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DFS Crufts 2010 |
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DFS Crufts 2010 |
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 In this section:    On Agilitynet:                  
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Ramblings,,,
Crufts was celebrating its 120th year while the Young Kennel Club celebrated its 21st 'coming of age' anniversary this year. More than 22,000 dogs competed at Crufts this year with an increase in the number of dogs entered from overseas by 1155 dogs There was much publicity for Battersea Dogs Home as they too were celebrating their 150th anniversary. Another event worthy of to mention was the Hearing Dogs for Deaf People's Walkathon. They were challenging visitors to see how far they walked during their visit to Crufts and to give support to the charity at the same time. I paid them £10 to enter this event which covered the cost of a pedometer + a donation towards the charity funds and was surprised to find that I only walked two miles over three days. On the second day, I did switch on the pedometer but forgot to set it working! But then I did spend most of my time sitting in the Arena watching agility, flyball and heel work to music so not too much walking this year.
The Kennel Club once again put the whole show online so we were able to view most of what was on in the Arena. From comments made to me by friends viewing Crufts online, this year I was better off being at Crufts as there were a few gremlins in the online viewing! On the final day, I was told, online viewers only saw a part of Mary Ray's routine with her two dogs, a real shame as they certainly missed a treat! This year I met up with a few more people who had time to speak to me including a few overseas competitors as well as some from the UK. The first one I bumped into was Mary Ann Nester on Thursday and Twizzle, her mini parti-poodle. They were part of the Dog Activities display team in the Arena doing a Heel Work to Music display. I was unable to watch this so I hope they enjoyed themselves.
This was such an entertaining routine with some interesting moves. Richard Curtis and Diva, representing England, were 2nd in this event with a stunning routine. He told a story about a day on the beach. Dave Ray's comment was that Richard's legs were too white, and he should have used artificial tan!! The shark part was very amusing and caused some laughter. After a routine like his you would have thought they should have won the competition as it was outstanding but obviously the judges though otherwise. It certainly set a very high standard but unfortunately for UK supporters, Alena had something better to show. Still 2nd place isn't bad either. I caught up with Rachel Mowbray after she and her Small dog Ag.Ch. Laurelton Winter Nutmeg. had been declared the overall winners of the British Open Small Agility competition. Rachel told me that Nutmeg is now 9 1/2 years old - seeing her run you would not think this - and has done extremely well in agility. Rachel told me they have been coming to Crufts for the last five years.
Rachel mentioned that a week before Crufts poor Nutmeg was attacked and beaten up by a Boxer and Rachel did wonder whether she would make it to Crufts at all. It just goes to show what a tuff little dog Nutmeg is, as not only were they this years overall winner of the British Open Small Agility competition, but they were 4th in the Small Championship Agility class. Well done to them both and see them next year! Anthony Clark was at Crufts this year though he was not competing with any of his dogs because he has retired Magic from agility and a planned mating for Ruby didn't produce any puppies this time. So this year it was a very different Crufts for him this time with no pressure, no hustle and bustle. He commented that it was all very relaxing and he was able to watch the competitions in comfort. Over the years Anthony has excelled at agility, winning the YKC Agility Dog of the Year with Magic three times and again at last years at Olympia with his new dog Ruby. After leaving school - which he said he hated - he started agility training full time in 2002 where he said the demand for his training methods has grown steadily over the years. From one night per week, the hours have steadily increased to daytime and evening training sessions as well as running training workshops in Japan, America, Italy, Holland and Poland. Anthony said he is planning to tour the UK stopping off at various clubs to do training session. So, if you want him to come to your club either a weekday or weekend, do contact him. Scoop! Ant said that he is now in the process of writing a second agility manual following on from the success of his first one, Foundation Basic Training so watch this space! Anthony is looking forward to the new agility season with his two new dogs especially after winning at Olympia with Ruby. If you want more information on what Anthony is doing logon to his website.
On Sunday, I was introduced to Cheryl Harkness from Northern Ireland through another friend Mary Morgan who runs a Cairn terrier in Grade 7. Cheryl plus dogs, family and friends arrived on Thursday and were off back home on Sunday. Cheryl was competing with her four year old Swedish Vallhund, Pepperthyme Akamas - otherwise known as Fidget. He was lovely and not at all phased by the noise and crowds at Crufts. He was ready to say hello to anyone. Fidget is the first Vallhund to win an Agility CC and now has two, winning in Northern Ireland and Scotland. He just needs one more to be a Champion so I wish him good luck. He also has got the Gold Agility Warrant. Fidget lives with two Kelpies, two Cockers and another Vallhund. Cheryl and Fidget ran in the Small championship class. Unfortunately they were eliminated in the Jumping class and missed a pole in the weaves of the agility class so did not go through to the final. Despite this disappointment, Cheryl said they had a great run especially considering that it was the first time he had run on carpet. She said the carpet was good to run on, however, the atmosphere great and there was lots of support from the Small and Medium handlers. Cheryl's aim in the agility run was to run Fidget as fast as he could to try to beat Nicola and Dawn!
