Rocky the Otterhound: What a wonderfully Fun Day!

As promised in last weeks blog, this week sees a write up of the fun and games Rocky had at the annual Otterhound Fun Day! Many photographs were taken, but I have kept the numbers shown here down, so it is only a slightly extended blog today. Hope you enjoy it!

A short break in the monsoon weather the day before the event allowed us to give Rocky his pre winter bath. Any mother with a young gangly teenager will recognise the need to ensure that he looks and smells his best when going out in public!

Rocky has matured enough to enjoy the experience of the nice warm water and plenty of "hands on" fussing!

"Oooh, that feels nice"!

Talking of maturity (well getting there anyway), our Rocky has reduced his propensity for mimicry. He is no longer getting the alien pose quite right and is beginning to look more like a dog!

He is however getting great satisfaction from having his ears cleaned!

Although growing up, he still hasn't managed to master the art of scratching himself properly ........... He still tends to wave a back paw in the general direction of the irritation without actually hitting the spot! Keep trying Rocky, you're getting there - slowly!

Post wash and towel dry, he wandered around the kitchen looking for mischief to get up to.

He eventually decides that a "mad fit" will fit the bill and dutifully runs around the bottom floor of the house like a thing possessed!

Post mad fit ............... Our hero looks almost handsome and ready to go to the ball, so to speak!

The day of the Fun Day arrives alongside renewel of the monsoon weather.

The rain is coming down in uninterrupted sheets and all who have braved the weather are wondering how the day will work out!

Well they say that the sun shines on the righteous, so ......... It stopped raining shortly after our arrival, that was a bonus at least!

The rest of the day never really got sunny but it was warm (ish) and the rain didn't return ........... So we were happy enough!

Rocky set about meeting as many new friends as possible - but stopped to greet his sister first!

........... And what a lot of new friends there were to meet!

The field was awash with beautiful Otterhounds - And one or two other breeds who came along to enjoy the day!

There were beautiful show dogs .....................

Dogs ready for the races before they even started ..................

And fellow mud magnets ................ Scrumily georgeous though, aren't they!???

It was a joy to meet other hounds; each was as individual in looks as Rocky and his siblings had been at thier birthday party. But all were beautiful.

I was adoring the hounds with longer coats than Rocky and was reassured by other owners that Rocky would get the same sort of coat by the time he matures!

This lovely fella was reassuring as well, as up to now I was beginning to feel that Rocky was the only one who couldn't keep his beard clean! His sister, of course, is remarkable adept at keeping her beard clean and silky ..................... But our hero is a proper boy, so it's all part of the fun of living with the mud magnet that is Rocky!!

Rocky was so excited by all the hounds around him, however, he continued to do his own thing of sitting (or standing) and just taking it all in.

Although boisterous at times he can also be calm and quiet, almost meditative. This is part of being an amazing Otterhound.

After the meeting and greeting the fun and games began. Two teams for the relay fly ball race.

Note - this is not played like that at crufts - Otterhounds are not particularly fast and, if Rocky is anything to go by, pretty rubish at catching a ball. But it was an Otterhound version and both dog and owner enjoy themselves immensely!

Rocky decides to give a team talk .................

"OK chaps, we can win this .............. we haven't trained ................... we haven't been preparing for this for years .................. so lets get out there and show them how we think it should be done"!

"Go team Go"!!

Then they were off ...................

Rocky had the chance to play catch up as the other team were in the lead ....................

He was gaining on the opposition and loving every minute of it ........................

"Come on dad - you old slowcoach you"!!

Back at the finishing line the team learn they will go forward to the final .................. Yipee .............. more fun ahead!!

There was even a race for the pups that attended ............. Suasage Trail! Use those little baby noses to find and eat the sausages laid in a trail. How cute is that??

Between races there was ample opportunity for rest, conversation and refreshments. Just like any good village fair.

We spent a little while watching hounds compete in the "fastest biscuit bobbing" competition.

At first Rocky wasn't interested .................

So we watched the compeditors .................

"Hi friend, what are you doing ............... How do you play this game"?

"Well you gets your face in the water, pull out a biscuit and then you get to eat it"!

Well, after being told that he could eat what he retrieves ................. Rocky was straight in there -as a late entry!!!!!!

