A DOG trainer from Okehampton and two of her canine companions have qualified for the prestigious Kennel Club Olympia Agility Stakes finals in London.

Lauren Langman has qualified to compete in the large agility stakes competition with her two border collies Tiki and Fiji.

Both dogs completed clear runs in the quarter finals at the Kennel Club International Agility Festival to qualify for the final.

Lauren's qualification follows her success in last year's competition, where she won the large agility stakes with Fiji.

Lauren said of qualifying: 'It never ever loses its buzz. The atmosphere, the hype and the festive time of year just makes it the most special event of the year for us. I truly cannot wait.

'Last year was amazing. Winning the qualifier, warm up, quarter final, semi final and then the overall final is a first for me. I had never had that amount of success before and I have to say it felt amazing.'

Lauren is the head trainer at Devon Dogs, a dog training business run at East Bowerland Farm just outside Okehampton. She competes in agility at level 7, the highest rank of competition in the British agility arena and was chosen to represent Great Britain in the World Agility Championships in 2006 and 2007.

She has also qualified for Olympia Agility Finals the last seven years running and she is responsible for the design and development of all the Devon Dogs classes, workshops and events.

Lauren studied law at university before becoming a primary school teacher. While teaching, she became interested in dog training before deciding to do it for a living in 2004.

Since finding East Bowerland Farm through the Channel 4 programme 'Location Location Location', the Devon Dogs business has steadily grown in that time. The business now has dog training venues in Okehampton, Exeter and Plymouth.

Last year's success has had a great effect on the business. She said: 'It's amazing, the amount of people who want to know how we do things and why and where we get our ideas from.

'I actually really love the influx of new people but also enjoy seeing the familiar faces that have been with us for years.

'I love that. It makes me super proud and super happy. We are very grateful to all of the people that support and help what we do.'

The country's most talented agility dogs and handlers have been competing in qualifying heats at agility shows across the country in an attempt to gain a place in the finals, which take place as part of the London International Horse Show from December 16 to 22.

The Kennel Club Olympia Agility Stakes will see dogs and their owners compete in five finals, in the small, medium, large, novice and ABC (Anything But Collies) categories.

There will also be two semi-finals, for the novice and large dogs categories, which will see 36 dogs in each category whittled down to ten who will go on to compete in the grand final.

For medium, small and ABC dogs, ten dogs for each category have already qualified for the Olympia final.