Hilary and Skye

My first Rough collie was not a strong dog and had severe hip dysplasia so when I was ready for another I was very careful to select a really strong athletic type and hence why I chose one of Loraine's Strobroy pups as I'd always fancied a go at agility As soon as I got him we started at a good accredited puppy school (we went to Jenny Green from Bells and Whistles) from that followed a Saturday club that she runs where they learn the basics of lots of activities such as obedience, rally, scentwork, flyball and agility (all carefully managed as age appropriate).

At a year the pups are old enough to start agility proper and we signed up for a beginners six week course where we learned the basics and it was clear that he was really enjoying it which I think is the most important aspect. Jenny unfortunately moved away about that time and I looked around and found a fantastic agility trainer Ian Lewis who teaches locally and we have never looked back.

Ian introduced us to UKA agility and we entered our first agility show just before the pandemic Skye was a real hit and a novelty with everyone as no one in our region had ever seen a rough collie doing agility (although I know there are plenty out there)

He certainly isn't the fastest (at 63 years old I'm grateful for that) however he is very accurate and never knocks anything down I think he's too worried he might hurt his paws so he clears every jump by a good margin and I discovered that the tortoise wins the race so he nearly always goes clear which gets us points and quite often that is enough to win which gets us even more.

UKA works in a really positive way so that you collect points for all clear rounds and extra if they are placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd Once you have enough points in beginners, you move up to novice, then senior, then championship.

Also there are two leagues Agility which uses all of the equipment and Steeplechase which is just jumps and tunnels, so if your dog struggles with some of the equipment you can just do steeplechase We have only been to a few shows but already Skye is in Novice for both Agility and Steeplechase, so I'm over the moon.

At our last show I slowed down at the very last jump causing Skye to miss the jump which was a shame as we would have won, but what was really funny was the judge who ran over to me and said "Noooooo we wanted Lassie to win I'd love to see more Roughs doing agility, if you're unsure just give it a try you won't regret it, you'll make new friends and build an amazing bond with your dog, just do it safely by finding a reputable trainer.

Hilary Spiers