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| This is extremely overdue, and I guess I should apologize. On the other hand, it’s my blog, and I’ll do what I want with it ;-) So whoever reads this thing is at my whim entirely. HA! … Annnyway… It’s hard so long after the fact to remember everything I haven’t mentioned already. The last day of Crufts was a riot. I left the hostel early, rising early in the dark to shower and get dressed and head out for the final time. The key was handed over, my bags were taken with me on the bus, and I was officially homeless! It was odd, though- I felt like such a part of the city on that third day. I knew the busses and helped a man find the correct one to get him somewhere. I got on the bus and promptly was lost in thought. It was a relief to have no one bother me, like they would on an Evansville bus. I struck up a conversation later on in the trip with a woman wearing a Springer Spaniel necklace, and ended up bumping into her several times that day. Go figure. But my first observation upon arriving was that it was CONSIDERABLY busier than the previous days. I should have known. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t shown in the states. I know how busy the Saturdays and Sundays of a 3 or 4 day trial always are. But even so- the bus was packed, and the actual show itself was a claustrophobic’s nightmare. I was very glad that I could check my monstrous bag at the door. Despite this, and probably because I was already familiar with the setup, I managed to scout out the three rings Jo and I were interested in: Deerhounds, Wolfhounds, and Staffies. Unfortunately, each one ended up being as far apart as was humanly possible to be, so this took me ages. I found a really nice lady by the Deerhound ring with a lovely young dog. It really surprised me to see how calm and relaxed everyone was at this show. At American conformation shows, everyone has their own space and stays within it; dogs are crated and make little or no contact with nearby dogs or people. But here? This Picture is a great example of how it looked around most of the breed rings. The dogs are all so well socialized; I can honestly say I never saw a single uncrated dog growl at another dog or person. Another thing! I found out after several instances of repeating myself and getting funny looks that in England, you don’t ask to ‘pet’ someone’s dog. You ask to ‘stroke’ it. And that reminds me of another point. The Kennel Club has a HUGE education program for children, both with their Young Kennel Club (like AKC’s Junior Handler program, only much larger and more active) and their “Safe and Sound” program, which is a public education program designed to help pet owners (especially children) understand basic safety rules around animals. It was really foreign to me, honestly. You generally hear about the AKC’s junior program through conformation. I know only two performance junior handlers, Faith and Denise, and I don’t even know if Denise does AKC! At Crufts, the Young Kennel Club ring was right inside the doors. I literally was run over by mad YKC flyball and agility teams every day, first thing. It really, really surprised me. But anyway- by the time I found the conformation rings I was interested in and watched for a little while, it was almost 11: time to go meet Jo at the station, which, conveniently, was a part of the NEC complex. I ended up being a little early, so I got lunch and hung around until her train arrived. I was absolutely giddy to be sharing my hobby with Jo. I don’t know why, really. It’s just something I always talk about to her, and the idea of us actually getting to go roam a dog show for a while reeeally made me happy. And roam we did! We hung out by the Staffy ring for a while, watching the dear stupid little creatures parade around (“Rings and rings full of /dim!/”). Then the Deerhounds met our scrutiny, and the number one bitch in France decided it was a great idea to lay on my camera. I took tonnnns of video and pictures of the Wolfhound ring, too. Then we wandered back towards the obedience arena. All you AKC obedience folks, prepare to be completely shocked. Take a guess at how many Golden Retrievers were competing in the final round of competition. If you need a hint, look at This Picture.Have I made my point? (In truth, there was one dog. One. A Single Golden. ONE.) When I expressed my shock at seeing the smallest Golden entry ever in the history of obedience, I was stared at as if I had suddenly sprouted another head. “A golden in obedience?” I remember one woman saying. She was clearly dubious. “They’re just big family dogs, why would you ever work one in obedience?” I still can’t get over that. Their dog of choice isn’t the Border Collie, despite what that picture may look like. They call that a Working Collie. It is, in