News Update
December 2013


Well, as I type, we’re at the end of a very busy year for Mary. Yet again, she has finished on a high and very pleased with her 2013 as it looks like she may have scooped the most points in 2013 for the DTW Obedience Top Dog award again but we will have to wait and see !!!!

She has now started rehearsals for her Best in Show routine which, as usual, she will try to make that little bit different as well as being in keeping with the atmosphere of Best in Show Night. If you look at Mary’s Diary on her web site you will see that she has a few things booked, whether you want to watch one of her evenings or partake in one of her training days. And just to be a little bit different, she’s doing some demonstrations at the Caravan Show at the NEC, Birmingham in February.

In November, Mary performed at Discover Dogs once again which achieved record numbers through the door. This is a lovely show and I have never seen so many people in the main ring for so long. Mary and Richard performed their Crufts routine and also held their own training demonstration sessions. I don’t know what the future is for Discover Dogs as there is some uncertainty over the future of Earls Court itself but I do hope it continue as it flies the flag so well for the world of dogs in the centre of London.


On the Thursday evening before Discover Dogs, Mary and Richard were asked to perform at a fundraising gala evening at a conference centre in Battersea Park. What an amazing night - and I would think they raised several hundred thousand pounds in the end! It was hosted by Paul O‘Grady and Amanda Holden but unfortunately the lighting was not the best for photographs. Mary and Richard performed individual routines to an audience that included a lot of celebrities and I’m sure the party would have gone on until the early hours. The really good thing that came out of this for us was that we discovered Battersea Park and how close it is to Earls Court so as we were staying at the Earls Court, Ibis, on the Friday morning we drove down to Battersea Park to exercise the dogs - a great place considering this is central London!


The week after that, Mary had an evening and a training day for Cheridah, just outside Sidmouth in Devon. We were staying over with someone for one night so didn’t need to take the camper, hence with an evening on the Saturday night we left home in what we considered to be good time - that was until we came to a standstill on the M42 after a guy decided to sit on the overhead bridge and threaten to jump. He couldn’t have picked a worse junction as there was an exit from the motorway but not an entrance so four lanes of traffic had to condense into one lane then take an A road all the way round Bromsgrove until we reached the M5 South which, for us, resulted in a delay of over three hours. God bless Mifi as Mary went on Facebook to find out what was happening where she found out a guy threatening to jump off the motorway bridge.

The guy spent 27 hours on the bridge, disrupted the whole of the Midlands motorway network, isolated the ambulances from the hospital resorting in a long detour which could have affected people’s health … well need I go on and 27 hours later the motorway re-opened. But when we passed this little hiccup we knew that we could still make it to the hall by 6:30 pm giving us 30 minutes to set up for a 7:00 pm start. BUT just approaching Bristol I heard a noise with cruise on whilst doing 78 mph, slowed down a little quickly as it was apparent that something was wrong, fortunately managed to pull straight over to the hard shoulder and ended up in a little pull-in at the bottom of the slip road to the services and discovered I had a flat tyre. On the telephone immediately to Green Flag as I was certainly not going to stand on the road and change it myself - and I did have a little bit of a problem in that I didn’t know where I was so I had to guess which service area - and luckily I got it right! They were about 45 minutes coming and a very nice guy changed the tyre but could see nothing wrong with the punctured one and as it wasn’t shredded decided it wasn’t a blow-out, just a slow deflation. So we got on our way and actually arrived at about 7:45 pm to find that whilst they were waiting the audience had drawn the raffle and had some refreshments, all of which was due to take place in the interval later. And the good news was that they were all in very good humour but then they are really nice folks. I think I set up in a record time as we started at 8:00 pm so just a little late finishing. Hence it was a very late delayed curry for dinner but was very nice and much appreciated!

Lesson to be learnt On inspection afterwards at the tyre centre it was apparent that the tyre had deflated due to age, there were extremely small cracks in the sidewall where the rubber was breaking down, this was a Michelin 2007 manufactured tyre and rumour has it that Michelins & Continentals are the worst but the fact is that all tyres should be checked very carefully at and after 5 years old this is especially important on caravans and motorhomes which are parked stationary for extended periods, yes you may scrap a tyre that looks nearly new on the tread but is your life worth the risk !!


On the Saturday, Mary did her HTM training day and I think they had great fun as usual, learned something in the process and we were treated to a team HTM routine as well.

The weekend after that we were with Jackie Muir in a church hall just outside Jarrow for an Obedience training weekend. This time we were in the camper van which, if you stay for a couple of nights, is much easier and we parked on the car park of the hall. The actual training went well over the two days and Mary thought everyone was happy and she knows she is very lucky to have some really nice people handling dogs. Probably one of Mary’s biggest memories will be the huge Saturday night mixed grill in the local pub with everything on it for £7.95 - and yes it was really good to eat! And for me, probably the best fish and chips I’ve had for years from the local chippie down the road. Well, you know what they say about Northerners; if you want decent food at the right price and a lot of it then go up norf !!

In October, we were coming to the end of the Obedience show season. We did Elm Park and Thurrock weekends and you can see Mary’s results on the list below and it is always a lovely place to be run by a very dedicated bunch of enthusiasts who keep the place secure and are very helpful. Also we had a nice parking spot right next to the back fence, Mary had a few wins again details on the 2013 results list

The following weekend we went to Cheshire Show. We were going to try for a stopover on a pub car park only to find that the one in question had just been sold and closed but we did find a pub with a camp site attached to it and which was very good and just about 20 minutes from the show on the Sunday morning.

And then the traditional end to Mary’s Obedience year with the shows at East Grinstead and Tunbridge Wells. All was cold but of course it’s indoors so that must be a bonus. We drove down the day before for both shows which made it much easier having somewhere for Mary to retire to during the day and not having to rise early. And not bad for results as far as Mary’s concerned, in fact quite good but she appears to have been queen of the second place at Ardingley this year !!

My personal memory is some of the most expensive food I have ever eaten from the pub over the road, very nice but would I go again - well, not really was not worth the inflated cost.


During October Mary also had two evenings, firstly at the Hatchford Brook club, Solihull where she was really on form. She has a new little Chihuahua cross called Vinnie so we had ‘double trouble’

and the second one was for Dima’s Dog School in North London. We were in the usual scout hut and arrived only to find that the scouts had decorated it for Halloween which meant there was all kind of nonsense hanging from the roof, big netting and drapes around the walls and also across the end of the hall, so a lot of re-organisation was needed just to get the audience in and all this within the space of 30 minutes! But it was another really good night and the audience really enjoyed it; in fact, one of the things people say about Mary’s evenings is that they can go away having had a really good night’s entertainment which has motivated them as they can see just what can be achieved with any breed of dog. So if you fancy having a look, key an eye on the Diary page as we will have some more coming up in the New Year.

Oh, and I forgot to mention - we have another dog to add to the existing ten, now making eleven in total !! This time it’s a blue merle and the details will be on Mary’s Dogs page shortly.

29/12/2013



Click here for Dogs 2013 Results