Facebook killed the blog-ster??

Ok…well I do feel terribly guilty that my blog really has suffered a serious amount of neglect over the last few months and have concluded that there are several reasons for this being the case. Firstly, we don’t do as much over winter so I have far less to talk about other than the fairly trivial and mundane day to day stuff (although I actually quite enjoy reading about such things on other people’s blogs lol). Secondly, with the short days and dark mornings/evenings over winter I always just tend to feel as though I have less time to do anything which is obviously psychological since I physically have exactly the same number of hours in a day! lol Thirdly, and possibly the most significant factor is my increasing reliance on facebook to share and interact with friends and like minded people but I do appreciate that not everyone uses facebook or looks at it regularly so I will endeavour to keep the blog up to date over the summer and I will invariably have a lot more to say than is practical on facebook anyway! lol

For anyone wanting to catch the facebook news and updates, from myself and various ‘Bryning Owners’ that also contribute, you can just visit our Bryning Border Collies, Working Cockers and Parson Russell Terriers page and ‘Like’ it to get all the updates and photos included in your newsfeed.

So much has happened since my last posting that I hardly know where to begin in a brief roundup. Both flyball comp and breed show-wise we have done very little. LKA was our last breed show of 2010 and I only took Spark who ended the year in style with a first place in his first ever Open class beating some really super Show Champions; he was handled by Eric Broadhurst for the first time and didn’t go as well as he should have in the challenge but I was pleased with him nonetheless and he ended 2010 having attended just 7 shows and coming away with 5 class wins, a reserve ticket and ticket…not bad going!

Spark winning his class at LKA (photo by Cathy Saxon)

From a real high we were plunged into a real low with the sudden illness and death of Sue Large in early February, just 4 months after awarding Spark his first CC at SBCC and us having a real blast together at LKA in December. What a terrible shock and a real blow to her whole family but also the dog world at large; Sue was always happy to share her time and vast wealth of knowledge and experience with everyone and I had been touched by her generosity of spirit since I bought my first ‘show bred’ border collie, sired by Tetley (Wizaland Lucky Brew JW); Sue was always so helpful and encouraging to me as a complete novice, it was a really sad time for all who knew her.

So far this year we’ve only been to MBCC champ show where Spark was 3rd in Open dog and a couple of open breed shows where Spark and Faith both had class wins, Viva a couple of consistent places and Jovi came 2nd in a strong class at her first ever show; if I can get her to settle in the ring she should do ok (although that is quite a big ‘if’!).

Spark winning his class at NWBCC Open Show (photo by Sue Tranter)

Viva at NWBCC

And of course Crufts where I had just entered Dottie and Spark but Dottie didn’t hang onto her coat so only Spark went, he was unplaced for the first time ever (shock…horror! lol) but was beautifully behaved as always and returned to represent the breed on the Discover Dogs stand on Sunday too, along with Fynn.

Spark by his bench at Crufts 2011

We have EABCC and SKC champ shows coming up over the next few weeks so fingers crossed for some good results there. It’s quite frightening to add up the cost of show entries and diesel costs so I’m not sure how many shows we will get to this year to be honest. I thought long and hard and decided that, although qualified, I’m not going to take Spark to ‘Border Collie of the Year’ this year…it’s just too far and too costly for the sake of taking a single dog unfortunately.

In terms of flyball tournaments we had a couple of months off with no competing or training so we’re not entirely prepared for the season ahead and are going to have to just ‘suck it and see’ but that means there’s no pressure on either dogs or handlers. Travis made his Open debut and is running reliably but we still need to work on his box and his junior handler, Megan has a lot to learn too but is making good progress. I am still working on foundation stuff with Tarka, she is looking very promising and I want to make sure we get it right with her so no more starters competitions for her until I feel she’s ready to run in open, the chaos of starters is not conducive to cocker confidence building. Flint (the ENORMOUS whippet/saluki/greyhound thing I rescued last summer) has just started training and is doing surprisingly well…let’s hope it lasts! Again…baby steps with him, don’t want to waste that potential by pushing him too soon.

We have managed to secure a new permanent training ground thanks to my wonderful vets at Rowan Veterinary Centre; their brand new purpose built surgery sits on quite a large plot so we have mown a half acre (ish) area that we can use for training, there is a lovely (hmmmm) open water pit in the middle of the plot too which the dogs have decided makes an ideal ‘plunge pool’ for cooling off! lol

We did have some surprise success however on our first attempt at Crufts flyball with our YKC team which had been a last minute thought at the end of last year. We had qualified at the last qualifier of the year in October so went on the last day (Sunday) looking forward to our day out but with no expectations. To our surprise and delight the kids and dogs were brilliant and sailed through each knock out round without dropping a single race to win the final against Hinckley and be declared the 2011 Crufts Champions! Woo Hoo! Team consisted of Rachel with Spice (WSD) and Aiden with Lily (Labrador) from Cambridgeshire along with Daizy, Megan and Rachel who ran Bailey(WSD), Dylan (Bryning Truly Magic), Faith (Bryning True Believer) and Haze (Bryning Indian Summer)

The Demon K9’s - 2011 YKC Crufts Flyball Champions!


