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This was my second trip to Crufts (the first being in 2008). We (that is Christella and I) left early in the morning (too early - 6.30am to be precise!) and once again made our way up the M6, M42 to the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham. As last year, we decided to go on Thursday being the first day of the show and the 'quietest' if you can call it that! We don't tolerate crowds easily and it does get crowded even on the 'quietest' day! We arrived at the car park at 8.45am and enjoyed a stroll across the picturesque lakeside area to the arena. Once inside, we dived into the nearest food bar for brekkie and to decide on our plan of action for the day.

Thursday was Hounds and Terriers day. There were what seemed like hundreds of Irish Wolfhounds on show - probably the number was only six! They are massive dogs and inspire awe in me.

Christella has acquired a Swedish Vellhund puppy, now 10 months old. His name is Sammy (left) and he is a menace!

Our first stop was Discover Dogs and the Swedish Vellhund stall. There we met a bitch 2 years old and so much smaller than Sammy - we were surprised. We were directed by the gentleman on the stand to the Kennel Club Good Citizen Award ring as they had the bitch's brother participating in the Award. This was a must see as the Good Citizen Award requires utmost obedience from the dog and Sammy is anything but! We eventually discovered the Vellhund participating in the Gold Award. This included a line dance with about 8 dogs which was executed perfectly! Maybe there is hope for Sammy yet! Swedish Vellhund's belong to the Pastoral group so we hope to see many next year, as Thursday 2010 is Pastoral and Working dogs.

Also participating in the ring was a line dancing group - how amazing to see these dogs all together performing their dance perfectly and without a hint of chaos!

We then went to see the Bloodhounds, with their long suffering expressions they are amongst my favourites. Bloodhounds only scent humans and are thus excellent dogs for searching for lost people. There are very few Bloodhounds in the UK with less than 100 being registered by the Kennel Club in the last year making them very rare indeed.

We stopped for lunch after a wander around Discover Dogs where they had the Bulldog also on show. There has been some debate about the breeding of breeds such as the Bulldog due to irresponsible breeders taking the breed standards too far. With the Bulldog it is easy to see how it could be done with their 'squashed faces' (which look so cute!) making it harder and harder for them to breathe and swallow. A BBC documentary was televised in August 2008 'which claimed the process used to breed some pedigree dogs had resulted in inherited genetic disease. The BBC insisted that certain breeds should be excluded from March's show.' (Quoted from 'The Guardian, Saturday 25 October 2008 ). The Kennel Club and the BBC were unable to come to an agreement and so this year's Crufts was not televised by the BBC for the first time in 40 years. Also pulling out from this year's show was Pedigree pet foods, ending a sponsorship of more than 40 years. Despite all this, the show must go on and was a success as usual!

We spent the afternoon browsing the many stalls which stock everything you could possibly need for your best friend. Christella was interested in the collars which your dog wears which give out a signal so that you can track them by satellite signal if they run off - Sammy is forever running off after deer! Perhaps it should issue an electric shock instead to stop them in their tracks??!

I purchased a game for Bruno, my Springer Spaniel Hearing Dog. It is made of plastic and the object is for him to move the pieces out of the way to get the treat beneath. He picked it up very quickly and loves to hunt the titbit!

As we were wandering around in the afternoon, we were alerted to a Spaniel demonstration about to start as part of James Wellbeloved foodstuffs so we decided to have a rest and watch. The spaniels had been trained to do various tasks such as taking clothes out of a laundry basket and loading the washing machine and vice versa. Also, audience participation was required for 'legs' for the spaniels to weave in and out of. The finale had one spaniel running to his bed and immediately shutting his eyes as if as lee p, the other spaniel ran to his blanket and pulled it over himself for bed time. Very cute, very clever and so unlike Bruno who has to be told umpteen times when bed time comes.

The Best in Show was on Sunday so I was not there to see it. However, I can tell you that a Sealyham Terrier from the USA won. This dog was selected from the 22,500 dogs that entered Crufts 2009, whittled down to seven which had been selected as Best in Group.

Contributed by Sonia Bryant

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