feet brought it all to an end. Glenn loves his work as a gundog and has passed his Gundog Club Field Tests Grades 1 and 2 also with Distinction, and Grade 3 with Merit, he does a little bit of agility training also and has won into Novice Performance at UKA. They both enjoy scentwork.
The latest addition is Fraser, Callum and Glenn's nephew. He has taken to agility like a duck to water and will hopefully start competing in 2023.
I have been involved in agility since 2003 and been competing since 2005. I started teaching agility in 2005, judging at UKA shows in 2009 (passed my Approved Judges Assessment in February 2014 and December 2019) and KC shows in 2013 (having passed the appropriate exams in September 2013, and passed the online Judges Exam in 2019). The highlights so far have been judging the final of the Fitzpatrick Referrals 4th Height Jumping Cup in 2016, the KC Olympia Novice Qualifier at Norfolk Easter in 2019 and the Agility Club Starters Cup Qualifier at Norfolk Easter in 2022.
I am an Agility Club Approved Basic Instructor (October 2006) and passed my KCAI assessment in July 2016. To find out more about the KCAI scheme please click on this link:
www.thekennelclub.org.uk/training/kcai/
I have been lucky enough to turn my hobby into my career and teach people how to teach their dogs agility.