Fly

Crufts

"Can I see your card please, miss?" My girl reached into the yellow Dogs Trust bag she was carrying and produced a card with all our details on it. "Thank you. And may I say what a lovely dog you have there, and so young. You must have worked really hard to get such a young dog into the championship agility class here".
"Thanks! Storm and I did work hard I guess but it's something we really enjoy so it didn't seem that hard". The steward handed back the card and smiled. "Good luck and have fun". My girl smiled and waved as we headed into the place where our dreams would hopefully soon come true.

We headed though the gates and into the heart of the NEC(where Crufts is held). It was massive! Everywhere was heaving with masses of dogs or hoards of people all ogling over the latest Aqua treadmill for dogs, or the newest organic food. For a moment I felt outclassed and unwelcome as I realised that all these dogs had fancy pedigrees until I looked up and saw the reason why I was here. I loved this sport more than anything and so did my girl. We were both at our happiest when we were running a course at a show, or just when we were together, messing around and strengthening our friendship. And no matter what anyone else said, or what my sub-conscious thought, we had earned our place here.

The air was filled with excitement and anticipation. We skilfully picked out way around the crowds of people and dogs and tried to find our way through the maze of stalls. We stopped a few times along the way to look at various items at the trade stands although we didn't actually buy anything.

We had nearly reached my bench when I caught sight of the best looking coat I had ever seen. My stride slowed down gradually until I finally stopped altogether, drooling over the coat the whole time. My girl stopped too. "Do you want that coat boy? You do need a new one". I looked expectantly at her, my eyes wide and tail wagging. Yes, I did want that coat. "Come on then. Let's go get it". Ten minutes later I proudly walked away from the stall dressed in my new dark green coat.

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We eventually found our bench not far from the main arena where we would be competing in just a few hours time. I could feel my girls nervous anticipation travelling in waves down my lead, spreading out through my already adrenaline fuelled body.

Once I was settled into my bench, my girl went off to look around the stalls. Before she left, she promised to bring me back some treats for being such a good boy. I turned a few circles before lying down on my green and blue bed, a look of bewilderment still covering my young face.

I was unsure how long I had been asleep when I heard a familiar voice call out my name. Raising my head with interest, I used my ears to find the source of the sound. Stood intently before me was the dog I had beaten to make it here to Crufts! His name was Zeek, a grey merle Border Collie who I was great friends with on and off the circuit. He too had qualified that day( the dogs in first and second make it through to the semi-finals held at Crufts) but there was no rivalry between us after our victory.

"Hey Zeek" I said cheerfully. "How great to see you here!"
"Yeah, hey sleepy head, nice to see you too. How long have you been here?"
"I'm not too sure, I've been asleep for a while though so I would guess at a few hours. My girl should be back soon and then our class is on, I can't wait!!"
"Neither can I!" He replied, chuckling slightly as he spoke. The older dog no longer as thrilled by the atmosphere at the show as he had already competed here many times before. " I guess I'll see you two on the ring then. Good luck Storm!"
"Good luck to you too Zeek! See you later." With that, he turned around and trotted off into the crowds of people with his owner.

Not long later I caught sight of my girl heading back towards me. In both hands she held full bags of things that intrigued me greatly. I wondered if any of that stuff was for me. My tail began to wagg furiously at the return of my best friend and as soon as she was close enough, I made sure to cover her face in kisses. She laughed fondly at my antics before gently pushing me off and placing my front feet back on the wooden floor of my bench. She then say down next to me, her arm draped around my shoulders.

"I got you something boy, just like I promised. It's not treats but I thought you would like this a lot more" she explained. "Close your eyes then buddy." She continued. This was what she always did when she brought me something and I was all to willing to oblige. I shut my eyes tightly and waited, my tail wagging non-stop the whole time. Just when I couldn't handle the suspense anymore she told me to open my eyes...

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Lying proudly on my new red blanket, I looked at the green lettering embroidered very professionally into the bottom right hand corner and smiled inwardly. My girl certainly knew me, that was for sure; this blanket was definitely better than treats!