crufts

It was the last day of Crufts - and rumours abounded. Protestor on the loose were the general gist of the rumours, and the rumour mill was certainly in full flow. As we were walking in, a friend phoned. She had bought season tickets for Crufts, but had heard on the radio about the protests at the show, and wanted to know how bad were they? I told her I was standing at the front of the NEC and there wasn't a protester in sight. This was about 9.20a.m.

Later in the day we counted fourteen protestors.

I've seen many celebrities in the press room at Crufts, and I've always left them in peace, as they're usually on a break or eating a quick meal or snack and I don't want to intrude. However, I saw one yesterday that I couldn't resist asking if I could approach. It was Endal, the dog of the millennium. His story is amazing
, he and Allen Parton found each other when each was in a very dark place, with a future that looked bleak. Despite that Endal became Allen's assistance dog, and the bond between them is heart warming. I can't read the story without my eyes filling up - but you know by now I'm like that about dogs!

We got more great material recorded at the second day of Crufts. We spoke to TV vet Marc Abraham, who is the co-founder of ThePet.net. He and co-founder Andrew Seel are using the power of the Internet to let pet owners tell one another about businesses that are pet friendly. If you have a business you'd like to recommend, check out their awards. Marc is also the veterinary adviser to the Kennel Club, and you can find his blog on the Crufts site.

Marc was helping Jill Moss promote the right messages about MRSA and other serious infections on the Bella Moss Foundation stand. We caught up with Jill and she had some useful advice for dog owners worried about MRSA.

I was just too blooming tired to post anything yesterday, as we got back very late and I had batteries to charge and so on. We had a great day though. We bumped into Mic Martin, from Dog Borstal, who was there at Crufts raising money for Support Dogs. He gave us a great interview that covered not only what he was doing at Crufts, but the training classes he offers. He didn't swear once, and he was not half as frightening as he is on Dog Borstal. Which was a relief!

We got lots of breed profiles recorded down in

You can't watch Crufts on television this year, so if you can't be there in person, you can't see it at all right? Wrong - the Kennel Club is taking to the Internet. You can watch as it happens, or subscribe and watch a catch up service. It's the main arena that will be the focus of the online streaming, but there will be segments on the showing and other events outside the arena.

Here's another Crufts story. Alan Checkley and his Support Dog, Fudge, will be at Crufts on Friday 6th March. Support Dogs is a founder member of Assistance Dogs UK and also a full voting member of Assistance Dogs International, an organisation that represents assistance dog training programmes around the world. Every year Support Dogs receives in excess of fifty applications for dogs from each of its programmes, which means that there is currently a two-year waiting list. Without secure and regular funding the wait may be even longer and demand for dogs continues to increase every year.