A rescue collie who was dumped in a Tesco bag as a pup before rising to become Ireland\u2019s top agility dog has bowed out of international competition after representing the country at Crufts last weekend.<\/p>\n
Indiana Bones, who is also known as Indy, endured a \u201cruff\u201d start to life when she was handed into a Co Mayo animal shelter just eight-weeks-old.<\/p>\n
The plucky pup was rescued by Laura Murphy, however, and has overcome the odds to become the top dog in the agility arena, while also starring alongside some of the country\u2019s best-known actors on the silver screen.<\/p>\n
Laura and Indy brought the curtain down on an illustrious career at the world\u2019s biggest dog show on Saturday, but a recurring \u201ccurse\u201d that has dogged their performances at international competitions prevented them from finishing in glory.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have this curse a lot in international competitions, where we often get eliminated on the second-from-last jump,\u201d said Laura. \u201cAnd the curse kind of kicked in on the jumping round on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had this beautiful, gorgeous round that would have been right up there with the [best] times. And then, on the second-last jump, Indy took the wrong jump, and we were eliminated.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pair finished tenth in the agility event but their elimination from the jumping event meant that they couldn\u2019t compete for the trophy when they ran in the final on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t the finale that they wanted, but Laura\u2019s disappointment was outweighed by her gratitude for the amazing journey they\u2019ve enjoyed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to get really upset about that curse when we\u2019d be at international competitions. I\u2019d have driven all the way to the Netherlands to compete in these things, we\u2019d have had a really good time, we\u2019d be in the medal places, and then it would strike,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this time, at Crufts, I was like, \u2018Ah! This is the last time that we get to experience the curse!\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely thought I would be sadder. But when you really think about it, I\u2019ve just been so lucky that it\u2019s impossible to be sad,\u201d added Laura.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike, I was given this dog out of pure chance, and she\u2019s given me the career that I now have, and she\u2019s given me four years of these amazing memories at Crufts. \u201d<\/p>\n
Indy won\u2019t be idle in retirement, however, as she continues to pursue her acting career. She starred alongside Barry Keoghan and Colm Meaney in the hit thriller Bring Them Down in 2024 and also acted as Sergeant Scraps in the US sitcom Going Dutch.<\/p>\n
She remains in high demand and, after getting the ferry back to Ireland on Monday morning after Crufts, Indy was heading straight for a film set, where she is starring in a new feature.<\/p>\n
While her Crufts career has drawn to a close, there\u2019s every chance that Laura will be back in the arena in the coming years, as she has more dogs hoping to follow in Indy\u2019s footsteps.<\/p>\n
One of these is Harper, who is showing plenty of potential on the agility course, but may need to work on her composure if she\u2019s to emulate Indy\u2019s success in international competitions.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s also a rescue but she can be a little bit crazy. She\u2019s my wild child,\u201d said Laura, who runs WaggyMamas agility and training in Wicklow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rescue collie who was dumped in a Tesco bag as a pup before rising to become Ireland\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,8764,43],"class_list":["post-337440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mayo","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}