One man and his dog going to Aberystwyth
A young man from Erracht has won a place in the Scottish team heading to compete at the International Sheep Dog Trial in Wales next month.
Eighteen-year-old Freddy Fulford will be the youngest member of the 15-strong squad while his faithful companion Gripping Valley Nelly will be the youngest dog, aged two years and eight months.
A former Spean Bridge primary and Lochaber High School pupil, Freddy earned his place at last weekend’s Scottish championships, held at Lythmore Farm, Westfield, Thurso, by gaining points at local trials.
A good round on day two of the competition saw Freddy and Nelly into fourth place overall but the duo had a tense wait to the end of the competition on day three for all competitors and dogs to run.
At the end of day two, they were in eighth place and it was not until the penultimate dog had run the following afternoon that Freddy knew he had a place in the team.
They will now compete as part of Team Scotland at the International Sheep Dog Trial in Aberystwyth, Wales, on the weekend of September 10-12.
Freddy’s achievement is all the more outstanding considering he only got his first dog Pip, who he also ran at Thurso, three years ago. Freddy has been supported and mentored by Mike MacNally from Invergarry who he thanks for his support and encouragement along with Ed Hawkins from Gripping Valley Sheep Dogs who sold him Pip and Nelly and has also helped with his training. He was also supported by Lochaber High School which allowed him to spend time training his dogs during study sessions.
‘I had an absolutely amazing three days trialling,’ said Freddy. ‘I somehow managed to have finished runs with both my dogs and very unexpectedly get into the Scottish team with Nelly. Thank you very much to everyone who has helped me.’
This September, Freddy will be attending Edinburgh University where he will start studying for a degree in agriculture.