Ponty dog and owner triumph at London Olympia Christmas Horse Show

A PONTY man and his loyal dog kept their cool in front of a 10,000-strong crowd to triumph at a national agility competition.

Mark Douglas and his pooch Puck proved the perfect pairing when they came out on top at the single agility finals at the London Olympia Christmas Horse Show in December.

Around 4,000 competitors trained up their dogs in the hope of reaching the final.

And after seeing off some tough opposition, Mark and Puck, an Australia Kelpie, were victorious at the final in front of a packed crowd.

The win was the latest in a long line of victories for Mark, who has been training dogs for 15 years.

Mark, of Coed y Cwm, said: “When you’re out in front of such a big crowd it’s brilliant. But I don’t get nervous and I can’t even hear the crowd when I’m out there.

“I watched the final back on video afterwards and you can hear the roar of the crowd. But I couldn’t remember that, I think I was just focused on what me and Puck were doing.

“It was a really long day. We had to drive to London in the morning and the final was at quarter to eight in the evening.

“Puck is so fast and powerful and can be very difficult to train but on his day he’s unbeatable. One wrong foot can see you eliminated so it’s all about precision.

“At the finals he was fantastic and I’m delighted we went all the way.”

Mark spends most of his evenings training his dogs and said he loves watching them improve.

He said: “I spend a lot of my time training my dogs and other people’s dogs too.

“The biggest reward is putting the training and work in and seeing the results.

“I’ve got a big year ahead with three of my dogs representing Wales at the World Championships and one competing at Crufts.”