It's not just doggy dancing

It's The Lady Of The House here. As Winnie told you yesterday she has graciously allowed me to use her blog to tell you about MY weekend at the Canine Freestyle GB event in Markfield, Leicestershire.

This involved two days of competitions - Heelwork To Music on the Saturday and Freestyle on the Sunday - featuring about 100 dogs in total. Some people travelled from as far away as Belgium and France to take part.

Now, before I start I have to agree with Winnie that I'm not the best photographer in the world. In the case of the Canine Freestyle event it was also made worse by the fact that these dogs don't half move fast!!

So I'll start off with one nice photo of a couple of lovely new dog friends who sat next to me in the auditorium on the Sunday. The black labrador had earlier done a lovely Freestyle routine to the song Beyond The Sea, and her whippet sister had come along to lend support. They were clearly deeply devoted to each other.

If you don't know much about Heelwork To Music and Freestyle there's some information here in a feature I did at my Lost & Fond website.

It's so much more than "doggy dancing" - the rather gimmicky nickname it is often given on TV talent shows and in British newspapers. It's just a joy and an inspiration to watch the bond between dogs of all shapes and sizes and their owners. The great thing about the weekend was that there were also dogs (and people) of all abilities too, from those with lots of experience to people just starting in the sport. Because it IS a sport - no doubt about it - which involves hours of training and practice.

Here's one young owner and her loveable crossbreed dog who won one of the Novice Freestyle classes. This enchanting pup also won his own trophy for being the crossbreed who got the highest score from the judges all weekend. His cute little face reminds me of a few of Winnie's blogger friends - any thoughts?

Ok, so now the pictures get a bit rough... but I'll add them anyway. Bear with me please.

Showing that size is no object to Freestyle, here's a Great Dane taking part.

This Chesapeake Bay Retriever did a routine to In The Army Now.

Here's a Standard Poodle taking part. There were also two adorable Toy Poodles who travelled from Belgium to take part - but the pictures of them were really too bad to post.

Border Collies always do incredibly well in Heelwork To Music and Freestyle. This routine below made me laugh as it made a feature of the more traditional job of Border Collies.

This American Cocker Spaniel did a great routine to Singing In the Rain.

This blur-like figure below is Glenalpine Katie - a very talented actress as well as a HTM/Freestyle star. On Saturday she was a close runner-up in a Heelwork To Music routine to My Guy. She's pictured putting in the winning performance in one of Sunday's Freestyle classes to Doris Day's Deadwood Stage.

Finally I was really thrilled to see Anne Shuker win a Novice Heelwork To Music class on the Saturday and do really well in Freestyle on Sunday. She taught the Boy Of The House at primary school and occasionally took her beautiful sheepdog Splash in with her. Splash was the first dog the BOTH didn't completely hate and was the turning point in him overcoming what was a paralysing fear of dogs.....so in a round-about way if it hadn't been for Splash we might never have been able to add Winnie to her family.

Here's Splash and Mrs Shuker performing a space-inspired Freestyle routine to Europe's Final Countdown Probably the worst picture of the lot - but you can see Splash jumping beautifully through a hoop.

There's no doubt that dogs and humans all had great fun.

Well, thanks for putting up with me for today. Normal service with Winnie will be resumed tomorrow.

A grand day out

The Lady Of The House and the Girl Of The House seem to have had a great day out at Crufts.

They told me all about it when they got home and this afternoon we've watched the highlights they recorded on TV last night.

Tonight is the BIG night when Crufts ends with the choosing of the Best In Show. The LOTH tells me she's rooting for a Flat-coated Retriever called Jet who won the Gundog class on Thursday. He's nine-and-a-half years old (striking a blow for we more mature canines) and his family had brought him all the way from his home in Edinburgh to compete. Today they've got to bring him ALL the way back again. Hope he's not too tired.

The LOTH's friend Mandy was in the Discover Dogs section of Crufts with her four Flat-Coats, Scout, Jenson, Liffey and Forrest. Mandy's going back to Crufts tonight to support Jet and his family. The LOTH can't make it sadly, but she'll be catching up on the results when she gets in later tonight.

