K9 RoxStars

20/10/2025

So proud of my girl achieving another GAK9 double blind assessment 🥰🐕‍🦺🥰.

This one was definitely more difficult than planned as a lot of people and dogs were out walking in the trailing area. We also had a long delay at the start as we had to wait for walkers and off lead dogs to disappear before we could get going!!!!! Rox had to work really hard to find the correct trail out, but once she committed to a direction that went away from everybody that we'd seen, I was pretty confident that she'd picked it up correctly.

Super proud of my girl - she took everything in her stride 🥰.

A huge thank you to Anna for assessing us, and to Gitti for sitting out for an hour 🙂.

Rox and I now have three of the four GAK9 Level 1 assessments under our belt 😀. If we keep practising aged trails in an urban setting we might one day be able to make it to all four 🙈🍀......

18/10/2025

Another four amazing days of training with Anna of Follow Dogs last week 🥰🐕‍🦺🤩.

I love Anna's trips to the Lake District each year, and am so grateful that she continues to fit us into her hectic schedule!!!!

The opportunity to keep testing and challenging Roxy and me as a team is invaluable. This year was all about aged trails, urban trails and double blinds, with plenty of fun stuff in between to keep the motivation high.

At the age of 13, Rox is still LOVING her trailing - long may it last 😍🐶😍.

As well as a huge thank you to Anna for sharing all of her knowledge and experience with such enthusiasm, a huge thank you to all of my clients and fellow instructors who come along each year to make it possible for me to keep getting Anna back.

Until 2026!!!!!

06/10/2025

A special Maize 🌽 Maze shoutout to this girl 🥰🐶🥰, who did 10 of this year's 181 trails in the maze 🌽👣😁🐕‍🦺😁🐾🌽.

6 of those trails were double blind (i.e. only the trail layer knew where they had gone, and even they didn't know in the majority of cases 🤣🙈🤣), and 4 of those double blinds were at the end of the day with a huge amount of contamination.

We also had a go at 2 aged trails, including a smaller aged loop inside a bigger fresh loop.

10/10 finds 🤩😍🤩

And so so accurate.

The girl was on fire 🔥.

Miss Rox, I wish I could tell you how much I love trailing with you. I hope you feel the same.
💖🏃‍♂️🐕

05/10/2025

Maize 🌽 Maze Round-up 2025!!!!!

2025 marked our 5th year of trailing in the Maize Maze at Lakeland Maze Farm Park.

When we started out back in 2021, I think we all thought it would just be a bit of fun - something different, a bit of a novelty, and a lot of laughs.

It's certainly been all of those!!!

But what it's also been is a huge learning curve for us all - dogs, handlers and instructors alike!!!!

From the first year when I said we'd never dare do double blinds, in actual fact, year on year, we've all learned a huge amount about how to trail effectively in the maze, the dogs have gone from strength to strength, and we've become much more ambitious.

The dogs LOVE it in there!!!! The odour picture for them is clearly superb.

But the junctions come fast and furious, and everybody has to learn how to deal with that. The dogs have to learn to be decisive, the handlers have to learn to be responsive, and the handler and instructor both have to learn to clear the path!!!!!

If you want to learn to read your dog's negatives, come trailing in the maze!!!

If you want to learn how to work together as a team on a shorter line, come trailing in the maze!!!!

If you need to learn to trust your dog, come trailing in the maze!!!!

I'll do a separate post with some of the trailing map overlays, but here are a few facts, figures, and highlights from this year 🥰🌽🐕‍🦺🌽🥰.

Days spent in the maze 🌽 - 9
No. of sessions 🐕‍🦺 - 16
No. of dogs 🐶 - 86
No. of trails 🐾 - 181
My total step count 👣 - 221,000
No. of times I got lost 🙈 - a few (🤣🤣🤣)
No. of times trail-layers got lost - a few more!!!
No. of deliberate double blinds 🙈 - 18
No. of accidental double blinds 🤣 - QUITE A FEW MORE!!
No. of successful double blinds - ALL OF THEM 🥰🐶🥰!!!
No. of double blinds that were actually triple blinds 🤔 - several of the above!!!
How well I think I now know this year's maze - 9.5/10 🤣

And the %age of people who want to do it all again next year????? 100% 🥰🐕‍🦺🐾👣🥰

A huge huge thank you to Amy and the team at Lakeland Maze Farm Park for providing us with this a-maize-ing opportunity every year 🥰🌽🥰.

Roll on 2026!!!!!

30/08/2025

Many people think that mantrailing is fast and furious 🏃‍♀️. It certainly doesn't have to be.... A fantastic evening in the Lake District with Sky's the Limit K9 Pawsuits at one of our favourite venues 🏞🏰🏞. 🥰🚶‍♀️🤩🐶🤩🐕‍🦺🥰
🏞 🏰
🐕‍🦺
🤩 🐶

28/08/2025

A beautiful evening for trailing by the sea 🥰.

Awesome work from all of the dogs with a mix of trailing locations including a very windy headland, sheltered woodland, the ruins of an old chapel, a big open car park, alleyways, road crossings and tricksy urban junctions.

Note to self - implement the advice that you give to your clients 🤣🤣🤣.
🚶‍♀️ 🐕‍🦺 🤯 🙈 🤩

20/07/2025

Just a tad soggy for urban trailing..... 💦☔🌧.

But everybody stayed cheerful, the dogs were awesome, and we trailed to a cake shop 😋🍰😋.

We started trailing just after the shops had closed and also just after a biblical deluge of water from the sky. The combination of people, vehicles, residual contamination and rain washing away the scent made the first round of trails quite tricky. As the rain eased and the residual contamination started to fade, you could see how much easier it was for the dogs to locate their trails.

A mix of SUPERB negatives and beautiful reading of scent movement led to three fantastic second trails.

A huge thank you to the trail layers for maintaining your senses of humour after your journeys there during the deluge!!!

🤣☔💦🌧🙈

17/07/2025

Not long now until we'll be back trailing in the Maize Maze 🥰🌽🥰!!!! The 21st anniversary design looks like great fun 😁. I'm not wishing the summer away, but roll on September!!!! In the meantime, why don't you make a non-trailing visit for all the fun and games at Lakeland Maze Farm Park. And a HUGE thank you to the team for letting us trail in their a-Maize-ing maze each year 😍.

𝗖𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝟮𝟭 𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘂𝘀! 🎉
That's right, this year's annual maize maze is our 21st and it has grown at a record rate just to add to the excitement. 🌽
The maize maze is open daily from 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝟭𝟮𝘁𝗵 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆, alongside the rest of the farm park, 10:00am - 5:30pm.
𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 for the best rates: lakelandmaze.co.uk

13/07/2025

This weekend, istead of trailing, we are playing 'Hot Sun Hokey Cokey' ☀️😁😴😁☀️.

04/07/2025

Happy 12th Gotcha Day Miss Rox 🥰🐶🥰.

12 AMAZING years 🤩. 12 life-changing years for both of us 😊.

My inspiration, my business partner, my best buddy. K9 RoxStars would never have existed if it wasn't for this girl 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰.

I love you to the moon and back my awesome girl ❤🌙❤.

Now please stop getting older.... 😭

30/06/2025

She may be retired from agility, but she's not retired from trailing at agility shows 🥰🙂🥰!!!