Natasha & her canine partnerships to date. The dogs are her core focus.

Natasha has learnt from every dog she has had the pleasure of handling, training or owning. Each relationship has brought the following to her experience and core values as a result:

Achieve the best for/from every dog – each relationship takes you on a new journey,
The dog is the winner – you only facilitate that,
Each day is a new day,
Every dog is different,
Animal welfare and conditioning is vital from a young age,
Depth of breed variety and characteristics,
Participation/play in agility as a hobby or as a competitive elite sport

Find out more about her agility journey and learnings with her experiences below:

Nedlo Flipping Go Girl – ‘Kiki’ – Border Collie

Born – August 2017, Debut – 2019
Kiki is the latest edition to the ‘Wise’ camp and fate brought Natasha and her together,
Kiki is currently competing in jumping classes for ring experience, whilst Natasha trains her running contacts
Kiki is definitely living up to her name and has lots of ‘go’ about her and the future is looking exciting for her.

Tottlefields Flipping Bizzy – ‘Toto’ – Working Cocker Spaniel

Born – March 2017, Debut – 2019
Toto has brought a lot of happiness and excitement to the ‘Wise’ camp and there is not a day that goes by when he doesn’t make Natasha laugh in some way,
Natasha wanted to continue to test her training skills and therefore is delighted to have the opportunity to work with such an affectionate, busy little body!
Natasha and Toto joined the Medium jumping classes and when Toto’s contact skills are ready, will be competing in agility classes too.

Agility Champion Nedlo Flipping Shiny Pebble – ‘Pebbles’ – Border Collie

Born – December 2012, Debut – June 2014.
Pebbles is Natasha’s first dog that she has taught running contacts
Pebbles had a very successful Novice career winning the following finals:

Novice Cup - Kennel Club International Agility Festival,
Camddwr Cup Novice Agility,
Agility Secrets Jumping Cup.

Pebbles’ success continues at Championship, with the following key achievements to date:

2018 Team GB Member – attending European Champions and FCI World Championships as 4th leg in team and an individual participant,
2018 Team Silver medal at European Open Championships on their debut,
Achieving Agility Champion Status in 2018,
2018 Kennel Club Agility Dog of the Year winner at Olympia
2019 Crufts Singles winner and 5 individual class wins including both international class heats
2019 Team GB Member – attending European Champions and FCI World Championships
2019 European Open Championship finalist for individual and team, finishing 5th overall in the individual
2019 FCI World Championships 3rd place in team
2019 Kennel Club Agility Dog of the Year 3rd place semi-final
2019 Kennel Club Agility Dog of the Year finalist

Flickcee Latin Dancer – ‘Jive’ – Border Collie

Born – January 2008, Debut – July 2009.
Jive is such an affectionate dog and makes up for Dizzy’s lack of affection.
Natasha believes in achieving the best with each dog, so a gap of 5 years between each dog is what she normally advises. However following what happened with Blaze (see below), there is just 20 months in age between Dizzy and Jive, due to a fear of sudden loss and being left with nothing again.
Jive regrettably has lived in Dizzy’s shadow and has had some challenges with regards to health and behaviours that Natasha and Jive have had to work through during Jive’s entire life.
However despite her difficulties she reached the heights of Championship Level,
Was part of the White Horse Agility Winning Crufts team in 2013.
Achieved 2 Reserve Agility tickets and Team GB Squad selection in 2013,
Olympia has been Jive’s showcase event and in 2010 won the Morning Novice Olympia Semi Final by 2.2 seconds. In 2014 she was third in the senior competition in the Semi Final and unfortunately had a pole in the evening to finish 5th.

Agility Champion Raeanne’s Flipping Heck – ‘Dizzy’ – Border Collie

Born – April 2006, Debut - 2007.
Natasha and Dizzy share the most perfect bond, Dizzy is Natasha's rock after dealing with what happened with Blaze (see below) and their relationship is as near to telepathic as you can get. Dizzy knows when it matters, steps up and delivers!
The first FCI individual World Champions for Great Britain.
One of only 2 combinations in agility history to win the FCI World Championships 3 times.
10 individual class wins at the World Championships in 8 Team GB appearances.
First dog and handler combination to win Olympia 6 times.
23 Agility Championship Certificates.
4 Crufts titles.
Dizzy is Natasha’s dream dog apart from she hates cuddles and is an example of what Natasha can achieve through training and approach to Agility.

Gunrun Flipping Fiery – ‘Blaze’ – Border Collie

Born – Jan 2005, Passed – Jan 2006.
Natasha has been involved in agility since 1990 and as you can see worked with a number of dogs, all retrained and owned by others (see below). After completion of University and buying a house Natasha carefully selected ‘Blaze’ her very first puppy, just for her and hopefully to enjoy agility with.
Blaze was showing great promise at a young age in her agility foundations and regularly excelled in training. Blaze and Natasha had an untouchable bond together and lived life together to the full.
Natasha used her background in Sport Science and applied that to the dogs and in Blaze’s example took her to Hydrotherapy at 8 months old.
Sadly at the age of 13 months following a hydrotherapy session Blaze died suddenly (1.5 hours post exit). Specialist vets and medical teams concluded given Blaze’s symptoms she died of ‘Water Intoxication’ or ‘over ingestion of water’.
Given the history and nature of sudden death Natasha suffered huge bereavement and found herself not wanting another dog as the suffering and trauma made life difficult.
Luckily the agility community and family supported her and forced her to attend coaching sessions and training to continue with life and agility.
Blaze’s story taught Natasha to take every day as it comes and you never know when life with your best friend will end.

