By Sarah Hawkins
“Today, I did the novice working test with the Utility Gundog Kent and East Sussex Branch and we went and won it – some tricky tests but he did all I asked of him!”
The event was the Utility Gundog society Kent and East Sussex Novice working test on 27th June 2021. Sarah’s dog’s kennel club name is Nevilldown Jelly Bean, normal name is Opie. He will be three on the 22nd of July.
Ragley Hall will be the venue for this year’s Home International, on the 24th & 25th of July, 2021. Saturday, the 24th of July, will see the Retrievers from Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland go head to head in a competition where some of the best Gundogs and handlers in Great Britain compete. Sunday, the 25th of July, will see the best Spaniels and handlers complete the international event. The Welsh Spaniel team will be defending their 2019 title.
Alan Rees, Wales Team Captain, names the following dogs and handlers, making up this year’s team, after a three week selection process –
Spaniels
5 dogs to run out of Aled Jones with Barcudwen Molly & Brynambor Blaze of Barcudwen, Julie Thatcher with Fuselea Harriett, Rhys Carpenter with Lynchside Shikra, Nathan Quinn with WhiteBeam Warbler, David Gregory with Draigcoch Ella and David Pither with Brynambor Misty.
Retrievers
Andrew Fisher with Kaliture Rooster, Nigel Probert with Drakeshead Drew of Llangynidr, Mike Jones with Ffynongain Buzzard of Wauniago, Alan Rees with Fendawood Ecclestone at Delfryd, Nigel Probert with F.T.Ch. Stauntonvale Buckwheat of Llangynidr and reserves Jane Middle with Vamp Clover and Wendy Glue with F.T.Ch. Tanyrallt Blue Bloods.
I would like to thank CSJ K9, and personally Ceri, Phil and all the team for their continued support, friendship and encouragement. We look forward to seeing you all at the Game Fair.
Alan Rees
Wales Team Captain
Here’s a short clip of one of our stockist’s 8 week old Springer Spaniel puppy, Vince enjoying his meal of CSJ Puppy Food. He was the only the puppy to survive out of a litter of 13 born by C Section. His mother developed an infection and her milk bar dried up. He had to be bottle fed every two hours day and night for 2 days. His mum is now fine and getting back into condition ready for the start of the shooting season.
“As Pip was a CP27 puppy, I weaned Vince onto CP27. He’d been a reluctant eater, but my vet was happy enough with his weight gain. My dad commented this morning that I’d used “Puppy” for several generations without issues. Maybe it was worth trying with Vince”.
His nose does not come out of the bowl until the last scrap of food has gone 😁
By Mark Laker
We’re going to The Orkney Islands and Scotland for our holiday this year for hiking, sightseeing and to catch up with Karen’s family. We’ve also booked a day’s sea kayaking exploring caves and wrecks around Orkney’s coast on what is labelled a ‘novice trip’.
Just before Covid we had joined our local canoe club
I did a lot of slalom canoeing in my youth and am still comfortable in a kayak. Karen on the other hand had a lot of enthusiasm and needed to work on her technique – in fact that is the problem, she only seems to be strong in one arm – going in a straight line alluded her for a while. Then she decided to apply her sports psychology skills, which look like this:
• Think of the dream – paddling in sea caves
• Consider what is needed to achieve that dream
• Break it down into a long term goal – written in current tense with emotions and senses: ‘The rugged beauty of the cliffs covered in nesting birds is mingled with their cries, the smell of the sea and the taste of salt water as we confidently paddle along the coastline.’
Then turn that dream into Short Term Goals written using SCCAMP criteria:
• Specific – By the middle of July I will be able to do a day’s sea kayaking in Orkney.
• Challenging – The trip I’ve booked is for novice paddlers – am I at novice level yet?
• Controllable – I can book sessions and the trip…not to be confused with controlling a sea kayak!
• Achievable – We are now regularly paddling for a couple of an hours at a time
• Measurable – The more I practise the stronger I will be so I will measure how many hours practice we get in.
• Personal – I spent many a happy holiday in Orkney on my uncle’s farm and would love to experience some of the islands from the sea.
Now I consider the skills required to reach those goals
One of the skills I need is to know how to deal with a capsize situation, which we practised last week. I felt my body strength needed to pull myself back into the kayak in water was lacking and so I find myself on a similar fitness regime to agility. Weight loss, planking and running for aerobic strength as well as time on water.