effect, a border collie that was bred for working rather than conformation showing. My Buddy is a working collie. So is Gus. So although Buddy is half Aussie and Gus is purebred, they are both the same kind of dog. In fact, I have a memorable bit of conversation (actually written down in a notebook) between myself and an agility competitor. “My older dog is actually half Aussie, half Border Collie-“ “Oh, did you get him for obedience?” “… No, actually, I got him as pet.” “Oh. That’s a very popular cross for obedience here. A lot of the working collie people don’t like it because it’s quite deliberate.” “Oh, he’s not a performance cross, really. He’s considered a mutt in the States.” “He isn’t a mutt, he’s a working collie.” “We don’t have those.” “… what? What do you herd your sheep with, then?” She could not believe that we didn’t have Working Collies. In addition, I couldn’t believe that Buddy’s cross consistently resulted in highly effective obedience dogs. Go figure! Argh. 2 AM. MUST SLEEP. More updates tomorrow, when I'm conscious. | |
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| Right! I've got a reflection piece to post later on, but for now, here are craploads of photos. Click on them to bring up the full sized image. | |
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| Everything's gone mad, so expect updates in a day or two. I have about four journals that need to be posted. | |
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| Right! Crufts stuff. Today was really interesting- I helped a girl at the hostel down the stairs with her suitcase, only to discover that she too was going to Crufts, and she too was an agility/obedience handler! She was so incredibly sweet, and handles shelties in her home country of Finland. We ended up traveling together and spending the day at the show, taking pictures and visiting the rings and shopping to our hearts content. It was really fun to have someone to go with.
The show was a lot more fun to attend from the start of the day, I found. They gave out little cards on strings to hang around your neck that had a map of the rooms and the arena schedule for the day, which proved to be really quite handy. We checked out the breed stands- they have an entire section devoted to little booths featuring dogs of every breed recognized by the KC. It's really great to talk to the breeders and fanciers that take turns manning the stations with their dogs. The Deerhound people were really nice, I talked Spaniel with the American Cocker people (thanks, April!), cuddled a few Portuguese Podengos (podengoes? Potatoes? Tomatoes?), was introduced to the Swedish Vallhund and am now a huge fan, and, uh, the Staffy people recognized me from the day before. Tells you something about where I spent most of my time.
But the staffy people were honestly really great. It was so lovely to see people not being afraid of them- a handler let a little girl play with his 8 month old puppy without fear- The pup was so utterly gleeful to see the child, but acted so startlingly gentle for such a rambunctious, powerful little creature. They are truly, truly good with children.
I can't even say that about me!
But giddy squealing about Staffies aside, the day was really interesting. I learned a lot about international Obedience and Agility competition, and for those interested, I picked up a copy of the KC's Obedience and Agility rule books. I'll make copies for the Obedience Club library, but if you guys want hard copies for the library you'll owe me about £4. I can mess with exchange rates later.
Apparently, their agility doesn't have the 7 heights like we do (4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 26). They have three: Large, Medium, and Small. I was mildly horrified to find that my little 19.7 inch Buddy would have to jump 26" if I were to compete. Holy $&!*!!!
Conversely, though, they have more levels than we do. I believe they have 6 or 7 different levels, equivalent to our Novice-Open-Excellent groups. It's odd, but interesting.
Their courses... I dunno, it's closer to equine show jumping. They have courses that're similar to the AKC's, but there's a lot of variance of spacing between jumps. You'll have two jumps with 6-10 dog-strides between, and then they'll have a short stretch with two or three jumps in rapid-fire sequence, like a show jumping combination. It makes my poor AKC brain cringe to see the dogs go from extreme extension to really choppy, frighteningly fast collection- or, in the case of some dogs, single striding the jumps like they're running flyball. Even more alarming is that the little 20 inch border collies are single striding these jumps- and the bars are set to 26 inches! It's quite a feat. Scary. And most of the dogs in the class I saw today were over 7 years old! The eldest was 14. It's so different!
