An Onchan resident and her agility dog are the first in the island to qualify for Crufts 2019 after their win at a prestigious dog show in Edinburgh.

Liana Lumsden and Shebag Bonnie Lass, a collie cross Japanese spitz, were awarded the Medium Championship ticket at the Scottish Kennel Club (SKC).

Liana, a processing manager at Nedbank Private Wealth, said: ’Being the only ones to qualify from the Isle of Man ispretty special.

’Bonnie is my sister’s dog. I’ve trained her for the past four years and she’s been at championship levels for about a year now. She’s my first agility dog and we’ve grown together in those four years. I started training her one day and thought "Oh she is actually quite good".

’She was very on form at the SKC. I’m four months pregnant and so therefore I’m not as fit because I’ve put on a bit of weight, as you’d expect, but she pulled it out of the bag.’

Bonnie stole the show during the Medium Championship where she was required to complete a series of jumping and other tasks to display her agility. ’She had to be the quickest dog to get into the final,’ Liana explained.

Liana has never taken part in Crufts, but has visited the annual competition for a number of years to watch and support island contestants.

’I’m really looking forward to it,’ she said. ’I’m due in October so that leaves me five months to get fit for what they call the "green carpet".

’I usually train Shebag Bonnie Lass in the summer so she has her chill out time in the winter. Since Crufts is in March she’ll be staying with me to get fit from October onwards. She’s probably in her prime for an agility dog, so we’ll keep chasing the dream.’

Liana has set her eyes on running for team Great Britain in future.