Crufts

Crufts. The hugest Dog Show in the WORLD.  It’s in England - and it is starting today!

My human went three times.  That’s where she first saw us PONs years ago.  Crufts has EVERYTHING you can think of that is “dog”.  Besides the big beauty pageant, there is agility and obedience and gun dog stuff and demonstrations by rescue dogs and dancing and Meet the Breed and... and... and... EVERYTHING you can THINK of to buy that has to do with dogs.  I mean, for my human, it is Doggie Disney World.  Watching dogs and shopping for dogs and learning about dogs – it’s a dream come true.

She hasn’t been for a few years – and she is HOPING to go next year.  As always, she has a story about one of her visits….

It was the year of the Mad Cow outbreak – and as I hear, there was even a POSSIBILITY that they wouldn’t hold the show.  Now don’t quote me on that one – it may be a figment of my human’s imagination – it was BEFORE my time.  Anyway, they DID hold the show and she went with a friend and they had a blast.  They wore out their shoes – going ALL over the Exhibition Halls and seeing everything they could see in the four days.  They went at the crack of dawn each day – and stayed until the end of judging each night.

On the last day, after Best in Show, the 1 million vendors were clearing out and packing up their booths.  And some of them had some pretty good bargains at the end of the show.  Including treats….There were these BIG sausage-like rolls of dog treats – and they were selling them at a huge discount.  My human, who NEVER passes up a bargain, was so excited – because she could use the treats for training.  She convinced her friend that it was a GREAT bargain and both of them packed their bags with probably 20 lbs each of treats.  Which they then had to carry in their carry-on luggage because they had no room in their regular suitcases – because they were ALREADY full of other gifts and goodies.  So the next day, they lugged their BIG suitcases and their HEAVY carry-on bags in a taxi, on a bus and finally through the Heathrow airport.  They struggled to cram their heavy bags into the overhead compartments on the plane – all the time my human kept reminding her friend what a GREAT bargain they got.

They landed in Halifax and of course, had to fill out the customs card – which asks about the products they are bringing in.  Hmmmm….Is it a meat product – if it’s NOT for humans?  Dumb question.  Of COURSE it is meat.  And when the customs officer asked the question – while they were standing holding their heavy carry-on bags which were breaking their shoulders - they told him what they had.  You guessed it.  He confiscated their bargains.  All 40 lbs of them.  I hear that my human’s friend was ready to kill her.  It’s a miracle they still are friends.  My human says that the look on their faces as the officer took their treats was downright pitiful…

On the flip side, my human has brought back things from Crufts that were not confiscated.  I’m still not sure how she managed to CARRY ON weave poles on the plane. 

She even brought back a poster from a dog food company.  She thought it was cool.  She had a yellow Labrador at the time – and the poster is actually made up of dozens of little dog photos – in a mosaic. She was able to roll up the thing which is over 3X5 FEET in size and somehow bring it home without a wrinkle.  She then asked some guy called an ex-husband (I don’t know him) to take it to a place to have it dry mounted on foam core.  Nope.  He had it mounted on a wooden board.  The thing weighs like 500 lbs.   And then my human realized she had no where to put it.  So it is in her office at work.  She calls it a great conversation piece…

The giant 500 lb poster

A close-up of the poster

                                 

I'm thinking I would like to go to Crufts to meet all the PONs someday – and to buy stuff.  And to keep my human in check – heaven KNOWS what she could bring home next!  Mind you, I'm not so sure I would like flying...and a boat - well that would take at least couple of hours.  Maybe I'll let my human go herself.  As long as the guilt gifts are good.

Good luck to all my PON buddies who are competing at Crufts!  And have some treats – on me!  I hear that they sell some really good kinds!

© 2015  Linda Wozniak