And holy hell, speaking of flyball- I have never seen a crowd go that insane for any dog sport in my life. The flyball is a HUGE hit here- the stands were so packed, and then half the people left when the agility started back up again! Everyone was screaming and shouting- there were people with team flags and banners and facepaint. Screw football hooligans- the flyball hooligans were insane! It was completely awesome to see. Several of the teams were Scottish as well, which was funny as anything. One team's uniform consisted of kilts! It was impressive as a spectator sport, with the catapult boxes and no electronic timers, but it was exactly that: a spectator sport. There was a lot of ball bobbling, and the entire performance wasn't at all efficient. The dogs had to all but stop in order to trigger the boxes, and when they did, they had to do all sorts of awkward motions to catch the flying ball. A lot of races were won by the slower and less impressive teams because of a lucky roll or a dog that couldn't get its speed back up from a dead stop. I like our flyball better!
I took video of both flyball and agility, which I will post once I get back to Royal Holloway where the connection is much better. Teresa, I can hook you up with course maps and such, as well as original files of the videos once I get back to the states.
The conformation competitions were once again an eye-opener. I expected the Border Collies to be quite different than they were- they look quite like they're on their way to becoming our American conformation dogs, though they're not quite there yet. Their heads are less domed, and their coat is still a little thinner, but very few had the crouched look that I love from working borders. All in all, rather dissappointing. I expected better from the brits.
Their German Shepherds are also getting to the point of extreme American exaggeration, but they're not nearly as bad. They can actually still, you know, walk. And possibly even do sports.
But that is a rant for a different time.
I know I'm forgetting things, so when I remember them I'll make separate entries. | |
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| Another long day, another long entry. I tried to get on earlier today, but didn't manage it :-( So this will be another long and rambling issue of Kat's Everyday Life, Issue 4.
I staggered to bed last night earlier than I thought I did. I expected it to be around 11, but it was only about 9:30 or so. Go figure. But anyway, the girls I'm with in the hostel are really rather interesting. I'm in a 5 bed room, with 3 being Spanish girls and one quiet little Japanese girl. So I'm the only one there who speaks English as a first language! Huzzah!
But that aside, the arrangements are rather nice. The place is really funky- the hostel itself is the back and upstairs part of a building that was above the once-pub now-office. You can't get to the sleeping quarters from the office section, so you have to go outside and around a corner to get to the bedrooms. The rooms are painted really brightly and in a modern style, with modern art hanging on the walls and really perky patterned linens on the bunkbeds. The office around the corner is very obviously a recently converted ex-pub, with the bar and sitting rooms still intact. It's really cozy and low-key, with a huge projector screen for watching films in the evenings and a kitchen for making munchies.
But yes, here I sit, on a computer that is older than me and has a time limit. So it looks as if I may have to take a break here and let you in on Cruftsey things later on tonight. I'll return before too long! | |
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| God, what a horriffically long day. Jo and I slept far too little last night, and had to get up uncomfortably early so I could catch the train to Birmingham. We ended up about five minutes too late for the one we'd planned on (oops), so we hung out for about twenty minutes until the next one came. The trip was uneventful, really. And really freaking expensive, but that's to be expected, really. Only totally random thing was I saw a wild pheasant, and damn are those things big.
But I digress.
I made it into Birmingham without a hitch, but then promptly got lost. The map Jo and I had looked at the night before was on a very different scale than I had thought, so what had looked like a five minute walk down straight streets actually entailed twenty plus minutes across the Bullring (a massive shopping center), plus the ability to find a street that no one had apparently ever heard of. Ah well. I ended up finding my way with the help of the freaky looking metal dotted building that I photographed in my last trip- it was a straight shot down the High Street from there, tucked away on a side street. It's really a cool place- an old pub-gone-hostel, with an odd mix of old and new. I dumped my backpack and got directions to the NEC (Crufts site). It was either a fifteen minute hike back to New Street Station and a fifteen minute train ride, or a two minute walk and a 45 minute bus ride. At the insistance of my sore feet and frazzled brain, I chose the latter.
Let it be noted that New York taxi drivers have nothing on Birmingham bus drivers. Seriously. There are roundabouts involved.
