Another Big Adventure, by Twiggy Cadman, aged 5 ¾

It’s turning out to be quite a year!  Mum and I have just come back from an amazing trip to Rieden in Germany.  It wasn’t just any old holiday, no – we were representing Great Britain at the European Open.  A huge honour indeed.

It all started just under 12 months ago when I won my Champ ticket and could submit points for the squad selection process.  We squeaked into the squad with just enough points and attended two selection/training days at the beginning of the year in Nottingham.  In April Mum lost the plot and forgot the caravan when we went to Lincoln for a 2 day show where the squad was going to be selected.  She made us stay in a tent and it was freezing!  I snuggled up to Mum to keep warm and it must have worked because I ran really well over the weekend resulting in a phone call a couple of weeks later which made Mum very happy.  We were Germany bound!

 Fast forward to July and Mum started packing.  Stuff everywhere!  Nanna Cadman was coming with us and we set off with her car loaded to the brim on the afternoon of Monday 20^th for an overnight stop near Dartford Crossing ready for the early meet on Tuesday.  Tuesday morning dawned and Mum was like a kid at Christmas and Nanna was a bit starstruck when she met some dude called Pudsey who was also on the team with me.  The first big test was trying to fit everything in the coach!  Not sure how we managed it but put it this way the lockers were not to be opened until we arrived at the hotel!  We made it through a tunnel just before it shut due to some problems at the French end.  There must be some big moles near Dover to make such a big tunnel?  

It took us all day to reach the hotel, we stopped every couple of hours eventually arriving just after midnight.  It was incredibly hot and Mum had the audacity to nick my cool pad out of my crate and sleep on it.  Admittedly I was sharing her bed so may have taken the liberty of stretching out…

 The plan of action for the first day was to acclimatise (i.e. do as little as possible as it was so hot).  We visited the venue – very impressive and HUGE!!   We had a little training session to loosen up after the long coach ride and just chilled as much as possible in the 40° heat.  A brief thunderstorm lightened the atmosphere a bit but only to a mere 34 ish.  Thursday saw the official training session – another chance to get used to the narrower jumps and sandy arena.  Mum said I was better than the day before and couldn’t wait to get going for real.  The Opening Ceremony was a great opportunity to meet lots of other dogs, some of whom barked in funny languages!  There were over 30 countries represented with just short of 1,500 dogs in attendance.

Friday was Team Day.  An early start saw us arrive at the venue for 0730.  I could just go back to bed but Mum had to go off and walk courses.  Agility was first; it was a long course designed to test various skills at speed.  Mum was going to have to do a lot of running!  She was incredibly proud of me when we went clear!!  Our first international clear also happened to be the first clear for team GB for the weekend.  Our team of 4 ended on 2 clears and 2 eliminations after the agility round.  Eliminations sounds pretty bad but if the truth be known they were amazing fast runs with one tiny error.  Such a shame but eliminations to be proud of.  Our next run (jumping) wasn’t until nearly 6pm.  Mum gave me some Kronch but I was flagging a bit.  I still pulled a clear round out of the bag though!  Mum did her best to scupper my attempts by kicking a jump over.  Fortunately we had already negotiated that jump and it didn't affect my run so the clear stood.  Two clears!

We didn't qualify for the team final but it transpired my agility run was my best run of the weekend – small and medium results were combined although we ran at our own height.  I came 61^st out of 385.  How good is that?

 Saturday saw the individual runs.  I may have been a little inattentive on the start line and kind of forgot to move!  Mum nearly had heart failure but after a fishwife impersonation to wake me up I did get going.  Not the fastest run (0.93 of a time fault) but other than that we were clear.  If I had actually run from the start we’d have been inside the time!  In the agility we were doing a lovely run until Mum shouted close but forgot to mention the small matter of doing the seesaw so we got a 5 for a refusal.  I got my own back though and missed the dog walk.  Ha! 

We didn’t make any finals but watching them on Sunday was totally awe inspiring and we got to cheer on some amazing partnerships, including 5 from Team GB.  One word.  Wow!!

Such a huge honour to be part of such a prestigious event.  Not bad for a Brown Rat!  It wasn't easy in the heat and Mum says that she needs to make sure in future that she feeds me something throughout the day to give me energy.  Sounds good to me!

All that was left was the long trip home.  I have to confess I rather like the only dog thing.  I'm not a huge fan of cuddles but it is nice to be able to snuggle up with Mum when I fancy.  Mum still insists on smothering me with kisses and telling me I'm amazing.  I think she may have lost the plot, although the new bed that has appeared for me is very comfy and I won’t complain.

It was good to see the rest of the gang when I got home (although I won’t tell them that).  Aunty Deb had some biscuits ready for me too!  I need to thank her, if she hadn’t stayed at home again to look after everyone else we wouldn’t have been able to go.  I bought her some chocolates to say thank you.

Fame hasn’t gone to my head.  Mum won’t let it.  She still tells me off when I try and drag Bert round the kitchen by his tail.  Meanie!