Stubbylee Blog

What a difference a day makes. From the rain and wind of yesterday to sunshine and warmth - you might almost think its spring.

As we’d missed the entries for the Borzoi club show it was a day spent catching up on jobs. Liz went to help Mike put in a concrete base for a new shed whilst I did some spring cleaning in the caravan (yes I know it should be the other way round). Most of the dogs spent the morning & early afternoon sunbathing.

Later on I took Luka and her children over to Mikes to have a play in his field. The concreting had been finished and fenced off so the dogs were able to run around in the 2 and a half acres having a lovely time. The only problem is there’s a stream at the bottom of the field. Rush went and waded up its length getting his legs coloured a nice shade of mud but Zorro had to go one better he laid in it,  reappeared absolutely filthy all over his bottom half.

After a while we went inside for a coffee, leaving the dogs outside to have a drink and dry off in the sun. Once we’d been refreshed it was outside to give the dogs another run before going home but it turns out they hadn’t been relaxing in the sunshine - or a least one of them hadn’t. You can probably guess whats coming - but there was the pristine concrete with a nice big set of borzoi footprints going from one side to the other and then back again. Five borzoi stood around looking nonchalant whilst we tried to work out who looked concretish but they’d managed to get rid of any evidence. Some of the footprints could be smoothed out but those in the middle couldn’t be reached and will be left for posterity. Perhaps the dogs though of it as a borzoi equivalent to the handprints film stars leave in Hollywood.

Classification -  The classes available to enter at a show. Eligibility is based on age or the experience of your dog. At some shows such as breed club shows or Championship shows there could be many different classes to choose from.  Do not waste a lot of time deciding which one to put your dog in as whichever class you choose it will be the largest one of the day

Standing your dog – this is a war of nerves between yourself, the dog and the judge. You want to stand your dog four square to show it to his best advantage, the judge wants to wait until your dog is stood properly before going over it, the dog wants to stand as badly as it can, ideally with as few legs on the ground as possible. You keep positioning the dogs feet, the dog keps moving its feet and the judge keeps waiting. Eventually one of you will give up (it wont be the dog)

Moving your dog in a triangle. This is done so the judge can assess your dog moving away, in profile and then moving back towards the judge. Although referred to as a triangle the actual pattern taken by the dog & handler could be a circle a straight line, a rectangle or even in extreme cases a dodecahedron – any shape in fact EXCEPT for one with three sides

Taking your dog up & down – this lets the judge assess the front & rear movement. The judge optimistically hopes you will move in a straight line although the path of a drunk at closing time on a Saturday night is likely to be straighter. In extreme cases the judge has been known to shout and wave to try and attract the exhibitor back on course. It’s also important to remember to stop your dog coming back before you reach the judge, unless you want to leave a lasting impression.

Benching – A place for you to sit down as well as somewhere to put your bags, show gear, coffee, etc.  The Kennel Club define a sizes for benching for each breed; for the borzoi this is carefully calculated to be exactly 10cm less than an adult borzoi needs to lay down in comfort. The discerning borzoi will of course ignore benching, preferring instead to spread itself over as much of the gangway as possible.

Exercise Area – The one place in the show where your dog won’t relieve itself.  The name derives from the amount of exercise you get as you spend half an hour walking around trying to get your dog to do something. Your dog will of course not cooperate, choosing instead to hold up judging for 10 minutes as it decides to stop and relieve itself after 2 strides in the ring

Grooming Area – A place for grooming tables, cages, brushes, scissors, driers and everything else needed to prepare your dog before entering the ring. Usually the space is so full of gear and people there’s no room for the dogs. As an aside why it that the smaller the dog is the more grooming kit is is needed. A Great Dane has perhaps a towel and grooming mitt whilst a Yorkie has a table, brushes, combs, scissors, table, cage, red velvet box, ribbons etc, etc.

