I should know better

...And there we were ankle deep in thick clinging mud. A sea of evil ooze extending to the horizon, swallowing up shoes, dropped objects, lost children and small animals, and slowly sucking down parked cars into the depths...

Ofc ourse, another dog show. What else? We all crowded into a tent in the middle of the mud ocean, . packed in like herring in a box, and on all sides the mud flowed in. It had obviously had a recent and significant contribution from cows, and the smell was truly amazing....and very attractive to Papillons. The crowds and the overpowering smell had them exceptionally excited.

And they did well. All were placed, and for Allegra another RCC - her second in a week. Truly`s return was very successful. She had travelled down with Merlin (very delighted to be partnered with a genuine female girl, but his joy was soon tempered, as during the night she bit him whenever he moved and woke her.) . It didn`t stop him being wildly excited by everything at the show (especially if it was black, hairy and needed exterminating.) His racous screechy bark echoed round the tent.

The people did less well. The mud penetrated everywhere and we were all soaked in it. My fluorescent orange wellies were much admired.

Then I discovered that the RCC Winners Stakes were being held - outside. We ventured out on to the wilderness of slime. Allegra had an advantage over the other gundog entrants in being too light to sink in, while they were slowly going down like so many shaggy Titanics. She showed valiantly, rolling her eyes at the other contestants and looking questioningly at me - were we in the right class? Who were these large hairy girls? Why were they slowly sinking? And we won again.

Off home we trailed, the trolley wheels carrying a huge cake of mud each, past bogged down cars waiting to be tractored out at £10 a go, and large dogs dripping and all reduced to the same colour of smelly brown.. It was wqonderful to reach hard ground. We sat in the car exhausted by the struggle through clinging mud. Never again, we gasped.....

We`re going again on Friday.