Discover Dogs was a great success for the Border Collie and especially for Southern Border Collie Club.
After years of trying the club won the Best Breed Stand at Show from the show’s sponsors, Royal Canin. For me as Co-ordinator of the stand it felt fantastic. There is an awful lot of planning that needs to go into this project and the more than we can inform the public about the Border Collie the better.
There were 26,243 visitors to the show this year, a record number, and most of them seemed to be heading for our stand. Five minutes after the show opened on Saturday they were queuing up to meet the dogs and ask questions on the Border Collie, and it remained like that for the entire two days of the show. The dogs were brilliant and so good with adults and children alike. Owen had his regular fan club come to see him as they do every year, and Frank at 12 years old was an absolute star. If there weren’t enough people for him to see at our stand he would go and butt in at one of the other breed stands. “Where’s Frank, became the most popular saying all day. Freddie was brilliant, especially as he was thrown into the fray as a last minute stand by and played his part and took everything in his stride all day.
I must say that this year so many people had put in the time and done their homework on the breed. There were very few who hadn’t. We were judged as being the most informative stand at show by both the material on show and the way that the breed stand holders answered the questions of the general public. Everybody was given as much time as possible and I spent nearly an hour talking to a family who were armed with a notebook and sets of questions. Certain authors and behaviourists had told them that they couldn’t have a Border Collie as a pet because it had to be doing something like agility or obedience. It is a popular misconception of the breed. The Border Collie can be kept as a pet, mine are first and foremost pets. You can keep a collie providing it has regular exercise and is given something to stimulate its mind. This doesn’t have to be competitive sport it can be just mind games at home, which are as stimulating for the human as well as the dog. Also, they don’t need to be walked for hours and hours. Mine have 30-40 minutes in the field every day. Enough exercise to keep them really fit, just ask my vet.
However, you do get silly questions and Lesley who was helping on the stand wins the prize for the daftest question asked this year. "I have a flat with a roof top garden, which is enclosed by a small wall, can I keep a Border Collie?" I think the answer included the word “parachute” but then the same man asked, "Well, what breed could I keep?" The man was sent on his way with directions to the Bassett and Dachshund stands, I bet they loved us, as well as "Have you ever considered other pets?"
For me all the months of planning that go into putting together the stand made it all worthwhile when a man who said they had lost their family Border Collie 5 months ago spent over an hour with the dogs just stroking and talking to them. He had been around the whole show and left more than enough time to spend with his beloved breed. He was still so upset at losing their dog but the joy of being able to spend time with all the dogs was pure therapy to him. At the end he thanked me and said that had really helped him and he was ready to get another BC. But the most tear jerking moment for all of us was at the end of the show when a little girl came up to the stand in tears with her mum. She so wanted to have a puppy but her parents were both out at work all day and sensibly said that at this time they couldn’t put the time in to having a dog. So we let her choose one of the pictures from the stall (she choose a puppy one) and loaded her up with stickers and a copy of Freedom of Spirit. Tears dried up and a lovely smile came over her face. Her Mum was so delighted and one happy little girl went away clutching her pictures of Border Collies. Was all the work until two in the morning most nights leading up to show worth it, definitely, just to see a smile like that on a child’s face.
I would like to thank all those who helped out on the stand. Hilary, Karen, David, Corinne, Lesley, Kim and Kate but most of the thanks to the stars of the show Blade, Freddie, Pie, Spooky, Cloud, Breeze, Owen and of course Frank. I also mustn’t forget my lovely wife Melanie for all her patience and help she has given me.
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