We must be all quite crazy you know. Richmond was the muddiest show I have ever been to I think--what a shame for the organisers but the show went on which is the main thing. Last year we were complaining about the heat this year about the rain.

With Malinois in a separate ring to the other varieties and the gangways full of very large crates and dogs it was not going to be easy getting back and forth. There was only one CC on offer for Malinois. BD and RCC was Capi, Bonvivant Limoge with his brother Chino, B.Lumiere RBD. BB and CC was B. Arc en Ciel with B.Ophelia RBB. BPuppy was B.Thierry (Roco). This was Ciels' first CC at the age of 11.5yrs, she has had so many wins before but has only had RCCs before. It was lovely in the Group when people remarked on how well she went and how young she looks.

We won the Breeders Stakes on Saturday and I made the decision to return for the Finals on the Sunday despite the 3hr drive. Grace,David and Candice kindly agreed to meet me there with Rusty. I was about 1.5hrs into my journey when I got a call from David to say that their van had died and he was waiting for the AA--however Grace then went in her car to the rescue and we met up, straight down to the ringside where we were being called. The dogs were plastered in mud again, despite our efforts with towels, and the people filming by the ring wanted to take some pics of them. I later found out that they are doing filming for Animal Planet so maybe they will be famous ! There were only us and the Min Pin team and we came 2nd--but at least we were there--you have to be in it to win it and I felt we had to give it a try as there are not many qualifiers left this year. It will be interesting to see how many people enter the new classes next year when the breeders will be a scheduled breed class.

The dogs all needed a good rest today, as did I, and Ciel had a new bed as a special treat for being so clever--I just hope she doesn't undo the stitching on this one--she thinks they should be bigger so she can stretch out !

Darlington at the end of the week and it is to be hoped that the weather stays dry for a few days to give the ground a chance to dry out. Gerry and Steve are coming to stay next week and I am really looking forward to that. Martin is coming up too and we are hiring a digger to do some ground clearing and some concreting. Funny how everyone wants to play on the digger :))