Crufts

5 & 6 March 2009

This year two of our dogs went to Crufts - Henry competed in the breed classes once again, and George was invited to represent the American cocker breed at Discover Dogs. This is an area where the public can view and play with examples of every breed recognised by the Kennel Club, and ask about living with them.


George settled in on the American cocker breed stand of the Discover Dogs area


George got a bit tired of jumping up to say hello after a while, but was happy to sit on a chair so people could reach him more easily. If we get invited again next year we will take a sturdier crate so he can sit on the top on a blanket!


Although the BBC did not televise Crufts this year, there was much filming going on, and a lot of the activity was available to access from the KC website


On the way out, we sneaked into an empty breed ring to get a photograph of George being stacked as if for show at Crufts, on the famous green carpet!


And a photograph in front of the Crufts 2009 logo to prove we were really there!


Back at home, it was time to bath Henry for his day the following day. He wasn't very keen on standing nicely for a photo afterwards though.


This is Fudge, Henry's nephew, being shown by Nickie Miller, his owner & breeder


Nickie prepares Fudge on the table for the judge to 'go over' him checking for any faults or problems


Fudge strides out happily in the ring, and we were very pleased to see him shortlisted to the final 10 from a very large entry of 25


The dog judging was extremely slow this year, but it was finally time to get Henry out and start preparing him for his moment


Henry in the ring - we had chosen not to compete with the big guns, as Henry is nearly but not quite old enough for the Veteran classes, and had gone for the Good Citizen class, which many show breeders do not yet understand - in addition to having to qualify for Crufts the normal way, dogs in this class have also passed the pet training qualification. This meant there were only 8 in our class!


Nonetheless the competition was stiff, and most of the dogs were younger than Henry, so we were thrilled to be awarded 3rd place. This means that Henry has been shown at Crufts five times, and been placed every time - a pretty good achievement!
 

 

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Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright (c) Stephen and Lucy Dawson