Crufts 2009

Well sorry about the delay! It is surprisingly busy here with two puppies to train and socialize.Plus the weather has been so absolutely gorgeous that I have not been on the computer much. I have no video and very few photos so I "stole" these videos from You tube! :-)

What can I say about Crufts. It was difficult for me this year. I was not sure I really wanted to go yet I really wanted to go. Understand? Friday was the worst for me. Walking into the building was hard because the last time I was there was with Hex by my side. I thought I would be OK but then I saw Indy (Hex's brother) and just lost it.

At one point during the day I was sitting alone with Zen and looked across the aisle at another dog in it's crate. My heart just stopped for a second when I saw Hex's face on a bag of treats on top of the crate. Her photo is on a bag of Burn's Dog treats and one of those bags was sitting on top of this dog's crate.

Zen was a good girl both days. We had our issues with some contacts but that was because I was pushing her for speed. I knew with the border collies that were competing that we had no chance of a place without really going for it. The courses were nice but not difficult enough to cause too many mistakes. Zen was manic both days; she just was out of her mind excited. I guess having Crufts as her first show back in 6 months was a little ambitious!

On Friday during the Crufts Singles I was so proud of her 1st run which put her into 2nd place between (yes of course) two BLUE MERLE BORDER COLLIES. haha Her second run was lovely except for the missed Aframe (darn judge with good eyes!) which put her into 3rd behind (yes again) two BLUE MERLE BORDER COLLIES. Do you sense a trend?



On Sunday in the Champs her jumping qualifying run was fantastic! She came in 2nd place after (yes repeat after me) a BLUE MERLE BORDER COLLIE. I knew for the Champ Agility qualifier I just needed to NOT get eliminated. She ran well but a dropped bar and a dodgy see-saw made me worried. I knew we still made it into the finals in the evening which was great.

The evening finals is always exciting. This one was bittersweet for me and I just felt I had to hold it together for Zen. I was so worried about her because they did not allow our grooms into the holding arena. This made it difficult to watch and have your dog ready to run as they run a tight schedule. I do not understand why this year they did not allow the grooms into the holding arena as that is the point of having a groom! They blamed the extra security as there was alot of talk of protesters due to the KC expose that was run by the BBC this year. So you can imagine that I did not want to let Zen out of my sight for one second.

I cannot even remember the finals course! I am sure somewhere it is on a video but I cannot find one right now. Probably just as well as I remember it as perfect and would rather just remember it like that! I was so proud of Zen; she looks so small next to the jumps especially since she lost all her coat after the pups.

I think we put in the best run we could have done. Zen was lying in 1st place up until the last dog ran. I knew that if Toni and Minx went clear that there was no way we could beat their time.

Zen ended up in 2nd and came home with the Crufts Reserve Championship Ticket. And I went home with the best dog at Crufts.



Here are some videos of the Singles runs and the Champ runs during both days. I included the Small Singles just so show how well Indy did this year at Crufts. Nicky and Indy won not only the Small Crufts Singles, Small International Final but also the Small Agility Championships. What a great partnership they are.