Gundog Training at Ashburnham Gundog Group
The ONLY Gundog training in East Sussex with a Kennel Club Accredited Instructor (Working Gundogs Advanced).
Welcome to the page for our training group. Here I will be able to post up any news and achievements such as puppy assessments and KC Good Citizen awards as well as changes to training sessions or holidays etc.
The group meets each Wednesday and Saturday morning at 9.50 for 10am and train for 2 hours, with refreshment afterwards! Wednesday is a novice standard class pushing toward intermediate and onwards. On Saturday there are four teachers who operate a “round robin” routine.
There is a waiting list for those wishing to join. Please enquire through this site.
Fundog Day for Raystede
We are having some fun this coming Saturday (July 30th) instead of training..teams of 3 against each other for rosettes and after, a bring and buy silent auction. Come and join in, and help us raise some money for a very good cause.
Kennel Club Puppy Passes
On Saturday June 4th two more lovely puppies with their owners passed their Puppy Assessments
Shelagh with Bertie
and Julie with Drake
Very well done both of you…onto Bronze soon!!!
Kennel Club Good Citizen
On Saturday June 11th 5 retakes took place for those who had either missed the first date or had received an “NR” from the assessor. So I am really thrilled to report that we can now add 3 (yes three)! new GOLD awards to the one collected by Jenny in April, and another Bronze award!
Here are the happy owners and their dogs:-
Bronze Awards, Phil with Winston!
and Tony with Scout
Gold Awards, Julia with Drago
Nikki with Barney
and Ali with Bailey!
Very well done ALL of you!!
“if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again!”
Fun Scurry
We raised £410 on the day and I have since been handed £59 with a possible £90 still to come! That makes a FANTASTIC total from just the few of you wonderful people of…£559.00!!!! Thank you…thank you on behalf of St Michaels who have already sent a thank you letter for the first cheque!
So sorry not to have posted sooner, but as I could not get dashboard to upload pictures I thought there was little point in just putting up the results! Now I have been shown a way round the problem I hope all will appear below.
Even so, apologies to the puppy people as I do not have the results in front of me right now so will add later! The only one I know is that Overall winner puppy was Brecon with Kim.
Adult winner was Vaughn with Vinnie
Water Scurry:- 1st Vaughn with Vinnie, 2nd Dave with Bentley and joint 3rd Kerry with Bunty and Peter with Flash
Jump:- 1st Vaughn with Vinnie, 2nd Rachel with Max, 3rd Laura with Bruce
Long Retrieve:- 1st Rachel with Max, 2nd Vaughn with Vinnie and 3rd Tony with Scout
Alley Run:- 1st John with Finnegan, 2nd Gill with Rubie and 3rd Brian with Harvey
A HUGE thank you to everyone involved and especially our hardworking dummy throwers! Cheers!
Southern Golden Retriever Society
On Sunday April 10th the above club held a charity Gundog Working Test.
I am delighted to say that 3 handlers and their dogs 2 of whom have had very recent close association with AGG, and one who still attends, were awarded prizes as below!
Winner of special beginner..Bev Baldwin with “Tucky” (ex Weds)
3rd special beginner..Jane Stickels with “Twinkle” (ex weds)
and 3rd in puppy class……Frances Taylor with “Ebony” (present Sats) who just happens to be the AGG Calendar April girl!
A HUGE well done to all three…carry on the good work! We are all very proud!
Kennel Club Good Citizen Awards
On Saturday April 9th we held our annual Good Citizen Assessments. Assessor was Lucy Surrage (KC Qualified Assessor to Gold Standard, List A).
To those of you classified NR, try again in a few weeks time when because of various reasons we will re test those who wish. Further details will be available asap.
For now, below , we have pictures of those passing their Bronze.
Vaughn with Vinnie John with Ben
Geoff with Bruce Ruth with Wilma
Michael with Sonny Gina with Isla
Ann with Connor Gill with Rubie
and Frances with Ebony
Very well done to all!
Now we have one pass at Gold
Jenny with Darcie
A BIG achievement!
and all below with their assessor Lucy and of course, the dogs!
April puppy pass
Here is Wendy with her Welsh Springer Spaniel “Eddie” having just been awarded their KC Puppy Assessment pass. Well done!
Easter 2016
Just a reminder that we are closed on Easter Saturday March 26th.
Kennel Club Awards
We have more KC Puppy Assessment achievements! On Saturday March 5th 3 passes and March 12th another!
from left to right Roderick with Zara, Ed with Minnie and Kim with Brecon.
Below is Vicky with Ruby
Well done all!! Bronze Silver and Gold next!!!!!!!
