From the 9th to the 12th of March the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham catered for the the show of the year : Crufts 2000. Over 20,000 dogs were entered in a myriad of disciplines within the dogworld. Lone Thyrsgaard, Johanna Allanach, Louise Schmidt, Susanne Prier Hansen and myself travelled to the UK to witness this fabulous show. Lone, Johanna, Susanne and I travelled on the 5th of March. Louise couldnt get the whole week off from work so she arrived on the 8th of March during the evening. On the 9th of March we were joined by two American border collie enthusiasts, Betty and Joan. This is our diary from the trip.

Sunday the 4th of March 2000
The day started with obedience training at the Border Collie Club's classes in Soroe. I had all 3 classes as Johanna was on her agility judge's seminar. After training my dogsitters took my three dogs with them; so when I arrived home the house was very empty - no pattering paws and no slurping from the water bowl. But I hardly had time to notice that. I was caught in a packing hurricane whilst trying to clean the house and mailing last minute instructions to the sitters. At 5 pm the chauffeur (a friend who had offered to drive for us) rolled up the drive - luggage, handbagage and other bits were lugged out to the car - the passport, money and tickets were checked again for the 120th time. And finally I was on my way to England. We drove out to Lone who was ready and waiting for us. Passport, money and tickets were checked for the 121st time and off to Ringsted we went to pick up Susanne. By now the obligatory check of passport, tickets and money was routine and we set off to Soeborg, were we actually found Lauggaards Allé and Johanna's apartment, which we invaded (no scruples whatsoever ). Johanna had baked a cake and she served hot cocoa with a substance we promtly named Fluffer. Fluffer is the insides of Marshmallows which Johanna had bought in America. You can put it in cocoa, on cake or where you normally would put whipped cream. It bears a reasonable resemblance to the stuff they put on Ice Cream here in Denmark. Susanne and I went beserk. First we ate Fluffer with M&M's on it and then cake with Fluffer and M&M's. I guess the others thought we were a bit disgusting. Time for bed now. The alarmclock will ring shortly, and then we will really be on our way.

Monday the 6 th of March 2000
How can it be that the alarm clock always rings the precise second you fall asleep ??? We had hardly slept that night ! The fold out double bed that Lone and I shared had creaked even when we wiggled our toes. And if your arm had fallen out from under the covers, it touched cold metal and you flew up from the bed, which in turn resulted in a creak that would wake all of lauggaards Allé.
Imagine a morning where 4 people need a shower within 45 minutes in a bathroom the size of a cupboard. Susanne and I were prepared to eat Fluffer for breakfast, but somehow we settled for a piece of toast and cheese. And out of the door we went to the waiting taxi.
After nearly getting lost within the airport we actually ended up in the right airplane which turned out to be about the same size as Johanna's bathroom. Our handbagage was within limits, but as the aforementioned airplane was quite small, handbagage was limited, and we werent allowed to take it all on the flight. Lone's bag ( which contained the present for our hostess - a porcelain plate with a border collie on it ) was removed and given to a stewardesse. No-one in the entire airplane could have been in doubt that the bag contained something fragile - Lone supervised the procedure carefully and came with an ancouraging yell to the poor stewardesse: " now you are not going to drop it, are you ? "....
Despite the size of the airplane we arrived safely in Birmingham airport. We got our baggage and went to find our rented car - unfortunately Johanna had forgotten which company she had rented from, and so combined with the trainee that checked the car out, we left the airport 1,5 hours later in our 7 passenger mini-bus.
There is about 40 km from Birmingham to Brinklow, where we were to stay, but we stopped in Rugby on the way - arriving at Acorn Kennels late in the afternoon, where Bessamour Kennels and Valerie Rothlisberger-Jones reside. Valerie had graciously opened her home for 7 of us visiting Crufts - we were 4 of them. We got a wonderful welcome from Valerie and her 9 beautiful border collies. We were shown our rooms and when we had unpacked we sat down to watch Mary Ray's new video " Heelwork to Music Mary's Way ". Whilst we sat and admired one of England's finest dogtrainers, Valerie made dinner. Tired and full we are on our way to bed now.

