I first attended Crufts in the March of 2020, long before I knew for sure that getting a dog would be in my future and I’d had a great day. It had allowed me to research the kinds of companies out there and meet the breeds of dog that I was considering. Now that I had a dog, I decided that it was about time that I went back, so got tickets for myself and one of my best friends before beginning to plan our day. I was glad that we’d already thought about the stands that we wanted to visit and drawn up a list of where to find them because it was much busier than it had been four years ago and navigating your way around the five halls wasn’t easy. The stands didn’t always appear to be arranged in a consecutive way so the show guide came in handy a few times but at a cost of £10, and with times being harder financially for many people, I felt that a few maps might have been handy. We opted to purchase a VIP goody bag with our show guide which came with some additional goodies but I was a bit bewildered at the inclusion of a kitten kibble in our bag. I appreciate that this was probably down to which suppliers took out agreements with The Kennel Club, but at a dog show, I feel that this item had a particularly limited benefit.
There were several stands selling the same kind of products but many of the big names in the pet industry were there. Several had free samples and special show offers which represented a real value for money but the offerings of others did not offer much advantage to purchasing in my local independent pet shop. I would like to give a shout out to the lovely lady of DogrobesUK who had so much enthusiasm for her brand.
The food offerings at the show were broader than I’d have imagined although my friend, who has several dietary needs struggled to find stands that could cater for her. We were glad that we’d brought our lunch because of this but we noticed that there was a lack of seating in which people could stop for a few minutes. I also felt that some water bottle refill points would have been an advantage too.
All this being said, I had a good day and was happy with what we came away with. It’s not an event I will visit every year but it’s something I could see myself doing every few years.