Entries for the NBA Champ Show closed earlier this week; I’ve got to say the entry is pretty disappointing. We’ve moved the show further south to Clay Cross to encourage more exhibitors from the south, trying to counter claims that our previous venue was too far north. We keep getting people saying we should return to Newark but, with our current show dates its impossible the showground is simply not available.  

At the Champ Show we will be auctioning some of our President Mrs Malone’s borzoi collectables, if you are interested there are photos on the NBA website www.northernborzoi.org.uk. For those of you who are interested but can’t be there on the day simply let us know the maximum you want to bid on an item and we will bid on your behalf.

 Nowadays there are very few social activities for borzoi people other than the Borzoi Club Christmas lunch. Is this just because you are disinterested or just that the right event hasn’t been organised. If you are interested in the NBA organising more social events please let myself or one of the Committee know.

It was an early start on Sunday, setting off at 5:30 for the 2 hour drive to the NEC even though judging didn’t start to 10 o’clock. The reason?

We’d been asked to provide a dog for the International Junior Handling and happily agreed - only afterwards did we find out that we needed to be there for 7:30

The day didn’t start well we’d almost completed the walk from the car park to the hall 3 entrance when Liz asked “have you got my jacket”?

“No aren’t you wearing it”

“If I was wearing it I wouldn’t have asked would I”?

I’d left it back in the car so after we’d got the dogs settled Liz had the long walk back to the car park. 

For the breed classes we had 3 dogs entered - Rush, Diva & Zorro with Jazz doing the junior handling. With Rush and Zorro in the same class after 25 years I finally had to get into the ring at Crufts after avoiding handling for so long. It was just typical that with so much time before judging that we didn’t warm the boys up before they went in the ring and it showed. Neither of them went well; Rush was 2nd after deciding to start his triangle with an enormous vertical leap. It was the only time during his entire puppy career he’d been beaten by another dog puppy. Despite my expert handling Zorro was 4th.

It was then the long wait until Diva’s class but the time went quickly with lots of people coming round to talk to the dogs, lots of photos being taken as well. When Andrew arrived back from the junior handling with Jazz they just seemed to attract more people. People seemed really pleased to have their photo taken with the dogs and when we gave them the lead to hold and stepped back they would be even happier. What was pleasing was how many children wanted to meet the dogs and how well the dogs responded.

When it was Diva’s turn to go in the ring she really shone and just flowed round the ring and won her class. In the bitch challenge she went wonderfully once again seeming to to relish her time on the green carpet more and more. Then it was time for best puppy and again she went like a dream to take the Best Puppy. What made it even nicer was all the people for their congratulations afterwards. Many thanks.

In the International Junior Handling Jazz went like an absolute dream for Aleksandra who handled him brilliantly, especially when you remember she’s 12 competing against 16 & 17 year olds. After the breed judging we wandered down towards the Arena and were absolutely thrilled to see the parade in the main ring with Jazz striding out and looking just the part.  Those people who’ve met Jazz  know what a character he can be (some would say a plonker) but he showed he can rise to the occasion.  When Andrew took Jazz back for the final judging he said Aleksandra wrapped her arms around his neck (Jazz not Andrew) and he went trotting off quite happily without a backward glance. Overall the Junior handling standard was fantastic and certainly put a lot of more experienced exhibitors to shame.

There were some silly moments during the day: a comment from around the ring when one woman said to another “Aren’t there a lot of dogs here”. The dogs wandering around ’sampling’ products as they walked around the stands. Then there was Zak walking around with an enormous soft toy dog on his shoulders dwarfing him. Apparently Ian had “negotiated” it as a prize from one of the stalls.

All in all it was a really good Crufts.

Wow - that’s Crufts finished for another year - what a hectic, stressful but enjoyable weekend it was.

