Fundraising to represent New Zealand at the ANKC Dog Agility Nationals in Perth, Australia in May.

I am helping my daughter Erin raise funds so she can go and compete at the Dog Agility Nationals in Perth during May this year.

NZ is invited to enter a team to compete in the Australian States Teams Event. So it is a massive dream of hers to represent New Zealand at this high level competition with her own dog - Mist.

Erin started competing in dog agility with her own dog Trish when she was just six years old and fell in love with the sport. She is now 19 and competes all round NZ with her Border Collies, Heading Dog and Foxy.

She has trained and run multiple dogs over the past few years achieving excellent results with them all.

One dog she has done extremely well with is Mist. She is a 10 year old pedigree Border Collie that I bred.

Erin got Mist when she was nine years old and trained her for agility, obedience and flygility. Mist took to agility as if she was just born to do it and did it so naturally.

The pair did very well in the lower classes of agility and upgraded very quickly as she was so fast. Mist got to the highest grades of Agility and Flygility within two years of competing. But then the pair came to a standstill for over two years as Erin had never trained a fast dog for such tricky advanced classes. But after some help from some fellow competitors and friends they started getting in sync in the ring and getting around the hard courses without doing anything incorrect. Since then they have been the ultimate duo in agility.

Mist and Erin have achieved some awesome results together, getting some special titles to Mist’s name along the way. Mist is an Agility Grand Champion, Jumpers Grand Champion, and Flygility Champion. The pair have gotten about a dozen “Top Dog” awards from local shows all around the country. Erin has been awarded “Young Handler of the Year” with Mist and the year after with her other dog, Whiskey.

Mist has been the Top Dog in her height category for two years in a row at the New Zealand Dog Agility Championships, and won Overall Top Dog in the highest agility grade at the 2019 event. She has had the most points for her height category for the whole of NZ for three years a row. Mist has had over 77 First placings since she started agility, and even at 10 years old she is still winning.

Erin would love to take Mist to Perth to compete with as they are just a perfect team together – and this is likely Mist's last year of competing due to her age. The Australian Nationals only comes around every two years so this is Erin's only chance to take Mist.

Any donations would be extremely valued.

The money raised will be used to top up what Erin has already raised herself toward the trip and will be used toward Mist's travel expenses.

This includes export and import costs, vetting, flight expenses, entry fees and food for her.

She has been busy fundraising in her spare time. Including but not limited to: Spending many hours out in the bush trapping possums for their valuable fur, processing wild meat to sell for pet food, and teaching agility lessons at various training days.

She is currently brainstorming other ways to fundraise also.