Discover Dogs: Earls Court 10th/11th November 2007

By Anita Brown

The day started early… Most of you would have still been fast asleep in your beds!

This year was quite a milestone for us; firstly, it would be the last time Belle would be doing Discover Dogs, as we are leaving for a new life in France and secondly, we had a very important guest with us - my niece had come along to be with Kai as they have a very special friendship.

We arrived at Earls Court at 8am. It’s amazing how fast a year goes past - I have done Discover Dogs for eight years. This was the second year I was put in charge of the stand; we agreed a plan of action, walked the dogs and left them in the van. We then made our way inside to decorate the stand - this took us an hour and a half, we stood and admired our master piece for a few moments, then made our way to collect the dogs.

You have to be on the stand and ready for the public at 10am - we just made it… in come the public, and it can really get quite daunting. I was totally amazed how the dogs behaved; Belle’s an old hand at this and Rosemary Tassell had very kindly given up her weekend to help. As she bred Belle and also owns Kai with me, she had to be there, (thanks Rose).

The dogs had hundreds of admirers, from the very young to the old. I will never forget one old lady - she was in a wheel chair and was unable to use her arms. Kai was unbelievable – it was as if he knew, he went round to the front of the wheel chair and put his head on the lady’s lap; this made me so proud. She was just able to wiggle her fingers and tickle his nose… there they stayed for the next few minutes - a very happy lady left the stand with a wonderful memory of a cuddle with a Maremma. Kai had never seen a wheel chair or a pushchair till Saturday morning! He seemed to love the children; on one occasion an empty pushchair came past, Kai had a good look round it and, if he could speak, I’m sure he would have said, “Where is the little person?”

If you have never done Discover Dogs, well it’s the children that are out of control, not the dogs; so many just run up to the dogs and throw their arms round the dogs’ necks. Belle never minds and Kai was just as wonderful! Stelios arrived - we were delighted to see him. He is still waiting for a pup, but as he lives in London he came along to help. It was wonderful to have so many keen people on the stand to talk about Maremmas with people, (thanks Stelios). Hawksmoor and Jens then arrived, so that Belle and Kai could go for a much needed rest; plus Rose, Ellie and myself could get a drink as you sure do need one after talking to all those people!! We left Hawksmoor, Jens and Stelios in charge and then left to rest the dogs for their return trip the next day.

On Sunday we arrived at Earls Court at 8am. We left Belle at home today, because Orsa and her team, (Janet, Rachel, Jon and Joss), were arriving to help. Jens was wonderful and was on duty with Hawksmoor, which meant Kai could rest till lunch time. Orsa arrived on the stand and we had two Maremmas which didn’t know each other, they were very well behaved. With loads of people arriving on the stand, the dogs were still always (of course!) wonderfully well behaved! Stelios arrived again and all too soon lunch time arrived and Hawksmoor and Jens left for a much needed rest, (thanks Jens and Hawksmoor).

Kai was now back on duty with Orsa, who is his mother, they were a great team and cuddled up to every one who walked past. Orsa would throw herself on the floor with all legs in the air from time to time, which I have to say was a crowd pleaser! (Thanks Team Orsa).

All in all a jolly good time was had by all. Royal Canin were one of the main sponsors for Discover Dogs and gave lots of nice gifts, so all dogs left with something. Thank you all who helped; my niece loved the whole event and wants a Maremma. She is 9 yrs old and if she beats Stelios to that pup, he won’t be happy…!

If any of you would like to share your Maremma with hundreds of strange and wonderful people, we need volunteers, as Crufts will soon be here along with another Discover Dogs booth, so, come on - help out, even if you don’t bring a dog, we need people to help talk with people and hand out information - you don’t have to do all day. Contact one of the committee and get your name on the list—we would love to have your help!