Max and his canine pals ready to take on the world
A teenage dog handler from Shropshire has been selected to represent the Young Kennel Club Agility Team GB in the World Championships.
Max Glover, a pupil at The Grove School in Market Drayton, is no stranger to competition having qualified for Crufts for the past seven years.
He has previously won at Crufts, and this year won in a pairs competition with his eight-year-old Papillon Cross, called Woody.
Now Max, and his three canine friends, Boost, a nine-year-old Border Collie, Woody, and three-year-old Border Collie, Beat, have been selected as part of the Agility Team GB and to take part in the Junior Open Agility World Championships, which take place in Finland from July 14-17
The successful handlers and dogs were chosen following two try-out events, which concluded at the Statfold Arena, Tamworth, on March 27.
Max has been training dogs and competing since he was four, and hopes to eventually become a police dog handler.
His father, Bill Glover, aged 61, a retired information technology analyst, and mother, Pia, aged 44, both actively compete as handlers in agility classes.
They are now appealing for people to provide sponsorship, through a GoFundMe page to enable him to take part in the World Championships.
Bill said: "This will be the first time that Max has represented the country. No World Championship event took place last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Max would dearly love to get a gold medal in the World Championships.
"He was chosen as part of the team after a long and complicated assessment and selection process, and will be running the dogs as an individual and as part of the team events.
"My wife, Pia, will be travelling with Max, who will have all three dogs running in both events and I believe that he is the only handler to be chosen to take part who will be running three dogs.
"We hope to raise £5,000 through the GoFundMe page but every little donation will help as we have to cover 13 nights of hotel accommodation, coach travel and dog certificates."
Greg Derrett, Agility Team GB manager said “The YKC team is the future of Agility Team GB and we are extremely pleased with the partnerships that have won on to and been selected for this year’s teams.
"I believe that we have teams representing Great Britain that will not only be competitive at this year’s events but can develop and gain experience for their future agility careers."
Visit the crowdfunding page at gofundme.com/f/help-send-max-to-the-junior-gb-champs-finland
