Crufts 2011 Part 1

I was going to put together a long three part post-Crufts blog post detailing the three days we competed.....but that was before I was hit with the super Crufts Danish flu. Damn this flu has knocked me for a loop. The worst part of it is the constant headache and lack of energy for anything including doing things on the computer.

So it will have to be a condensed post-Crufts play by play. Zen did well. The end. LOL

Zen competed 3 of the 4 days at Crufts. I can honestly say it was too long for the both of us. I am glad we had the Saturday off and we stayed back at the B&B to relax and just get out in the sunshine. Crufts is amazing and it is a privilege to have qualified to compete. Unfortunately is just too crowded and the lack of air and light gets to me after the second day. I also have had just about enough of some of the "breed" people who seem to have a lack of common cleanliness (can't pick up after their dogs and let their dogs pee everywhere) and common courtesy (run over other people's dogs with their damn trolleys).

I took this photo of a fellow competitor because I thought it was funny and cute. But this is how I felt after 2 days at Crufts and wish I could have lay down on the floor but not sure I would have been able to get up again!



Thursday was the British Open at Crufts. Zen qualified for this event back in August at the KC International Festival. I was very proud of her for qualifying at the Festival. To qualify she needed to be in the top 15 of nearly 125 medium dogs after 2 rounds to make the final. Once in the final it was a clean slate and the top British dog qualified for the British Open at Crufts. As Zen was competing against most of the top dogs that day; I had no expectations. Luckily, in our favor, it was a tough international type course and dog after dog had faults. At the end of the final Zen was only beaten by the French dog and so she was top British dog and came 2nd overall. On that weekend in August the French dog and handler were amazingly fast so, again, I had no expectations for Crufts.

Yet again Zen surprised me and won the British Open Jumping, Agility and Overall! This is her second year in a row winning the British Open at Crufts. She ran really well and although I felt her slipping on the first run after that she seemed to get her feet under her for the rest of the weekend. The French dog and handler did not seem to be able to do this and surprisingly they struggled in their runs.



These videos make me laugh as they are taken from the Crufts TV and so you can hear the commentary that I didn't hear on the day. I love the Crufts internet live streaming TV as I was getting messages from people congratulating me even before I was out of the ring! How cool was that.

Oh and even better Zen made the "real" TV that night! Her entire run was broadcast during the Crufts show on More 4. Woo-hoo! The small things that make us happy! LOL

Here is her British Open Jumping.


And her British Open Agility.


Here is Zen with her ribbons. I know there must be good photos out there somewhere of her with her trophies but for the second year in a row Dennis stayed home. So no good photos! Dennis has to come next year when Zaz and Itz get to Crufts for the first time as I need better photos!