During my conversation with Cheryl, I was introduced to Ronnie McAleese who runs The Patch Dog Training in Co. Down and is also the KC Agility Liaison Council Representative for Northern Ireland. Ronnie had travelled with two YKC teams from Northern Ireland who were in the finals on Sunday. During my conversation with him, I learned that Ronnie used to run miniature poodles. His claim to fame is that Jo Fraser (Crazy Maesy) wrote a poem about him because he 'thundered around the ring!' I can't wait to hear from Jo what the poem was! He said he found this year's Crufts was relaxing and the main Arena was - and I quote - 'IT.' I think this was a compliment to the Crufts organisation. He says his motto is 'Dare to dream' and says 'if you can't dream it, you can't win it.' How very true.
In the Crufts Agility Singles there are two rounds. In Round 1, only the first eight dogs and handlers go through to the second and final Agility round. In the first round, Lucy and Ben were clear in 32.75 seconds, giving them 4th place so getting them through to the second round. Unfortunately they were eliminated in the final round. Debbie Fox with Alexaaron's Don't Look back were the winners while David Munnings with Waggerland Sunny Jim were 2nd and Simon Peachey with Rosmarinus Rum Twister were 3rd. There were no other placings in this round as the rest were eliminated! Lucy told me that she had enjoyed the competition but found the ground surface 'awful.' There was some debate about the running surface as the three of them said that handlers were not able to or unwilling to run their dogs flat out as they would do so outside because they were worried the dogs would skid and injure themselves. I know I certainly saw many of the Large dogs skidding during their runs but it didn't seem to affect the smaller dogs. I do hope none suffered any injuries. When I asked Dave Ray about the surface, he commented that this was the best surface they'd ever had. I think this debate will go on for some time!
Well, that is all for this year, I had a very enjoyable but tiring time at Crufts and look forward to next year. About the
author... Jennie retired Netty at 10 years of age who was diagnosed with a malignant uterine tumour and would not jump. She has recovered well but has slowed down and isn't too keen to jump at any height these days. Subsequently Jennie has started to do competitions with her three year old male Cairn, Tinker who is certainly living up to his name. She just hopes that this year he will run the course rather than do his own thing! Jennie's life seems to revolve around 'doggie things.' She is a Championship breed judge for Cairn Terriers - beauty shows for the uninitiated. She has passed the KC Agility rules and regulations exams and The Agility Club's Instructors Exam. She has also judged at several agility shows with several more appointments coming up this year. She also runs her own dog training business, offering training for Obedience, Agility and Flyball at all levels. First published 29 March 2010 |
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Our
roving report 
Following
the BBC decision not to screen Crufts this year, More4 put on several programmes on the box. I was very
disappointed in the ones I saw as the format was the same as before i.e. not much about what was actually
going on at Crufts but an awful lot of background rubbish which was not particularly relevant but
was meant to attract viewers!
What a hotly
fought competition there was this year in the Heel Work to Music International Freestyle Final.
Alena Smolikova and her dog Keysi from the Czech Republic won this event with a tremendous
score of 29.23 out of a possible score of 30. They obtained a 10 out of a possible 10 from one
of the judges.
Apart
from being an Agility Champion which means that Nutmeg would have had to have won at least 3
Agility Challenge Certificates, they were Reserve in the Champion class at Crufts in 2007. 
In between
photo sessions and interviews, I managed to grab a few words with Natasha Wise, one of this
years agility judges at Crufts. She said she was thoroughly enjoying herself despite falling
over the dog walk on Friday in the Agility Singles! She very kindly said we could put her
course plans onto Agilitynet so watch this space.
This
was the first time that Peter Dall
from Scotland was at Crufts with his dog Gee Hits The Spot.
They had qualified for Crufts by winning Scottish Dog of The Year. He said that he felt
he had let his dog down despite coming 3rd in the International Agility Jumping round, 13th in
the Agility (round 2) and 2nd in the Final agility round. He had two clear runs and one with 5
faults! Kenny was not running any dogs this year, just supporting the other two.
I met Anna
Eifert from Hungary last year at Crufts and managed to have a short conversation with her. She
said she was enjoying herself at Crufts and was very pleased that they were first in both the
British Open Large Jumping round 1 and Agility round 2, gaining first place overall. In the
International Agility competition, Anna and her dog were 12th in round 1 Jumping, 15th in round
2 Agility and 1st in the Final Agility round – not a bad result! Anna said that she was
leaving the UK on Saturday and had entered an agility competition on the Sunday in Germany on
the way home. Talk about being an agility addict. I hope she did well?