UK Toydog Championship Show.-Main winners' photos

It was held at the Stafford County Showground halls and the Papillon judges were:
Bitches-Miss E Patrick (Volpecula)
Dogs----Mrs Q. Bruce (Tijuana)

There were 179 dogs entered.

Main Dog Winners.

Main Bitch Winners

Reserve Bitch CC- Ger. Ch. Denmore Iconsgabi--Mr S. Carroll & Mr J Newman

Reserve Dog CC Powdermill Touch The Stars--Mrs & Miss A Weston

Best Veteran in Breed--Wee Lucy at Adinaken (Mrs. K Smith)

Best Pup in Breed...Denemore Story's Echo at Tussalud (Mrs K Stewart and Miss K Stewart-Knight)

Bitch CC-Getupandgo de Costalino (Mrs I & Mr G Robb & Mr D and Mrs C Roe)

Dog CC and Best of Breed--Ch. Lafford Fly Me Too Farleysbane--Mr I & Mrs S. Victor & Miss E McLaughlin.

The Show

The two pups were very well behaved all (well, most) of the day and during the journey. There was no peeing, poohing or puking in their cages and stood and walked pretty well (for a first show) while being judged. I'm not counting Maisie barking furiously at a pug in a nearby ring. I was pleased with their placings, Maisie coming 4th out of fourteen and Roley ending up 5th out of nine in his Minor puppy class.

As we had plenty of time between the end of judging and the coach's departure we decided to try to take some photos of the dogs outside on a grassy patch. My friend Jennifer's two were easy-peasy and sat on a little wall by some flowers. Look down to see the results of trying to photograph my two little ones.

Roley jumped

and twisted

but, finally they stood side by side.

Lucy and little Pippa showed how it should be done, sitting quietly on the wall.

I hope nobody spotted us!

Our Initiation.

Maisie (left) and Roley before the bath.

"We've been stuck in the bath and a hose (=spray) turned on us and some sort of soapy stuff rubbed all over, especial attention being given to our ears and bums and finally after being wrapped in a towel (hope nobody saw us looking like that!) we were subjected to something puffing out warm air. That bit was ok."

Little do they know it yet but they will soon be stuck in a coach for several hours as we make our way to their first show.......a championship show at that...but as they have never been to a show they won't know the difference.

How will they react? I've no idea, but they have been quite outgoing at the ringcraft classes, so here's hoping! It's action stations in 2 hours time when we leave to catch the coach at the Forth Road Bridge.

Wish us luck!

Spring reaches My World.

After one of the coldest winters on record, spring seems to have arrived in our area of Scotland. Over the past few months we have seen floods, severe snowstorms with everything brought to a standstill and the longest spell of frost that any of us can remember, but finally we are emerging from bleak, brown/grey surroundings into something more colourful. The grass is beginning to green up and the spring flowers are beginning to show. First we had, and still have, the snowdrops and now, the crocuses of white, shades of purple and yellow, are in bloom. The daffodils are not yet flowering here. Perth welcomes its visitors with a wonderful display of spring flowers.
To see if spring has arrived in other parts of the world click here.

We enter Perth from the south, through the South Inch, a large area of parkland with football pitches, tennis courts, a boating pond and an extensive children's play area.

At this time of year the crocuses appear in a broad strip, bordering the road.

This view is looking south from practically the same spot as the previous photo. The castellated building in the top left of the photo is the recently revamped Perth Prison, which houses some of Scotland's most notorious criminals.

This border of crocuses has the church of St Leonard's in The Field in the background.

...and a closer look at these colourful spring flowers.

The garden, warts and all!

This morning a strange urge came over me and I decided to tidy up the rather unkempt rockery plants that grow in our back garden. I'm not a keen gardener, although I'm quite partial to Garden Centres, especially when they have a good coffee shop, but I like to see our garden reasonably tidy. We have to, as our back neighbour is of the type who throws a wobbly if he sees a weed! He appears to be off on holiday so I let the dogs come with me into the top part of the garden and they had a grand rake around in the normally forbidden territory.

The terrible twins, Roley and Maisie, "helping" to weed out some ivy.

After raking up lots of dead leaves and twigs from the foot of the dyke, this little fellow clambered out of the heap. I haven't seen a toad for a long time. Eventually he disappeared into a crevice in the stones out of harm's way.

