Dawn's Retired Dogs

Below are details of some of Dawn's dogs that have either retired or no longer run full-time at their competitive height. Each and every one of her dogs have shaped her current beliefs and knowledge about handling, teaching contacts and training dogs in general. She is constantly in awe of how incredible dogs as a species are and is particularly grateful to those below who have taught her and given her so much.

Galaxy (Promises Heavenly Galaxy)

Galaxy won straight through to Grade 5 in her first season of competing and reached Grade 7 shortly after. She has since become the mother of Dawn's fantastic litter of Papillon Cross Collies.

Dawn said, "Galaxy is just an amazing, gentle and loving dog. She made a fantastic mum and her gorgeous personality has come across in some way in all of her pups."

Lotus (Lotus The Promise Of Speed)

Lotus has running contacts and won straight through to Grade 5 in her first year of competing. She is Grade 7 and was on the Great Britain IFCS team in 2014 and 2015. In 2014 she came 3rd in the Grand Prix quarter finals at USDAA Nationals.

Dawn said, "Lotus has to be the most quirky, hilarious dog I've ever met. She's unbelievable at figuring things out and has taught me a lot about how different dogs learn & tackle problems."

Breezer (Ag Ch It's Easy With A Beezy)

Breezer has a truly incredible career history. Her achievements include:

She won the Crufts Agility Championship Ticket at Crufts in 2011 making her an Agility Champion at the age of 4.
She came 2nd in the Crufts Singles 2012 and also gained the Reserve Championship Ticket
She also came 2nd in the Crufts Singles in 2011 and won the Dogs in Need Final, Grade 6/7 in 2011.
She competed for Great Britain at the European Open in Czech in 2010.
She won her 4th Championship Ticket at the Agility Club show in July 2012 to qualify her for Crufts 2013.
She also qualified for and competed at the 2012 USDAA Finals in Colorado, winning the Bronze Medal in the Individual Agility and winning the Masters Challenge Agility.
She also qualified in the Crufts Singles event for 2013 and won the bronze medal in the All Around event at 2013 IFCS Intercontinental.
In 2014 Breezer competed at IFCS again and won the bronze medal in the Gamblers class.
In the 2014 USDAA finals she got the bronze medal in the Grand Prix.
She was also on the IFCS team in 2015 and 2016.

Dawn said, "Breezer's level of consistency and success of her running contacts is something I've never seen before. She is absolutely incredible and she's also such a lovely, giving pack member too. She really is loveliness personified."

Puzzle (Ag Ch Tonring Just A Puzzle)

Puzzle is a truly phenomenal Papillon. He weighs a mere 2.5kg and is one of the smallest dogs ever to have competed at his level. His achievements include:

He is the only Papillon ever to have become an Agility Champion
He holds 8 Championship Tickets and numerous Reserve CCs
He won the Crufts Singles in 2011 and was awarded the Reserve CC at Crufts twice
At Crufts 2010, Puzzle won the Mini/Maxi Pairs and the Challenge Class
He won the British Open at Crufts in 2011
He achieved Gold Medals at the IFCS World Championships in 2010 in Jumping and Agility and a Silver Medal in the All-Round event.
He won the Dogs in Need Final in 2010
He came 5th at the European Open in the Individual Final and won the Bronze Medal in the Team event for Great Britain
Puzzle has been on the FCI World Teams in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and the Great Britain Small Team came 2nd in Jumping in 2011
He came 2nd in the Crufts Challenge in 2012
He also has competed in the Colorado USDAA Nationals in the USA and won the Silver Medal in the Gamblers! - He's a jet-setter!
In October 2013 he won the Biathalon Challenge Championship, he got the Silver Medal in the Speed Jumping Finals and in the Team Relay. He also won the Gold Medal in the Jumping and Agility.
In 2014 he came 3rd in the Gamblers, 2nd in the Biathalon and got the Gold Medal in Snooker.

Dawn said, "Puzzle is the bravest and most giving dog in the world...Running him has been such an honour but it was also scary - he always had no fear but I always worried so much that he'd hurt himself with being so small! He's such a huge personality in a tiny body and very definitely the love of my life."

Tigger (The Puzzle of Tigger)

Puzzle is Tigger's dad and his mum is a Toy Poodle. Tigger won the Novice Cup at Crufts in 2009 and won a Championship Ticket. He also qualified for Crufts several years in a row including 2011 in the Pairs with Breezer and in the Knockout. He ran in the 2013 USDAA American National Finals. In 2013 he got the bronze medal in Snooker at the USDAA Finals. He came 2nd in the Performance Speed Jumping class in the 2015 South West Regionals in the USA.

Dawn said, "Tigger is a very sweet and gentle soul at home but in Agility, he's fast and loves to bounce on the spot on the startline, hence the name Tigger!"

Promise (Cascades Heavenly Promises)

Promise was a Beardie Cross Border Collie. She won the prestigious Large Crufts Singles title in 2009 and had 2 Championship Tickets and 9 Reserve CCs. She came 3rd at Olympia in 2011 in the Senior event. She won her 2nd Championship Ticket at Dogs in Need Show in Aug 2012 to qualify her for Crufts 2013 and she also qualified for Crufts Singles in 2013. She also competed in the IFCS Intercontinental event in 2013. She was Lotus and Galaxy's mum.

Dawn says, "Promise was such a lovely dog to be around... so polite, gentle and incredibly faithful. She was always incredible to run, right up to her retirement - when we competed in Spain in 2013 on the IFCS team, I couldn't believe I was running a dog who was nearly 9 years old. She used to scream with excitement on the way to all the tunnels!"

Freeway (Silver Cascade)

Freeway was another of Dawn's Beardie Cross Border Collies. The sister of Minky (see below) but, as you'll see, definitely inherited more of the Beardie gene! Freeway came 3rd at Crufts in the Singles in 2011, won the Gold Medal for Snooker at the World Championships in 2010 and was 3rd in the Dogs in Need Final in 2010. She also held a Championship Ticket and a Reserve CC. She qualified yearly for Crufts Singles and Olympia Semis. After her retirement, she became the official FAB dog - she used to a red FAB uniform coat at the shows.

Dawn says, "Freeway was the kind of dog that melted your heart when you looked at her - she certainly did that to me! Her eyes were full of expression and she had a super sense of humour! She was incredible to run and I was devastated when a spinal injury stopped her from continuing her career. I didn't know her last run was the last at the time and this very passionately reminded me that we really do need to treasure and enjoy every single run that we are privileged to have with our dogs."

Minky (Slinky Minky Of Mo)

Minky was Freeway's sister. She won the Gold Medal for Great Britian in the Biathlon at the IFCS World Championships 2008 in Belgium. At the same Championships in 2010 she attained a Bronze Medal for the Gamblers Class. Minky also won a Championship Ticket and qualified for Crufts and Olympia on many occasions including Crufts 2011 in the Crufts Singles. She also qualfied for the USDAA Nationals in 2014 in the USA at the age of 10.

Dawn says, "Minky was a lot of fun to run with because she did everything at high speed and even managed to come back after a bad toe injury. Her and Freeway enjoyed being spoilt in their retirement. Her favourite pastimes were sunbathing, stealing toys and holding onto fleecy leads!"

Chelsea (Ag Ch Piquant Painted Sunshine)

Dawn's very first dog as a child was a Poodle and so getting Chelsea was very exciting. Nobody could have predicted what the pair of them would go on to achieve together though. Some of Chelsea's achievements included:

15 Championships Tickets to her name
She qualified for Crufts every year of her competing life
She won the Crufts Singles, the Mini/Maxi Pairs, the Crufts Challenge (2011) and the main Agility Championships at Crufts
She won every major final in Britain including the British Open, Dogs in Need Final, Supadog Final and the Nations Cup Team
She was the only dog to win Olympia four years in a row, let alone consecutively
She was on the FCI World Championships for many years, coming 6th and 7th in the Individuals and achieving many clears for her team
She also went to two IFCS World Championships in Belgium and Holland where she won the Bronze medal in the coveted All-Round event, Bronze in the Snooker and Silver in the Gamblers
She also competed in the European Open in Czech in 2010
She came 3rd in the Crufts Championship Final in 2012 at her last ever Crufts before retiring at age 11

Dawn says, "I will always feel extremely lucky to have had Chelsea in my life. She taught me perhaps more than any other dog ever will - she taught me so much about motivation and rewards and, because she hated stopped contacts, she was my drive behind creating my running contacts method. I dedicated 'To Run Or Not To Run!' in her memory and she every bit deserves this."

Dreamer (Tonring Just William)

Dreamer the Papillon qualified for two FCI World Championships in Spain and Italy, and also qualified for the IFCS World Championships in Holland. He also won Olympia in 2003 (and is the only Papillon ever to have won it) and came 3rd at Crufts in 2006. He also won the Mini/maxi pairs at Crufts with Toni Dawkins' dog, Kite.

Dawn says, "Dreamer was a very speedy, willing little guy. He had to cope with even higher jumps than we now have for small dogs and tackled everything with gusto! Sadly he's no longer with us but he maintained his character right until the very end."