Mazi started training when he was 10 months of age and trained up very fast. He was fully traind by about 18 months of age, and doing all outruns on our farm. He has always been a very scopey dog and seems to be able to size up situations quickly and put himself in the right place.

Always enthusiastic, and a fantastic listener, Mazi was like a wee sponge, soaking up everything he was shown. He has a huge willingness to please and yet he has ideas of his own, many of which are better than my ideas! I learnt very quickly with Mazi that if he ignores a command on the hill, it is because he can see something I can't and he needs to 'problem solve' and fix things before he starts obeying my command again. As infuriating as that was to begin with, Mazi taught me to 'shut up' and let him use his brain - a valuable lesson.

At home, Mazi loves working with larger flock sizes, is competent on even the most difficult outruns on our farm and handles lambs and stroppy ewes with ease. He is such a pleasure with which to work as he is a very genuine and honest dog.

Mazi started trialling in the nurseries in 2015 and he finished the season as the Carmarthenshire Nursery and Puppy Champion. He qualified to compete in the All Wales Nursery Final where he finished 7th overall.

In 2016 Mazi moved into Open competition at the age of 2. I ran him in a couple of trials early season but decided he needed time to develop at home, doing work, so I kept him away from the trial field until August. When he returned to the trial field, he won 6 Open trials and ran in and qualified for the big Defaidty Hill trial double fetch final. To my utter surprise and delight, Mazi finished 3rd in the final; his first taste of running such a big course and turning back!

Still a nursery eligible dog, Mazi ran at the 2017 European Nursery Championship in the Netherlands, finishing 9th in the final.

Just after his third birthday, Mazi won the Clun trial, one of my favourites on the trial calendar and a hard one to win! He qualified for and ran in the huge Berwen Hill trial final, finishing 8th overall. Later in the season, Mazi won the Llanarthne qualifying trial and went on to win the double fetch final with an almost flawless performance (losing only 5 points in total). Thrilling. At the national, Mazi finished 8th on his day, which was very disappointing as he put up a class run but one sheep twarted our attempts to single. Luck just was not on our side that day.

In 2018, Mazi and I won the overall Victor Ludorum for the highest pointed dog/handler team in South Wales across the year's trials, a first for a female handler. Mazi continued to excel on big courses with a win in the Defaidty qualifying trial and 4th place in the double fetch final. On his first attempt at the big Talgerreg double fetch course, Mazi finished 5th overall. He qualified once again for the Berwen hill trial final but due to injury, was unable to compete. Later in the sseaon, Mazu won the High Ash Trial in England with a fine performance.

We were also invited to compete in the 'A Way with Dogs' competition at Bodfari. After winning the qualifying trial, Mazi narrowly missed the final and finished a creditable 4th place amongst a top class field of competitors.

The 2019 season was a difficult one with an early season toe injury limiting Mazi's trialling activities. We struggled through the year trying to get his toe right and having several setbacks along the way. Still, on the big courses, Mazi continued to put up consistent performances. He finished 2nd at the Talgarreg double fetch trial, won the qualifier at Defaidty and finished 6th in the final, and qualified to run in the 2020 World Trial after finishing 12th in the double fetch qualifier. Mazi has been rested since this qualifying trial so his injury can heal fully.

Carmarthenshire Nursery Champion Trophy 2015

Competing at the A Way with Dogs competition in Bodfari.