Bessamour Wish Upon a Star and Bessamour Digger

Tuesday the 7th of March 2000
We slept like logs. After lively bathroom-order discussions we arrived refreshed to a grand breakfast. Valerie was preparing toast, but was perhaps surprised by our appetites and allowed Johanna to continue toast-making. This was not the big success though as she quickly managed to set the smoke alarm off. After breakfast we went to see Valerie's boarding kennels. Valerie went first and at the gate she said "Wait" and went through the gate. Obedient as we were we stood and waited. 5 minuttes passed before she came back to ask in astinoshment " Do you want to see the kennels ???". We explained that we had been waiting like she had asked us. It turned out that it wasn't us, but her dogs she had asked to wait. We were all amused that we had been waiting obediently like a flock of border collies.
At 11 am we visited Sheena and Bruce Kilsby who breed under the name Whenway. We also felt very welcome here. They showed us their dogs who had good temperaments and were very beautiful. We saw Polly ( Ma Biche of Whenway ) who is the only dog to be registered in the ISDS on merit. We also met Grey ( Cories Ashayer ) who is the dam of one of Johanna's dogs ( Foggy ) and Jim ( Whenway Royal Highlander ) , who had a good show career already. Finally the big moment came where Blue ( Clan-Abby Blue Aberdoone ) came into the livingroom. It bore a great resemblance to a pressconference where someone famous arrives. Cameras flashed and the videocamera was rolling. Blue is one of the most famous border collies in the UK. He has won a lot and sired many quality puppies. He is the grand or great grand sire to many border collies in Denmark. He is 13 years old now and still in good shape - he loves to play ball or bite peoples shoes.

Bruce Kilsby and GBCH Whenway Royal Highlander

On the way home from Whenway we invited Valerie out to lunch in a real English pub. After lunch we went to a humungous pet shop where we could buy anything our hearts desired. We went on a shopping spree and emptied the shelves without a thought to how all the stuff was going to fit in our suitcases on the way home.
In the evening we went to Rugby to see Mary Ray's puppy class. She had actually cancelled due to Crufts, but had called her students and arranged class again for us. We were grateful for that - what an experience !!! We saw a 5 month old blue merle puppy doing heelwork that would leave any top obedience dog here in Denmark jealous. The dogs in the class were on the whole incredibly good. Their methods were not much different from ours, but it was clear that the pupils were more ambitious and obviously worked hard in class and at home. Mary watched her pupils like a hawk and when her students did something that was just short of perfect ( nobody did anything that could be called bad ), she would call them "wally" and other such names ... Johanna and I ( who are the instructors at the Border Collie obedience classes in Sorø ) are considering whether we should adopt similar teaching techniques.....

Wednesday the 8th of March 2000
We slept in today. During the morning we packed the car to play tourists in Birmingham. The trip in took about 35 minutes. We wandered around the town and saw, amongst other things, the enormous shopping center " The Pallasades ", where we ran from shop to shop, amazed at all the border collie statues. Unfortunately they cost a small fortune (between £40 and £250). We aren't used to seeing dog statues in normal shops, but as the border collie is a popular and loved breed in England, you see it everywhere.
When we got tired of the city, we found the car (not too easily) and set course towards Brinklow ( or so we thought ). The trip home was via Coventry, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Coventry (again) and Rugby - all within 4 hours. I need not mention our sense of location.....
We had planned on resting for a few hours before fetching Louise at the airport, but we only arrived home, and off we went to Birmingham again, this time to the airport. In the arrivals hall several business men were waiting for arrivals. They were toting small signs with the name or company of the person(s) they were waiting for. We didnt want to be left out of this technological invention sowe fabricated our own little signs with the name " Louise " on them. I think Louise thought we were a bit foolish, but never mind, we had fun.
When we got back, Valerie had made us a great dinner. We went early to bed - we had a long day before us.

Thursday the 9th of March 2000
Early up and off to Crufts we went. On the way we were to pick up Betty and Joan from the airport. Their flight was delayed so Johanna dropped us off at the NEC and went to the airport by herself. We started by finding the special events ring ( a ring where all sorts of activities are held - from duck-herding to guide dog demo's ) - this was where Mary Ray was to do one of her spectacular demonstrations of Heelwork to Music. Mary, and her border collie Quincy, did their routine to a piece of music from Fantasia " The Sorcerers Apprentice ". When the music ended I had tears in my eyes. I have seen many of her demonstrations on video but this was completely different - it can't be described so I won't even try. All I can say is that if this was the only thing I saw at Crufts, the trip would have been worth it.

Mary Ray and Quincy

After this we wandered around and saw the various stalls where one could buy EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING(!!!) that has to do with dogs. In the beginning we yelled excitedly every time we saw something with a border collie on it, but we soon got used to the fact that almost every stand had something with a border collie on it, so we relaxed. One of our favourite stalls was the Border Collie Trust where one could buy border collie stuff. We found watches, bags, notebooks, telephone cards, sweaters, statues, and countless other items with border collies on them. We spent a lot there. At 12,20 Mary did another Heelwork demo. This time it was with her border collie Kizzy to the song from the musical Oliver Twist " Pick a Pocket ". She did the demo with her 11 year old " apprentice " Eloise and her border collie. Eloise was Oliver and Mary was the Artful Dodger, teaching Oliver how to become a pickpocket. Part of the routine was where the dogs ran up to two " innocent bystanders " standing in the corner, and steal handkerchiefs from their pockets. The dogs returned the handkerchiefs to the handlers , sitting in front of them in a begging position. This was well coordinated and Eloise did a fantastic job. Mary was as impressive as always.

