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MAN'S best friend could become man's best asset with a little help from Cathy Humphries, the proud co-owner of the new Island dog-training business Wight
Wizards Agility and Flyball.
Dog lover Cathy, 31, and partner Shaun Young, 38, have taken the opportunity to teach Island dogs the art of flyball in the hope of launching an IW team to
compete on the mainland.
Cathy, who has 15 dogs, most from rescue centres, has performed agility demonstrations at Crufts four times and has an ultimate ambition to compete at the
show.
The sport teaches fast recall, sendaway and retrieve and is common on the mainland but is currently only shown here at RSPCA demonstrations.
"It is a very fast and exciting sport and it really improves a dog's agility. Any dog can do it as long as it is quite fit"
She believes the key to effective training is to use reward and motivation exercises and teaches each stage individually before bringing it all together at
the end. The dogs therefore build up agility and accuracy through repetition.
Cathy has enrolled five dogs for her first six-week course, which runs for an hour every Wednesday at Mill Cottage Kennels. But she hopes to introduce a
Friday evening session to accommodate more people. |
