If the Late Winter Weather has You Indoors...

If the late winter weather is keeping you indoors and making you stir crazy, a good cure today is to follow the Iditarod, that grueling historical trek through some of Alaska's most challenging terrain. http://www.iditarod.com/ A visit to this site is a must, it is highly informative and even if you have no particular interest in artic breeds or canine sports, you will come away impressed.
If you are more in the mood for canine glam, Crufts is today! Being British born and bred I always follow Crufts and am so disappointed that it is no longer available to watch on T.V.
You can blame Peta for that( don't get me started). Now you must pay for a live feed, or if you prefer you can watch some of the happenings on You Tube. I was especially enamored of the Portugese Water Dogs. I think the type being bred overseas is stunning,( my apologies to Bo Obama) maybe not as sound as American -bred dogs, and bear in mind, that I am basing my opinion on the state of the breed just from watching the entries of one major show.
The grooming is a nod to the historic origins of this facinating breed. While I see this groom clip in American dogs, it is becoming scarce and that is a pity as it really shows these dogs off.... I love the ground level view of the show this year.. enjoy !http://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialCrufts#p/a/u/1/eSWqVD3hQ00

Crufts, a Veritable British Institution

Am I the only person who thinks it odd that Eukanuba is a sponsor of Crufts and yet James Serpell, a major contributor to the recent hoopla surrounding the BBC's decision to not broadcast Crufts, is an advisor to the Iams Pet Food Company?

In case you missed it, the BBC aired a documentary created by animal rights extremists called Pedigree Dogs Exposed. It is pure sensationalism and contains many, many, many twisted facts that border on outright lies.Serpell is a major factor in this BBC doc as is a Stephen Jones, who, when wiki'd appears to be an atheist....and they have the nerve to equate dog breeders with Nazi's?...phew, I smell something.

That being said, you can still watch Crufts, it is more than a conformation show, there is agility,freestyle obedience to music, flyball and more.You can watch it at Crufts TV,http://www.cruftslive.tv/ or follow along on twitter (search KCLovesdogs), see some fabulous pix on flicker http://www.flickr.com/photos/thekennelclub (some of them are posted here)or on youtube,http://www.youtube.com/OfficialCrufts and if you go to youtube, check out the vendors too.

You may be surprised that on CruftsTV you can watch the show live for free but have to pay to get into the archives...not surprising since the BBC took away their main source of income.Income that helped pay for a lot of dog owner education....