Small & Mighty

We are so pleased to welcome another agility pack member on board – although this time we think we may have hit the record for the smallest agility member we will likely ever get!

Little Skye, and her mum Naomi had a massive 2016 and the 2017 will likely be even bigger. Here is a little bit about the little pooch in the words of her mum:

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skye_2016
“I adopted Skye from a breeder at 4 months old – my first ever dog. We did the usual 6 weeks of puppy training which was very frustrating and took 6 weeks to teach her “down” so I tried a have a go agility session which she took to like a duck to water and the rest is history! We started foundation training from 6 months of age and full training from 12 months. Our first competitions were from 16 months (independent shows and uk agility) and 20 months kennel club shows – which was May 2016.

Skye is one of the smallest dogs competing on the uk circuit at agility at just 20cm high and 2.5kg weight. Her agility name is “The Star in the Skye” and her nickname is the flying hamster.

image1 (5)To this day she has never come home from a show without a rosette, some placed and some just a clear round. She always has a good attitude to work and just loves agility. I am very lucky to have such a special dog who is always so ready to please. Against all odds (and much larger dogs!) she has recently won into grade 4 at kennel club at the kennel club international festival and has very nearly achieved her silver agility warrant, having only achieved bronze in June. I have to remember she is only just 3 years old and I have high hopes for our future agility career.”

Sam and her pack join the Akela team

As our sponsored pack continues to grow, Sam Bowman tells us a little about herself and her dogs:

Ollie_1“I am 32 years old and work in the Software Industry. I have a 4 year old daughter, and 9 dogs (plus cats, a parrot and some small pets!) I started in agility approx. 4 years ago. I am now also a KC judge for agility, and a measurer. I currently run 2 dogs, Patch, my 4 year of rescue JRT, and Ollie my 2 year old rescue. I have Oscar who will start competing later in the year and 14 week old cocker spaniel Brook who will start her foundation training shortly.
Patch
I first found out about Akela last year when Patch qualified for the Dog Agility Rescue League (DARL) finals at Grade 1/2. He went on to win the final and I was lucky enough to win a bag, from that time on I have fed it to my dogs and they all do extremely well on it, what is especially nice is my very small dogs can have the Small Paws and they do not choke which they have done previously where the kibble is too large. Patch also qualified and placed 10th at the UKA Grand Finals last year. This year we are aiming to now get his final wins to Grade 6.

Ollie is very very talented, but very hard work, he is a wild child and has had a couple of jumping wins and last week won an agility at Derbyshire Premier Show, he is very fast and is having to learn to work his brain as fast as his legs. Next year we will be focusing on Crufts qualifying classes.

Oscar

Oscar is still a pup and will be able to compete in agility at 18 months at KC shows. He was bred to be a ratter but his breeder was unable to keep him.
Brook

Finally we have Brook, a 14 week old Cocker. She loves her Fish Feast! She will be starting foundation agility very soon but before then will be doing some filming for a TV commercial, what a star!”