Cariad - Cariad Cyflym
Cariad began life on a farm, kept in a shed with very little contact with people. Her mother was a kelpie who was left to fend for herself. Cariad was found on the farm by a couple at 16 weeks old. They immediately recognised that the puppy was very sick. They spoke to the farmer and asked him about the puppy. When they asked what she was fed on they were told that she ‘looked after herself’. The couple recognised that if they left the puppy at the farm it would almost certainly die. They asked the farmer if they could take her, and he told them she would cost £60. They paid him the money but several times on the way home in the car they thought the puppy had died. With lots of love and care the puppy survived and became very lively!
They named the puppy Cassie, and loved her dearly, but they had a young baby and lived in a flat. Cassie was becoming increasingly difficult to deal with, being very lively and distructive. The couple had not planned to have a dog and tried their best with Cassie, but they were unable to cope with her on walks so only took her out very rarely. They were also becoming increasingly concerned as their baby was starting to walk and Cassie would rush around the house and knock her over. In an attempt to do their best by the dog, they called in a dog behaviourist who advised them that a dog with Cassie’s nature needed to go to a working home.
Cassie was advertised at a mini/midi show where I was competing. I was becoming frustrated by my reliable but very ‘steady’ terrier! We had hundreds of clear round rosettes, but we weren’t getting any places. The advert caught my eye, I’d seen a few Kelpies do agility and really liked the way they ran, so I called the number and asked the people to bring her to the show. When they first of all gave Cassie to me I instantly decided she was not the dog for me. She was much smaller than I expected and was (to quote my own words!) ‘just a black dog’.
Being nearly 2 she was also older than I wanted. I walked around with her for a little while and she was absolutely petrified of everything. She clearly had not met many dogs before and was practically crawling around on her stomach she was so frightened. Anyone who was sitting down she would jump on their laps to try to get away from the dogs! Any time a dog went near her she would snarl and snap at them – certainly not ideal for me who competes every 
weekend! I went back to my group of friends and said ‘How am I going to tell these poor people I don’t like their dog after they’ve brought it all this way?’. My friends suggested that I take the dog for 10 more minutes just to be sure. They said to take a ball and go away from all other dogs. Once the ball was in my hand I have never seen such a transformation in a dog! She suddenly opened wide these bright yellow eyes which looked striking in contrast to her jet black fur, and stared intently at the ball. Her focus and energy was like I had never seen before in a dog. We had a great time playing ball, and all of a sudden she seemed to like me too, jumping up and barking at me to throw the ball. I returned to the couple’s home the next day with my trainer. We took Cassie out for a walk, and within minutes we decided that she would make a perfect agility dog – that afternoon I took her home and she became Cariad (Welsh for sweetheart) We started training straight away. Co-incidentally my terrier injured her cruciate ligament 2 weeks after I got Cariad, and I had to retire her, so now I was able to focus all my energy on training my new dog.
It turns out that Cariad seems to have been born to do agility, she loves it even more than she loves tennis balls. In 
fact she loves it so much that training aids such as treats and toys are a waste of time! She just ignores them, all she wants to do is work. It’s just as well she loves agility because my poor house is covered in scars from Cariad’s destructive efforts. She hates me leaving her, but I have to go and earn money to pay for dog food and agility entries, and in the beginning I would dread coming home to find what she had ruined next! Sometimes I really worried if I could cope with her especially when my brand new sofa and carpet ended up with huge holes in them! We worked with lots of trainers and I paid a fortune in dog sitting fees, but eventually Cariad settled into a routine, and got used to being left in the day. Cariad has been well and truly socialised now, and although she still likes her space from strange dogs, once she gets to know them she loves playing with other dogs. She has gone from strength to strength in agility and so far this year she has won me out of starters (twice!). I’ve had great fun training her – despite her being sure that she can do the course much faster if she jumps from the top of the A frame, and misses out a few of those weaves! We’re getting together a really good working partnership now, I’m so lucky to have found my perfect dog!
