The Crufts Semi Finals

It’s that time of year again - the Crufts Semi Finals held at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire.  Four of the Top Lodge dogs qualified for the semi finals during 2012.

For Heelwork To Music - Karen Sykes with Fly and Kath Hardman with Amber

For Freestyle - Lesley Neville with Angus and Kath Hardman with Spice.

The first class they competed in was the Heelwork To Music Semi Final and with great results.

Kath Hardman with Amber were first of the Top Lodge Trio to perform and they placed 5th with their Irish dance routine to "Celtic Kitten" from Michael Flatley's Celtic Tiger.

Karen Sykes with Fly were the next team to compete and they finished in a magnificent first place with a fabulous routine to "Roxanne" from Moulin Rouge

The finalists - those placed 1st to 10th -  who will be performing at Crufts in the ARENA on 8th March 2013.  Please let the Top Lodge Team know if you will be supporting them.

After lunch was the Freestyle Semi Final.

Kath Hardman and Spice just missed out on a place in the final by finishing in 11th place, but although disappointed, they enjoyed performing their routine to The Puss Suite from the film score of Puss in Boots.

Footnote:    The weather forecast was dreadful for the Friday night - with snow drifting in towards Derbyshire and the Midlands.  Karen and Kath decided that there was no alternative but to book into an hotel on the Friday evening to ensure the journey to Stoneleigh was passable!   On contacting home Saturday morning, it was revealed that 12" had fallen overnight blocking the roads from home to the venue!!   Thank goodness it hadn't snowed near Stoneleigh so the short journey from hotel to venue was easily done.

Sadly, Angus was diagnosed with arthritis in the latter part of the year so it was Lesley's decision to withdraw him from competing at the semi final.

The Derbyshire Telegraph photographer contacted The Top Lodge Team before Christmas asking if there was anything in particular happening in the Team's Diary.  The team have 4 dogs which have qualified for the Semi Finals for HTM and Freestyle at Crufts - so practice and training is on the top of their priorities.

Kate Lowe, the photographer wanted something a little different to publish and the team, always ready for a challenge, put her creative ideas into practice.  Karen and Fly were to be the cornerstone of the action photo.

Then Lesley and Angus joined in with Kath in the centre - OK Fly had her own ideas as to what looks good!

All in place and she's off to a flying start - well done little Spice!  She completed this long jump quite a few times before the perfect shot was taken.

Followed by a static photo of the team's nine dogs.
Left to Right: Kes, Erin, Fly, KAREN, Denby, KATH/Spice, Amber LESLEY, Hamish (front), Dewy, and Angus.

The article was printed in the paper 21st January 2013 asking for help finding somewhere local and large enough to train.  And one venue has been suggested!  Thank You.

Kath, Spice, Amber and Denby at Support Dogs

Kath was delighted and excited to be invited to the Support Dogs Awards Ceremony at Tapton Hall in Sheffield.  Very pleased to accept, she was asked to talk about Heelwork To Music and Freestyle for 20 minutes!

The Hallam Room had seating for over 150 attendees - many support dogs were present with their owners, along with Support Dogs in Training, Foster Carers, voluntary fund raisers and of course the staff and trainers from Support Dogs which is based in Sheffield.

After the opening speeches, Kath introduced everyone to the sport of Heelwork To Music with the help of her three dogs - Denby,  Amber and Spice.

A carpeted area had been provided to help Kath and her pet dogs show many of the moves safely.

And even time for a routine!  A bit restricted for space for Spice and Kath to show the routine to its best - but the audience were very appreciative of their efforts.

After the demonstration - which was extended to nearly 45 minutes - lunch followed by the Awards to those dogs which had graduated and to many of the Support Dogs caring for their handler's needs.  See more here.

Thank you for inviting Kath, Spice, Amber and Denby to such a huge date in the Support Dogs' Diary and thank you for making them most welcome for the entire event - and for the beautiful flowers too!!

Kath and Amber on BBC Radio Derby

Kath was invited (along with Amber) to talk on BBC Radio Derby for the afternoon feature called "Loud Mouths"!    Humph!!!

Amber in the BBC Radio Derby Reception Area
 - photo thanks to Gavin Smith

Very interesting subjects to be discussed 

• Should cruelty be used to train dogs!!!  (Aftermath of Alan Titchmarsh's wonderful interview with the awful Cesar MIlan.)
• Should the Government cap Child Benefit at two children
• Is it acceptable for a man to use a discount voucher on a first date.

Fellow guests with Kath were Gavin Smith (The Little Dog Greetings Card - from Derby!) and Sophie Snell - "Story Teller" which made an interesting and enjoyable discussion on the programme hosted by the lovely Sally Pepper.

