The first Cockapoo
to achieve Ag.Ch. status...
 Dexter
was never meant to be an agility dog. He came into Siobhan Beaudin's life just
after Covid during the last lockdown to keep her busy and go on adventures. Even
as a puppy, he was never an easy dog. Amongst other things, he was a Velcro dog,
and he suffered from
severe separation which wasn't easy to handle. He was seen by several
specialists, all of whom played a part in his behaviour rehab. This is the story
of how Dexter became the first of his breed to reach
Agility Champion status.
My first dog was a Cockapoo called Rosie who
was a dream come true. She was, in fact, the reason I got into agility in the
first place. My mum had signed her up for some 'fun' classes, but then couldn't
attend due to health reasons, so I took her instead.
Sadly Rosie got injured and so we had to
stop going, but I could see how much agility helped a dog come out of its shell,
ultimately leading me to the decision to start with Dexter.
At the time, I thought it would help him
to channel some of his extra energy into something productive and give him
something new to focus on. After searching online, I discovered that Margaret
and Jamie Wright offered agility training near me. Jamie teaches in his free
time between shows and university. Margaret is his nan, and it's her field we
use. She also teaches but again only on an individual basis.
 Down
the rabbit hole of agility
Dexter took to agility straight away and was able to
compete at some independent shows as early as 16 months old! At 18 months, he made his
competitive debut, coming 2nd in an Agility class at a UKA show.
At this show, I allowed Jamie to run Dexter
in a Snooker class as I had absolutely no idea about the rules. Based on their
future success as a partnership, including a 2nd place in Snooker at the World
Agility Open (WAO) this year, you might think this first run together would be a
sign of things to come. However, Dexter came out of the weaves halfway through
and went to the toilet, completely disgracing himself!
Soon afterwards, we entered our first Kennel Club
show where we got our first Agility win towards Grade 2, and just two months
later he got his
last win to go to Grade 2. We had only been there for a few months in Grade 2
and already had one win towards
Grade 3, but we needed another win to go up. My goal was the KC Novice Cup so I let Jamie do a few runs
over the summer to see if he could get us that elusive win.
It was about that time
that I realised there was a strong bond
forming between the boys so after that Jamie and I started sharing runs with both
of us getting wins in each grade until Dexter eventually reached Grade 7 - exactly one year
after his first KC show.
How our arrangement works
Originally, I started letting Jamie run Dexter as his own dog was injured and
wasn't ever going to return to the ring. Sadly, his previous agility dogs had
all passed away or retired.
At
first we'd each do two runs. I'd walk the first two courses. If there was
something I wasn't sure how to handle or didn't think I could get there, I had
Jamie there for support. Sometimes we'd disagree about handling and though I
hate to admit it, Jamie is usually right. After all he has 10 years of
experience and I just have three.
 When
it comes to training something specific, however, we both come up with ideas on
how to make it work. For instance, I am a visual learner. I stand
back and watch how to do it.
Sometimes I do three runs at a show and other weeks just one. After Dexter got
to Grade 7, I started to let Jamie do more runs while I might only do one run
per weekend or sometimes none at all. I still do all the training and a lot of
the groundwork especially when we had to retrain the seesaw.
Since Jamie and
Dexter were selected for Team England last November, I let Jamie do all the
competitive runs. I never step into the ring with Dexter except when Jamie is
judging. Then I'll do the runs on the day.
Our agreement is that I
pay the entry fees for the runs. Always have done. Dexter is my dog and I asked
Jamie to run him. I have all his G1-7 rosettes and trophies and Jamie has all
his Champ tickets and rosettes. I also have his bronze medal from WAO this year
from their Team runs. It's simply down to space, I ran out. Now all the
important ones live at Jamie's house and I still see them often.
In case you are
wondering. Here's where I admit that Jamie and I are dating. We got together
just as Dexter started competing at shows. He was coming to shows to support me
and didn't have a dog to run. I knew he was a good handler and it was a shame
not to show it off really, so that was another reason we shared him. It was not
because I thought I couldn't do it but because we are both competitive people
but in different ways with different goals. So it just works.
 Going
Champ
Heading into 2024 in Grade 7 meant Dexter was ready for his first Champ show. In
his first final, he ran last with Jamie and only missed out on the win when he
fell off the dog walk. Following this performance were four consecutive
finals but with no results. The best being with 5f but the fastest time!
Across the whole year Dexter made nine Champ
finals. His final ticket was won at North Derbyshire. It was such a special
moment, not only because it gave him his title win, but because the North
Derbyshire show in 2024 was where he got first Championship RCC. It was
definitely a full circle moment for his ticket collecting goal.
In the last two shows of the season, he went
on to win the Reserve CC at North Derbyshire, followed by the Championship
ticket in his final Champ of the year at Castlereagh. That was him and Jamie for
Crufts 2025!
 Then at Crufts this year, Dexter made the
Champ final, running second to last – not bad for his debut in the main ring!
Dexter
is now four and a half years old and it's taken him just under three years to go
from G1 to Ag.Ch.
More
road trips
Thus far, Dexter has taken me on so many adventures including as a member of
Agility Team GB, and I am looking forward to going to Portugal and The
Netherlands. I can't wait to see what the future holds for
Team Dexter, but whatever happens I will always be proud of my crazy Cockapoo!
I cannot wait to do agility with my
young dog Rainbeau since Jamie has now stolen Dexter to run competitively. But I
can't blame him. They make the most wonderful partnership!
 About
the author...
Siobhan Beaudin has owned dogs
since she was 16. Her first dog, a Cockapoo called Rosie, was a childhood dream
come true and got her into dog agility.
Since taking agility a little more
competitively, she has started making her own dog toys as Dexter absolutely
loves a tug but goes through them quickly and gets bored with of the same toy. So two
years ago her dog toy business was born and has been a part-time job ever since.
After all, we all need something to fund our
agility addiction.
Photos:
Flotography - Florent Riviere and Maddi Newton
First published 13th
November 2025
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