Our Russian Adventure
June '06

Well, comrades - Mary was really pleased to receive an invitation to go to Russia, as I think anyone would be. We believe she is the first British person to be invited to Russia to teach and it was all the more important because of what seems to be happening with training methods in Russia. A small group of dog handlers have discovered a new training method and they have had an expert over from the USA to take a course on it. It's called the electric shock collar. So a group in the Moscow area, led by Olga Nechaeva, were desperate to get Mary over there to start them off with clicker training and try to get some enthusiasm going with the clicker to counter what they and we all view as being a cruel training method. It should have happened last year but for one reason or another it didn't; so the first opportunity we had was the end of March 2006.

Of course, when we travel nowadays we just take it for granted that if you need a visa then the travel agent will obtain it for you or perhaps, as with most places, you don't even need to bother. But Russia is another matter. I was going to go with Mary as I invariably do when she is going to train somewhere she hasn't been before and/or with people she doesn't know. So, well in advance of our date of travel, I had made preparations to apply for a visa.

The first thing you need is an invitation from whichever ministry in Moscow the person you are going to see applied to - and this must be the original document sent to you and not a faxed or e-mailed copy.

You then need to fill in the Visa Application Form which is available to download from the internet and send it in with photographs with the official Russian Ministry invitation. You could deliver it personally but the Russian Embassy in London is only open from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm four mornings a week. Also, they will not take cheques and they will not take credit cards, so it is cash or postal orders only. So I sent everything off by "special delivery" including a "special delivery" envelope for it all to be returned in and with the photographs, postal order, "special delivery" costs both ways plus the cost of the visa this all came to around £50 each and that was even before we had our tickets! Then you also realise of course that the budget airlines re not exactly flying into Russia yet, so I could have got a cheaper 10 hour flight to the USA than I could for a three hour flight to Moscow! Perhaps the comrades from Easy Jet or Flybe should start a daily service to Moscow!

Anyway, after a lot of worrying about whether we had all the necessary documentation all completed correctly, the day arrived for our departure. It was an early flight from Heathrow Airport so we decided to spend a few air miles and stay free at a local hotel. Â Aeroflot may fly the route but we were booked on one of the twice a day flights to Moscow by British Airways and I think we got the one with all the miserable staff on it - BA staff really could do with learning a lesson or two from some of the Asian airlines where they know how to give service with a smile.

After an uneventful flight, we landed at Moscow where it was heartening to see a crowd of technicians around a plane at the end of the runway which had obviously skidded and broken into three pieces! And of course, very noticeable was the fact that there was thick snow everywhere.


Being in Red Square was quite awesome.

Passing through immigration was a sobering experience as all the Russian officials looked very officious and serious but we had no problems and were met outside by Olga and her friend Anna who was going to act as interpreter. The first noticeable thing as we made our way to the car park was the fact that everything looked very dismal; in fact with the melting snow everything was soaking wet, all the cars were absolutely filthy and I don't know how some drivers managed to see out of their windscreens to drive! But we were soon off and experienced our first taste of life in Moscow - the "Russian traffic jam". Yes, we actually found somewhere worse than the UK for traffic and it's called Moscow. In fact, I would have to term it as being absolutely horrendous. We were staying the other side of the city and Olga had to drive through the centre of Moscow so we queued to go into Moscow, queued through Moscow then endlessly again the other side and I think it took around two hours. 

Mary with the organiser of the course, Olga, pictured with Olga's four Golden Retrievers..
But before we went to the hotel, we stopped at a restaurant for a meal and I have to say this was quite superb. Also, it was a good chance for us all to get to know one another. We then made our way to the hotel and you have to remember that there is a three hour time difference between UK and Russia so it was getting a little late by now and we had been booked into a very respectable tourist-type hotel but of course we were back to Russian administration procedures when it came to checking in as passports were required and copies of landing cards etc. Our room was on the 27th floor and it was a very nice room with all the usual facilities including a mini bar. It is probably worth mentioning security at this point. There were airport-style metal detectors on the entrance to the hotel with four burly Russian guards, two foyers with four lifts in each and a Russian guard in each of the foyers to check that only guests were going up in the lifts and every floor of the hotel had another reception desk where you had to check in when you arrived on the floor.


