Crufts celebrations for Academy

MORE dogs and their owners have revealed success at this year’s Crufts event.

Members of the Lochmaben-based Grays K9 Academy are celebrating after attending the prestigious canine competition in Birmingham.

Annina Rae and three-year-old Shetland sheepdog Flora, a family pet, competed at level two of rally obedience within the Scottish Inter-Regional Rally-O team.

They only took up the discipline last summer so Crufts was a massive step up for the pair with obvious distractions of people and noise. But, they completed the course well to secure an excellent debut score of 191.

Meanwhile, Sharon Padley and working cocker spaniel Keira, nearly five, were competing at level three with the the team and also there for the first time.

The course was completed off lead with more complex exercises so greater control was required. The duo did well, although Keira found the judge a little intimidating. They finished their round with an excellent score of 181.

Academy founder Helen Gray with her German Shorthaired Pointer, Velos, both pictured, was selected as one of 20 elite teams to represent the Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Training Scheme as part of the Gold Award Main Arena Display Team over Crufts weekend.

All the hours of extra training and advance preparation paid off and they put on multiple displays in both the ring, and main arena, along with some fun challenges like temptation alley.

Helen is delighted at the club’s representation at the world’s biggest dog show.

She set up the Grays K9 Academy in 2022 specialising in Canine Parkour and Rally obedience training and has 20 dogs regularly attend.

She said: “Canine parkour is a fantastic pastime allowing dogs a safe way to explore the environment, exercise and build a bond with their handler.

“Rally obedience is a newer Kennel Club sport which combines obedience style exercises into a course. Rally-O is suitable for dogs both young and old, with or without existing obedience skills.”