We have two new editions to the pack since the last blog update too. Jellybean is a rough coated Parson Russell bitch puppy that I kept from Squirrel’s Christmas litter, she’s just an adorable little rogue like her daddy!

And Preston is a young blue & white border collie pup from the Beesting ‘kennel’ in Wigan. There is quite a sad tale behind Preston joining us here as I had originally chosen and taken his litter brother Drift who was a really super puppy and such a funny character but was tragically killed in an accident at just 5 months old which was just devastating. Shortly after Drifts’ sudden death Jean and Jimmy very kindly offered Preston to me; since I already knew him and liked him a lot it seemed like the perfect opportunity to retain the new bloodlines I had wanted when looking to bring in a new pup in the first place. He is sufficiently different to Drift for me not to be constantly reminded of him or to be tempted to compare them and has settled in here really well becoming firm friends with Jellybean.

Crufts...p.s.

Here's a vid of the dog challenge I found, taken by someone else who was filming Harry (the ticket winner)...



and here's a vid taken by the same person of the BOB challange between the dog ticket winner Sh CH Janbell Jamieson JW (handled by Pete Simmons) and the bitch ticket winner AM CH Bayshore British Connection Avatar (handled by Eric Broadhurst)



A lot of deliberating!! lol

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!

Crufts...the day itself...

We arrived at the NEC at 7.30am as planned and got set up in the benching area for around 8.00. I had deliberately left myself with not a lot to do, everyone was brushed out and trimmed before we got there so it was just last minute preparations and brushing for each of them before they went in and a few runs up and down the edge of the hall to settle them. I was really pleased with Dazzle who can be a bit overawed by loud busy places but she was very relaxed and happy and was moving out well after a few runs up and down. Kitten was being remarkably quiet and well behaved too and Spark well...he is just perfect in every way and seems to know how to just switch from goofy playful 'pup' into serious show mode, he's so easy to handle. Dylan...ahem...to be fair to Dylan he's been crate rested for the last 6 weeks due to a cruciate tear and this was his first outing but he and Faith are the same at every show...nosey, curious and very easily distracted; he was just tail up 'who's that over there?' 'What's this on the floor?'...arghhh!!! lol (at least no-one can say he's anything but a very happy boy)

Judging started and we had lots of friends arriving to say 'hi' and wish us luck which was really nice. Tania, Francine and Wendy were over from Belgium for the day and came ringside to watch Spark who was in the ring first, we also found Helen and Carol there too. I was a little bit worried about Spark's bald patch where he'd been bitten by something (god knows what at this time of year!) on his back and pulled all the hair out and I'd had to do a sort of 'comb over' to cover it! lol It's amazing what you can get away with with a 'patchy marked' dog that you wouldn't with a solid colour. He has also been dropping coat for about 2 weeks which made it very hard to get his coat to lie really flat, every time I ran a brush over him more undercoat came out! It was a big class, we were in the middle of the line up and everyone was packed in really tight which made handling tricky...I don't know why people don't spread out more in such a huge ring!! I like to walk Spark into a free stand because he will position himself nicely and I don't need to fiddle with his foot position etc and then I stand directly in front of him and he watches me which enables me to get him to use his ears and show his lovely soft but attentive expression. I also don't like standing too close to him because then he has to crane his neck to make eye contact with me and this has the effect of shortening his neck (if you know what I mean). All in, I do need quite a bit of room to do this and I really didn't have enough, I was also concerned about obscuring the dog in front of me so it was hard work! That said he did show well so I was pleased with him. Having any coloured dog in the ring always draws a lot of attention from ringside spectators, particularly those from overseas so I think Spark was pretty well photographed as we made our way round to be judged.

Here's a pic from Vicki (Giruff)

and one from Judit (Bordermania)

...thanks girls! :)

The judge (Mrs S Clark) was keen to have the dogs standing freely for her to go over with no tight leads and handlers at a distance which was no problem for Spark because of course this is how I stand him anyway. She opened his mouth and looked at his teeth and then ran her hands over his head and he dropped his ears and gazed at her adoringly which he continued to do as she went over the rest of him (he's such a charmer!), the whole time she was chattering away to him. It was nice to have a judge so relaxed and keen to put the dogs at ease. He moved out nicely, not fazed by anything and then walked into a nice free stand to finish. I was pleased with how he went.

