The Beginners Guide to The Irish Circuit Part 1 The first thing you have to do before embarking on the

e Irish Circuit is to decide if you are fit enough. This is NOT a holiday. It is hard physical work with early starts and long journeys. It takes fully eight - nine days to do but is great fun if you meet the first criteria. The dates this year were18th-25th August inclusive which does not apply to all breeds as the first show at Navan is for certain groups only. I will come to that later. The shows are in the following locations. Saturday..Navan near Dublin Sunday Clonmel Tuesday. Killarney Thursday.Limerick Saturday..Tralee and if you are MENTAL and depending on your breed SundaySKC Edinburgh (it is do-able). So, you have decided you are going the next thing is to register your furries with the Irish Kennel Club. Go to their web site and download the form. YES you do have to hand write all of your dogs pedigree. You also enclose, five gen pedigree, owners reg document and proof of microchipping. All original documents. It is 20 Euros per dog and I stuck all the documents and Euro cash in a big envelope and send with a European stamp. You cannot send postal orders or cheques. You CAN put your card details on (????) I didnt. The next decision is what you want to do about accommodation. Now this will be down to personal preference. There are many options depending on budget and ease of getting around.

Hotel This will be budget led and whether or not you have to have the dog in. Travelodge will let the dog in the room and can be reasonable but consider there is nowhere to sit at night. Bar/lounge area and you will be restricted to your room on "down time" which may be okay for a night but a week ? We stayed in the Maldron Hotel Limerick which is a very central base for the shows except for Navan the first night (Friday) when we stayed in a travelodge for convenience to the show. The Maldron does not allow dogs in but we have made them aware of the missed opportunity and they are having a meeting to discuss it for next year. The rooms were FAB very comfortable and spacious with good storage so we are able to unpack. The staff were very hospitable and welcoming, couldnt do enough for us. There is a swimming pool and a Spa. Bar/restaurant and a lovely foyer with squashy settees and free wifi. They gave us a room which was ground floor and looked directly onto the van. They gave us fire door access straight out and the car park has very high fences and gates which are locked every night from 11pm-7am. VERY secure. Many people stay in self catering cottages, there are also the usual B&B etc. It will be up to the individual what they want to do.

The Beginners Guide to The Irish Circuit Part 2

Showing in Ireland Shows on the circuit are all outdoors. We took a gazebo with us but the procedure seems to be, get up at 4am and drive to the venue for 6am in order to put up your tent/gazebo in the VERY STRICTLY designated area. Bearing in mind the show doesnt open until 8am to admit dogs and judging starts generally at 9am or 9.30am. We opted for the NOT DOING THAT WE ARE ON HOLIDAY tact. SO, if you feel like that too you will need. Plastic groundsheet for under the cages and plastic groundsheets for covering the cages. At least one LARGE umbrella/parasol to cover grooming area/table or one of those fisherman brolly tent things but be prepared to be told to lift the side. You will then be right up to the edge of the ring with your camp. It is ESSENTIAL that the humans have head to toe waterproofs and in the longer coated breeds trouser suits are fab remembering you aint goin to be able to bath them unless you have a very understanding hotel/cottage etc. Plush puppy do a fabulous non rinse shampoo which saved us a lot of stress.! Judging is different to here. There are only the following classes for dogs and bitches Baby puppy 4-6 months Junior (up to 1 year I think) Intermediate (up to 2 ) Open (for everything else except) Champion Veteran (and they are 8) As soon as the judge has gone over your dog/bitch the steward will hand you a card which will tell you your dog has been graded Excellent Very Good Good Sufficient Cannot be Judged The class will then be placed as we do here. BUT only those in each class (except baby puppy) graded Excellent will come to compete for the green star. The Green Star Dog and the Green Star bitch come together for BOB and that one goes to group. There are 10 groups ! Too complicated to list here but you will get that very quickly from your schedule and catalogue. Baby puppies are graded Promising or very promising and very promising go forward to BBPIS immediately judged before BIS. The judge can (and does) sometimes not award anything excellent so no green star. Winning one Green Star puts your dog/bitch immediately into mid Limit/Limit in UK as it is considered you have won a ticket. You need 7 Green Stars to be an Irish Champion and then you have to enter OPEN in UK and may not take part in a limit show in UK. Ferries The quicker you book the cheaper they will be. We go Cairnryan/Belfast with Stena Line. Some go Troon/Larne P & O. Web sites are very good. Again nobody right or wrong. Dogs are NOT allowed out of the vehicle while on the ferry. Mine dont bother a jot. Check in is easy and it is normal to be asked by customs to open the vehicle so they can have a quick look. All very friendly. Have your e ticket with you and it is a dawdle. We travelled on the Friday and drove down to our hotel for the Navan show. If you are not doing that one then you will know where you are staying for the duration. TAKE A SAT NAV !!!! There are no postcodes in the Republic but we found our SATNAV an absolute essential and as we did the touristy things on our days off couldnt have managed very easily without it.

The Beginners Guide to The Irish Circuit Part 3

OTHER TOP TIPS We took water from home for the dogs and if you have any doubts when you run out of that buy large bottled water from Tescos. You dont want tummy issues when you are travelling. Take your passports with you. You dont need them to go to the republic but in an emergency you can fly home. Neither do the dogs have to be pet passported. Pack a good first aid box for humans and dogs. Take PLENTY towels to clean/dry dogs and there are FAB doggy wipes in ASDA/B&M made by Bob Martin. Very wet and large. The shows will send out your passes and your NUMBERS, have a waterproof folder/file and put everything in the order you will need them, clearly marked on each envelope and keep them in the van. No point in travelling the show if you have left them in your room. Same as here when you get to the show, get your catalogue and locate your ring (they are not huge). You will learn that their champs are like our opens, the most Border Collies we had at a show was 12. We have more than that in most of our classes. I would DEF recommend a trolley, there is very often a long way to walk from car park to ringside and after the first few carrying loses its appeal. The website Showdogs .ie will give you dates, secs etc and is invaluable. There are a good lot of trade stands for all the usual. Rosettes are given for Green Star and BOB. You will also get a green star card and you hand in your BOB card to sec to get your rosette and be recognised for the group. The IKC will post a Green Card certificate at some point. You CANNOT leave the show if you are in group without filling in a permission form. If you do you can be fined 120 Euro. Be prepared to pay tolls on the roads. Our van was 3.50. Possibly paid that 10 times in the week. The roads are FAB to and from main towns. Failure to pay tolls = hefty fine.