Lottie says:
“2010 has been a good year for me so far. We have competed in an agility show and I came first and second. We’ve done lots of Flyball, getting placed most times.

I was also joint West Of England Border Collie Club Flyball Dog of the Year 2009 with another dog on my team. I know I am not a Border Collie, but they allow “other breeds” to join so they can work in their obedience show.

Free paw-ing
My new sport this year is Canine Freestyle. We did a fun show in February and I won my class and my brother won his too, hu-mum was very surprised! Our first Flyball tournament of the year at Easter was cancelled due to lots of rain and even more mud. I don’t like mud, so I was glad we didn’t go, but I did miss racing though.

Then I had two Canine Freestyle shows in a week. At the first one I came 2nd and won a bag of dog food – the lady who won got a BIG bag! The next weekend I came first – but they didn’t have any food at all! I was so sad! Maybe next time. I have now won out of the first class, called Starters and am now in the Novice class. This means I have to do harder routines and work for three-and-a-half-minutes instead of two-and-a-half-minutes.

Working trials
In previous years I have competed in working trials and got second and a trophy for the happiest working dog! Not many small dogs take part in working trials. My favourite part is the tracking. This is where you follow the scent where a person has walked and find the articles that they dropped. This is so much fun – when I was taught I got to eat lots of food. Now I just love to track.

I have also tried competitive obedience, but there was a dog barking somewhere whilst I was doing my stay exercise and being a terrier, I had to answer back. Unfortunately, that meant I lost all my points, so didn’t do very well! Humum hasn’t done any obedience with me since.

We have several Flyball tournaments coming up, culminating in the British Championships in August."

Steph says:
"If you want to find out more about any of the dog sports Lottie has mentioned, you can look on The Kennel Club website. For more information about Flyball, you can look on the British Flyball Association website for clubs near you.

Other useful site are:-
www.agilitynet.co.uk
www.workingtrials.co.uk
www.obedienceuk.com
www.paws-n-music.co.uk
www.caninefreestylegb.com.”