Apart from the breed judging on Sunday we also volunteered to do the Discover Dogs stand on Saturday morning with two dogs. Originally we planned to use Jazz & Luka but Luka then decided to come in season so Star was drafted in. Friday night was spent bathing the dogs finally finshing getting everything ready by midnight, it was then an early 6:30 start to get to the NEC in time for our stint on Discover Dogs.  Our booth was in a fantastic position, right on a corner on the first row of  booths even better it was right next to a coffe stand, the exercise area and the loos. Royal Canin provided lots of support with blankets, feed bowls & dog encyclodepia for the booth. Sue Graham had also put in a lot of effort prepring the stand with photos & information leaflets. The dogs had a fantastic time, after being a bit unsure at the start Star absolutely loved all the fuss & attention. Jazz did his party piece of sitting on Liz’s knee with his back legs off the ground. It was great to see the reaction of children to the dogs, particulary the smaller ones looking up into Jazz’s face and wrapping their arms around his neck cuddling him. We know we can trust Jazz he loves children being like his sire William who used to go totally gooey whenever he saw a baby in a pram. Star as well joined in perhaps my highlight of the day was a little toddler reached up and kissed Star on the nose and Star very delicately kissed her back.

A lot of people said that they’d seen a Borzoi many years ago and had always loved them and were delighted to meet them again. Lots of photos were taken and when you let people stand with the dogs for the photos their faces really light up. The whole idea of Discover Dogs is a great one and days like this provide superb education and promotion platform for our wonderful breed.

At the end of our session we tried to have a look around Crufts but the crowds were absolutely packed and we still kept stopping for people to stroke the dogs, talk about them and take photos. We went to Pedigree to collect our Top Puppy rosette and engraved glass, straight up the stairs with the dogs to the breeders lounge. It was great to sit down, have a coffee and relax for a while, Gary from Pedigree provided water and some food for the dogs. Thanks for the great support Pedigree have provided over the years.

After that we went to Our Dogs to collect the award Jazz had won for being Top Sire in 2007, another great rosette and a Top Sire umbrella. As it was nearly 3 o’clock by now we decided that we’d had enough and the dogs looked tired so headed off home even though there was a lot of people we’d wanted to see but hadn’t had chance hoping to do so on the Sunday.

So Crufts has finally arrived with all the accompanying hype and hysteria. One thing I didn’t notice in the media coverage yesterday was the anti dog stories that usually appear at Crufts time. The only thing I heard was that Ladbroke’s had suspended betting on which group the BIS winner will come from. seems there had been a lot of bets placed on the Utility group. It will be interesting to see where the winner does come from I think it will probably be a gundog or terrier. History shows these tend to be the most successful group. Will a borzoi do well on the group stage - unlikely when you look back at group placings for our breed in the last year.

Only caught a bit of the TV coverage last night as Andrew kept flicking over to watch football.  It did inspire him to suggest that instead of Frank Kane & Jessica Holm providing analysis of the dogs they should use Alan Hansen & Mark Lawrenson instead. Can you imagine the comments about keeping it tight at the back with plenty of front movement.

We are there tomorrow for Discover Dogs as well as Sunday so we will get a feel for the place and possibly get a chance to look round before we have all the dogs on Sunday. I’ll try & post some thoughts on Saturday evening if I get chance but by then I might just be shattered.

Firstly, in case my Mum reads this Happy Mother’s Day (what’s left of it).

I was out buying cards and presents yesterday - have you noticed how the card manufacturers and supermarkets have stretched and stretched the idea of Mother’s day

Cards to Mother - no problem its the whole idea of the day

Grandmother’s cards - starting to stretch the idea a bit there & anyway didn’t the money mad maniacs create a Grandmother’s day as well

Cards for your wife - a bit of a knock on from Valentine’s day here and definitely milking the day for what its worth

until you come to

          Godmother’s cards

The idea of godparent’s are to provide spiritual and moral guidence as you grow up - probably starting with the advice to not be conned into providing money mad blood sucking leeches your hard earned cash by buying rip off cards for everyone and anyone on Mother’s day.

Rant over