Anyone been watching Crufts?

I just watched the final....excellent choices from the judge.

I didnt think she would go for the Australian Shepherd, personally I thought his head was small but what do I know

My choices were the Foy Terrier then the Welsh Springer.

The Aussie then the Fox Terrier got it.

Hes from California.



Not a great pic but theres nothing much on the net yet.

 

what is crufts?

 

Like Westminster but bigger (I think this year there were about 24,000 entries).

They have some great entertainment in between shows as well. In 97 H & M Dog Display Team put on agility and protection work shows which was cool, John Hardcastle who ran the Team is one of my mentors (I have 2) and he pretty much started me seriously training 20 something years ago. My moms dogs were at Crufts for those shows and luckily I was visiting UK at the time so I got to go.

This year Mary Ray and her Dancing Dogs were there again. Brilliant. Never ventured into that area of training.

http://www.maryray.co.uk/freestyle.html

 

DeLaUK,
You forgot to mention the Cruft's is held in London, I believe, the U.K. equal to Westminster. I love watching Cruft's beacuse you see breeds you won't see at Westminster and also because many of the dogs do not have cropped ears or tails. Many of the herding group are actually working dogs.

 

It used to be in London but for about 8 years now its been held in Birmingham at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Ive been there a few times for other events. Saw Chris DeBurgh there in about....84 or 85 I think (hes a singer from Dublin, Ireland, had a load of hits in the 70's and 80's with songs like Dont Pay The Ferryman, Spanish Train and then made a comeback with Lady In Red.

As for the breeds, yes, its interesting. Since Ive been here in Germany Ive seen quite a lot of different breeds that I'd never heard of before....can be a little embarrassing at times when I ask someone what their dog is a mix of and they tell me in that 'disapproving and irritated voice' "He's a pedigree" !!

:lol:

In California, one of the vets I worked with was well known in the area for cropping ears....I knoew it had been banned in England and I really gave him....some grief about it, it took about 2 years but he came in after a managers meeting one time and told me "you'll be pleased to knwo that we no longer crop ears" and then walked away.....

aah!! my job was done

 

Good job DeLaUK for giving the vet a piece of your mind about cropping!

Cropping should be illegal!
Don't even get me started!!

 

This same vet stopped doing tail docking also, other vets at the practice still did it but I must have really got into his psyche over it....I was working on stopping him declawing cats. Dont know how much impact I had on him personally but I do know that when I left California there were quite a few vets that no longer did it.

I havent worked with him since about 96 but we are good friends now, I check up every now and then to make sure he isnt doing any purely cosmetic amputations.....I dont think he'd dare. :shock: