Crufts Dog Show with Åse & David

 Crufts Dog Show 

We headed to the NEC Arena for the world famous dog show, Crufts. On arrival we browsed the huge variety of stalls selling every type of dog related paraphernalia imaginable! We were thrilled to meet and pet literally hundreds of different breeds of dogs of all different shapes and sizes. The Australian Terrier was a favourite amongst our group as they were so small and fluffy! 

The gigantic Great Dane had us all fascinated at how long his legs were and although he looked big and tough, we were told he was a gentle giant! 

We visited every chocolate lovers dream place- Cadbury World. Our chocolate journey started with a trip back in time where we were told about the journey of the cocoa bean which starts in Ghana and ends up being ground into a powder. The whole experience was enhanced with a 4D film with moving seats and chocolate bars seemingly flying in front of our eyes; it was incredible. We travelled on a small car going through a wonderland of scenery with a chocolate theme. It was then our turn to get hands on as we each got given a squeezy bottle of melted chocolate and we then got creative piping and writing our own names on a huge marble slab. We couldn’t come all this way and not sample some of the goodies and lucky enough we were each given a small pot of chocolate topped with marshmallows! 

Back at the arena, we were lucky enough to watch the agility and speed competition. With tickets to the final day in the main arena we got seated early to see a brilliant display of guide dog training from puppies to fully working guide dogs. We listened to the heart warming stories told by their owners as to how these amazing animals had transformed their lives becoming their trusted companions. 

We were blown away by the incredible Police dog display. These talented, intelligent dogs are trained to abstain criminals by clutching and pulling them down with frightening voracity. It was fascinating to learn how the dogs are able to use their tuned sense of smell to find contraband and discarded weapons involved with aiding the police. We had such a great view from our brilliant seats and the thrill of the police cars entering the arena with sirens blaring, dogs wailing, itching to catch the criminals. 

We all wanted to visit the different breeds of dogs again as they were so irresistible last time! They were all too happy to see us as we made a huge fuss over them. 

 What an amazing way to end the day but with fantastic seats for the grand finale- Best in Show. We were all delighted that Baxter the Flat- Coated Retriever pipped the incredibly groomed Poddle named Waffle to first place. He received the huge Crufts trophy, and the audience gave a tremendous round of applause to congratulate them all. The atmosphere was electric. 

A morning was spent at Woodgate County Farm to visit and get up close with some other types of animals. We were able to pet and feed some noisy pigs, sheep and cows as well as visiting the very talkative geese!