CRUFTS
Last weekend we went to Crufts! Ludo's breeder is the Estrela Mountain Dog Association secretary and we'd put our names down for 'Discover Dogs' months ago.
We got entrance tickets that we could use on all four days, which was totally brilliant. Matt, Isabel and I went on the Saturday to have a good look round, then I went again on the Sunday to do the Discover Dogs bit with Ludo. Discover Dogs is the section of Crufts where you can walk round and meet all the different breeds - there were about 180 different breeds. Because Estrelas are a rare breed it is a lot easier to get a chance to go than if you own a spaniel or a labrador! I learned that there are only about 270 Estrela Mountain Dogs in the UK.
We arrived at 8.40am and went straight to the Estrela stand. The male dog was already there, his name was Charlie and he was the biggest Estrela I've ever seen. He was absolutely magnificent. Ludo is quite large for a bitch but Charlie was absolutely enormous - he weighed almost 10 1/2 stone!!
You can see Ludo standing next to Charlie here. She only just came up to his shoulders! Charlie could and did jump up with his front paws on the side of the pen you can see on the left hand side. Standing up he was 6'4" tall! You can see from the photo that his face is much blacker than Ludo's - that's because she's a blue fawn which is less desirable (from the breed standard point of view) although personally I rather like it!
We had a wonderful day talking to loads and loads of people about the breed and our dogs. It was really busy, especially around lunchtime. The most common comments were, "She's so soft!" and "They look just like Leonbergers". Leo's are a different breed which are better known in the UK (there are around 2000 of them) and they DO look similar - although they have very different ancestry.
By the end of the day, Ludo was really really tired. In the morning she was inside the pen, but by late afternoon she kept lying down and refusing to get up to be stroked and photographed. So I let her lie down outside the pen, and she enjoyed lots of fuss and bellyrubs.
We had a wonderful day and didn't leave until after 5pm, by which time we were both exhausted! Ludo slept like a log that night and most of the next day as well. Hopefully we will get to go again next year!
We got entrance tickets that we could use on all four days, which was totally brilliant. Matt, Isabel and I went on the Saturday to have a good look round, then I went again on the Sunday to do the Discover Dogs bit with Ludo. Discover Dogs is the section of Crufts where you can walk round and meet all the different breeds - there were about 180 different breeds. Because Estrelas are a rare breed it is a lot easier to get a chance to go than if you own a spaniel or a labrador! I learned that there are only about 270 Estrela Mountain Dogs in the UK.
We arrived at 8.40am and went straight to the Estrela stand. The male dog was already there, his name was Charlie and he was the biggest Estrela I've ever seen. He was absolutely magnificent. Ludo is quite large for a bitch but Charlie was absolutely enormous - he weighed almost 10 1/2 stone!!
You can see Ludo standing next to Charlie here. She only just came up to his shoulders! Charlie could and did jump up with his front paws on the side of the pen you can see on the left hand side. Standing up he was 6'4" tall! You can see from the photo that his face is much blacker than Ludo's - that's because she's a blue fawn which is less desirable (from the breed standard point of view) although personally I rather like it!
We had a wonderful day talking to loads and loads of people about the breed and our dogs. It was really busy, especially around lunchtime. The most common comments were, "She's so soft!" and "They look just like Leonbergers". Leo's are a different breed which are better known in the UK (there are around 2000 of them) and they DO look similar - although they have very different ancestry. 
By the end of the day, Ludo was really really tired. In the morning she was inside the pen, but by late afternoon she kept lying down and refusing to get up to be stroked and photographed. So I let her lie down outside the pen, and she enjoyed lots of fuss and bellyrubs.
We had a wonderful day and didn't leave until after 5pm, by which time we were both exhausted! Ludo slept like a log that night and most of the next day as well. Hopefully we will get to go again next year!
posted by Alice at 10:17 pm
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