Crufts 2010

Now, I have a bit of a funny love/hate relationship with Crufts…I wonder why every year I try hard to get dogs qualified and then enter them only to think nearer the time ‘oh, I’m not sure I can be bothered to go??’….I always do of course! lol

I hate all the hype and expectation that comes with this big show and I’m always saying ‘yeh well, it’s just another dog show’ and while it’s lovely to catch up with all my friends and puppy owners that I don’t get to see very often, the day seems to go so fast and I don’t get chance to see much or spend much time with people and the whole thing is just exhausting. Well this year I decided to just take the two dogs, Mercy and Spark, both entered in Limit so not due in the ring ‘til late on in the judging so I thought we could have a nice leisurely start in the morning and an easy day. Gemma and I left home around 7.15am having sorted all the dogs out that were staying home and we went and picked up Helen who only lives a couple of miles away and set off down the M6 to Birmingham. Now, while I much prefer being at Crufts on a week day (much quieter) the journey down during rush hour traffic (and endless roadworks!) I could do without, we hit a large hold up just before Birmingham on the M6 so took a small detour to take the toll road and arrived around 9.30am, taking 2 dogs and all the gear in between 3 of us wasn’t too bad and this year we ended up being benched right on the edge so caught all the ‘passing traffic’ to the Arena which was actually really nice (being that it was Thursday and not so busy) because we managed to catch all the flyballers on their way past going to compete in the first lot of Quarter Finals. This first heat included four Brynings…the three border collies…Zephyr (Bryning Bounce Right Back) and Tarn (Bryning Tarn) running with Warrington Wizzards and Kite (Bryning Black Kite) running with Wilmslow as well as working cocker Magic (Bryning Makin’ Magic) who was reserve with Dream Team South East. Magic and his young handler Jordan were also competing in the YKC Agility Dog of the Year competition. I was also looking forward to watching friends competing in the agility pairs competition too.

Of course, as I might have predicted, the pairs competition started just I went in the ring with Mercy for a HUGE Limit Bitch class, I had to watch on the big screen in the corner of Hall 1 which is in full view from the BC rings. Becca and Cheryl finished up 4th which was a great result (video of their run HERE) and better than I did with Mercy who went nicely but didn’t even make the cut…ho hum…such is showing.

Mercy in the ring...

(she is a buggar for anticipating the stop and pulling up short)

I was in Limit Dog with Spark shortly after, just as the flyball quarter finals started (of course!) so again had to watch those on the big screen. Wilmslow were sadly pipped to the post by Dream Team and knocked out but Warrington Wizzards won their heat and the Thursday final and made it through to the Semi’s on Saturday.

Spark has been dropping coat for the last few weeks but I often think this is no bad thing for him since he has so much! I think you get a better view of his shape when he’s carrying a little less and I was happy with the way we’d got him prepared, I thought he looked better than he had last year (when he’d come 3rd in a large Yearling class) but you never quite know what’s going to happen and I had no idea what this judge liked so had no expectations. Spark is a lovely dog to handle, I free stand him because he will naturally place himself into a nice stand without any faffing or placing of feet from me. I don’t know that he particularly enjoys the showring but he certainly doesn’t mind it, he’s such a biddable little chap and a bit of a ‘mummy’s boy’ so he’s always happy to be doing something with me and he’s always very willing to do whatever I ask. There were 28 dogs entered in this class with just 3 absent so you can imagine, with 25 dogs to be seen, this class took the best part of an hour to complete which is a long time for a dog to be standing around doing very little for most of the time. We were about half way through the line up and he was a little fidgety being gone over but I was pleased with the way he moved, barely batting an eyelid when a dog in the lineup backed out in front of me on our way round causing me to have to ‘hop’ over it! lol I was a little disappointed that both judges only had the dogs doing triangles and straight up and down, I don’t think this ever allows the dogs to really get going and make the most of those nice sized rings in the way a nice flowing circuit will. Anyway, I wasn’t really sure what the judge thought of him but Gemma did notice that often when she was moving on from one dog to the next she would glance back over at Spark so she was obviously wanting to get a longer look at him (I was totally oblivious of this, obviously engrossed by the flyball!). So all the dogs had been seen and the judge shortlisted, she pulled out a block of 3 of us stood together Sam Goulding and Oliver (Etherial Up in Lights) Della Lucas and Tikka (Aculsia Galaxy Choc Box) and me with Spark; it was a very strong shortlist from a strong class. The judge then came straight over and asked me to move Spark again, then a tricolour dog, she was obviously trying to decide between these two…I was absolutely elated when she came over and pulled Spark out first, his first win in Limit…woo hoo!! I took him straight back to his bench and put him away for a rest before the challenge, I figured we had about an hour before we were back in the ring and I wanted him out a good 15 mins before just to toilet and stretch his legs and touch up the grooming.