I don't mind my lack of show awards - especially now because the GOTH kindly brought me back my own little rosette. She said I was the best dog in our house not at Crufts. That's good enough for me. As you can see I took the honour in my usual laid-back way.

The LOTH made a point of saying hello to some lovely examples of many of the breeds of dogs who follow this blog - including GSDs, Scotties, French Bulldogs, Airedales and of course Greyhounds to name but a few.

The nice things about Crufts though is that it's not really all about the breeds. You get to meet lots of cross-breeds too who compete in agility, obedience, Flyball, heelwork to music and freestyle in the arena. Then there are the medical assistance dogs and Pets as Therapy dogs who also show what they can do in the ring and meet show-goers on some of the charity stands.

There are also lots of dogs there who take part in The Kennel Club's Good Citizen Dog Scheme. The LOTH says she might enroll me for that. I think I'm pretty good already but I wouldn't mind winning a certificate with Gromit on it. I love Wallace and Gromit.

It was a LOT of walking, the LOTH said. Crufts covers about 25 acres indoors. That's big. The LOTH says she might go for two days next year as there's just too much to see in one day.

She met some lovely people including Ivor from the Retired Greyhound Trust, Debbie Connolly, an animal behaviourist and TV vet Marc Abraham. He signed a copy of his book to the LOTH AND me. I was very pleased about that.

The LOTH has started reading the book already and says it's really interesting, and funny and informative - a bit like Marc the vet himself.

I also got brought back some presents specially for me, but I'll tell you about them another time.

Ready steady go at Crufts

The Lady Of The House and the Girl Of The House are going to be up really, really early tomorrow to spend the day at Crufts.

I'm staying at home with the Man and the Boy Of The House - and I'm quite pleased because I think they are going to have an exhausting day.

Crufts - or dfs Crufts to give it its proper sponsored title - is celebrating its 120th anniversary and as you probably know it's a MASSIVE event at the NEC in Birmingham.

The LOTH and the GOTH have got to make a bee-line for the Discover Dogs area when they arrive to see their friend Mandy who will be with her flat-coated retrievers. Discover Dogs is great because they have areas for ALL the breeds of dogs there are and you can meet them and their owners.

Then they have a long list of exhibitors they want to say hello to - and charities. And then there's the main arena where you can watch heelwork to music, flyball and all sorts of fun canine sports. Then of course there's the little business of the thousands of dogs being put through their paces in the show rings. Crufts is so big it even has its own radio station for the four days that it runs.

The LOTH is also hoping to talk to charities about getting nominated to be charity of the year on the Lost & Fond website. Which reminds me..... if any of my blog readers would like to nominate their favourite pet charity to be supported by Lost & Fond from August 2011 to 2012, you should visit Lost & Fond's pet charities page and find out how easy it is to put a charity forward.

Meanwhile, I'm just going to chill here and wait for them to come back.

Have a lovely weekend.

Getting a few things straight

Morning!

Just got back from a power walk (kind of) after my breakfast and thought it might be a good opportunity to chase away a few myths about greyhounds.

Now I've lost count of the number of people who assume that because I look like a lean, mean running machine I need TONS of exercise every day.

WRONG!!!

In fact, after a 20-minute walk around the block this morning I'm feeling ready for a looooong morning nap now...but I'll keep going for YOUR benefit dear readers because you need to know the facts.

Alert in the back garden - for now

Greyhounds are built for short sharp sprints....not marathons. We just have no stamina at all. My new family took me out for a loooong walk on Sunday morning (by their standards) and I slept the rest of the day. They thought they'd broken me.

There's good reason why greyhounds are called couch potatoes. A couple of 20 minutes walks a day and I'm happy. Apart from that I LOVE being around my new people and am more than happy lying on a comfy bed and just hearing them bustling around the house doing their human things, or sitting watching the television.

As for chasing small furry things.....well, we're all different. "Whatever floats your boat" as a water-loving labrador retriever of my acquaintance used to say.

Greyhounds are sight hounds so it is in our nature to spot things from a long way away and sometimes give chase. Greyhounds who've been brought up with cats and small pets can rub along with them quite nicely.

Me, well I'm not a fan of cats and I like being an only-dog. But I'm a bit stuck in some of my ways.

Anyhoo.....my comfy bed is calling.....see you again soon xx