In the Kremlin.

Friday was sightseeing day. We were taken round the Kremlin by Olga and Anna, and what an amazing place! You just do not realise what treasures are contained within these buildings and the paintings are just unbelievable. We had lunch at an Italian restaurant and a wander across Red Square where I could just picture it with all the tanks and goose-stepping soldiers doing their May Day Parade in the Cold War era although it would be a bit more difficult now as they have built over some of the entrances to the square. However, it was still an impressive place especially when you looked across to where Krushchev and Breshnev would take their salute to the troops.

On the seminar.
We were due to go to the Bolshoi Ballet that night but it took so long to get back to the hotel through the traffic that we decided to give it a miss. Also we were very tired by then and the next day we would be working so this was probably a wise decision.

The course was being held on the fifth floor of a children's orphanage in what was a concert hall complete with stage. There were around 100 people each day and some had travelled an enormous distance to be there, and Olga did say to us that people kept ringing her the week before asking if it was true that Mary was still coming - you certainly got the impression that they didn't think they were important enough to have a big name trainer there. But in fact the boot was on the other foot really, as Mary felt honoured to be the first British trainer invited there.


Freestyle the Russian way!

The interpreter from the previous days, Anna, could not make it for the seminar so another young lady called Barbara was to act as interpreter. Those of you who have worked abroad themselves will know just how difficult it is to work with an interpreter, even someone like Mary who has been fortunate to work abroad a lot. She still finds it difficult sometimes as you're not 100% sure that what you say is being interpreted absolutely correctly as you do not understand what they are saying and this is especially difficult with the Russian language as, unlike the more familiar European languages, there are some words that are common with the English but the Russian language sounds and looks completely alien.

Saturday morning started with introducing the clicker, use of the clicker and working and training some of the Freestyle moves. Also to be covered over the weekend would be FCI training and even - believe it or not - some clicker training for Agility. Fortunately they had provided some very large mats in the middle of the hall so slipping around for the dogs was not going to be a problem. The Russian people possibly look a little more serious than we do but I have to be fair and say that dog people are generally the same worldwide and they really proved to be a good audience and participants, joining in with enthusiasm. Â Mary was on good form too, bringing a little lighthearted banter into it when the moment was right.

The participants' HTM demo.
On the Sunday morning, we were treated to eight of the course participants showing us their Freestyle routines and some of them were very very good and they had obviously been working very hard. A couple of highlights for me sitting watching was on the second afternoon when Mary found an extremely large piece of cardboard and was showing them how to clicker train a contact point on an A-Frame and got herself onto all fours to act as the dog - that really brought the house down! Then prior to that, she had been training some FCI Obedience scent and as you know we do scent in Obedience on cloths. Well, in FCI countries they use small pieces of wood and the Russians were doing it on small pieces of dowling and just by coincidence the first dog to get up to do the scent was a dog that just could not do it. He always played around then brought the wrong one back. Well, Mary had her pieces of cheese and the clicker etc and within a few minutes the dog did a complete scent. Well, there were all kinds of murmurs going around the room and you obviously worry what is being said as you cannot understand a word, so we asked Barbara what was being said and she stated that the audience thought it was a miracle!

Question time was extremely busy..
Anyway, this was only a short visit and the two training days were soon over. They were smashing people and, as I said, dog handlers are the same wherever you go in the world and they already want Mary go to back to Moscow next year as well as a couple of days in St Petersburg. Normally I would not go back with her as it's a bit of a waste of resources but I don't know, as St Petersburg is supposed to be a beautiful place and certainly more touristy than Moscow, so maybe I'll change my mind.

We had an uneventful journey back although I could do with using their duty free a little more often as the Scotch was only £5 per litre in the duty free at Moscow Airport!


Strutting their stuff.
The following weekend Mary had been invited to give a demonstration at the National Dressage Championships at Solihull Riding Club on the Friday and Saturday nights. On the Friday night, Mary did her Crufts routine and also held a masterclass which was supposed to be 15 minutes but finished up at nearly 30 minutes! It was a packed audience and I think the organiser then realised that he'd made a mistake as on the Saturday night he had only programmed in Mary for a routine and not for a repeat of the masterclass, so I think he'll put that mistake right next year!