Kennel Club KCAI Trainer of the Year Award at Crufts 2016
Sorry gang…I didn’t win…but may I just say the biggest thank you to all of you who so whole-heartedly supported me with your votes, well wishes and very lovely comments, which actually mean more to me than anything. However, winning would have just given the edge to our “get the normal person owning normal gundog” cause on the map, so that more people could realize that they don’t have to compete in tests or trials, to enjoy their dog’s working talents.
Thank you all again! I will continue as I started! 
May 18th
Congratulations to Wendy Buckley and “Fred” her Welsh Springer Spaniel who both train here on Saturday mornings. They did their first working assessment day at their club on May 18th. Fred won Special Beginners as well as Puppy and came away with two trophies and two rosettes as well as a very happy handler! Well done both!
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Silly me in the Spring Newsletter, have put the wrong phone number for Rene and the URC Training Day on 27th April. Her correct number is 07901 857613. I had put the 7 and the 5 round the wrong way! SORRY!!!!!
KC Good Citizen Assessment Day, Saturday April 12th
Pleased to say that all participants passed today under KC Group B Assessor Sarah Jones.
Receiving Bronze are:- Carol with Ace
Nikki with Barney
SJ with Sapphire
Ken with Barney
Matt with Reuben
Camilla with Boris
Penny with Jed
Receiving SILVER were:-
Ali with Bailey
Jane with Twinkle
Kerry with Bunty
Receiving GOLD were:-
Tracie with Fern
and Pru with Kara
All the award winners together with Sarah Jones (Assessor) Vanessa Deacy (Instructor) and Lucy Surrage (Instructor). Very well done to all…now start thinking about the next step!
Puppy passes Saturday April 5th
Happy to say 4 KC Puppy Assessment Passes today at Agg
5 for the price of 1!! From left Kelly, Tania, Char, Julie, Claire & Matt
Well done all…keep up the good work!
Saturday March 29th
Don’t quite know how I managed to do this but below we seem to have a slide show of today’s AGG competitive training Day.
Best Puppy was Anne Owen with Bella , 2nd was Kelly with Ted and 3rd was Jemima’s mum Jean.
Best Novice was Debbie with Beau
Best Intermediate was John with Max
Best Advanced was Dave with Bentley
Very well done all of you and I hope everyone enjoyed the morning, and especially the wonderful weather!
Pleased to say we are ALL SYSTEMS GO! for this Saturday Feb 22nd!!
Saturday 15th Feb.
******NO TRAINING SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15th*********
At the moment with the horrendous weather we are playing it day by day. My internet has been on/off for the past 3 days and so if matters should get worse due to storms and trees etc. the line may come down again so if there is no up date about Saturday on here , please ring before coming training for the foreseeable future!!! We held Wednesday training this morning and apart from the wind..all was well. I do not publish my number but you will have it on your welcome packs! Thank you!
Wednesday Feb 12th, training as usual for those who wish to brave the weather!
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 8th
******WE ARE SORRY BUT DUE TO EXTREME ABNORMAL WEATHER CONDITIONS WE ARE CANCELLING TRAINING ON SATURDAY 8th FEBRUARY. WE HOPE TO RETURN TO NORMAL ON THE 15th BUT PLEASE CHECK THIS SITE FOR UPDATES*****
2014 February 1st
Despite the weather Vicky turned up for her puppy class with her black working cocker, Myles, and they finished the morning with their Kennel Club Puppy Assessment pass. Well done both!
We are now closed for Christmas…shame about the weather! All of us at AGG wish all of you a wonderful holiday time and look forward to seeing you in the New Year….Saturday starts Jan 4th….Weds starts Jan 8th.
Saturday December 7th
Wendy and her Welsh Springer Spaniel Sara passed the KC Puppy Assessment
Well done!
Saturday November 2nd.
Sally and her lovely little spaniel “Jack”, passed their KC Puppy Assessment today..so very well done…and he is doing well with the gundog work too.
Saturday October 5th
Two more puppy passes. Hollie with Sika and Debbie with Beau, both regular attendees, passed their KC Puppy Assessments…well done to both!
Sunday September 8th
The London Bus syndrome! Two more pupils have gained awards over the weekend! At UGS East Sussex ND/NH Gundog Working Test, “H” and her black Lab bitch “Izzey” came 2nd, and Anne Owen with her black Lab bitch “Lucy” were in a run off for 3rd place but were eventually placed 4th. Extremely good results all round!
Well done all…keep up the good work!
Saturday September 7th
Wednesday pupil Fiona Milne and her black Lab bitch “Buffy” came 2nd in the UGS Novice Gundog Working Test today gaining 79/80 and dropping just 1 point for the heel work. How good is that?! Well done….we are all very proud of you and Buffy!