Has Spring sprung?

Out of my kitchen window I spotted this gloriously blue clump of miniature irises, Iris reticulata, I think. It prompted me to do some weeding and clearing of dead stems and they now stand out in all their vivid blue glory. I don't recall ever seeing them there before!

Cruft's photos--Apologies!

Ringlands Treasures Story---4th in Open dog---apologies for the previous photo of him in the collage to Mrs. Pat Munn.

..and also to Mrs. Mary Whitehill for the part photo, in the collage in the previous post, of Amicae Lets Twist Again, 2nd in Special Puppy Bitch.

Some photos from Crufts 2010

A view over one of the halls at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre where the show was held.

The judge chooses her short list for Open Bitch class.

Top left shows the Best Bitch, bred in Belgium but now in England, awaiting judging in her class.

Top right is the Reserve Best Bitch from Norway.

Bottom left shows the Reserve Best Dog from Belgium.

Bottom right is the Best Dog and Best of Breed from America.

Some of the beautiful papillons being exhibited with the centre photo showing the Best of Breed, Am./Can. Ch. Arkeno's Ears To You, a phalene, several of which type were being shown.

Life After Crufts

Pretty much the same as usual. The dulcet tones of two impatient pups at 6.30 this morning put paid to any thoughts of a long lie. Had I forgotten to tell them that I'd not long since gone to bed?...apparently not! You know the old saying, "If you can't stand the heat don't have pups!"
We had a very enjoyable day, mainly watching the judging although we did have a foray into the other halls to have a look at the stalls but that is not my idea of fun, pushing my way through crowds of people, all going in the opposite direction! I was not born to shop. Luckily, I was with a younger friend, so I didn't get lost and managed to get back to the papillon ring. The same cannot be said for my departure from the hall for the coach, with my travelling friend. I assured her this was a much quicker way than the way we'd come in. Not so. We were heading to a totally different car park and had to re-enter the hall and re-route through several others. Obviously we made it back to the coach in time. Another friend from the coach was not so lucky. She uses an invalid scooter and, of all things, the battery went flat just as she and her daughter were leaving the hall. However they were prepared and had a charger and were able to charge up the battery from a power socket just inside the exit and were able to continue to the coach.

I've had my usual two walks with dogs today and, thankfully, the mud has dried up, so no filthy mutts in the house tonight.
I don't think I'll need rocking at "lights out" time.

.

Stay at Homes.

We could have been there!

It's that time of year again..............Crufts Championship Dog Show, the most famous in the world! How could I have decided not to enter the dogs and finally cancel my seat on the coach, which had been booked since last year? Well, it was quite easy, as my friend was ill and not likely to be travelling to any dog shows for quite some time. However as the time to the show drew closer I began to wish I had entered. Too late for that now, but, at a recent show I heard that an extra coach had been ordered this year and that a few seats were still available! I thought long and hard about it....must have been all of a couple of minutes.... and promptly asked to have one of the places on the coach. So here I am now, almost ready to leave for the starting point, the Forth Road Bridge car park, but no dogs this year. I'm sure they have recognised all the signs of departure for a big show, but they will be going nowhere.

Ever had the stuffing taken out of you?

I thought I'd do the dogs a good turn and provide some nice, comfy little nest beds and pads in the kitchen to keep them off the cold vinyl. How wrong could I be! The above couple of shots show the state of the beds, several times, between repairs. I give up with my mob. How do some people have their papillons sitting on pretty little beds, which sport neither a patch or several areas of stitching?

Here are a few photos of the complete beds being enjoyed by the various dogs, all except Mo, who never snuggles into one of them and I blame him for none of the damage.

I'm off now to fetch out the sewing box yet again.

Sleeping Partners.

This is my 4 year old grandson, who emigrated to Australia 2 years ago with his parents, and his ragdoll cat, Tint. Seems like a good relationship.

Photos from the hill walk.

I took my camera this time. Although the temperature has risen to zero degrees celsius, during the day, there is still a tricky, icy part of the track to negotiate.

This is the steep top part of the icy stretch.

Tass and Swallow avoid the ice.

The westward view, still showing quite a bit of snow on the hillsides and not much sign of spring yet on the valley floor.