A Welcome to Kath and Amber at Pets At Home

Shortly after their return from Denmark, Pets At Home contacted Kath to ask her to accompany Amber on a visit to the newly refurbished Pets At Home - Derby Branch - for a Welcome Home from their successful trip to Denmark.

All photographs courtesy of Karen Sykes and David Hardman

Mike the Store Manager was at the store to welcome them both and a photographer on hand to take some action shots of Amber.


Mike insited he should have a short dance with the newly crowned HTM World Champion, with Kath on hand to help with the cues.

Ellen had just visited the store and she too wanted to try dancing with Amber.

As part of the celebrations, Amber was invited for a full health check up in the Store by Head Vet Jason Davidson of Companion Vets. He pronounced her to be very fit and of perfect weight and very obedient for a red and white collie!!

Back outside at the front of the store, Karen joined in to help set up the shots - Chief Cheese Holder.

Amber was wonderful - did everything that was asked of her - and so did Kath!

The photographer had a list of photos he had been asked to shoot - and Amber proved she was ready for anything.

Thanks Pets At Home - you made Amber and Kath feel very special.

Amber certainly liked posing for the photos.

Mike on his knees with Kath under instruction from the Photographer.

Over she goes!!! Amber decided jumping on cue was brilliant!

Ellen with Amber giving a "paw" with a bit of help from Kath!

At last a chance to show off Amber's wonderful rosette and trophy.

Priority parking for the Top Lodge Team bus adjacent to the entrance.

And of course Spice visited the store too!!!

And then at the end of the day, two large bags full of goodies were presented to Kath for both Amber and Spice, a new Chuck It each, biscuits, treats, toys and lots lots more.

Thank you Pets At Home, Derby for arranging this wonderful welcome home from the HTM World Championships, Denmark.

A Welcome Home Party

The Committees of both Top Lodge Dancing Dogs and Canine Freestyle GB were due a meeting soon after Kath and Karen returned from the World Show in Denmark and Lesley contacted the members to ask for the meeting to be held at her home.
What a surprise - a fabulous Welcome Home Party with Barbecue.Lesley and Roger had asked local friends around to celebrate Amber's World Title and Barbecue expert Chris de Jong was busy cooking a fabulous feast! Karen had endured a tough but enjoyable three days of judging with her fellow judges Marleen (Belgium) and Carina (Denmark).

The rosettes - the silver and blue was for being part of the HTM Team GB who were placed second on the first day of the Championships. The massive Red and Gold rosette, along with the Trophy was for Kath and Amber winning the Individual HTM World Championship.

A true welcome home with iced cake. Roger had been busy putting red white and blue bunting around the garden to decorate.

Cutting the very special cake! Yummy.

And then Karen and Kath were presented by their friends with a bouquet of flowers each - again the Red White and Blue theme ran throughout. Proud to be British - you bet!!!

Time to relax - party nearing an end and everyone very full!

Thanks to Roger, Lesley, Chris, Jackie and Margret.

Sponsored Swim (Have tennis ball, will swim!)

Today Angus took part in a sponsored swim to help raise money for Support Dogs for children with Autism. As the picture shows, with trusty tennis ball to chase in the water, Angus did complete his 10 minute swim.

Many thanks to all his friends at home and at the Ynys Mon Dog Training Society Show held at Anglesey, who sponsored him and raised a magnificent £142.00 towards this worthy cause.

Angus swimming to raise funds at the Nottingham Canine Hydrotherapy Centre.

And how about this for a cake?
A lovely day was had by everyone attending the event.

Photos by Lesley Neville

Tupton Carnival 2010

The Top Lodge Trio and team were blessed with beautiful weather on the afternoon of Tupton Carnival. Proceedings started with the procession through the village and into the Main Arena. There were some spectacular outfits!!!
The 2010 Carnival Queen arrived to be crowned with her attendees.

And the "retiring 2009 Queen" handed over her roll in a formal presentation.

Two of the Fancy Dress competitors.

Stilt Walkers, bears and cowboy - many different fancy dress themes.

Top Lodge opened the entertainment with a run through of what the sport of Heelwork To Music really is.

Showing all the official HW Positions and later followed this with some freestyle moves.

Lesley and her youngest dog Hamish were the first to perform - showing many of the positions explained earlier to the crowd in a heelwork routine, to the music "Big Bad Handsome Man".

