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I did my stint at Kelmarsh on Easter Sunday with two of my Irish Water Spaniels.
Unfortunately, the wet weather leading up to the event took its toll in the dog pavilion which looked like a quagmire at the end of the day and my two certainly lived up to their breed’s nick name of bog dog, as they had to sit in mud for most of the day. This was the first time I have had to bath any of my dogs after coming back from a game or country fair. Each pen had been kitted out with the name of the breed and a photo supplied by the professional canine photographer Nick Ridley, who was on site.
Despite the wet, the organisers looked after us and there was a big turn out of both gundogs and British Heritage breeds available for the public to see, both in the pavilion and during the two parades that took place. One small moan tho’ was that the commentator made no mention of the fact that some of the gundogs in the parade (of gundogs and BHDBs) were also British Heritage Dog breeds, had he done so, then the 7 BHD breeds would have been boosted to 14. There were also a couple of Bassett Fauve de Bretagne’s lined up with the BHD breeds, not sure why.
In the pavillion I was squeezed between two very interesting ladies with a whole load of Lancashire Heelers and a couple with two Field Spaniels who frequently sat in their owners’ chairs making them stand on the floor.
The Heelers got a lot of attention due to excellent use of a couple of tables upon which they proudly sat waiting to be fussed, and there were plenty of people waiting to do that. Indeed, despite the cold weather the pavilion was at times very busy indeed.
A couple came up to me and said they finally decided to get an Irish Water Spaniel after seeing the Countryfile programme on TV and another lady came up to me and said she saw the Irish Water Spaniel coverage of a young girl going to her first Crufts some years ago (you can find this video in the forum). She was amazed when I said that one of the dogs I had with me was the granddaughter of the dog featured.
With the parade itself there were some really nice dogs: anyone interested in a small dog must have been impressed by the sight of 9 Manchester Terriers going around the ring, or indeed the 3 or 4 Lancashire Heelers, but my favourite was mother and daughter Deer hounds, although the magnificent Curly Coats ran them close..
Apologies if I missed any breeds off but I think the following were in attendance:
Gordon Setter
Irish Red & White Setter
Curly Coated Retriever
Clumber Spaniel
Field Spaniel
Irish Water Spaniel
Sussex Spaniel
Lancashire Heeler
Manchester Terrier
Welsh Terrier
Smooth Fox Terrier
Otterhound
Deerhound
Dandie Dinmont
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