A packed house at the National Dressage Championships in Solihull.
In the few weeks that followed, Mary has taken a couple of Cabaret Evenings where she did a cabaret at a new venue in Devon and probably the second biggest to date was held at a riding school on the Wirral in Cheshire with around 300 people there and a lot of them being horse people. As usual with these Cabaret Nights, a good time was had by all and Mary was on particularly good form. She also did a television job for a car programme called 'Vroom Vroom'. This was the same production team and director that had filmed a previous job on a programme called 'Brainiac'. I think they like working with Mary as whatever they do, it is filmed quickly without lots of re-takes. In this case what she had to do was to race a car - or I should say, Taz had to race a car. To give you a clue as to the slant they got on it, the previous item which we watched being filmed was a race between an Austin Princess and a very tasty young lady who was in actual fact a Princess in real life. So when Mary's turn came for Taz's 100 yards dash, up rolled the competition which was ..... a circa 1970 something Rover 2000 - so we had Taz racing Rover!! Mary stood at the end of the 100 yards and called Taz when they dropped the flag. The guy in the Rover had to start the engine and try to get down there before Taz did. They filmed it three times and it was a dead heat each time, so I think that was good for the programme. The guy who owned the Rover was well into retirement, he was from the Rover Owners Club and of course he was as proud as punch of his car which was absolutely immaculate. But he still couldn't beat a dog of course!
Mary in the spotlight at the National Dressage Championships.
In early May, we took a trip over to Northern Ireland. We had been putting this off for a couple of years because it is just so far to go with the dogs. Mary's sister Pauline came with us as she did a Pairs routine with her at Crufts and Mary thought they could repeat that exercise. So off we went with the dogs to Stranraer. Not the easiest place to get to but a very pretty part of the world. We went over on what they say is the biggest catamaran-type ferry in the world and it's quite amazing as it's absolutely huge. And, of course, it is very very fast. Michael McCartney from Lisburn DTC had organised the event and apart from a half day training session that Mary was instructing on, the main event was at Lisburn Civic Centre, a beautiful place called Lagan Valley Island which is a big civic centre with a superb conference centre. The room had a big area for Mary to work her dogs in and there were 400 tiered seats, theatre lighting, in-built sound, it had just about everything going for it. One of the best venues Mary has performed at and every seat was sold. In fact, they sold so quickly that Michael tried to book the hall for the following evening but unfortunately it was fully booked for the whole week. Once more, Mary was on cracking form and it was a really, really good night. The audience thoroughly enjoyed it and no doubt we will be back in Northern Ireland next year.
While we were in Northern Ireland, we stopped at a most amazing place - it's called Brook Hall Historical Farm and they have all the usual things you would expect from a farm museum set in the most lovely picturesque scenery. We stayed in one of the two newly converted two-bedroomed cottages they have which were absolutely immaculate and had just about every facility you could wish for. But the most amazing part was that in the main farmyard behind the farmhouse, next to a traditional old-fashioned tin barn was a church and it appears that the farm had actually been built around this church when it fell into misuse and the church itself was one thousand years old and they had just finished having it completely refurbished which must have cost tens of thousands of pounds. They had also had it reconsecrated so that they could hold marriages in it. It really was absolutely delightful. But apart from that and the farm and the accommodation and the tea rooms and the little garden centre, Lisburn DTC rent some fields off the owners and that meant there was somewhere to exercise the dogs whenever we wanted. So it really was absolutely ideal.

The latest competition news from Mary is that at Basingstoke she had two Open C wins and a Novice win, she's getting fairly close to winning in the ticket classes and our new dog Levi has now got two wins in Novice. So he's looking really promising, even though he's the wrong colour!

Not much going on in the way of travelling now until the end of the Summer as Mary likes to concentrate on the shows during the Summer period with the exception of course of the week course that she's taking down by Gatwick Airport and has already sold out. Then in early September she has a week's course in Anglesey which is sold out, Cabaret Evenings in Scotland, Malvern, North London, Watford and St Ives, Cambridgeshire. Also she has trips to Australia, San Francisco, Holland and Guernsey - so that should keep her busy for the moment!


The Ray Family