But I made it to the NEC with all of my vital bits intact, thank goodness. It's apparently connected directly to the Birmingham airport, which is kind of strange, but cool nontheless. You go up a few escalators and end up in a long, long hallway that connects the two. Descend again, and you're in the lobby of the NEC. I have to admit I went a little numb to see the giant 'Welcome to Crufts' sign above the main entrance. There was quite a bit of music playing that turned out to be the Heelwork to Music just inside the doors, and after a fifteen minute attempt to locate my tickets, I made it inside.
Everything you've heard about it? About it being absolutely massive? About it having unbelievable amounts of shops and rings? About it being &@^£ing awesome?
It's completely true.
There were all sorts of demos for the general public right inside the door- freestyle, obedience, training, their equivalent of the CGC program- all with really well-spoken trainers and some nice dogs. Everything was starting to wrap up by the time I got there, as I rolled in at about 4, so I have no doubt that tomorrow will blow my mind even more than today. I didn't see any agility, but I talked to tons of exhibitors and breed fanciers. I'll divide this up into sport specific sections so those who don't give a lick about, say, flyball, don't have to sift through stuff about it. Have fun. A lot of this is conjecture and initial observation, so take it with a grain of salt and realise that I may correct it all tomorrow in my next post.
Conformation:
It strikes me as a lot more realistic than the American style of showing. The dogs are groomed to a tee, obviously, and it's still rather tense, but it's a lot less... showy. These are real dogs. So many of the breeds looked so vastly different than their American counterparts- The English Springer Spaniels were the most obvious in this regard, as they stand a good three or four inches taller than the tiny, perfectly trimmed and marked ones you see in the America rings. Their coats are also considerably shorter, with lots of mis-markings and spots- these dogs looked straight out of the field. You know. Like they're supposed to be.
The whole atmosophere was also really different. They were people out there handling dogs, not handlers out there to perform. The only exceptions to this rule that I noticed were the specifically American breeds- The American Cocker especially, whose handler ran that little guy like a showman. It's very, very different- and I prefer it, I think.
Agility:
Nothing yet. It was over by the time I arrived. The equipment is kinda weird, though.
Flyball:
It was over when I arrived, as well, but I ran into a bunch of competitors in a little shop. Apparently they have two styles of Flyball; an equivalent to our NAFA, with the curved or wedge-front boxes; and 'Crufts' flyball, which uses the really obsolete catapult-style boxes. Apparently it's done because the Crufts committee thinks it looks better to an audience. It's a nussiance, according to the competitors, but that's just how they have to do it. Also, they don't do the 'round robin' style of tourney like we do- if you lose your match, you go home.
Yikes.
Obedience:
Missed this too, sadly, but I did see a spectacular drill team from a Golden club, with over 20 dogs working. It was amazing. I took video, and will post it when I'm not on a computer that works at the speed of smell.
I'm trying to empty my mem cards, and I have a worrying feeling that I'll be here all night.
... Oh. I might need to eat at some point, too.
Also, mum and dad, if you read this, could you check a tape measure on the dogs' necks, just below the ears and again at the widest part? I need to measure for collars. | |
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| Today was pretty damn awesome. Went to class (Playwriting) with Jo this morning. Quite entertaining! And subtly dfifferent, but that's a tangent for a different evening. Then, as previously stated, we got ourselves downtown to the train station to get a ride back to London. A great evening, all in all, full of geekery and clothes shopping and a gorgeous little bead shop. Also, there is a spectacular little Japanese restaurant off of Covent Garden, if anyone should happen to be wandering there some time this week and is hungry for noodles.
I'll upload pictures either tonight or tomorrow morning before I head for Birmingham. I even got Sonny pictures of Football hooligans, as promised!
(though they ended up being Einhoven fans in the middle of effing Covent Garden, for Pete's sake. Why the hell were they there?) | |
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| An unusually sunny and delightful day in England! And, of course, I'm sitting inside in a computer lab. Such is life.
Jet lag has been (mostly) killed off by a good night's sleep on an appropriate schedule, so I'm doing all right in that respect. Jo and I are probably heading into London later on today, so expect a log later on.
