Crufts by Robyn Armitage (Age 8)

Crufts is a brilliant dog show, especially if you love dogs like the people here at Barking Mad dog training school. If you go to Crufts you can go to a place called Discover Dogs, and you can see lots of dog breeds. In Crufts there are also cafes, dinner places and shops - and it’s so much fun! You can watch dogs doing shows and YOU CAN WATCH THE WINNER ON TV!

 My favorite dog at Crufts was the Pembroke Welsh Corgi. But here is a warning. On the floor at Crufts there is lots of dog POO! That’s horrible isn’t it!

 If you love dogs you should go to Crufts. I have heard Barking Mad do a yearly trip. So to all Barking Madders HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR TRIPS TO CRUFTS EVERY YEAR!

 I go to every, well nearly every, K9 KIDZ club, so I’ll look forward to seeing you there. I am the youngest one at the club but I came 3rd in the junior handler competition! It was tuff!

 This my dog Pud, and Me, before she even started at Barking Mad. She could win Crufts!

By Robyn Armitage

Age 8

Crufts Trip 2013

The Main Arena being set up for one of the agility competitions

Last Thursday a group of us went on the annual minibus trip to Crufts and a fantastic day was had by all. The club traditionally go on the opening Thursday and this year that was terrier and hound day. However, the show dogs are only a small part of the Crufts experience.

If you've never been to Crufts before then I can highly recommend a trip, at least once, to see what it's all about. The show is held in halls 1, 2 3, 3a,4 and 5 plus the NEC Arena so it covers a huge area. Each hall has a mixture of trade stands, selling just about everything canine you can think of, plus one or two show rings where the various competitions and displays take place.

Our visits are always very informal with club members going off and doing their own thing or wandering about in small groups. You can easily spend the whole day wondering the trade stands and spending your pennies (and most of us had several carrier bags at the end) or you can mix and match a bit of shopping with watching some of the competitions and displays. As the competition rings and trade stands are scattered throughout the halls there is always something going on.

 Some Barkingmadders get hands on with some four legged visitors.

We met these two on the Pets As Therapy (P.A.T Dogs) stand, not most non dog owners impression of a Rottweiler and such a lovely dog.

This was the Young Kennel Club ring in the middle of an agility competition.

The Young Kennel Club members also put on a great demo of what not to do with kids around dogs and how to react to certain situations and avoid getting into others. Very useful for owners and the general public alike and possibly the subject of a future article on the blog.

And on a bigger scale this was the Main Arena set up for the novice agility competition (the collies really fly through the weave poles).

There was a fair bit of this going on, apparently Spaniels can never get too much love!

There were also lots of competitions but I confess to spending more time adding breeds to my "want" list than taking photos but I'll include the one below taken at the Manchester Terrier competition, this was a new one on me but what fantastic looking dogs, like miniature dobermans.

Many thanks to head trainer Les for organising it, to Tom for driving the minibus there and back and my fellow Barkingmad Crufters for another great day out. Hopefully the above gives you a little taste of the day so why not join us for next years trip, watch out for the sheet to go up in the cabin later in the year and get yourself signed up, it's a great day out!

Richard