A Toller at Crufts
2004
Crufts is the biggest dog show in the world
according to the Guinness Book of Records. There
were 21 622 entries this year. The show takes
four days and this year they were from Thursday
4th to Sunday 7th March.
Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers belong to
the Gundog group and were judged on the second
day. Tollers were not always welcome at Crufts.
Three years ago they were allowed to take part
in the show for the first time. Earlier they
were regarded as imported dogs and thus
excluded. The first year there were only British
Tollers. Some years ago Crufts started to allow
foreign dogs to participate.
As we won the invitation to Crufts at the
International Dog Show in Lucerne last summer, I
didn’t quite know what to think about it. My
more experienced breeder friends made me aware
of what a privilege I had received. So I decided
to think about it seriously.
My toller seemed to enjoy going to shows.
They were days especially reserved for us two.
She has learnt to cope with many situations, to
be in crowds of people, do Obedience exercises
among people and dogs, to pass the huge Danish
Dogs without fear, be examined by judges and a
lot more.
The only thing that frustrated me was the
fact that there were so few Tollers in shows.
Where were the breed representatives? Well
socialized dogs have a wonderful opportunity to
learn new things. If I train my dog to a therapy
dog she has done a lot of her training already.
Concentration exercises for Obedience are also
fun. Are the shows that expensive… 50 SFR for a
dog training day is really not enough. In the
shows dogs really learn much more.
It was soon time for Crufts and I thought we
had learnt enough even though we were probably
not as good in the ring as the more experienced
exhibitors. My principle was: we are going to
see the winners and just to take part will be
fun.” I had nothing to lose as my toller was
quite young and I was pretty new in this field.
We did our Internet entry and reserved a
place for the car in the tunnel train. Now there
was nothing more than 1000 km motorway between
us and Birmingham N.E.C. (National Exhibition
Centre)! Two moderately enthusiastic children
were occupying the backseat as we took off on
Thursday morning. The journey through France
went much faster than we had imagined on the
almost empty motorways. Amber didn’t want to
stay in the very back and was allowed to sleep
by the feet of the children. Even the children
were surprised, that the day in the car (with
many stops) passed so fast.
The papers of the dog were fine and the
PET-Scheme requirement fulfilled. The British
welcomed us. The Tunnel Train lasted 35 minutes
and about eight o’clock in the evening we were
drinking tea with our relatives in South London.
Only then did I understand how important Crufts
is for the people. There was a report each day
about the results in TV and people were really
interested as they heard that we were actually
going to take part in the show.
The M25 was of course full already in the
morning and it really didn’t improve by
Birmingham. Even my husband, who had lived
around London for years, was wondering where on
earth all the people were coming from and where
they were they going. The roads in
Schwarzenburgerland had spoiled us! Finally we
arrived at the NEC Parking. They were massive
and I was afraid we would never find our way
back to the car! Now however we had something
more important to think about: to find our
bench. The hall number 5 was ours. Each dog had
to stay in their bench except for going to the
toilet or the ring. The visitors had paid for
seeing the dogs after all.
The usual waiting time began. 12.30-15.00 was
reserved for the Tollers but there were delays.
There were about 46 Tollers (last year there
were 20 more). What fun it was to see so many
redcoats! I know, I know, in the Nordic
countries there are easily the double in a show,
but I had never seen so many before. Ambers
great-grandmother and uncle, sister and
great-grandfather were there. Last years winners
were there to defend their titles. There were at
least 4 foreign Tollers but the majority
belonged to the British crème-de-la-crème (there
are about 500 Tollers in GB). The atmosphere was
friendly even though everyone was exited toward
the end. It was interesting to talk to the
owners and hear what they had experienced with
their dogs. There was some insecurity about the
judge, did she have experience in judging this
breed? Amber didn’t look like last years winners
who had quite a lot of white markings. I was not
interested in the speculations about the judge.
To my surprise Amber’s sister was in a class
called Post Graduate. I was curious about what
that meant. I was told, that dogs that haven’t
won as much as the one’s in the Open Class
belonged to this group. Maybe we also should
have been in this class. Now it was too late to
change. There were also other classes that
differed from the usual European ones.
Particularly interesting was the Good Citizen
Dog Scheme class. The Kennel Club organizes
courses and tests where these dogs can show
their abilities.
Ring 34 was bigger than any I had ever seen
before. The ring procedure was the usual: the
judge inspected the dog, triangle and back and
forth run. As I answered the judge’s question
about Amber’s age, she exclaimed: Good grief!
This was her only comment. I forgot to ask what
this exclamation meant. We didn’t get any
written comments, only the ribbon and the
placement.
There were ten in the open class. It was good
to be among so many. Amber stared at me
intensely as is her habit but standing up was
not on for some reason. The lady beside me
looked amused and she said: "Soon she will be
rolling on the ground!" I don’t know what that
meant exactly but I didn’t allow it to make me
insecure. I have heard funny comments in the
ring (even about the looks of my dog) and they
are not exactly edifying. However they are
meant, comments like that don’t belong to the
ring.
The last year’s winner won again. It was
almost unreal that the judge handed us the
Second in Class ribbon. The rest went fast. The
Res. Best Bitch is not automatically the second
in the open but is chosen from the 1sts of each
class. Amber’s great-grandmother from the
veteran class won the Res. A lovely dog.
The sympathetic British Toller owners wished
us a good journey home and a "see you next
year!" That was true, the three best in each
class get an automatic invitation to attend next
year.
It was worth visiting Crufts even though I
saw nothing about Obedience, Agility, Heelwork
to Music or other things. I saw Tollers and that
was enough! On Saturday we again visited
relatives and walked on the South Downs. Amber
and her charming Golden-cousin chased rabbits
and scared some pheasants. On that day it was
allowed! During the journey home we had time to
think back on all that had happened. It took a
while to get home but I will certainly go next
year if at all possible!