Over the weekend, we went to Crufts. I have always wanted to go because I absolutely love dogs and all things animal-related, so it was a real treat to be able to go on Saturday and see all of the different breeds walking around the NEC in Birmingham. There were stalls there selling all sorts of different things, from Whiskey to dog portraits. Although we aren't dog owners ourselves, I think the stalls are really just for those who have dogs of their own and not people who are only going to see the dogs, AKA me, haha.
Anyway, we went to see all of the displays that they were putting on in the arena, including a display by the West Midlands police, the Southern Golden Retriever Display team, the agility courses, flyball and Scrufts, which was the same sort of thing as Crufts in terms of judging the dogs but the animals are cross breeds and the judging is a lot more chilled out and laid back.
Rob and Romesh, popular comedians here in the UK actually made an appearance that day and we also witnessed a marriage proposal in the arena as well. It was all going on! Anyway, It's all pretty self explanatory, so I'll leave you with a few photos of the day. Let's start off with the first display we saw: The Southern Golden Retriever Display Team.
Golden Retrievers are my absolute favourite breed of dog. I have always wanted one, but it's not looking likely seeing as Tom has an allergy to them :( But it was amazing to see all of the dogs taking part in this amazing display. It makes you wonder how the trainers manage to get one dog to perform, let alone make sure they're all in-sync with each other. I thoroughly enjoyed this display, so it would be worth going back next year just to see that, haha. I love how they all dispersed out of their circle at the end as well, and the music they used was fab too. All in all, it gets two thumbs up from me!
Next up was the West Midlands Police Dog Display. It was essentially a member of the police force telling the audience what their dogs can do, including sniff out drugs, firearms and a lot more. It's amazing what these clever little dogs can sniff out. They then brought in all of their muscle dogs, so to speak. Essentially the German Shepherds. They are huge and the demonstrations they put on were super impressive.
I tried to get a few action shots while we were there, generally of a dog running at a bloke with a thick jacket on and locking its jaw onto his arm. There was that much speed behind it that the dog actually swung up off the floor and around in a circle. Where else would you see something like that in real life?
Right after the police dog display was finished, the agility courses started, but before the serious comeptitors came out, Rob and Romesh appeared with their two dogs. It turns out that they're going to be doing a programme as part of their "take on" series: Rob & Romesh Take On: Crufts. They had been training with their dogs for six weeks to be able to do an agility course that was laid on by Crufts themselves.
The results, however, were mixed, haha. Rob's dog didn't manage to do much of the course at all, but Romesh's dog did a super job, but only because Romesh was dropping treats, haha. Anyway, Romesh's dog didn't want to come back after doing that course, instead he went back around, pretty much, the whole thing solo and was having a great time. Eventually someone did come over and pick him up to bring him back to Romesh, but the whole thing was an absolute scream.
Anyway, once that was done, the serious dogs started coming out. I have never seen an agility course be completed in real life before, so it was an amazing opportunity to see these incredible dogs do their thing. What's more is that it was really heart warming to see that the dogs genuinely loved doing it. It was super impressive and again, it makes you wonder how the trainers manage to do it. I didn't get many action shots of the agility course because I was loving it so much, but you'll get the general idea I reckon :)
After that began the Flyball, which was just an absolute pleasure to watch. I had seen it on the TV before and thought it was just incredible so to see it in real life was a real treat. It was also being broadcast live on Channel 4 at the time, which was pretty awesome, so you might have seen us on the telly at some point, haha.
Anyway, I can't really explain to you what Flyball is other than its a relay of really fast dogs jumping over four hurdles, there and back, to retrieve a ball from a box. They go up against another team and the fast dogs win, essentially. They broke the Crufts record on Saturday with a combined time of 14.4 seconds (there and back, over hurdles). If you've never seen it, then look it up on YouTube because your jaw will drop at how fast these dogs are.
After that, we had Scrufts, which is a section for the cross breeds. Rob and Romesh actually came back to judge this section of the competition which was great, although I'm not sure if it was part of the show or if it was simply for the Crufts participants and audience.
I guess we'll find out when the show airs later this year. I didn't actually take any more photos of the day from this time onwards because I was just having such a great time that, eventually, I just forgot to document it, haha. Either way, I hope this has given you a gist of what to expect should you ever go to Crufts yourself :)
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I hope you enjoyed this blog? Let me know in the comments below if you've ever been to Crufts or if you'd like to go next year! I'll see you again very soon with a brand new blog post :)
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