My name is Mathew Rouse and I own a two-year-old black and white working sheepdog, Bailey. My family have always had dogs but Bailey is the first that I have owned, and I have been training with Devon Dogs since September 2006.
I first discovered dog agility about 3 years ago through my mum. I always thought she was mad, every week without fail going to agility classes to put our Springer spaniel over some jumps, but my curiosity got the better of me in the end and I went to watch this odd sport. This is when I got bitten by the bug and my interest in dog agility has increased ever since. After 17 months and a great deal of training we entered our first show in November 2006. This was a very successful weekend for us, and we won both elementary jumping and starters agility. We have also recently qualified for the semi finals of Novice Olympia.
I assist Lauren with the beginner’s agility classes. I really enjoy training puppies and young dogs because of their eagerness to learn and their need to do everything at 100mph. I believe that getting the foundation training right at this stage in your dog’s life will increase your chances of success in your dog’s agility career. I look forward to meeting you in the near future.