So, we watched the last class of the day, Good Citizen Dog and saw Vicki and Diesel (Bryning Don’t Stop Me Now) take 4th place (yay!) then it was back in the ring for the dog challenge with the ten other unbeaten class winners (I think the working class winner was excluded because he was beaten in another class). I have to say Spark was rather fidgety during the challenge, I think he thought he’d done enough for the day and was ready for home; the judge had a quick scan over and then asked just 3 dogs to move, the open class winner (Sh CH Janbell Jamieson), Spark and the Post Grad winner (Wizaland I am what I am for Birkvaughn); she went back to the table for the prizes and awarded the CC to Janbell Jamieson (a dog I happen to like very much and a very popular winner), I waited for a second to see whether she was going to call for the second in Open Dog (Am CH Sh CH Avatar One Nite Stand Bayshore) but she didn’t hesitate and came straight over to award Spark the Reserve CC!! I was absolutely over the moon but totally gobsmacked; probably what comes from going in with no expectations lol. The best of breed went to the bitch ticket winner, a very pretty little imported bitch, Am CH Bayshore British Connection Avatar.

Spark in the ring…


More pics HERE

We had a celebratory drink in the bar with a big group of flyball friends and Spark had a celebratory profiterole thanks to Jason Higgins lol. We hung around to see the BOB go in the group but ended up having to leave before they went in, I had a cracking headache and needed to get home to see to my dogs which was a real shame, I like watching the group judging and wanted to see how she went. By the time I’d driven home I felt terrible so just sorted the dogs and went straight to bed, not exactly a great way to celebrate I know! lol I woke the next morning with a stinking head cold…great!

Full Border Collie judging results can be seen HERE

Second in Special Puppy Bitch was a blue merle Spark daughter, Locheil Silver Sixpence at Croxlea and the winner of Undergraduate Bitch was a Mercy daughter, Locheil Eclipse of the Moon over Taranza!

So on reflection, despite my ‘it’s just another dog show’ attitude I have to concede that winning at Crufts IS extra special, not least because of the huge entries, 474 border collies entered this year, the largest entry in the pastoral group and one of the biggest entries across all the breeds and, although I’ve also won a RCC with Dottie in the past year (which was fantastic) this one was possibly that extra bit special because I bred Spark myself, and his mother Dazzle and I also own his father Ethan and although I hate bringing colour into it…he is a merle! lol I’m just so proud of my boy and can’t be thankful enough to Shirley Bell for letting me have his grandmother, the very special Canen Spangle back in 2005 and also to Heather Turner for allowing me to use the gorgeous Bond and letting me have my lovely boy Ethan too. I am so grateful to them both for allowing me the opportunity to breed my precious boy.

Anyway, Friday I really would have liked to have gone back to Crufts to watch the parson judging and some agility and flyball and do a little shopping but it wasn’t possible so I had to make do with the live streaming instead (and I’m sure my bank balance benefited too! lol). I was thrilled to see that the sire of my parson puppies, Chello (CH Giftrapped of Lovealoch to Pacolito) was awarded the dog CC, the Pacolito kennel had a really good day winning several classes and both the dog and bitch tickets, reserve bitch ticket and BOB of course too! They were also in the breeder stakes final in the evening which I was delighted to see was won for the second year running by the Tonkory kennel of Border collies, what an amazing achievement! (you can watch this on the Borderbeau Website)

Full Parson Russell Terrier judging results can be seen HERE

Who knows, maybe I’ll get Esther out to a few shows later this year and see if we can get her qualified.

Erin Logie and Surf (Bryning Time to Fly) came 4th in the YKC Freestyle competition on Saturday and the Warrington Wizzards (including Bryning Tarn and Bryning Bounce Right Back) came 2nd in the Crufts flyball final too…way to go guys!!

The final race...


Full flyball results HERE

We have talked about entering some flyball qualifiers this year but I really don’t think it would be possible for me to enter dogs in both the flyball and breed classes, especially since several of my flyball dogs are my show dogs too. My limited breed showing already plays a serious second fiddle to our flyball commitments throughout the year; Crufts is actually the first breed show we’ve done since NWBCC in October (i.e. in the last 5 months!) and I only actually went to 5 breed shows last year (two of which just happen to be on my doorstep, Blackpool and NWBCC) including Crufts although Spark did go to SKC without me. In those 6 shows Spark had 3rd in Yearling, 2nd in Graduate, 3rd in Limit (twice), and 2nd in AOC, Richmond being the only show he didn’t get placed at (I suspect partly down to him being a total pillock in the ring, most unlike him!) but where Dottie did gain the RCC…so not a bad year!

All in all I think Crufts 2010 was a great year for the breed BC’s with show bred dogs well represented in all disciplines and winning in the HTM freestlye, International Obedience and Agility Champ classes (both medium and large), long may it continue!