Went to class with Jo this morning. Ahahahahhahahhaha. | |
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| With only a few minor hitches, everything went according to plan today in regards to travel. Thanks to dad’s last minute run, I managed to get on the plane with everything I needed- including extra batteries for my camera, as I won’t be able to charge the main one while I’m away. The Detroit connection was hardly a problem, and the airport was too cool- there was a half mile long escalator ride underneath the runways to take you to the next terminal, and it was completely covered in hidden lights which flashed bright, trippy colours (a la northern lights) along to whatever music was being played (video pending). After making it back up to the international concourse, with its amazing fountain and indoor train, I knew I had an hour to kill- so I stopped to get something from Starbucks and look around for a little while. Upon returning to what I thought was my gate, however, I was horrified to discover that the flight for Amsterdam had just departed. I scrambled to the ticket rescheduling desk, only to discover that my flight was listed on a different monitor and was departing from a different concourse, despite what I had been told by the flight attendant on the previous leg. So, with a little adrenaline added to the mix, I headed for the correct terminal. Boarding happened with little fanfare, though I was somewhat bemused to discover that I was in the utterly last seat on the plane. Luckily, this seat was next to a very kind man who proved to be excellent conversation for great parts of the trip. It felt a lot longer than it was supposed to be, honestly- the pilot had said the trip would last six hours, but I was able to watch X-Men 3, Casino Royale, and part of Walk the Line (as well as do quite a bit of Latin homework!) before we landed in Amsterdam. The hike to the opposite end of the airport once I arrived was less than fun, but everything else went smoothly- with the exception of the gate attendant having to hand-write my boarding pass! It was very strange to go through an airport where the main language wasn’t my own, despite the fact that all the employees spoke wonderful English in addition to their native Dutch. The last flight was very strange for a girl from the US- it was what is known as a ‘City Hopper,’ which apparently means that the planes are small and only travel within Europe. It’s mainly a way for businessmen to travel, as I found out when I discovered I was the only person on board to not a) Be wearing a suit
b) Have a Y chromosome. The plane was a tiny, KLM-run contraption that looked as if it’d seen service in a war, but by god it got me through to London City Airport. Another commuter commodity, this was a small airport servicing to City Hopper clients. I was lucky to get on the right train at all after this, to be honest. I made it through customs and got my (very heavy) rolling bag, then bought a ticket through to Waterloo. Then, in a fit of tiredness (and possibly because I was confused), I hopped onto the nearest train along with half the people on the platform. I think I was very lucky that it ended up being the right one ;) After that- not much to report on the travel side of things. I hopped onto a train to Egham from Waterloo and met my dear friend at the station (amidst much squealing and hugging), and then we went to lunch! It was so awesome to see her again after two years! And hell, the school is incredible. At the moment, I am staying incognito (shh) on the grounds of Royal Holloway. It is in-freaking-credible here. I’ll post pictures tomorrow, when it gets light enough to take any. Other than that, it has been 30 hours since I last slept. Jet lag is for the weak! | |
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| First update from the UK! The flights went well, despite a moment of panic when I thought I missed my connecting flight to Amsterdam! Just updating to let everyone know I'm safe and sound- I'll update later with specifics. | |
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| And here starts the official travel journal, with less than 24 hours until my plane leaves Evansville.
I have never been more excited. I'm not intimidated, though I probably should be. I've decided to stop trying to please everyone else by being mature and just let this happen. This is going to be absolutely incredible.
Everything is packed. I'm currently checking train schedules for tomorrow so I'll be able to make it to Egham, even if I'm half-conscious and on the tail-end of a Red Bull high.
God. How the hell can this actually be happening? I keep expecting someone to tell me it's a joke. - Location:Home
- Mood:giddy
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| The countdown continues. 3 days now!
All the important and semi-missing articles (wallet, camera, and passport) have been found, thank god. Now all I have to do is pack.
Oh, and if you need me this weekend, I'm dogsitting for one of my profs, so call the cell phone. Until Sunday, I have a Great Dane. Life is... well, not good. But better, when I'm on my own.