It is vital to ensure that when your dog has hydrotherapy (regardless of rationale such as fun, fitness or therapeutic intervention) or enjoys playing in water that it does NOT ingest any water as it could prove FATAL. Toy catching, throwing or carrying in the water should NOT be permitted due to the risk of ingesting water, or ‘water wounding’ (impact caused to the dog by jumping into water). If your dog shows any signs of sickness or high urination following hydrotherapy STOP immediately and evaluate your ‘swimming’ practise. Hydrotherapy is an awesome therapeutic intervention to support your dog if conducted by a qualified, knowledgeable and experienced individual – Ask the centre do they know about Water Intoxication or Hyponeutremia and what are they doing to prevent it? Learn from Blaze’s story and save others from this traumatic ordeal.

Agility Champion Eastern Lyric – ‘Maddie’ – Border Collie

Born – Oct 1998, Retired – Aug 2011, Passed – Sept 2014.
Similar to Ada, Maddie and Natasha started training and competing together due to her owner’s pregnancy when Maddie was 5 years old.
The partnership worked through the grades from Novice (G3) – Advance (G7) before becoming an Agility Champion at the age of 9 years old. They also competed at Crufts and Olympia on a number of occasions.
Maddie in addition to her agility success was a great dog to live with and Natasha took on full time ownership of Maddie at the age of 7.
Maddie struggled hugely with jump commitment in the early years. Natasha's previous partnerships were hugely consistent, however due to Maddie's amazing physiology and commitment issues she taught Natasha to support every inch of the way if you want to go clear. However if Maddie went clear nothing normally could touch her time. Another hugely valuable lesson was consistency with contacts and the importance of maintaining criteria in the ring through support and reminders from Maddie's owner.
Maddie went on to win her 4th Agility Certificate at the age of 11.5 years at the Agility Club show, testament to the training program she was on to sustain longevity in the sport.
Final Successes in addition to her 4 Agility Certificates included: Pedigree Team in 2004 & 2008, Pedigree Pairs in 2005, Olympia Pairs in 2009.

Crazy Maesy’s Flipping Ada – ‘Ada’ – Working Sheepdog

Born – Dec 1994, Retired – Sept 2007, Passed – 2013.
Natasha was scouted at the age of 15 by the current Olympia Champion at the time, ‘Iain Fraser’, to train and handle Ada (his wife’s dog) as due to her health and pregnancy she was unable to put the work in to Ada that was needed.
Ada was a gorgeous, small for a large (46cm) Tri colour Working Sheepdog. She was an amazing, well natured girl, who would do anything to please anyone in the world.
Full ownership of Ada was taken by Natasha when Ada was 5 years old and their bond grew and grew. Ada went to University with Natasha and the pair went everywhere together!
The partnership in Agility went from never having a clear round to Advance (Grade 7) status whilst they still were eligible for junior competitions. There was no Championship as this time in Agility.
In Junior competitions the pairing won The Agility Club points in 1999 & 2000 before winning The Kennel Club Junior Agility Dog of the Year at Crufts 2001.
In Adult competitions the pairing qualified for Crufts Singles and Olympia four times.
Final successes included: Novice Markies Jumping runner up 1999, Olympia Semi Final Winner 2000, Olympia Pairs Winner 2001, Pedigree Trek Pairs Winner 2001, Agility Club Knockout Pairs winner 2003.

Springfarm The Blacksmith – ‘Casper’ – German Spits

Veronica Brown (Owner) offered Natasha Casper to train and compete following Misty’s Retirement.
Casper taught Natasha how to handle a more sensitive dog and a smaller breed type.
Differing motivation rewards were needed to be used to get the best from Casper during his training and competition.
Natasha and Casper due to their consistency were most successful in pairs and junior competitions.
Their career highlights were overall runners up in the Kennel Club Junior Agility Dog of the Year at Crufts 2000 and Runners up in the Mini (Small) Knockout Pairs in 1999.

'Casper' - Springfarm the Blacksmith - Picture from owner Veronica Brown

Brandywine Mist – ‘Misty’ – Belgium Shepherd Tervuren

Owned by Sue Cuddon and at 9 years old came to live Full Time with Natasha when Natasha was 11 years old.
Misty was a strong willed Belgium Shephard – Taught Natasha responsible dog ownership and to work with this breed type.
In agility the partnership were extremely consistent and provided Natasha with a great learning opportunity in agility handling and competition.
The partnership were successful in junior competitions and league matches. In main adult competition they won out of elementary (Grade 1) and could always be relied on to gain clean runs in team and pairs.