Physiotherapy sessions, hydrotherapy pool swims and a special diet packed with vegetables and raw meat – no this isn’t an article about the life of Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, but his Stonehaven spirit animal who is one of the fastest dogs on the planet.
Blink and you miss her is the best way to describe Crazee, the six-year-old border collie who is giving Bolt a run for his money when it comes to covering ground at lightning fast speed.
So fast in fact that Crazee and her proud owner Euan Paterson recently made short work of the “world’s greatest dog show” Crufts, becoming both the agility champions and the international jumping champions.
“When we’re looking at dog speed and agility, we talk about it in metres per second so Crazee is sitting at six metres per second; you don’t really get dogs going any faster than that, it’s really top end,” said Euan.
“I think she would probably be faster than Usain Bolt.”
Crazee by name and by nature, Your Life caught up with the famous hound and her beloved owner Euan, to find out why she is such a demon when it comes to dog agility.
Heart of a lion
“Crazee lives up to her name when she’s working the agility course as she’s so energetic, focused and is full of drive and determination,” said Euan.
“She’s got the heart of a lion.
“But she’s also the sweetest little dog who loves cuddles and is really calm and relaxed when she’s in the house – but when she’s out to work she’s on it.”
It was while training his older dog Sweep that Euan stumbled into the world of dog agility and has never looked back, building both indoor and outdoor agility arenas at his farm in Stonehaven and launching his own dog agility business.
“The buzz I get out of agility is being able to really communicate with the dog,” said Euan.
“Agility is not an easy thing for the dog to understand, but when you’ve got that really strong partnership and you’ve got that confidence with being the handler where the dog really understands exactly what you’re asking her to do, it’s really good.”
It’s a dog’s life
Born to run, Crazee’s sporting abilities were evident from the tender age of just eight weeks old when she leapt over her puppy pen to explore her new home.
But Crazee’s journey to being one of the fastest dogs in the world was more of a long-distance race than a sprint.
From swimming and strength and conditioning to hill sprints and nutrition, Crazee’s training regime reads like a world-class athlete’s.
“With nutrition, I treat Crazee like a human athlete, so she’s on a raw diet and she also takes different supplements, like joint supplements,” said Euan.
“Her diet consists of raw meat with bone content and vegetables which we order online; she has one meal a day in the evening.
“She definitely has a thing for apple cores too, and cherry tomatoes.”
Doggy master bedroom
Like any athlete, Crazee also enjoys her shut-eye.
“As well as Crazee we’ve got four other dogs so they’ve got their own room in the house with their own couch and chairs,” said Euan.
Every morning Euan takes Crazee and his other dogs out for an hour’s walk before training begins.
“I only do 10 to 15 minutes of training with Crazee every day,” said Euan.
“What we’ll do depends on whether we have a competition at the weekend as I don’t want to tire her out.
“So I’ll either practice running agility courses with her or I might do some strength and conditioning work using inflatables and a wobble board to help with her balance and stability.
“There’s also quite a steep hill at the bottom of our farm so I like to do hills sprints with her too as it’s really good for their strength and stamina.”
Massages and swims
Crazee also enjoys regular massages and swims.
“I take her up to a hydrotherapy pool in Portlethen so she swims in there for fitness,” said Euan.
“Also, one of my sponsors is a canine physiotherapist so she gets a massage every couple of weeks as well.”
On her downtime, Crazee loves nothing better than playing with her favourite toy and also cuddling up to Euan on the sofa.
“She loves jumping up and sitting on my knee for cuddles,” said Euan.
Doggy diva
After winning Crufts, Crazee could be forgiven for displaying some doggy diva behaviour but Euan says she has kept her paws firmly on the ground.
“She has taken everything in her stride,” he said.
“With the big events and the crowds, she really feeds off that.”
Watch
Training just like any elite athlete, Crazee and Euan are now limbering up to represent Great Britain at the European Open in Belgium in July and the World Championships in Austria in September.
