DARIAN DAY ~ May 8th 2011

Back by popular demand! Darian Day achieved its third outing and once again the weather pulled out the stops for us. It was a bit 'touch and go' though. After a few weeks of brilliant sunshine, the two days preceding 'our' Sunday were wet, windy and miserable, with the most torrential downpour on the Saturday evening. I was dreading what the skies might throw at us, but after an overcast morning with just a hint of rain, the weather cleared and we were playing under a sunny sky. It seems the prospect of Darians barking at him scared Thor away :)

We were lucky to once again have both Flyball and Agility equipment. It takes time and effort to load up, bring, unload, set up, then dismantle, load up again and take home, so a massive thank you to Emma and Amy, who always work so hard on our behalf. I held an impromptu ringcraft class (although the one who really needed it was Cello, who of course had to sit out while I taught) and towards the end of the day gave a grooming demonstration on the very patient Rupert. He went home with two neat ears & one neat hind pastern and foot. Sorry Emma, have you finished him yet?!

One of the benefits of the family atmosphere is the way everyone mucks in to help anyone who needs it - and I was particularly grateful this year to find some of the carrying back & forth at the end of the day had been done for me. That grooming table gets awfully heavy on the uphill slope :) This year we had 2 raffle prizes. I brought a bottle of wine and Jane & John a lovely Easter egg. Everyone dipped into their pockets with great generosity and once again the venue cost was covered - thank you all!

I say this every year, but it bears repeating often - I'm so proud of the dogs I've bred, whether they work, show or spend their days as companions pure and simple. They're loved and fulfilled and that makes my heart sing. The youngest ones this year were a day short of 6 months old, with Abi being the oldest. She turned 13 in February, but from the way she was dancing about the field all day you'd never have guessed it. And yes, flirting with the boys was once again high on her list of things to do!

This year's photos can be found below and in the Gallery (linked further down the page) - and bearing in mind requests from previous years, I've captioned many of them so that you can tell who's who. A few people's heads are missing from the close ups, so my apologies to them, but then I tend to home in on the dogs :)

These 6 photos immediately below were kindly shared by Jane and John - thank you! Click on the thumbnails to see the pics full size.

The Photo Gallery

Top Of Page

Back to Darian Day main page

© Darian Border Collies ~ Sheila Gay. All rights reserved.