Crufts !!

Apologies for not updating the blog recently but life has been rather hectic, as of course the start of March is always Crufts dog show. This year it seemed to have come round too quickly for my liking and what with other stuff going on I didn’t feel I perhaps had done enough training. Now when I say that I haven’t done enough training I probably mean I did the same amount as most people rather than a "Richard" amount. After the semi finals there is always that deliberation about how much training to do as the dogs know most of the sequences they require for the routines, so you don’t want to bore them but feel like you should be doing training.

So with my brain on "house stuff" more of that later, I arrived at Crufts on the Wednesday and managed to negotiate my painter props from the Hilton car park to the NEC main ring. All was set for the Thursday and after a couple of panic run throughs of the routines it was an early night and I was amazed that I actually slept well.

Thursday morning dawned and after some breakfast I took the two dogs over to the main ring benches and had to leave them there while going to do a training display to open the good citizen ring. I have to say at this point that I don’t think I could have coped for the four days on my own so I am indebted to Penny and Jean who help me by staying with dogs or pushing trolleys etc - a BIG THANK YOU to you both. So after the training display with my group of handlers I rushed back to the main ring and got changed for Whizzys combine harvester routine. I was glad that Whizzy was first as I seem to relax a bit more with her and as I had only entered her in the finals for experience so I wanted us both to enjoy it as I felt there was no pressure on us. I thought that the big ring might suit her as she has a long stride and during the performance the bigger area allowed me to flow with her better. I had also taken note of her enthusiasm in the ring at the last few shows so had given her a bit more work before going into the ring just so she perhaps was not quite so manic. Well I could not have been more pleased with the way she worked and I have to say I quite enjoyed it myself.

Then it was a quick change into the painter outfit as Pogo was last in the running order. As each team went in I fully expected some to beat Whizzys score and some did come close but I was very surprised that her score remained in the lead until dog ten. Of course dog ten was Pogo so as I walked into the ring I knew one of my dogs had won the final. I have waited a few years to perform this painter routine as I knew it could be good but needed to make sure Pogo could cope with it before I brought it out. Now I’m not going to say that it all went totally to plan but the majority did and some bits I managed to cover. Overall I was very pleased with how it went and this time unlike the semis I managed to get the ending correct. When the score came in I was over the moon that I had succeeded in getting first and second in the UK freestyle final. This meant it was the second year running Pogo had won it and the third time I have won it : )

Later that day I was meant to work Pogo again in the winners spot but knowing my dog it was too much to ask her to work the next two days in competition as well as this second performance. Those who know Pogo know she has not got the most drive in the world and last year when she did the same it was a mistake on my part to do this second performance as it had an effect on her next two days routines. So instead of working Pogo I worked Whizzy who did well but perhaps not as on form as she had been in the morning. It’s a lot to ask the dogs to do complex routines twice in one day and personally I prefer to leave my dogs doing one routine a day as the second one never goes as well.

After the excitement of the first day it was time for Pogo to compete in the HTM final on the Friday. If you have watched the routine you will know she was shaking her head during the routine which was due to me : ( Just before I went into the ring I pulled some liver cake apart and some crumbs landed on her head and perhaps down her ear. I knew as soon as I saw them fall that I was going to have a problem and sure enough halfway through the routine I nearly stopped. After one good shake she seemed better so I carried on and the resulting score was good enough to take her into second.

The international competition was on the Saturday and as we had won on the Thursday we had to represent England in this compeititons. There were entries from Slovenia, Denmark, Belgium etc so no pressure for us! After a dodgy start when Pogo looked around she got into her flow and the routine went well, almost a little better than the Thursday. At the end of the competition I was over the moon she had added the international to her wins.

Crufts is always hectic for me as not only do I have the finals but three training displays with my dogs or volunteer handlers in the Good cits ring. I have to thank all my handlers for coming along and doing a brilliant job during the four days especially Lucy who got landed to do the commentary a couple of times as I was down in the main hall. As well as these training demos I also did an hour long training master class on the Samsung stand on Friday and Sunday which went very well according to the organisers.

So that was another Crufts over with, at the moment I’m thinking this might be Pogos last Crufts as I don’t often keep dragging my dogs out again and again preferring to retire them when they are on a high. Especially as I am judging next year plus have other young dogs coming up. Not that Pogo will retire as she is an essential part of the K9 Freestyle display so will still be working in that but from my point of view I don’t have to worry about her display work interfering with her competition work.

As I mentioned earlier it looks like I might be on the move, having lived in Southampton all my life it has and still is scary to move to a totally different place. At the moment I have my fingers crossed that everything is going ok with the house sale/purchase but who knows so I will post more when there is some concrete facts.

Finally can I just say a huge thanks to everyone who has emailed, facebooked or sent cards congratulating us on our Crufts wins it is lovely to hear such nice comments about the routines and the enjoyment that have bought to people watching.