Karen Sykes and the oldest dog in the Top Lodge Group, Kes followed with their Freestyle routine to "Me Ol' Bamboo". At 12 years old she can still outrun Karen!

Lesley Neville and her Beardie Angus followed with their Freestyle routine to POSH with exploding jumps and great timing to the music

And Kath Hardman with Spice closed the first set with their Crufts 2008 Winning Freestyle Routine perfoming to "If I Only Had A Brain".

After a good break, the trio set about entertaining again. Lesley and Angus opened this set with "Nothing Like A Dame". Another fast and furious routine.

Karen and Fly then asked children to come into the ring to see if they could learn some of the Freestyle moves - Fly demonstrated as Karen cued her.

What a very obedient and enthusiastic crowd of youngsters they were.

Then Karen called out many moves one after another and the children tried to get the positions before Fly! They tried hard but couldn't quite beat her!!!

Lesley had recovered from the fast routine from South Pacific and this time performed a Heelwork To Music routine to the music "Capone"

And Kath closed the set with Spice and a fast and furious "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines"

Thank you Tupton for inviting us to entertain at Tupton Carnival 2010.

A Judge's View

Read about Karen's World Championship experiences here!

Dog World

Read Dog World's article about Team GB and Kath's success at the World Championship 2010 - click here!

Anglesey, Hamish Competing Again and New Title for Little Tipp :o)

Kath and Lesley have been competing successfully at the Anglesey Show in the weekend.


Saturday, Advanced Freestyle:
Lesley with Angus - 1st
Kath with Tipp - 3rd
Kath with Spice - 5th

Saturday, Advanced HTM:
Lesley with Angus - 4th

Saturday, Novice HTM:
Lesley with Hamish - 2nd

Sunday, Advanced Freestyle:

Kath with Tipp - 1st - Tipp is now Reflexions of Ginger HTM A EX, FS A EX :o)

Kath with Spice - 2nd.

*****

Hamish did so well in novice HTM on the Saturday - competing at last after two years of struggling with allergies which totally robbed him of his confidence - the aim was to just be able to do a full routine with him and not only did he finish the routine, but he gained 2nd place too.

And Team GB and Kath's World Championship wins were celebrated with cake both days at the show.

A great show and a great weekend for the Top Lodge Team. The only downside was that Amber hurt her pad - nothing serious, but enough to keep her from competing all weekend :o(

Pet Expo - Dublin 2010

After a successful show in 2009, Pet Expo asked both Karen and Kath to return to Pet Expo 2010 which had been brought forward in the year to take advantage of the Summer weather. Each day, both Karen and Kath went onto the Main Stage to promote their performances which were this year outside on the grassed area. Kath was happy to be able to show the audience the two rosettes she brought home with Amber from the World Championship competition in Denmark.

Once outside, they introduced themselves, their dogs and explained the sport of Heelwork To Music and Freestyle.

Karen and Fly enjoyed performing their precision Heelwork To Music Routine to Tom Jones' "Kiss".

And Kath and Tipp gave a display of Freestyle to "Canon Galop" showing off Tipp's ability to jump absolutely on cue!

Karen and her youngest dog Erin gave a short demonstration on teaching the basic freestyle moves. Erin was a rescue dog Karen found last year - she had been crated over with many other puppies looking for new homes. I wonder if her brothers and sisters have been as busy as Erin!

Then Karen and Kes, her oldest dog at 12 years of age, took to the grass to perform a perfect routine to "Me Ol' Bamboo".

Kath then followed on with Spice as the sun shone with their very fast routine to "If I Only Had A Brain".

During the three day show, each of the dogs had a chance to perform. Erin also showed her trotting style whilst a few of the rules for Heelwork To Music were explained to the audience.

But this is what Kes likes!!! Performing to "Be Our Guest" from Disney's Beauty and The Beast with a chance to roll on the grass in formation with Karen.

Amber and Kath slowed the tempo down when performing their World Championship routine to No More Tears (Enough is Enough) by Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand.

And Karen with Fly brought children into the ring to play a game of "Beat The Dog" - did the children win? NO!!! At 9 years old Fly is still faster than the children and she loves this game.

Spice and Kath brought out one of their favourite routines to "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" much to the delight of the audience.

Thank you to Pet Expo for inviting Karen and Kath and their 6 dogs to Dublin to be part of this massive show.