SHOW NEWS

Our first trip overseas away from Cyprus with Zac, since Zac arrived here early in the year. We feel he has settled sufficiently enough now to be able to take this trip on board and it would be so good for him if we were able to gather some points.

We decided to share the trip with our friend Fytos and assisted by his wife Stella, who kindly did all the arrangements for us, we set off on our weekend trip to Athens. Not getting off to a good start, we were called before we left for the airport to say that the flight to Athens had been delayed 3 hours and not to set off with the dogs as they would only get stressed out. That gave us a little more time to put the dogs through their paces, give them a little more exercise before their journey and give them a feeling of fun and enjoyment for the journey ahead.

Arrival at Larnaca saw crowds of people all frustrated and anxious as to when their flights would be called. Our dogs as you can imagine caused a diversion of attentions and before long we were surrounded by crowds of people all wanting their photographs taking with the dogs. It was actually another two hours before we departed, the dogs now fast asleep in their crates and the owners more stressed out than the dogs, typical.

A short 1hr 30mins flight and we were in Athens, dogs were delivered to us with no problems and we headed for the Pet Taxi supplied by Nicos, the only official and fully registered pet taxi in Athens.

The hotel was a very modest, but fully recommended by the kennel club type of place, clean, very friendly and local to all amenities, except that is for the Equestrian Centre, which is where the show was being held.

The only one transportation problem we did encounter was that of our friends, fully groomed and most immaculate Akita. He had spent the day before making sure it was in top condition, only to discover on arrival at Athens, the poor little dog had decided to empty his bowels and his bladder in his crate, so you can only imagine what a mess his coat was in now. These things happen when you travel with dogs and fortunately, we all threw our hand in and helped get him showered, dried and back in tip top condition ready for his show ring the following day.

Day one at the show, saw an early arrival, we found a pitch to stay with our crates and then off to the reception area to register for both days. It was a lovely little venue, housed in the Athens Olympic Equestrian Centre on the outside arena. We had an early class and were delighted to take Best Dog and then Best Of Breed, especially as we had entered the Champion class and taken the title from a lovely Italian bitch from the Castello Delle Rocche kennels. We were over the moon, having achieved our goal of C.A.C. & C.A.C.I.B on both days. The groups were a little strange, with group 2 having 23 breeds in the line up and group 5 having only 8. I like to think I am a good loser and I take showing in good spirit, but there is something a little odd when it is clear for all to see that the dogs being placed are not necessarily the best dogs on show in the line up. It all gets very political at this level and that is why we are delighted if we get Best Of Breed, C.A.C. & C.A.C.I.B. anything else is a bonus and seen as the icing on the cake. So for us, out of a possible 21 points on offer each day, we came away with 19 on each day. A great result and well on the way to more success hopefully in Greece. We have promised ourselves a return visit to Athens on the 5th November to visit the show in Marathon.

• View more of our photos from the Athens Show.