Tear around Tilley handled & steered by Mandy-Sue Sarti 

 

There is no amazing story how I came to have Tilley, I had already been doing agility for a few years with my midi Cleo who got me to senior level. I thought it would be a good idea to get a companion for Cleo and try and get my husband Keith involved in agility. So rather than get a puppy I thought it would be better to get a dog at least a year old so he could start training straight away, I thought there was less chance of him getting bored!

We decided to go to Pine Ridge dog sanctuary, which is in Ascot, not very far from where we lived at the time. We had asked if they had a small terrier type that they thought would be lively and may benefit from doing agility.

Pine Ridge is a small dog sanctuary, which houses strays that are picked up in Wales.

They showed us a little dog called Leah, they had very little history on her, she was picked up as a stray and when she was being spayed the vets had found out that she was pregnant, maybe a clue to why she had been straying. The kennel staff told us that she was always jumping up on her box in the kennel, and enjoyed playing with toys, and we knew straight away when we saw her that she was just what we wanted and because they were really keen for us to have her, they let us take her home that day!  We also went back some years later taking home another (Chester), and again in 2003 took on another rescue (Flo) taking our total to four.

 

That was in 1998, although Keith attended obedience and agility classes with Tilley and she was very good, he decided agility wasn't for him. With little objection from me I very willingly took over Tilleys training, and we never looked back.

 

Tilley is also a very good family dog, and is now quite happy teaching my daughter Hazel how to do agility.

Tilley’s agility career took its time as I had two children Hazel in 2000 and Connie in 2003, which limited the amount of shows that I could do, and to some extend her training. Although I remember qualifing for the Mini knock out when I was 8 months pregnant with Hazel, as each round got smaller there was less time to recover between rounds, and by the final round I think people were on standby for an early labour!

 

Our achievements to date:

Senior at Vyne 2000

Advanced Southdown's 2001                                                    

Crufts 2002 Eukanuba Knock-out

Crufts 2004 Eukanuba Mini Challenge

Crufts 2005 Mini Championship

Pedigree Mini Olympia semi -final 2001,2002,2003,2004 and 2005

Olympia Mini Final 2005

Champion Certificate Nottingham 2004

Reserve Champion Certificate Agility Club 2005

Champion Certificate Dogs In Need 2005

 

 

Tilley is about 9years old and still loving her agility, we have had some hold ups along the way, but feel we have achieved far more than some would just dream about. This little stray has taken me places I thought were impossible goals, but still each year she takes me further, perhaps this is her way to say thanks. We are both on a buzz when we run in a class, and we are a partnership, we may have taken longer to get there but its good when it happens. 

 

We are at Crufts this year in the Eukanuba Challenge, Invitation Pairs and Mini Championship and just wonder how much further we can go, can we go all the way?

Is having an Agility Champion an impossible dream? (I wonder)

 

 

Mandy-Sue now lives in Essex, with her husband Keith and their two children and 4 dogs, and co runs Stonebridge Agility Club, with her friend John Winney.