The McNaught Family
Maurice – Founder of Pandy Prefix Maurice McNaught's name is to be found in the very first volume of the I.S.D.S stud book. He produced many good working and trialling dogs with the 'Pandy' prefix founded in 1930. In 1930, Maurice attended the International Sheepdog Trials at Ayr where he paid £20 for a bitch called Meg (1541) from J.M.Wilson. Meg was a black and white, rough coated bitch who was destined to become the forbearer of Pandy sheepdogs. Maralyn In 1997 Maralyn became the first female to qualify for the Welsh team with her black smooth coated bitch Nell (181203). Maralyn gained 3rd place in the Welsh team with Lad (son of Dolwen Lad) in 2006. They qualified for the Supreme final at the International Sheepdog Trials held at Kelso that same year. Robin, Erin, Mari-Elen All of Maralyn’s 3 children have had great success competing in sheepdog trials: Robin – founder of McNaught Sheepdogs. Erin – 2018 Young Handlers International winner with Quories Moxy, 2019 ‘One Man and His Dog’ winner with Sam.About Me
Robin is a 20-year-old handler from Bala, North Wales and has worked with sheepdogs his entire life. Robin is the fourth generation of the McNaught family to train sheepdogs and compete in sheepdog trials, having had success in winning the 2024 North Wales Young Handlers competition. Robin’s love and passion for dogs means he’s always trying to develop his training methods and ideas to be on the forefront of innovative techniques, in order to train the highest quality farm and trial dogs.
McNaught Sheepdogs © 2025 Website designed and maintained by H G Web Designs
My Story
Starting Out
I have been around sheepdogs all my life, my idea of fun as a kid was to go out and play football with the dogs or sit on the sofa cuddling a puppy. The incredible bond between man and dog has always been a fasciation of mine more so than competing in trials, I adored the dogs and loved how they adored me back. I received my first shepherd's crook on my 9th birthday and the following summer competed in my first trails with my mother's dogs. I realised that solely competing in trails with an already trained dog wasn't for me but soon discovered that the journey to getting there was. In March 2020 I received my first pup, Pandy Tlws, an event that would change my life forever. Over the following years I dedicated my life to training her, to not only improve her but also develop myself as a handler. In the summer of 2022 Tlws competed in her Nursery trials year, there were as many completed runs as DNF’s, but I had finally discovered the joy of trailing, it wasn't the winning, but the sense of accomplishment of competing with the partner you’ve spent so much time with. Right: Robin after his first sheepdog trial in 2014My Philosophy
I developed my training philosophy early on; I was going to let my love for the dog off the field transcend onto it. I had no idea how to train a dog while training my first dog Tlws but I soon discovered that the dog training didn't start the moment we walk onto the field, rather it started with my thoughts and the end of the previous session. I came to learn to acknowledge my faults as a trainer, to re-frame the question from ‘why won’t she understand?’ to ‘what am I doing to confuse her?’. I mostly believe that the fault of the dog stems from the wrong doings of the trainer, and that the best trainers minimise natural weaknesses while a bad one exasperates them. Self-reflection is key, but you’ve got to be willing to do so, which brings my back to loving your dog. I adored Tlws so much that I put her above myself, allowing me to be self-critical and prioritise her improvement over my personal pride. This obviously isn’t always easy to so as our faults aren't always easy to see, but dog training is about perseverance, riding the highs and lows, and if your hole heartedly committed to succeed you will.
Maralyn at the 2006 International
with dog Lad and children Robin and Erin
Maralyn in 1997 after qualifying for
the Welsh team with Nell
Robert McNaught – Farmed and Shepherded the family farm for 80 years.
Pandy Tlws, Robin, Mari-Elen and Erin
presenting on BBC’s Blue Peter program
Mari-Elen – Represented Wales
on ‘One Man and His Dog’ in 2021
The McNaught
Family
Maurice – Founder of Pandy Prefix Maurice McNaught's name is to be found in the very first volume of the I.S.D.S stud book. He produced many good working and trialling dogs with the 'Pandy' prefix founded in 1930. In 1930, Maurice attended the International Sheepdog Trials at Ayr where he paid £20 for a bitch called Meg (1541) from J.M.Wilson. Meg was a black and white, rough coated bitch who was destined to become the forbearer of Pandy sheepdogs. Maralyn In 1997 Maralyn became the first female to qualify for the Welsh team with her black smooth coated bitch Nell (181203). Maralyn gained 3rd place in the Welsh team with Lad (son of Dolwen Lad) in 2006. They qualified for the Supreme final at the International Sheepdog Trials held at Kelso that same year. Robin, Erin, Mari-Elen All of Maralyn’s 3 children have had great success competing in sheepdog trials: Robin – founder of McNaught Sheepdogs. Erin – 2018 Young Handlers International winner with Quories Moxy, 2019 ‘One Man and His Dog’ winner with Sam.About Me
Robin is a 20-year-old handler from Bala, North Wales and has worked with sheepdogs his entire life. Robin is the fourth generation of the McNaught family to train sheepdogs and compete in sheepdog trials, having had success in winning the 2024 North Wales Young Handlers competition. Robin’s love and passion for dogs means he’s always trying to develop his training methods and ideas to be on the forefront of innovative techniques, in order to train the highest quality farm and trial dogs.
McNaught Sheepdogs © 2025 Website
designed and maintained by H G Web Designs
My
Story
Starting Out
I have been around sheepdogs all my life, my idea of fun as a kid was to go out and play football with the dogs or sit on the sofa cuddling a puppy. The incredible bond between man and dog has always been a fasciation of mine more so than competing in trials, I adored the dogs and loved how they adored me back. I received my first shepherd's crook on my 9th birthday and the following summer competed in my first trails with my mother's dogs. I realised that solely competing in trails with an already trained dog wasn't for me but soon discovered that the journey to getting there was. In March 2020 I received my first pup, Pandy Tlws, an event that would change my life forever. Over the following years I dedicated my life to training her, to not only improve her but also develop myself as a handler. In the summer of 2022 Tlws competed in her Nursery trials year, there were as many completed runs as DNF’s, but I had finally discovered the joy of trailing, it wasn't the winning, but the sense of accomplishment of competing with the partner you’ve spent so much time with. Right: Robin after his first sheepdog trial in 2014
My Philosophy
I developed my training philosophy early on; I was going to let my love for the dog off the field transcend onto it. I had no idea how to train a dog while training my first dog Tlws but I soon discovered that the dog training didn't start the moment we walk onto the field, rather it started with my thoughts and the end of the previous session. I came to learn to acknowledge my faults as a trainer, to re-frame the question from ‘why won’t she understand?’ to ‘what am I doing to confuse her?’. I mostly believe that the fault of the dog stems from the wrong doings of the trainer, and that the best trainers minimise natural weaknesses while a bad one exasperates them. Self- reflection is key, but you’ve got to be willing to do so, which brings my back to loving your dog. I adored Tlws so much that I put her above myself, allowing me to be self- critical and prioritise her improvement over my personal pride. This obviously isn’t always easy to so as our faults aren't always easy to see, but dog training is about perseverance, riding the highs and lows, and if your hole heartedly committed to succeed you will.
