Our History | Competitions | Our Training
Mike Bendell and his wife Jo live in Mangotsfield, Bristol with their four dogs Star, Spy, Falcon & Dude. Star is a 12 year old Border Collie and 89 year old Spy is his half brother, Falcon is a 5 year old Working Sheepdog and Dude is our youngster born in March 2022. We also had Razzle and Magic who were our first agility dogs but unfortunately we lost both of them in the last couple of years – Magic was almost 15 and Razzle 13.
Both Spy and Falcon are Champion standard at UK Agility and Grade 7 at Kennel Club and compete at Championship shows across the country. Star has now retired from agility.
Competitions
Falcon reached Grade 7 after 6 months of competing in 2021 and won his first Championship Ticket in March 2022 qualifying him for Crufts 2023. Falcon also won his 2nd Championship Ticket in January 2023 qualifying him for Crufts in 2024. He also won a 3rd Championship Ticket in January 2024 qualifying him for Crufts 2025. Winning 3 Championship Tickets also makes Falcon an Agility Champion. This status is achieved by very few dogs so we are extremely proud of this. Falcon’s official Kennel Club name is now AG CH Lookylooky Blue Falcon
In December 2022 Falcon won the Large KC Agility Stakes (previously known as Olympia) at the London International Horse Show – this really was a dream come true. We then couldn’t believe it when Falcon won the Large International Invitation Agility Final at Crufts in March 2023, this really was a great experience and Falcon loved the atmosphere.
Falcon was also selected to represent England at the World Agility Open in May 2023 in Netherlands. We were absolutely over the moon when he won a Bronze medal at this event which also means he is automatically on the 2024 England Team at the WAO.
Mike and Spy also competed in the Large British Open Final at Crufts in March 2022, we were so happy that Spy won and became the Crufts British Open Champion 2022. Mike and Spy were part of the winning Agility Team at Crufts 2020 so they also hold the title of Crufts Large Agility Team Champions 2020. To win at Crufts once was amazing but doing it twice is just out of this world.
In June 2023 Mike and Spy won the Super Win on spot to compete at the World Agility Open in the Netherlands in May 2024. This was an amazing achievement for Spy, we are certainly going to enjoy the WAO in 2024 as this will be Spy’s last international competition.
Spy also competed for Team GB in the IFCS World Agility Championships in Milan in 2018 and the Netherlands in 2019 and for the England Team at the WAO World Championships in The Netherlands in May 2018. This was such a great experience for both Mike and Spy. Spy won the Gamblers class at the World Agility Open and came 4th overall in the world for the Games classes.
Mike has has also attended numerous training sessions with some of the best British and European agility handlers.
Our Training
Dark Star Dogs provides both agility and puppy training. All of the training will be done using encouragement, play and treats as reward. Dog agility training is about the handler and the dog having fun and the best agility dogs are the ones that enjoy doing it.