Yesterday was a good day for Mina and me. After all the recent rain, we awoke to blue skies and radiant sunshine, all of which boded well for our visit to the 128th Lincolnshire Show.
The Lincolnshire Show is a major event on the county's calendar. It started life as an agricultural show and has grown over the years to become a major tourist event and family day out. However, until last year there was one member of the family that wasn't allowed to attend - those of the four-legged canine variety. 2011 saw a change in the rules and pet dogs were finally allowed to come to the show and not only that, the show introduced the dog ring and regional heats of Scruffts - the Kennel Club's dog show for cross breeds.
So, this year I decided to enter Mina into the Golden Oldies class. This class is open to dogs over the age of 8 and as Mina is 10 she more than qualifies as a golden (and gorgeous) oldie.
But, I hear you cry, surely Mina doesn't qualify as a cross breed? Isn't she a Greyhound? Well, even though I call her a Greyhound, technically speaking she's a Lurcher. Mina isn't tattooed in either of her ears and she's never raced. If you look really closely you can see that she doesn't look 100 percent Greyhound. Well, as it happens, I'll soon know what breed(s) Mina is crossed with as I'm waiting for the results of her Wisdom Panel DNA results...but that's for another blog post!
The Lincolnshire Show is a major event on the county's calendar. It started life as an agricultural show and has grown over the years to become a major tourist event and family day out. However, until last year there was one member of the family that wasn't allowed to attend - those of the four-legged canine variety. 2011 saw a change in the rules and pet dogs were finally allowed to come to the show and not only that, the show introduced the dog ring and regional heats of Scruffts - the Kennel Club's dog show for cross breeds.
So, this year I decided to enter Mina into the Golden Oldies class. This class is open to dogs over the age of 8 and as Mina is 10 she more than qualifies as a golden (and gorgeous) oldie.
But, I hear you cry, surely Mina doesn't qualify as a cross breed? Isn't she a Greyhound? Well, even though I call her a Greyhound, technically speaking she's a Lurcher. Mina isn't tattooed in either of her ears and she's never raced. If you look really closely you can see that she doesn't look 100 percent Greyhound. Well, as it happens, I'll soon know what breed(s) Mina is crossed with as I'm waiting for the results of her Wisdom Panel DNA results...but that's for another blog post!
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| Mina 'reflects' on her win & huge rosette |
As well as winning Scruffts, I had another reason to be proud of Mina - the show was super busy with lots of people and dogs and years ago she would have struggled and reacted to all the dogs. Fast forward a few years, lots of university learning and way more training and understanding of how dogs learn and Mina behaved impeccably. We even took some time just to chill out with Mina enjoying some belly rubs.
Today, was a bit of a washout at the show and I'm very thankful that I chose yesterday to visit and participate in Scruffts. I spent most of today in a marquee serving drinks and for my lunch break, I had to don waterproof trousers & wellies before venturing out. I managed to make it across to the dog ring to watch today's Scruffts heats where I bumped into one of my friends and her dog, Flo. They had entered the Prettiest Bitch category and although they didn't win, in my opinion - "they were robbed!"
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| Beautiful Flo |
