8th March 2009 - Crufts Final day.

Argh!! Nail bitting times in the Creek household!! Lucy and Teasel went to Crufts to perform in the main arena and on the Web broadcast!! Very nerve wracking for all concerned (I had my heart in my mouth most of the time!! - and I was just watching)
Unfortunately the junior handlers competition was in the ring beforehand, and their inability to stop their charges from peeing on the floor and their habit of trowing treats to direct the dog's attention resulted in a serious amount of distraction for a little dog who thinks with their belly and prime sense is a highly attuned nose...



Still, wasn't too bad, and made history as the first ever Beagle, in fact the first ever hound to perform a HTM / Freestyle routine in the main Arena at Crufts, so that's pretty good going, and she didn't run of and do her own thing altogether!!

5th March 2009 - Crufts!!!!

It's finally here!! The biggest date in the 'doggy world' calendar- Crufts. We went along at the request of Richard Curtis to join in with his HTM display, and as ever we had a great time, helped by the free entry and parking he arranged!! W're alwys amazed at the amount of merchandise available and all the new ideas that are out there. As ever Richard makes public performance and dog training seem effortless, and you can't help but be a little jealous!! It's alwys a nice atmosphere as well as you get to spend some time with fellow 'Canine Frestyle' and HTM people, and it reminds you of the friendly world it is. A good day and all the demos' went really well (as opposed to Teasel getting bored and tired on the second demo) so that's additional, encouraging progress!!

3rd March 2009 - Practice!!!

Another weird day. We went up for a 'last minute' practice for Lucyand Teasel before Crufts. Quite cool, but not too freezing, but just as we put down all the kit we'd lugged out to the middle of Cannock chase, it started snowing, heavily! Still Lucy and Tease (and me and Spider it seems) are made of stern stuff, and carried on anyway. We thought it would be good practice as there would be plenty of distractions to desnsitise Teasel, but it seemed there was just too much grabbing her attention (deer scent and droppings) and it turned into a bit of a farce. Eventually she managed to concentrate long enough to get in a couple of good runs and I've put the best on here...