Karen and Midge - Their First KC Competition

Karen and Midge had a wonderful time. 

This was their first Kennel Club Competition and they were thrilled to take 1st place.

At 17 months old and with 2 wins under her belt, the future is looking bright for Midge's dancing career.

A double qualifying weekend for Lesley and Dewy!

Lesley and Dewy had a very successful weekend at the CFGB Show. 

On Saturday they came 3rd in the Advanced Heelwork To Music class which also gave them a Cruft’s Semi Final Qualifier place (Subject to confirmation at this point in time of course) and on Sunday Lesley tried out her new  routine in the Advanced Freestyle Class and not only was she delighted to complete t he whole routine, the judges liked it too giving them 5th place which also gave them a  Cruft’s Semi Final Qualifier place (Subject to confirmation at this point in time of course).

Filming for a Commercial

A super day put for Kath, Spice, Amber and Denby in Bushey Hertfordshire.

Spice is fast becoming known as a very reliable dog and this time had been requested to be part of a commercial for a new security system.  She "danced" with her on stage dance partner, actor Gary Grant. Kath called the commands out of shot but Spice took the requested actions with Gary!!   Perfect.

Both Amber and Denby were filmed dancing with Gary too and Denby had extra work targeting the sensor for the alarm!   He did really well and leaernt his "job" in just a few minutes.

Hopefully more shots to follow!   Thank you Gary and the entire team - you were very considerate towards everyone.

Judging at the FCI World Dog Show Finland

Lesley and Kath were both honoured and delighted to be invited to judge the Heelwork To Music and Freestyle Championships at the World Dog Show held in Helsinki.

The competition was held over two days -
 HTM on the Wednesday and Freestyle on the Thursday

The Arena where the routines would be performed

Everything is almost ready

The timetable for the competition and personalised Rosettes for each judge.

Lesley preparing her paperwork for the Team HTM Championship competition.

A lovely touch - each judge had their own flower arrangement in their National Flag Colours.  Sweden - Frida Binette!

Denmark - Helle Larssen

Great Britain - Lesley Neville and Kath Hardman

And the Host Country Finland - Henna Meriharju and Laura Jalli (Head Judge)

 Super Rosettes

 

And wonderful trophies

For winners and those placed

Lovely display of awards

The opening ceremony - all teams in alphabetical order.

And after the competition it was award time for the Teams in HTM. 

First Russia, Second Sweden and Third Denmark 

A happy winning team Russia

THe HTM Individual Championship. 

And the judges had time to offer their congratulations

The Freestyle Team Championship
First Russia, Second Finland and Third Sweden

A very happy Team Russia

And the Freestyle Individual Championship

What a super time - Kath and Lesley were given these superb Vanity Cases as a memento of the occasion.

  Thank you to the organisers and competitors for making this a wonderful Championship.

Top Lodge at Kings Bromley, Derbyshire

Kings Bromley Show - held on one of the hottest days of the year!

A wonderful display of "Cherished" cars

The Main Arena where  Top Lodge would be dancing with hay bales for the audiences of each show.

One O'Clock in the afternoon!!   It was very very hot!!  But the Top Lodge Team started the event with a fabulous Trio of Heelwork To Music.   Lesley with Hamish, Karen with Fly and Kath with Amber.

The dogs worked so happily and well in this heat  A super audience too!

Karen then showed how to train some Freestyle moves with Erin, giving lots of high rewards for continued motivation.

Super use of a skipping rope for jumps.

And of course a skipping rope used for its purpose.  Well done Erin.

Next into the ring was Kath with Spice.  Kath NOT dressed for the weather in sheepskin lined boots and flying jacket!!   But the heat didn't slow down this routine for either of them.

Happy Spice following happy Kath!

And of course a ball throwing reward for Spice who was happy to be chasing her ball.

The Adult weaving race followed - four great volunteers - first into the ring had a choice between Hamish, Amber, Midge and Spice

Spice helping her partner to learn how to weave her through his legs.

For Midge this was a brand new experience but she coped really well.   

Results  First Hamish, Second Spice, Third Amber and a very close Fourth was Midge.

Onto the final routine of the first set.  Lesley with Dewy dancing to "The Night They Invented Champagne".

A super finale.

 The dogs didn't mind the heat - they went through their routines happily and with gusto!

Time for the Top Lodge Team to look around the show ground.  Donkey rides.

A very popular parrot show - all the parrots were rescue birds - and it was carefully explained they weren't doing tricks but doing behaviours they would do in the wild.

One little dog finding a lolly which had dropped of a stick!!   Yummy!!

The fly past!!   With window and door open - guess it was warm up there!!

The Galloping Acrobatics - a lovely group of young ladies demonstrating vaulting on their horses.

Great balance at a cantor too!

Onto the final set for Top Lodge - yes still extremely warm!!!

Young Midge with Karen - this was Midge's debut - and she is a star in the making!

With a kiss from Karen in  the final pose to say Well Done Midge!

Spice and Kath then went through a routine to Rockin' Robin.

Weaving, creeping and jumping - lots of Spice's favourite moves.

Well done Spice!!!

Karen then took to the ring with Fly to give the children a chance of working like a dog.

A beautiful field with plenty of space to spread out!

Absolute unison!!!   Well instructed Karen.

Finally it was the turn of Dewy and Lesley.

Finishing with a huge jump over Lesley's back!

Well done to the Top Lodge Team for beating the weather!!   And thank you to Kings Bromley for the invitation.  It was a lovely show.