Spark moving out...

and his free stand to finish (pics by Judit)


We returned to the line and the judge finished assesing the rest of the class and then came to make her shortcut. I was so pleased when she pulled Spark out into the final 8, she then moved them all together. Now...the person 2 dogs behind me was whooshing and Shhhhsshhing loudly at her dog, to encourage it to move out I guess but I was pretty p*ssed off to be perfectly honest because this was making Spark want to keep looking behind him as he was wondering where the hell this weird noise was coming from!! She kept doing it when we came to a halt and were lined up too, to get the dog to animate ears I guess? I'm all for getting the best out of your dog but you also need to be considerate to other dogs and handlers in doing so. I always keep one piece of liver in my hand at a time to avoid dropping any and I always talk quietly to my dog so as not to disturb anyone else. It's a pity not everyone is so thoughtful. Crufts definitely seems to bring the worst out in people though and there were several incidents of bad sportsmanship throughout the day not least of which was during the challenge for best of breed where I personally felt a group of spectators were deliberately cheering and clapping at inappropriate times trying to unsettle the dog, who won BOB in the end so it didn't work did it!! Anyway (rant over! lol) I was over the moon when Spark was pulled out for 3rd place; this is the largest class he's ever been in and this judge is not noted for her love of colours. This of course automatically qualifies him for Crufts 2010.

I was still in the ring with Spark when Yearling bitch went in so Julia took Kitten in for me, Alison kindly took Spark back to his bench after a small detour where he climbed on Sue Large's lap for a cuddle (and chance at her sandwhich too I shouldn't wonder! lol)...he is such a soft lump! I took Kitten off Julia and I have to say...she did look a little waif-like in her post-litter state of (un)dress. It was a HUGE class and she moved out beautifully but didn't get placed. There were some lovely young bitches in that class and Heather got 2nd with Tipsy.

Dylan was in next in Graduate dog amd he was rather giddy and distracted. It's a good job he's so placid when the dog in front of him took a lunge and snap at him (Dyl was nowhere near him!), needless to say we kept a safe distance from then on! I do find handling Dyl quite hard work because he won't walk into a good free stand (always one foot or the other just in the worng place) but he also doesn't like you picking his feet up to place them so you have to just keep moving him round and hope for the best! lol He kept his tail down when we started moving off but a change of direction brought it up (this is quite natural really as the dog balances) and it stayed up (grrrrr)...the 3rd leg of the triangle brought the dogs heading straight back towards the judge and also the giant screen on the corner of the hall which was showing agility at this point...Dyl (who likes watching TV at home) spotted the TV screen half way across the ring and jumped out of his skin! There were quite a few dogs spooked by this during the day. He didn't get placed but he also had lots of photos taken by spectators round the ring. He does have the most gorgeous head and expression and always seems to draw a lot attention.

Dazzle was the last of my lot in the ring in Post Graduate bitch, the last class before the lunch break. This was a big class and she was the only coloured bitch from the 19 in the ring but this judge is not at all colour biased. Daz was nice and relaxed and very happy which I was really pleased with. Now...I don't know if I've ever been so embarrased in all my life when the judge (Jean Entwistle) put her hands on Daz to go over her, paused and looked up at me and said... 'Is this bitch in whelp?' to which I just replied, totally startled 'god...do you think so??' to which she nodded and said 'yeh, she's massive!' to which I then explained that I had mated her (to Sea) in January the weekend he left but it had been very early in her season and she'd still been standing a week later and since she wasn't really THAT big I'd just presumed she'd missed and was just a bit on the 'porky' side since she likes her food. (And yes, I know you're really not supposed to engage in conversation with the judge but I was just so startled and didn't think!!), Jean just rolled her eyes at me...oh my god...what an idiot I am!! Anyway, we returned to our spot and I told Angela (Gillespie) who was next to us what had happened, Anglea felt her and agreed with Jean so I felt like a total moron and have to bow to their combined experience which is considerably more than mine. So the consensus is that Daz is either in whelp with just a few pups or having a very convincing phantom...I guess we'll know in a week or two! I suppose it's kinda funny when you think about it (or it may be when I get over the embarrasment!), I just hope Jean thinks the same!

Anyway, Trish and Alison had stayed around the ring most of the morning, helping with the dogs so we went and did some shopping after lunch, taking Viggo for a walk round the halls. He's such a funny laid back kind of a dog. He did just try and avoid meeting any big dogs which he wasn't too sure about (Anatolians and the sort) and was very quiet and just looked at me when anyone stroked him in a 'mum, someone's talking to me, what should I do?' kind of a way (bless him) and he did insist on climbing on any pile of bedding he could find! Anyone would think he'd never seen bedding before it seemed such a novelty to him...he does have a bed at home...honest!! lol We bought a pile of new vetbed (which I'm sure pleased Vi!) and a couple of metal non spill bowls that I've had before and some shampoo and grooming products and I bought a new hoody (yeh, like I need another one!), it's lovely a sort of pale grey with salmon pink lining and such a nice fit, I couldn't resist! That was it, pretty restrained I thought! The halls were definitley much quieter than they have been on previous years especially for a Sunday. I think the lack of TV advertising following the BBC's pull out was probably the main reason, a lot of people simply didn't know it was on. I much preferred it!