The rest of the holiday we plan to be sightseeing and walking the dogs.
CSJ products are going to be well used:
• Kibble – easy to feed – dry or wet if they need more fluid
• Billy No Mates keeping the fleas and ticks at bay
• Skinny Spray for protection before they go running in moorlands
• Skinny Cream in case of any irritations
• Skinny Dip Shampoo – Chic will surely find something to roll in and I must remember to order,
• DemBones – ideal if they get ‘deli belly’
I hope you have fun planning for your own holiday whether you use it to push yourself to achieve something or are just relaxing.
Charlie Dumbleton, 12 year old son of Fay and James Dumbleton has worked a dog since he was 6 yrs old, entering his first trial at the tender age of 7 years with Hillmoor Dot, trained by Frank Cleary and given to him by Ed Thornalley.
Thanks to Ed, Dot was the start of Charlie’s journey into the world of sheepdog handling and trialling. She was a wide flanking dog but great stopper and could be trusted to help gather sheep with Charlie at an early age.
Where it all started
Charlie is a typical young boy who enjoys his ball games, motor biking and swimming in the brook with his cousins Noah and Rory. Like his friends Ashley and Daniel Hutchinson, he also has a love for animals such as chickens, guinea pigs and dogs. It was through his interest in chickens, selling his home bred Welsumer pullets and his eggs on his egg round, that he saved up and bought his 9yr old bitch Preseli Del (Llion Harries’ Cwmadog Bess X the late Pennant Williams’ Sweep), from Angie Blackmore.
Credit is given to Angie whose previous trial successes and experience with Del have given Charlie the opportunity to progress. He spends a lot of time around the farm with Del and has built that very important bond with her; something that cannot be bought but with respect, is earned and worked for.
Charlie comes from a long line of farmers
Charlie has generations of farming in his blood and unlike his older brother Ollie and sister Neve is very keen to carry on the family tradition, particularly on the livestock rather than the machinery side of farming. James and Faye are under no illusions that Charlie could change his mind at any point, he’s only 12 years old and as long as he is happy so are they.
Both Charlie’s father James and Uncle Ben are successful competitors and judges of sheepdog trials so it seemed inevitable that at least one member of the family should follow suit.
Advice & encouragement from the best
As is common in the Trialling fraternity, advice and encouragement, especially to a youngster, is very forthcoming and both Charlie and James have benefitted from some of that advice along the way. James’ own enthusiasm to help Charlie created pressure between them but some wise words from handlers Kevin Evans and Ricky Hutchinson to basically remember that he is still a young boy, to take off the pressure and to give advice more tactfully and not during or immediately following training or trials, has made a big difference says James. It is also important to realise that too much advice from too many people can confuse a young handler and his dog.
Favourite handlers
Charlie watches other handlers very closely at trials and when asked who his favourite handler was said that there were too many to choose from but he agreed with James and Ben and liked to see Aled Owen, Kevin Evans and Ricky Hutchinson finish their runs. He admires Colin Pickford and James Gilman who are local and train their own dogs, taking what they have and working with them. Charlie enjoys watching James Howard, David Wood and good work dogs that can trial to a high level. These are an important part of trialling yet he also recognises the importance of farm dogs or ‘dogs for farmers’.
Charlie has had quite a bit of success over the years, usually at local trials, but this year was the first time he’s attempted a course like Deerplay Hill Championships. He was the highest placed Young Handler under 25 years and came 7th out of 20 in the final of the prestigious Deerplay Hill Trial.
Delighted to say that Charlie feeds CP30 and our Salmon Oil to his bitch, Preseli Del.
Charlie’s father, James says that Preseli Del was so full of running that he felt she could have done the course again!
We’re delighted to see the latest addition to the DPD Green Fleet – the Maxus edeliver
DPD has ordered 750 of these vehicles, which will double the size of their all-electric fleet. DPD have already started delivering green to cities in the UK. See their new and first ever TV ad here.
Save money by ordering in multiples of two bags – without spending more
It’s a good idea to order your food in multiples of two bags to minimise the number of deliveries per year. In general, approximately one-fifth of CSJ customers order one bag per month.
If you could order two bags at a time and order six times a year instead of 12, it halves the number of deliveries, and saves you 50% on the delivery charges.
More sustainable. More savings.
Of course, we know it’s not always easy to do this because of the cost and storage space. However, this change in the way you order could make a real difference. Think about it.
CSJ blog 