k9assistance by Caesar ~ Crufts 2002

Caesars' Visit to Crufts 2002
Caesar and I set off for our first trip to Crufts with Carole ( a DFD friend). Caesar and I had not travelled by train together before, nor had we stayed in a hotel together, so this was our first big trip. Our journey by train and taxi to Birmingham was uneventful, and Caesar appeared to love travelling on the train. At each station, he would stand on hind legs leaning on my lap peering out of the windows watching people go by, I imagined he was saying "Ha ha, look at me, I'm on the train, and you're not"! We stayed at The Crowne Plaza Hotel at the N.E.C., Birmingham so that we were very close to the show. Everyone at the hotel was very kind and Caesar seemed to attract attention wherever he went, people were commenting on how gorgeous he looks and how well behaved he was. Certainly, an assistance dog is a great ice breaker, and in the hotel bar / reception area we met Peter Purves, Phillipa Forrester and Brian Turner. Brian has a restaurant at the hotel, and the food was delicious! Perhaps the one thing at the hotel that most impressed Caesar was the ice making machine on the landing near our room, he seemed fascinated at the ease with which I could produce ice for him to munch on.

Brian Turner with Wendy & Caesar
We spent a whole day at the show, wandering around the many dog related stalls, watching some demonstrations and spending time at the Dogs for the Disabled stand. It was great meeting many people who work for DFD that we had not met before, and getting to know some other partnerships too. We were especially pleased to meet Pat and Dolly, as I learned that Dolly is a half sister to Caesar. We also spent time explaining Caesars' work to many visitors to the DFD stand ... as Caesar enjoys meeting people, this must have been delightful for him. We visited the Turtle Mats stand to meet the staff and have some photos taken as Turtle Mats have chosen DFD for their charity for this year. Turtle Mats launched a leaflet featuring Caesar, and one of the photos taken even made the doggie newspaper.

We left Crufts tired, but happy and determined to go again next year, and hopefully stay a bit longer.