FUN SCURRY
Saturday June 29th
We all had great fun yesterday and held a fun scurry for all the handlers and dogs at AGG. The sun shone and the dogs enjoyed the water! Everyone was ultra generous and contributed to the raffle which raised £44. 50 for Hounds for Heroes as well as some donations that went straight in the tin and will be counted at the end of the year.
Winners were:-
Overall Puppy….Sika with Holly
Water Scurry….Digger with Peter
Jump Scurry, Pick’n’mix Scurry and Alley Run plus Overall Winner
Dexter with Simon!!!
Thank you everyone…shall we do it again next year?
Novice Gundog Working Test
Fiona Milne who comes to Wednesday training, tells about the Novice test in which she competed back in May.
“We couldn’t do worse than the week before, a humiliating training session with the legendary John Halstead Jr., but could we do better??? We were one of 40 dogs competing in the Novice Working Test of UGS (Kent and East Sussex branch) at Allington Farm outside Lewes. The first test for us was a marked retrieve along a track through the woods, with a distraction dummy in the lake. Second was a two person walk up through rough grass, one dummy per person in front; straight forward … except for the walkers who appeared as we lined up and took off leads. Five agonising minutes while we waited for them to move off …and I remembered to breathe! Still alive, no zeros. The third test was a mark over a fence wrapped with tape, the dummy close to the fence and easily overshot ; fourth was a blind with shot across a valley, a wide ditch to cross and the dummy thrower in full view. And finally a blind in a bluebell wood. So 40 dogs, 15 had zeros, and we came away with 93/100, three from first place and just off the run-off’s. Buffy didn’t put a paw wrong – perhaps a bit of humiliation was what we needed!!!
The judges were Diana Harrison, Richard Beckerleg, Graham Home, Gwen Butcher and Julia Smith.”
Saturday June 1st
Three more KC Puppy Assessment Passes!
Well done the three who stuck with it!
From left to right Denise with Purdey, Paul with Ruby and Sharon with Monty! Excellent.
Saturday April 13th
Kennel Club Good Citizen Awards & AGG Platinum Gundog
We all beat the rain by half an hour yesterday to hold the annual KCGC Awards, together , for the very first time, with the Platinum Working Gundog AGG Special!
Results and photos below.
Bronze
6 runners and 6 passes! From left to right
Steve with Bailey, Kieran with maddie, Kerry with Bunty, Darren with Woody, Assessor Sarah Jones, and Judi with Bertie. Not in the picture, Di Stead with Ry’ak
Silver
4 runners 3 passes
from left to right :- Pru with Kara, Julie with Mink & Sarah Jones. Missing from the picture is Sucy with Sapphira
Gold
4 runners 3 passes, from left to right Bev with Tucky, Dave with Jenson and Martyn with Nellie.
Platinum
9 runners 2 passes! (oh dear, nerves got the better of some good handlers and dogs) (a special thank you to Ian for giving up his morning to throw dummies etc.)
Assessor Chris Marshall, “H” with Izzey and Jill with Edith
Very well done to all!
Saturday April 6th
Delighted to say we had 3 more KC Good Citizen Puppy Assessment passes as in the photo below. Left to right Paul with Hattie, Ray with Indy and Jane with Twinkle
Well done all three
CRUFTS ! and quite a few members of AGG attended and two also went in the Gamekeepers Ring with their dogs ( Anne with Lucy and Sue with Clem) and others picked up their Working Gundog Certificate, ( Martyn with Nellie and Kerry with Dinky.) Congratulations!
Anne with Lucy receives her WGC
Sue Ellis with Clem and Anne Owen with Lucy. Sue and Clem made it into the cut so very well done! 2014 here we come!
Kerry and Martyn (with Nellie) showing their WG Certificates
Martyn receives Nellie’s Working Gundog Certificate
Proud Martyn with Nellie
Kerry receives her Working Gundog Certificate
Dinky at home with her well earned Working Gundog Certificate
2012
Saturday December 1st
AGG had 3 puppies pass their Kennel Club Puppy Assessments…all very well done especially to Bailey who only had a week to go before he reached his first birthday!
Steve & Ali with “Bailey” Teacher Lucy and Oliver with “Dougal”
Matt & Claire with Teacher Lucy and “Reuben”
Very well done all of you…start practising for Bronze now!!!!
October 20th
Four newcomers to AGG just happen to be four Roytan puppies all from the same litter! Welcome to (left to right)
Monty with Sharon, Reuben with Matt, Purdey with Denise and Barney with Nikki!
October 6th