Cani-X

I had never heard of Cani-X (cross-country running for canines and their owners) until my mother saw this article in the newspaper and sent it to me.

Intrigued, I went and had a look at their website. It looked like a lot of fun, and what's more there was a race on at Westonbirt Arboretum! Westonbirt is 1.5 hours drive from here and it's a lovely place, and there was a Dog Day on as well, so we decided to go.

I didn't discover until later that this would involve getting up at 6.10am on a Sunday morning! However we hauled ourselves out of bed and off down the M5 today. When we arrived there were a LOT of people milling around with a huge array of different breeds. We didn't see any other Estrelas though! Apparently there were 150 entrants today.


I collected my number and put Ludo on her car harness (most people had specialised harnesses that make it easy for their dogs to pull them along). When it was our turn, we got in line and we were off! We did the 2.5km race, which is only just over a mile. It was through lovely forest and woodland and the course was clearly marked so we didn't get lost.

Ludo did decide to stop for a toilet break at one point (typical!) but luckily I had brought a poo bag along just in case! We were overtaken by a couple of people but overall I thought we did quite well. Towards the end Ludo was flagging a bit - she was running behind me rather than in front of me like most of the other dogs - but she made it.

Here we are just before we crossed the finish line! My conclusion is that while Ludo didn't mind it, she didn't exactly enjoy it either. I probably would have had more success with a dog that had more stamina and energy - there were lots of huskies running! So I think this will be her first and last race - next time I will borrow somebody else's dog and do the 5km race instead!

After that we went over to the Dog Days section and had a look round all the stalls. We had some tea and watched an agility demonstration. Then Matt took Ludo off to the have-a-go agility and she got her chance in the ring. She was none-too-impressed with that either! Admittedly, the agility equipment was a bit small for her - there was no way she was going through the tunnel!!


There is a large breed agility club in Leicestershire that has specially adapted equipment, but to be honest, all of this stuff is a bit energetic for Ludo. She was bred to sit around on mountaintops, not race around like a maniac. She is just a bit too sedentary for all this frenzied activity.

Tonight, Ludo has collapsed, exhausted on the hall floor for a nice long nap:



Next stop.... CRUFTS!!!