Who knew that all that practice at scuba diving would come in handy?!!

Rocky not only won this competition ............. But as he was the last entry he was told he could finish them up if he wanted!!!

Big mistake! ......................... do you think we could pull him away from the bath before they were all gone??

No way - we had to stay until he had finished the lot ............. We do feed him ...........Honest!!!

Next ............... It was get ready for the egg and spoon race ..................

A very popular race!!

And they were off ....................

All the way to the end of the field and back .................

After winning this race Rocky went to speak to some mates .........................

Unfortunately this gave the camera a chance to see how "daddy" had fixed the race somewhat .......... Note the way the egg is firmly attached to the spoon (some imaginative chewing gum use I think!) Eveyone took it all in good fun though!!!

Another fun race ............ the "dog and bun" race!

Eat a suasage on the way up and a bun on the way back ........... first owner to whistle wins!!

Rocky wins again ................... but only because "daddy" cheated and let Rocky have some bun!!

But everyone was laughing at the end of this one; all good fun!!!

Rocky was lucky enough to meet a family that attended in order to meet Otterhounds. They are thinking of becoming owners and ..................... follow Rocky's blog each week.

Rocky was as taken with them as they are with him, so he spent some of the day with them ................... and loved every minute of it!!

Hope they get thier Otterhound as I think they would be wonderful owners.

Back with the fun day and all Otterhounds were invited to join in for the non-racing competitions ................. the judge was here!!

There was the waggiest tail competition .................... Rocky didn't quite get this one as every time we turned him around to wag his tail for the judge ................. he spotted the bath again and wanted to see if anyone had restocked the biscuits!!!

Oh yes, another gorgeous hound - just wanted to put this one in 'cause I think he's beatifull!! - Sorry ..........

Back to the competitions ...................

Next Rocky entered the fancy dress competition ...............

All around there were hounds preparing to show what they could do ....................

This is the winner!!!

I think he put a bit more into getting into the character than Rocky .............. Don't you?







Oh, I also wanted to show you the pups ..............

This is the rather noble little boy pup.











And these are his two playful sisters ...................... Aren't they all adorable?!!!








Oh and this is another scrummy chap ...............

I just think they are all so appealing, I can't imagine how they could be so endangered!?





OK - Back to the fun of the day ...........

This was the distance set out for the fastest recall competition ................

Would Rocky's training pay off in this race - or would he do the teenage thing and rebel??

Well ............ Rocky came second (he behaved well) .................... well done Rocky!

BUT the competition was hilarious ........... so much fun!!!!

Some dogs went straight to thier owners ..................


Others meandered around like Otterhounds are known to ................. not showing any interest in the proceedings at all!

Loving people and animals as they do, some went up to whoever took thier fancy to say a lovely hello!

Others just went to investigate thier surroundings, even if thier owner ran alongside to help them out as to what to do ..............

It was so funny to watch, having fun does make your sides ache!!!

A well earned rest followed to allow everyone to regain thier composure!

Rocky went off with his new friend to meet other new friends and just chill!

Although Rocky did not compete in every event he was more than happy to rejoin his team for the final of the fly ball races.

His team won - maybe it was the team talk they had??

At the end of the day we lined up to enjoy the agility course.

The dogs loved it and took part with varying levels of committment!

There was the "lets go" dogs ............

The "Ooh, this looks interesting" dogs .................

The "You don't need long legs to do this" dogs .............

And others, like Rocky, who love the tunnels!

See what I mean ........... couldn't even get a picture of Rocky going into the tunnels he was so quick ............... just couldn't wait!!

There were also the "I'm not going in there" dogs!!

But they (and us) had great fun!

At the end Henry (another of Rocky's friends) enjoyed taking Rocky around the course again,

Surprise, surprise ............. he had no trouble with getting Rocky up on the sofa for the finale!!

Still no matter who won or didn't, there were prizes galore and every dog went home with something!

It was the sort of day that leaves you with good memories and tired and happy hounds! Lovely!!

Although sleeping all the way home in the car our hero was still happily tired.

After having his tea he crashed out again (on our sofa this time - note the cushion cuddling)!

Ah well, night night Rocky - sleep well!