Pick a pocket

We actually had tickets for main ring dog's obedience. I gather that Johanna, Lone and Louise saw some of this, but Susanne and I were so excited about all the stuff we could buy and all the demonstrations we were missing that we saw approximately 1 1/2 obedience dogs and then we scooted off to see more of the Crufts world.
In the evening we had tickets for group judging in the main ring. At about 8 pm we left the NEC - exhausted......

Friday the 10 th of March 2000
Today we split up in 2 groups. Susanne, Louise and I wanted to go to Crufts and so Lone and Johanna took as out there and dropped us off. They drove with Betty and Joan to shop in Rugby and saw a litter of puppies in Kettering.
Louise, Susanne and I spent the day shopping and watching demo's in the special events ring. I saw hearing dogs for the deaf, guide dogs, police dogs, herding, agility, flyball and hunting dogs. I saw Mary's routine 3 times.
Dinner was prepared when we arrived back, and we retired early for bed.

Saturday the 12 th of March 2000
Today was border collie day at Crufts so we arrived early to get a good ringside seat and to raid the club stall. The English border collie club had a stall where they sold a lot of good (cheap) border collie items.
Close to 400 border collies were entered under the judges Sheena Kilsby (bitches) and Bruce Kilsby (dogs). Valerie was showing her handsome blue merle dog Digger (Bessamour Digger) and her gorgeous tri, Maid (Bessamour Extravagant Gal). Maid was placed 5th in her class and Valerie was beaming ! Best of Breed was the dog Dykebar Brigadoon.

Bessamour Extravagant Gal

During the course of judging we left everynow and then to do our last minute shopping. This proved to be a big challenge...There had been a lot of visitors on Thursday and Friday, but this was extreme. It was practically impossible to get around. All the stalls were crowded and all the hallways were stuffed with people. We spent about an hour getting from one end of the NEC the other days.
We had tickets for group judging. First the working group was judged, then there was an obedience demonstration by the 2 Crufts obedience winners (dog and bitch ). Finally the herding group was to be judged, this is the group the border collie is in. The group judge, Liz Carteledge, started by picking out 6 dogs - the border collie was amongst the 6. Then she placed the following dogs:
Group Winner - Bearded Collie, 2 - Corgi, 3 - Collie and 4 - the border collie.
On the way home we had planned to visit Ann Amos (Cories Border collies). Ann had given us directions which at first glance seemed straight forward enough. It turned out though, that the directions had a wrong street name. We toured the countryside in the entire area and it took us ages to find it. Vi had promised to buy fish and chips on the way and when we finally arrived and invaded the premises we were met by a flock of hungry border collie people. Ann had 3 germans staying (Rolf, Meike and Uta) and so we had an international dinner (Germans, Danes, British and Americans). After dinner we went to see Ann's wonderful dogs and the bottle-lambs. We had a lovely evening and it was a good way to end a long day.

Sunday the 12th of March 2000
Today none of us could muster up the energy for another day at Crufts. Instead we drove to Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare's town of birth. There were many tourists, but apart from that it was a great little town. We found a small crystal shop that sold border collie cutting boards - several of us bought them. We were all in agreement that it was too expensive to pay to see inside Shakespeare's birthplace so we admired it from the outside.
Later that day we visited a couple of breeders and saw their beautiful puppies.

Monday the 13th of March 2000
Johanna and Susanne got up early to drive Betty and Joan to the airport. They had to be there by 8 am.
Our flight didn't depart until 1pm, but the car had to be returned by 11,30 am. We left Valerie's by 10 am and headed for a supermarket to spend our last change. Susanne and Louise wanted to get something alcoholic for their boyfrinds, but that wasn't as easy as it should have been. The sales lady didn't believe that they were over 18 ( Susanne is 27 and Louise is 22 ) - so they had to prove their ages. Louise had left hers in the car, but luckily Susanne had her license with her. That is why Susanne could buy it for herself and Louise , but she had to carry both bottles out of the shop - Louise couldn't have hers until they were clear of the supermarket doors. We drove to the airport, returned the car, and checked in. Louise must have looked unusually suspicious today, as she was stopped again - this time at security. She was searched and after they checked her bag an extra time in the scanner we were allowed to pass. After 1 1/2 hour in the waiting room we were ushered into a plane the size of a shoe-box. We departed on time and at precisely 4,01 pm we arrived in Copenhagen. Tired and with a good portion of homesickness (missing our dogs) - but many memories and experiences richer.

Photos by Louise Schmidt