Denby and Two Red Rosettes

A weekend of competition on Anglesey - with awful weather but a great result.

Denby (Stillmoor Extra Special) won both the Novice Heelwork To Music and Novice Freestyle Classes.

Thank you to Ynys Mon DTC for organising the competition and to CSJ for the prizes.

A Day out for Top Lodge

A day out at Thornbridge Brewery, Bakewell Derbyshire

Before the tour of the brewery - everyone was given a complimentary glass of the Thornbridge Brew of the Day.

Then onwards to the brewery - casks in storage.

Looking, smelling and feeling the many varieties of hops used in the making of this beer!

Richard - the "Tour Guide" for today and his partner Anita.

At the end of the visit, more tasting to be tried!  And mostly done by self service!!!

David pulls his own drink too!

The Open European Championship 2012 - Kath Judging

The Open European Championship was held in Prague, The Czech Republic in 2012.  Kath had been invited to judge this competition which is growing in size each year.  Setting off at 4:00am, she made her way to Birmingham Airport for the first of her flights to the CZ Capital.  A transfer in flights in Frankfurt and then landing in Prague airport on schedule.  The main organiser of the event, Barbora Kozová was at the airport to collect Kath and they travelled the 30 minute journey to the hotel Mars with no hold ups.  A dream journey!!  

Meanwhile, the host country was busy at the venue - laying the carpets and preparing the ring in the sports hall close to the hotel.  A lovely big arena.

All done and ready for the countries to start training on the new surface in preparation for the next two days of competition.

There was also an area in another hall carpeted for the teams to practice and warm up their dogs.

After a couple of hours "power nap" Kath was ready to join the Teams, organisers and fellow judges at the Welcome Meal.  Emmy Simonsen (Denmark) joined Barbora to welcome all to a great competition.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal and it gave time for all teams to exchange good luck cards and gifts.  Thanks to everyone who gave Kath something too - with so many routines to judge over the next two days - she may have needed Good Luck!!

After the meal it was time to draw the running orders for the following days.  Kath was asked to call out the names in the order they were drawn by myself and the Head Judge Andrea Rezková.  With competitors from countries such as Azerbaijan  Russia and Slovakia - you can imagine her pronunciation was not too good - but it seemed to lighten the mood of the event!!

A final check through with Petra, and all were happy with their given numbers.

The following morning, the judging was to start at 8:30am so Kath was at the venue very early and so were the HTM Participants practising for the last time.

The Trophies and gifts for the winners plus the glass ornaments - one for each competitor and of course one for each judge and for the winners too!

Kath met with fellow judge Carmen Mayer (Germany) just before the competition.  Carmen had driven to CZ from Germany after a day's work on the Friday so hadn't arrived in time for the Welcome Meal.  It was lovely for Kath to meet up with Carmen again after she had attended one of Kath's Judges Seminars about 3 years ago whilst studying in Durham, GB. 

The Opening Ceremony - there seemed more competitors and more countries this year all proudly showing their team uniforms and flags!!

The audience was huge - many being fellow competitors - but the tiered seating was ideal to give everyone a great view of each routine.

Unfortunately Kath had no photographs of the routines - well she was busy judging!!!  But at the end of over 30 routines - the Team Winners were announced.

First - Russia,   Second Denmark and Third place Belgium. 

 Congratulations to everyone.

It was then time for more judging - now Kath and her fellow judges had to judge the top ten placed routines again to find the winner of the Individual Championship.

1st  Anja Christiansen + Fćhunden´s Queeny Las - Denmark  

2nd  Polina I´llina + Shteffi - Russia  

3rd Galina Chogovadze + Sun Light Spot - Russia

 There was plenty of entertainment too during lunch or between the competitions

Using people from the teams and audience!  Recognise anyone?

On Sunday - it was the Freestyle Competition Day.  Again, the competitors were allowed to practice in the ring - but it was a bit crowded!

 At the end of the 47 routines, the judges gathered to award the Team Prizes.

First place The Host Country - The Czech Republic, Second place Russia and Third place Belgium!  Congratulations to all the teams!

Kath has no photographs of the Individual winners but the results of the competition which followed the Team Compapetition were as follows:

First place was Yvonne Belin with Alice from Switzerland, in Second place was Galina Chogovadze with Moja Nadezhda Rolly Royce from Russia and in Third Place was Elke Boxoen with Puma from Belgium.

Thank you to the organisers for inviting Kath to be a judge at the Open European Championship - where there were some stunning routines.

Kath also apologises again for having to cancel the seminar booked for the Monday after the Championships but this was due to the original airline (BMI Baby) closing down and a new flight could not be found with similar timings.

More entertainment - this time Rabbit Jumping!!!