Crufts

I have always loved dogs and love watching Crufts on the television. Last year, I thought I really ought to go but it fell through at the last minute. This year, at the last minute (again!), I asked Chris if she would like to go on the Thursday (believing this to be the quietest of the four days). Thursday 6th March 2008 was Toy dogs and Utility dogs day. Bruno stayed at home as I thought it might be stressful for him with the noise and crowds.

We left home at the unearthly hour of 6am (Yawn!). Arrived at the NEC car park at 8.15am . There was a shuttle bus to take you to the main entrance but we decided to walk instead. Upon arriving, we were greeted by a huge (30-plus foot high) inflatable 'Gromit' - as in Wallace & Gromit. Gromit is the new face of the Good Citizen Dog Scheme, the largest dog training scheme in the UK with over 1800 participating clubs.

I was most excited when we entered the NEC. The place was HUGE! Bursting at the seams with dogs and their owners and oh so many stalls with just about everything you can imagine you might want to buy for your dog and more besides!

Where do we start???? With breakfast of course!

We bought a programme at the door and over breakfast, decided to watch half an hour of Agility followed by the Hearing Dogs demonstration The commentator on Agility was encouraging anyone with a dog to have a go at home. As well as dogs trained in agility, there was a demonstration from a dog which had never done agility before so that we could see how easy and what fun it was to have a go. I think Bruno would love it - I wonder if he has the discipline though? Hearing Dogs have demonstration dogs which are trained specially to demonstrate in the ring how a dog works in real life. This is fun as the trainer has to pretend they are in bed so that the dog can alert them when the alarm clock rings and other daily tasks.

Whilst making our way to the agility ring, we found ourselves amongst the dog stands where owners were getting their pride and joy ready for showing. How strange and bizarre! This little terrier was the tiniest thing you can imagine! It is full grown and weighs in at about 3lb!!!

We then found ourselves wandering around Discover Dogs. This was fantastic! Over 190 different breeds of pedigree dogs, together with the real experts on the breed - the people who live with them. We seemed to spend the rest of the morning here until lunch time! So many different dogs! How diverse they are. My favourite, I think, are the BIG dogs - the Irish Wolfhound, the Bloodhound, Neopolitan Mastiff, and the Great Dane. I'd love any of these but unfortunately, my home is basically the size of a kennel for one of these dogs! I'd have to move in to the shed!

After lunch of a sausage sandwich and muffin (yes, I know its not terribly healthy but I needed the sugar intake to keep me going!), we w atched the Agility competitions and Flyball in the main arena. The dogs absolutely love these activities and the arena is full of dogs barking! It is fascinating to watch them having the time of their lives. For those of you unfamiliar with flyball, it involves two teams. Each team has four dogs. The dog has to run over four hurdles to a 'flyball' machine where they have to press a peddle with their paw to release a ball. The dog must catch the ball and run back with it over the four hurdles and then the next dog goes until all four have been. The team with the fastest and cleanest time wins. Such fun!

We then had a wander around the many, many stalls with tempting doggie goods for sale, whilst waiting for the Birmingham rush hour to be over before w e left for home. If you can't find what you are looking for here, chances are it doesn't exist! Just for fun, I bought Bruno three bandana's - here he is looking cool!

We left Crufts as 6.00pm, tired but happy. I definitely want to go next year, although, if Thursday was the 'quiet' day, I would not want to go on the weekend!

Contributed by Sonia Bryant

(Published 6th Oct 2014)