Well, finally the day arrived. Flash and I went up to Walsall on Saturday afternoon and stayed in the hotel overnight. The night before, we got our t-shirt and trousers and a bandana for Flash.
On Sunday, we got up at 6.15 am to be ready at 7 am. Then we went to the filming set which was a good half hours drive from the hotel. I took Jackie with Tiptoe with me as they needed a lift.
Then at around 8.30 am, it all started... It was pouring, it was very windy and it was cold... Not the weather we had hoped for at all! And Flash had a lot of fun right from the start...
Half of the rounds went really well (mainly the obedience based ones) and the other half were a disaster... LOL
We started off with agility. I set Flash up nicely, he sat and looked at me beautifully (for quite a while as they needed quite a bit of footage), then we started. He did the first jump... then took off at top speed doing laps of honour. Everyone loved it, but I stood there like a lemon and eventually started calling him, but if he doesn't want to come, he won't. After a couple of minutes or so, he finally decided it was time to come back. So he did. We continued our course, and he did really well... he did however jump off the dog walk when he suddenly realised how high it was. I decided not to go back on with him and just accept the lost points for it. He did all the jumps really well including wall and bone jump, no problems with the soft tunnel, the tyre, the see-saw (!!!)... he went into the bent tunnel, peaked out at the end, then decided it was drier in there than out here, so went back, peaked out the other end and came back again to the right end... LOL. Again, the audience obviously loved it. He also did the weave beautifully!
He really enjoyed the course! If it hadn't been for the laps of honour and the jumping off the dog-walk, he would have done so well in it.
The second round (ball under flowerpots... which we didn't really have much time to practice as it was changed on us a few days before the show) went totally wrong as Flash wasn't interested in finding the ball at all, but wanted to play with a little staffie cross next to him...
The third round was the bullseye, which went very well (to everyone's surprise... LOL) and he landed in the blue area (it was red, white and blue). Most dogs ended up in blue. So he was fine on that (there was only one dog in the whole competition that landed on the bullseye).
The fourth round was the temptation. They changed that game for us too, so now they had to do a down stay for 30 seconds with a huge tray of meat (vegan meat in Flash's case) in front of them (the tray virtually touching their front paws). Then we had to call them past the tray of food. Flash did brilliantly - not even a side glance at the food when he got up and ran past it! It was fab.
The fifth round - by which time it was 8 pm and Flash was cold, tired and wet - was the party trick and was a total disaster. Flash didn't do anything really, as if he had never done it before... How embarassing!
I dreaded the judge's comments... The first judge did say it was not entertaining as he obviously didn't do anything and that it was disappointing. Fair enough I thought... But the other two judges (a vet whose name I can't remember and Carolyne Mendith) were fab. They said that it didn't matter whether he did the party trick or not, they just loved watching him do whatever he did! They recognised the fact that salukis do things their own way and get distracted very easily. They mentioned that when he works, he works beautifully. They were both totally in love with him... and actually told me the same again after filming! Really lovely! They also said they loved watching him run, it was just the most beautiful thing to see. I was of course asked what I made of the judges comments. I replied that I appreciated their feedback and realised that it was disappointing, but that what Carolyne said totally summarised Flash and his character, and that I really appreciated the fact that they recognise the fact that salukis are not like other dogs!
It really was nice to hear from professionals that I am not just making excuses for Flash and his performance, but that they know the breed and fully understand what was going on.
Despite the fact that overall we didn't do well (the party trick was most of the points!), everyone absolutely loved Flash... the audience, Shauna Lowry (presenter), the film crew, the judges...! It was a great day despite the non-stop rain, strong winds and cold!
Well, I did warn Shauna at the audition that Flash was the less reliable and consistent one of the two lurchers... and she said on Sunday that Flash was chosen to take part because he is a rogue!
It was a great day out; of course I am disappointed mainly that the party trick didn't work! But looking at the party tricks of the others, I didn't see many that actually had a home country theme... Thinking about it now, I wish I had stuck to obedience with Flash and padded that out a bit with some fun bits, rather than teach a trick, which I personally didn't really enjoy that much (though Flash had fun learning the new exercises!).
So if ever anything like this comes up again, I will make sure that any performances are in line with what my dogs are already used to, which currently is obedience. As it happens, Flash did very well in the obedience based exercises, so an interesting obedience round (e.g. with heelwork backwards, recall through legs etc.) would have worked and I think would have gone down well! But hindsight is wonderful, as always! What's done is done, and the important thing to me is that the judges understood and didn't give me and Flash a hard time at all!
Ultimately, Flash and I had a great time training, though it was hard and intensive. But we learnt a lot and if you don't take part, you'll never know! That's my moto!
I have no idea when the program will be aired. I thought it was towards the end of the year, someone said however, it will be March next year! I can't wait to see the shots of Flash running (Jack said he had some fab footage of Flash running towards the camera)! That alone will have been worth the whole effort!
Love you so much, Flashy boy!
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