crufts 2014

For Finnish Lapphunds and the people in this household, Crufts has now finished for another year.  All that's left for us to do is watch the remainder of the show on television and for my voice to recover and return.  As a singer, it's a very rare event indeed for me to lose my voice - it was always used a lot and was pretty much bomb-proof, come talking, shouting or even viruses.  However, I don't do much singing these days, and 2 days of the noise and socialising of Crufts did me in.

First, there was the showing bit.  I'm so proud of all the Infindigo gang, placed or unplaced.  But we did rather well out of it, all in all!

Here I am with Neka (Elbereth Onnekas for Infindigo ShCM), who placed 2nd Good Citizen Bitch and 3rd Veteran Bitch - a class she won last year.   Ahead of her in that lineup were two girls of the same age and I found it quite moving to be standing there with these 3 dogs who all competed in puppy classes together, who grew up through the classes together, and who this year will all turn 10 years old.  As you can see, the old girl has still got it goin on.

All of these showing photos are ©Mark Treasure - with apologies for cropping them for my blog and thereby cutting out his byline.

Neka's collection of winnings

Note: the wooden box is nothing to do with the Crufts bling - its purpose is purely propping up the place cards.  Don't ask what's in the box.  No, really, you probably don't want to know.

It was quite a novelty to see the judge's critique mere hours after getting home from a show, but our judge, Stuart Mallard, turned it around in record time.  This is what he said about Neka: 

"9yo who projected herself to advantage, well built frame with good bone and moderate angles, moved steady, well handled."

Here is Jane with Emmi (Infindigo Riemu Emmi) who placed 3rd in the largest class of the day, Postgraduate Bitch, and took the top spot in Good Citizen Bitch, beating her granny.

The judge's critique: "correct outline and displayed good construction, just preferred eye of those above, moved steady, coat coming"

Here is Lexi with Emmi's litter sister, Kiittaa (Infindigo Riemu Kiittaa), who only went and won that very same huge Postgraduate Bitch class.  Her critique:  "for me this lady won with a little to spare, thought her head a delight, no weakness or coarseness, she is nicely balanced with well developed forehand, moderate angles and good bone, sound typical action, thought she was totally functional."

Emmi & Kiittaa together

Daniel with Kuura (Infindigo Persikka Kuura) who placed Reserve in Postgraduate Dog.

Photo: Daniel Spencer

And, finally, me again with Taito (Infindigo Taito) who placed... nowhere!  Although he didn't impress the judge on this occasion, I was delighted with him.  He looks spectacular and he actually performed much better than on any of his recent show outings (by 'recent' I mean the 2 or 3 times per year we get him out).

You can find all the results for Finnish Lapphunds here.

In addition to the showing there was the socialising bit.

Kuura on the bench begging for a bit of someone's lunch

Neka on the bench missing out on all the fun - photo Daniel Spencer

I stayed locally overnight and the next morning set off with Emmi and Taito to do our bit on the Finnish Lapphund stand at Discover Dogs.  I had originally intended to take Taito and Neka.  However, Neka tends to prefer getting cuddles and attention strictly on her own terms and tends to get bored if she has to hang around one place for too long, so she isn't really ideal Discover Dogs material.  Emmi, however, like her half-brother Taito, is perfect for the job.  They both love all the attention, fuss and cuddles.  In short, they are perfect ambassadors of the breed.  So Jane and Mark set off for home with Neka and Emmi stayed with me.

They had a whale of a time with all the ooh-ing and aah-ing from every stranger who couldn't quite pass without stopping to say hello.

Emmi being sweet & gentle with a new small friend.

Taito entertaining the crowds doing what comes naturally.

Smiley Taito & Emmi wagging so hard her tail is a complete blur.

Finally, there was the shopping.  If you have never been to Crufts you really cannot imagine the scale of the event with not only thousands of dogs, but also hundreds of stands selling everything from dog leads to people clothing to leather bags - all geared toward the outdoor-focused, animal-loving, doggy type of person.  Almost without exception, every company who displays there offers special Crufts prices, and there are often great bargains to be had.  

I picked up a new collar for Tuuli from my favorite Essenjay and I did my usual annual stock-up on vet bed for my puppies from the lovely folks at Bronte Glen.  There was a stall selling leads that caught my eye, but I didn't have time to stop at that moment and I never got around to returning there, unfortunately.  And there was another stall I liked that was offering a service that shall for now remain nameless as I am planning a little gift from there for a friend.

Part of the great fun of shopping at Crufts is collecting all the amazing freebies on offer.   In addition to the usual pocketfuls of courtesy poo bags, this is my haul of stuff from only 2 well-timed stops.  Big thanks to the folks at Dog World and Your Dog magazine for the handy carrier bags full of great samples.

All free!

So that's 3 qualified for Crufts 2015.  Now to try and get a few more to join them.