S'porean woman, 60, & border collie place 5th at world championship in Finland

A Singaporean dog obedience trainer and her border collie won fifth place at the FCI Agility World Championship (AWC) 2026 held in Turku, Finland, in September 2026.

Elsa Soo, who is also a dog agility judge, bested nearly 100 competitors alongside her nine-and-a-half-year-old dog partner Venus.

In a Facebook post, Soo said: "This has probably been the most emotional AWC of my agility journey."

"I think my biggest fear wasn’t that Venus would fail me. I was afraid I would fail Venus."

The 60-year-old told Mothership that she felt the pressure, even if this was their fifth AWC together.

"I am 60 years old, I have bad legs, and I cannot suddenly make myself run like a 25-year-old handler. So I had to find another way."

Soo said she knew "Venus was ready" and that "one wrong movement" could take away an opportunity they had worked so hard for.

Started with the Singapore Prison Service Dogs Unit

Soo had worked with dogs for a large part of her life, starting with the Singapore Prison Service Dog Unit.

She was the first woman to undergo narcotics dog training and was also seconded to the Police Dog Unit for a year, where she was trained in protection work.

Her first dog agility competition was in 2010 with a Schnauzer.

Following this was Soo's b

She trained another border collie, Aries, prior to her work with Venus.

Soo eventually applied for early retirement from the Singapore Prison Service to pursue her interest in dog training and agility, citing the limitations that came when applying for leave and travelling overseas.

"I wanted more freedom to compete internationally, learn more, train more and see how far I could go in the sport."

She started Starrelito K9 Training, a dog training academy in March 2019.

The underdog

The picture Soo painted of Venus was very different from the impression a reader would get from the confident canine on Soo's social media.

She said: "Venus arrived in Singapore from the UK as a very shy little puppy. She was tiny and quite worried about her new environment."

"She wasn't particularly playful, and honestly she wasn't a fast learner either. My cousin even labelled her 'stupid'."

The pup was also at the bottom of the pecking order, and Soo's older border collies "didn't really like this little newcomer and would correct her if she came too close".

However, Venus was patient and earned her place in due time, eventually sitting near the food preparation table, "a very privileged position in my house where previously only Sirius was allowed to stay."

"She might not have been a fast learner, but she had patience, she observed, and she had the brain to work things out in her own way."

Blood, sweat and tears

Soo had trained Venus since she was a puppy, stating that their partnership had been more than nine years in the making.

"There is no shortcut to that kind of relationship. Sometimes I joke that agility is built with sweat and blood — except in my case, there really has been some blood."

From a torn knee ligament to hairline cracks in her ribcage, Soo detailed the struggles she faced during training.

She added, with good humour, of course: “Anyone who trains high-drive dogs will probably understand those enthusiastic reward sessions when the dog aims for the toy and occasionally your arm becomes part of the deal.”

Significance of a Singaporean team succeeding on a global stage

It was hard for Soo to pinpoint the feelings she had regarding winning fifth place.

"Singapore is such a small country, and our agility community is even smaller, but I never believed that being small means we cannot be good", Soo said.

Citing her goal of raising the standard of Singapore dog agility, Soo said she centred a big part of her life around the goal.

She volunteered in the Singapore Kennel Club and worked alongside other enthusiasts to bring in training equipment, overseas judges and trainers.

"In the beginning, we got eliminated very often. Then slowly came some clean runs, then more clean runs, and eventually we started getting results overseas."

The duo finished ninth at the European open in 2025.

Cheeky outside of competition

When asked what Venus was like outside of the competition, Soo described her canine partner as "sweet and calm" for the most part but also a "cheeky, demanding and even a naughty mother".

"Venus is actually a mother of six beautiful puppies, and many of them have turned out to be just as crazy about agility as their mother."

But underneath it all, Soo said Venus was an "incredibly understanding dog".