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May 6, 2010 Volume 4, Issue 4 This month's Newsletter article is written by Chen Fawn Loong. He is an Associate Member of PAAPP since 2007. With his dog Groovy, M.A.CH,GD, the team has participated in PAAPP agility trials since 2007. Groovy is one of the top agility dogs in Malaysia. Fawn and Groovy, M.A.CH, GD will be representing PAAPP and Malaysia in the World Agility Championship in UK from 14-16 May 2010. Good luck to the team and most important have fun and enjoy the great experience of a lifetime! Sue Yeap (Secretary, PAAPP) ------------------------------------------------------------ IFCS WAC 2010 … The Land Torpedo is armed and ready, almost by Chen Fawn Loong. Home grown and locally trained dog embarking on round trip to UK to take part in the IFCS World Agility Championships … exciting times indeed! We decided to give it a go this round mainly because the championships will be held in UK, which allows dogs to visit under the Pet Travel Scheme without any quarantine period. UK is also one of the few countries from which dogs can be brought into Malaysia without quarantine. So the pet import-export procedures are fairly convenient in this regard. That said, the paperwork involved can be taxing and mind boggling. It involves blood tests in foreign labs, health certificates, permits, liaison with local, state, interstate and government vets, customs, MASkargo and clearing agents, which makes you wonder if it is worth all the effort. But we are almost there, just need a final clean bill of health from the official vet on the legacy Nipah virus and we are good to go. In addition, Groovy is in the ripe age of 6½ years for dog sports and for all the achievements and grand moments he has shared with us, he is due for a well deserved break. Little does he know it is a holiday with some work in between. On the flip side, the costs of travelling to UK with a dog doesn’t come cheap and will come up to approximately RM9 k per pax/ dog for a fortnight. Cost savings can be had if you handle the dog certifications and travel arrangements on your own. In addition, the flight can take up to 12 hours and dog has to check in 5 hours beforehand, which is a lot of time spent in the crate and cargo hold. Groovy has some limited flying experience in this regard … he has been to Langkawi via Malaysia Airlines. Dog friendly accommodation, pubs and parks are easy to find in England, this must be one of the most accommodating countries for dogs! Needless to say, our country has a lot of catching up to do but we remain optimistic. Given that agility is a fairly new sport and we have a small number of teams, there wasn’t going to be much of a selection process, but we figured that being the only dog with Malaysian Agility titles from 2 major agility clubs should count for something. Speed is Groovy’s main asset but his contacts aren’t so hot, so we are working on running contacts during the weekends. The lack of readily available agility facilities is a dampener but we make do with what we have. We wish to thank PAAPP Penang for their continuing support and role in making this journey possible. PAAPP’s recent affiliation with IFCS does make things a lot easier. We hope to be flying the mini Malaysia flags that Sue has provided. In addition, PetnYou are sponsoring training equipment and grounds, banners and buttons to make it an event to remember. 6 events will be run over 3 days from May 14 - 16 2010 in the Hand Equestrian Arena, Somerset, England comprising of Agility, Jumpers, Snookers, Gamblers, Biathlon (Agility + Jumpers) and Team (3 dogs) events. We don’t have a team so we will be running in the 5 individual events. Would have been grand if we had a full team … maybe in 2012? There will be 4 classes; Toy, Small, Midi and Maxi, with Groovy slotted to appear in Mini. Maxi, Midi and Mini will have the highest participants, with Toy seeing moderate numbers. To date, 12 countries have confirmed including USA, Canada, Russia, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Japan. Teams Australia and New Zealand will be running host dogs provided by UK, and in total more than 90 dogs will see action at the Hand Arena. Running surface is a mix of sand and vaseline normally used by horses in show jumping events, not sure how well it works for dogs though. We plan for a decent showing in Jumpers class and are gunning for Clean Runs to achieve our target of a top 10 finish in the main events. The Malaysia Agility Team Tshirts are printed and Groovy is on it. Well, it is more of a bum shot rather than a portrait, with him running helter-skelter in search of his tennis ball. Original design with a Pirate Dog logo (photo cutout of Groovy’s head) attached to the sleeves, right sleeve with dog’s name, left sleeve for handler and team manager. Comes in limited edition Man and Lady tees as well … Men get the black V neck soft cotton T, Ladies have the grey round neck baby T. We also have our work cut out trying to pick the most appropriate spring wear from Groovy’s limited wardrobe. He prefers to go bare but we are wary that it may get chilly from dusk to dawn… nevertheless, he does get to run naked in WAC 2010, sweet! Meanwhile, Groovy is compiling a list of things to do in England, which includes amongst others: · Sniffing out traditional country pubs to discover new food droppings and floor crumbs; · Foraging through medieval castle grounds for vermins to chase; · Taking advantage of the abundance of livestock in farmyards to develop herding skills; · Leaving his mark at the famous Hyde/ Kensington Parks in central London.
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Thursday 13 May – Practice Day
Friday 14 May - Competition Day 1
Saturday 15 May - Competition Day 2
Sunday 16 May - Competition Day 3
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