A dog's life at the Gisborne Showgrounds

Briana Edwards of Gisborne runs Bella over the jumps. Pictures by Liam Clayton

GISBORNE Dog Training Club has only a dozen or so competing members but hosted more than 10 times that at its annual dog obedience and agility event.

Held over Queen’s Birthday Weekend, the two-day New Zealand Kennel Club-affiliated event is one of the few around the country that caters for both disciplines, said Gisborne club secretary Amerillis Farmer.

“Because we’re not a big club the entry numbers allow us to have both obedience and agility, so it’s a very interesting couple of days,” Ms Farmer said.

That said, the club still had to manage hundreds of entries from the 75 handlers running 134 dogs in the agility events, and the nearly 50 handlers entering more than 60 dogs in obedience.

As is traditional, the notoriously clever border collie breed dominated the entries.

While she has her own trio of two German shepherds, along with a Tibetan terrier, Ms Farmer admitted none of them competed on the day.

“One is old and retired, another is young and untrained, and the other is just plain naughty,” she said of her German Shepherds.