What a Weekend........

I have mixed feelings about agility at Crufts. Firstly it's on carpet so the dogs are not at their fastest. Then there are the crowds and waiting around for hours. And then there is the atmosphere, the excitement, the buzz and the whole showman thing which I love, fortunately Kodi does too.

Friday was a bit of a disappointment all down to my positioning, and lack of preparation. I had a good talking to myself on Saturday [so did Karen, in the nicest possible way of course] and went back to the big show on Sunday 'spammed up' and ready to kick-ass.

I also have a confession to make. On Saturday while on one of our favorite walks we visited the 'Lucky Pond'. This is where dreams come true, dogs, [and humans] get very wet and a lot of excitement generated.

We followed this up with a meal out with friends Saturday night to our favorite Chinese restaurant 'The Budda' where we had a new dish called 'XO Beef'. No one knows what XO stands for, it's an ancient oriental secret. Some people say ......[repeat in Jeremy Clarkson style] that the recipe comes directly from Bodh-Gaya the Indian village grown up around the tree where Budda himself attained enlightenment. There is no doubt XO Beef gave me extraordinary powers.

Sunday morning we were both up for an exciting day. Above & Beyond filling my head with rhythmic, trance melodies on the journey, we were ready to take on the WORLD!

We had a fantastic day, Kodi was an absolute star and I was so thrilled to know his breeder Alison Hornsby was in the crowd. We loved every minute of it. I was amazed how the 'Crufts machine' sprang into action once I finished my run. Before I hardly knew that we'd won I was whisked off for photo's and interviews, pictures wow it was fun.

Thanks very much for all the emails, texts, Facebook messages, etc... that all our friends sent. It was fantastic from relations in Australia, my mates from deepest darkest Devon to snowy Scotland and even people in the US I don't know!. The only down side was Karen got car sick spending the two hour journey home replying to them all on my iphone - but hey, that's the price of being groom for a Crufts Agility Champion.

I want to say a BIG thank you to Greg for his support and training [even though it's going to cost me a few crates of Stella] , Jo for supporting us and spending the day helping [looking forward to the chocolate cake Jo x] and of course Karen for keeping Kodi fit when I've been away, helping with his training and being a great groom and partner; it was a real team effort.