We popped Spark and Dylan up to the Purina stand for Nick Ridley photos. For some strange reason Nick zoomed in and took head shots of Spark which I wasn't that keen on to be honest, I have better ones of him I've taken myself in the local park! (sulk) The pics of Dylan came out much nicer, especially considering what a pillock he was doing a 'stay'!!

I brought the van round from the back of Hall 3 to the side of the arena and we took the dogs out then came back in and packed up all our stuff (considerably more than we'd arrived with!) and sat and watched the group judging on the big screen. So pleased to see Shane, the border collie Best of Breed, take fourth in the group!! Shane (Tonkory Move over to Huntly) is a Cruise son as were 2 more of the dog class winners so fingers crossed this will put Cruise on track for Top Sire again this year!

The 'Journey' to Crufts....

I had entered 4 dogs...Eabha, Kitten, Dazzle and Spark but decided not to take Eabha since she was over with Andy and Sam and was due in season any day so decided to take Viggo along just for the ride and some extra socialisation. His first big day out without his sidekick!! lol Alison was also bringing Dylan who I was handling too.

I had a pretty hectic Saturday with my Auntie Jan up from Cornwall and staying for my cousin Amy's 21st birthday party. Mum was doing all the catering for the party so was rather busy. I had someone coming Saturday morning to use Spark. Paul coming down from Edinburgh to visit and collect his puppy, Alison coming to have Dylan's feet and ears trimmed and 4 of my own dogs to bath, blow dry, groom and trim. The van to clean and pack up for a 5.30am start Sunday morning. The puppies to move out of the utility room and into the garage plus all the usual weekend tidying up. I finally got done about 12.30am just as mum and Jan returned from the party (which I missed...boo hoo) and fell into bed exhausted and achey backed just after 1am with the alarm set for 4am!

No need for the alarm since Paul text me at 3.55am and woke me up...thanks Paul!! lol I wanted to give myself plenty of time to take all the dogs I was taking out for an individual lead walk down the lane but it had been very windy overnight and the back yard was bone dry so I just let them out there which was much better since they got a good 40 mins out before we left. The other dogs sleeping out in the garage didn't make a peep thankfully! This left me twiddling my thumbs a bit really since I wasn't picking Trish and Alison up 'til 5.30...this is NOT usual for me...I'm usually rushing around like a headless chicken doing everything on the last minute! lol I have to say it was rather nice! Steve text me as I was pulling off the driveway to see when I was leaving, we were meeting him at Lymm services to collect some fleeces he needed delivering to the Good Citizen stand in hall 3. Of course we would have done this for him anyway but it did come with the added bonus of a pass down to the back of the halls which is where we managed to park all day so no long trek to and from South carpark with all our gear!!

Crufts TV

So, I ended up having Wednesday and Thursday off work which was great because I got to spend (almost) the entire day watching the fantastic online CruftsLive.tv which was live broadcasting from the main arena at Crufts...all the agility, flyball, heelwork to music competitions and displays etc as well as the group judging.
Of course, I had an added interest in Thursday mornings Agility and the Eukanuba Mini-Maxi pairs with several friends competing and two 'Bryning' girls taking part. Firstly was Nancy and Niamh (Bryning Red Rascal) running with Nancy's husband Andy and his little sheltie Kizzy.

Here's the pic that Nancy text me on the morning...Niamh and Kizzy arrived and set up on their bench...

Nancy ran a beautifully handled careful clear on quite a tricky course to hand over to Andy but unfortunately Kizzy missed her weave entry out of the straight tunnel which I think is actually harder than it sounds, the dog is coming out of a dark tunnel straight onto the weaves so they're coming at speed and see as litte of the weaves as possible i.e. a single pole, if you imagine the noise a dog is generating whilst running through a pipe tunnel and the way in which it's amplified coupled with the large noisy arena at Crufts I doubt they hear much in the way of verbal commands either. They finished up 9th. Next up was Joy with Teal (Bryning Time to Shine) running with Carla and her poodle Gucci. Joy and Teal were having a cracking run until...Teal took the wrong end of the tunnel so they got a big fat 'E', this was a real shame because Carla and Gucci had a lovely quick clear...ah well...maybe next year eh.