Discover Dogs 2015

Discover Dogs London October 2015

Discover Dogs took place at ExCel London on October 17th and 18th 2015. Once again the Norfolk Terrier booth was a resounding success and we congratulate all those who took part

Linda Philip writes, 'Hats off to the amazing Archie, Bembo, Chevy, Martha and Tiggy the Keep Calm team of Norfolks who gave their everything to make the Norfolk stand at Discover Dogs so so good. They are 5 Norfolks girls and boys, from 4 different homes who mooched happily together in the pen, on the beds and on the table - meeting and greeting each new visitor as if they were the most important person of the day. They handed out kisses to all ages from babies to the elderly, accepted constant cuddles and patting. Does it sound like I'm boasting ???? Yes I am !!!! They were such a credit to the breed. Special thanks to the owners, Sue and Maurice, Fiona, Linda, Katie, Jane and Lexi (our newest team members) for the enthusiasm shown on the stand in the name of Norfolks. An added special thanks to Juliet Knight who travelled from Liverpool on the train with all the kit to decorate the stand ready for us all to just walk in on Sat morning. You guys rock.'

Sunday was also a fabulous day.

The next Discover Dogs will be at Crufts on March 10th -13th 2016. 
Terrier & Hound day is Sunday 13th.

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Crufts 2015

Another year, unbelievable that 12 months had passed, and here we were again putting up the display at the NEC. We had a corner booth this year so, with only 2 sides, lots of pictures had to stay in the folder. On the good side a corner booth always seems brighter and a lot more room. On the Wednesday setting up it was very cold as we were just by an open door, but we were very pleased with the result, I thought it looked great and had all the information on the walls that was needed.

Back at the camper it was cosy and warm and we were trying a new site closer and easy to get to, set in a wooded area near a golf course. I had done too much that day so did not have a very good night and I was up in the night with cramp in legs so spent a long time walking up and down the camper. Not a happy bunny.

All 4 days at the booth were very busy, even Thursday. All the volunteers and their wonderful dogs were great. On Thursday Linda Philip and the Keep Calm gang did all day 9am till 4pm. Fiona came even though she had been poorly for some days.

Friday Lisa Charnock, Claire Butler, Lynn Ward, Mary, Gail and Joan held the fort. I was so tired I stayed at the camper and Gina went in on her own. I thought I had better rest up a bit as I was judging Norwich on the Saturday and wanted to be fresh for that.

Saturday and Terrier day, always a busy day even more so because Gina has the Norfolk stand to run and I was judging. So it was a very early morning as we have to be in the hall for 6 o’clock. I helped Gina set up the stand and at 8.30 am went to collect my judging bag and started judging at 9 o’clock. Janet Howes and better half (why do I always forget his name), Rosalie Rider and Jane Lloyd manned the booth. I know they were very busy because at times it was hard just walking around the halls that day, it was murder.

Sunday it calmed down a bit and Bev Ackling, Lynn and Mary (again), Martyn Craddock and John Collins were on duty. I must say all the dogs were the stars, all 4 days they took all the hugs and stroking with happy temperaments. Thank you all every much for representing the Norfolk Terrier so expertly, I hope you all enjoyed the experience and will want to do it all again next year.

Dorothy Dorkins


Thank you to the three Norfolks of the Janet and Martyn Howes household who have kindly sent this message following their day at Crufts on the NT booth.

Discover Dogs is Such Fun

Let me introduce myself. My name is Maeve and I am a nine-year old Norfolk Terrier. I live with my seven-year old daughter, Caitlin and our house-mate Caiseal who is 10 and a black and tan Norfolk. (I know Caiseal has an odd looking name but I believe it is Irish because our owners always give their Norfolks Irish names. Anyway it is pronounced Cashel and he is known to us all as Cash).

On Saturday 7 March, we were all harnessed to the back seat of our owner’s car and we travelled up to Birmingham from our home in Wiltshire. We were going to Crufts to work on the Norfolk stand of Discover Dogs. We have done this for several years now and we always man (or dog, I suppose) the stand on Terrier day because our owners say we are not pretty enough to be shown. (This is not really true because I got a VHC at Crufts when I was younger and I am very proud of that).

Discover Dogs, along with the Fun day in August, is my favourite day of the year. This is because I adore being fussed and cuddled and so it is great for me to be able to meet ‘my public’. My daughter Caitlin also loves meeting people but she can get distracted rather easily. One year there was a video of Norfolk Terrier activities running and Caitlin spent all the time watching the video instead of attending to her duties with the public. This year her attention also wandered a little as a Norfolk we did not know was left with us in a cage by the stand and once again Caitlin found this more interesting than meeting people and thus presented her bottom to the public for some of the time.

Cash is much less bothered about meeting people but, as he never stops telling us, he is a fully qualified Pets as Therapy dog and so he is very quiet and tolerates being fussed and photographed with quiet equanimity.

As I say, I love Discover Dogs and I think it is a terrific initiative by the Kennel Club because it enables me and the others Norfolks to show the public what brilliant little dogs Norfolk Terriers are. It also gives our owners the chance to tell the public what we require from owners and to detail our strengths and weaknesses as a breed. (I personally think there are very few of these although our owners keep telling everyone we are greedy and have no road sense).

The Norfolk stand at Discover Dogs is always beautifully prepared by Dorothy and Gina and, on the walls, they provide masses of information about the breed. We usually work for half a day and by the end we are always very tired as Crufts is always packed with people and Discover Dogs is quite rightly a major attraction. Never mind, we gets masses of fusses and our owners say that if they had a pound for every time we have our photographs taken they could go on holiday to the Bahamas.

Discover Dogs is terrific fun and if any Norfolks out there would like to try it I can thoroughly recommend that they get round their owners in the way we Norfolks always do and persuade them to let you have a go. Just tell your owners to get in touch with Dorothy or Gina. I can promise you that you won’t regret it.

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