I'll manage. I sure know who my friends are now, though. Funny how that works. - Location:Home
- Mood:drained
 - Music:The Joker - Steve Miller Band
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| Five days. Five days. I can make it for five more days.
I really need this vacation.
Also, I'm tentatively planning a visit to Illinois to visit Buddy's rescuer. Hopefully it'll go through this week, rather than having to happen after Crufts. But we'll see.
In the meantime, I'm going to go take a long nap and try to raise my blood sugar with chocolate. | |
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| This is slowly dissolving into dog-topics that have little or nothing to do with my trip. I guess until I'm actually packing, my readers'll just have to deal with such tangents.
I have come to the conclusion that Buddy is a flippin' genius. A dog, mind you- he still hates the cat and has the odd moment of pica obsession- but a brilliant dog nontheless. When I was staying a few days at Mel's, I remember 'mark'ing him to a spot across the room (go-outs) to find and retrieve my backpack (using our article command, because it was my object amidst a pile of Mel's). The backpack contained days worth of survival stuff, including a laptop and all my textbooks, and easily weighed over 30 lbs. Watching him think- that brain was just whirring, you could see it- made me so painfully proud. Not the run-of-the-mill sort of pride, actually. That mother's pride that you get when someone you love puts everything together. Watching him move out away from me, work the pile, grab my backpack, and drag it back to me was jaw-dropping.
God, I love this dog.
But yes. His brilliance aside, I am at home playing Suzy Homemaker until mum figures herself out. I am unmistakably out of sorts.
Also, Buddy is lame and Gus has developed an obsession with potting soil.
10. I am counting the days. - Tags:buddy
- Location:Home
- Mood:annoyed
 - Music:Fidelity - Regina Spektor
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| Not on the topic of Crufts, but still of great personal importance this month: I have contacted the woman from whom we adopted Buddy six years ago, a private rescuer from Harrisburg, IL named Jean Small, to update her on how Buddy's been doing. She was delighted to hear about his successes, and we're in the process of arranging a visit. So hopefully later this week I will be making the same trip to Harrisburg that mom and I drove that cold night in December, 2000. It's a bit euphoric, really. Something I've always wanted to do.
I also found out some details regarding Buddy's breeding and history; apparently he was 'bred' by a farmer whose working bitch was unspayed and always ending up pregnant. He would give the litters to a woman named Kathy who runs a private rescue out of Norris City, IL (called , ironically enough, "Kat's Kennels") until she finally refused to take any more of them in; the last litter was given to Jean, who advertised her rescues in the paper. The rest, as they say, is history ;) I'm hoping more than anything else to find pictures of his sire or dam, and possibly see a living relative. Because that would just be awesome. | |
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| Hello to my readers! This is the travelblog of an American dog enthusiast's journey to Crufts, the world's largest dog show, held in Birmingham, England. I'm going to be writing as often as I can in journal-style entries, and will also be uploading photos of my travels to share with my friends and family. I would love to read any comments left on my blogs- I'll miss you all when I'm gone, any any communication will be greatly appreciated! As an introduction to those who don't know me, my name is Kat, and I currently handle two Border Collies in Obedience, Agility, Flyball, Tracking, and Freestyle Obedience. For more information on me and my dogs, please visit my website.I will be leaving on the 5th of March, and will be arriving in London on the 6th. Once there, I will spend a few days with a very dear friend before heading north to Birmingham on the 8th. The 8th, 9th, and 10th will see me at Crufts- on these days, the Gundog (Sporting), Working, Pastoral (Herding), and Hound groups will be showing, as well as an astonishing amount of flyball, obedience, and agility events. My friend will join me for the show on the 10th, and we will travel back to London together afterwards. I will be leaving for home on the 12th, and will collapse, exhausted, in my own bed with my own dogs late that evening. If you would like to contact me while I'm gone, I would recommend commenting on one of my journals rather than emailing me. I will be trying to keep up with emails, but it is likely that, should I have ten minutes on the internet, those ten minutes will be spent updating this page rather than checking hotmail. And now! On with the show! | |
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faegrian's journal
