Monday 17th August

    Traveling day.Off to join the great caravan convoy from Northamton to Ipswich. Also now changing to the Dogs In Need Blog (Click here to go to www.glandore.org.uk/din09).

Sunday 16th August

    Happy Birthday to Don Cooper, hope you enjoyed you dog free day (well nearly).

    A pretty good day for Glandore and Northern Ireland. Glenn & Mutley, as promised yesterday, represented Northern Ireland in the Small Nations Cup. It was a slightly unfair competition as several nations that were represented were quite big (Ha ha, perhaps they meant the size of dog). Mutley went clear in the jumping and the rest of the team did well meaning that the NI Small team (with Orange Billy blowin, ie Mary Dolan and Spot) came second meaning they now have some crystal.

    In the agility round in the main ring he went a bit ballistic (my young assistant Crawford is helping me with some of the better words).

    More of a surprise was that Rachel and Yeshe made the grade, and for the first time ever there was a Northern Ireland Medium team. The team members were Loiuse McLoy from the Patch in Northern Ireland and Linda Armour who was born in the province but now lives in London. In the jumping rounds they all did very well, no one getting eliminated. This meant that they came 6th overall and all got a very prized rosette.

   Following the theme with the small dogs, they didn't do quite so well in the big ring. Infarct Yeshe played the clown and the judge had to help him by removing a bit of the long jump. (Click here to see photo).

    Cockle wasn't too bad, although she has yet to complete a round, she came fairly close a couple of times.

    Louise says she was humiliated 4 times, (I think we all know that feeling!) so she is not feeling too motivated. Vinny was appalling and Ferris required a good deal of begging just to get round. The "Oh he's having soooo much fun" comment was a meager two so perhaps he was a bit more depressed that usual.

    Everyone is now depressing Adrian and Louise by regailing their clear round counts, These were Leo, 2 Mutley 2.

    Must go now batteries fading.

Saturday 15th August

    Saturday dawned with not quite such good weather, overcast with a few spots of rain. However it came out all sunny later.

    Quote of the day from Rachel "This next woman's got really big boobs, this next round should be fun to watch". A big debate has just ensued as to whether it was "bosoms" or "boobs". But anyway she was right and it was.

    Glenn and Mutley qualified to represent Northern Ireland in the Small dog nations cup. He's a bit like David Beckham, playing for which every country pays the most (Last year he competed for Ireland)

    Rachel and Yeshe qualified to represent Northern Ireland in the Medium dog nations cup.

    So we are looking forward to the finals tomorrow.

    There is debate in the Smart Camp as to whether Glenn is getting a shaved Sheltie. Louise thinks that this might not have actually been agreed to.

    We had another good meal this time at the competition ground (NOT). The portions were to say the least, minimal. So much so that we retired to the campsite for a Malt bread fest. Even this wasn't enough for Glenn, who resorted to Pot Noodle. Wow this is riveting stuff.

Friday 14th August

    Well Glenn got the first rosette. A clear round soon followed by another so both Leo and Mutley scoring straight away. A fairly good day was had by all.

    It was nice weather (how original is that).

    Cockle had good day, and whilst she didn't get a round done, she didn't run off and basically completed all the obstacles, but not necessarily in the right order.

    Louise says "All here dogs were twonks" However she did qualify this by saying they are always twonks on the first day. SHe did however turn to the gin at lunch time!

    In the evening we all had a good meal at the Bulls Head (which will be nice when it's finished) about 2 miles from Kelmarsh Hall where the competition is. You can click here for a map.    

Thursday 13th August

    We've arrived. Soggy chips, but welcome all the same. Glenn says he's the only clean one amongst us. He nabbed one of the 3 showers for about 2000 people.

    No photos yet, will take some tomorrow. Competitions start then. If you want to comment etc, then either email adrian@glandore.org.uk or text 07817 217265