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THE TRICKY TYKES AND THE KENNEL CLUB (continuation).
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The crowd spontaneously erupted into roars
of laughter, continuing for so long that even the staunchest
of die-hards amongst the council members was unable to
resist at least a little twitching of the lips.! Ironically,
Lassie was the only Tyke performing that day who has ever
actually qualified through the Show Rings to be judged at
Crufts!
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She should have known better.
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The rest, as they say, is history.
The ‘Tykes’ were invited to Discover Dogs in Earls
Court that November, back again for Crufts ‘99, and
then Discover Dogs again, and back for their third
Crufts appearance to Crufts 2000, then 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. |
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TELEVISION. |
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Since their first Crufts appearance
these little Terrors (Sorry - ‘Terriers’ - same thing
anyway), have given many National and Regional T,V.
appearances, including a live satellite broadcast to
America from Crufts. They were asked to submit some ideas
for Jim Davidson’s Generation Game, with a potential
audience of 7 million, and Blue Peter wanted to cover them
again from Crufts. An appearance at the Royal Welsh was
extensively featured by HTV and the Welsh language S4C,
and they have done a short feature for HTV West. They were
also shown on the BBC’s ‘docu-soap’ on Battersea
Dogs Home. So far in
the year 2004 they have made 6 TV appearances and numerous
radio broadcasts.
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THE
UNUSUAL MIX OF BREEDS. |
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The Tykes themselves
represent many of the Terrier Breeds as well
as one or two others, including the ever
popular ‘Pooh-Shitz’. (No- nothing to do
with ‘Lassie’- actually Poodles crossed
with Shitzu’s). Also occasionally featured
are some of the non-terrier small breeds
including a Corgi and a Chinese Crested Powder
Puff, and on a rather larger scale where there
is enough space, a Deerhound called ‘Ollie’,
whose main claim to fame |
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is his unfailing
ability to totally demolish the course in a
matter of seconds in the mistaken belief that
he is small enough to negotiate it just as the
Terriers do.! The audience love the controlled
chaos, and laughter can often be heard long
after the ‘incident’ is over. One person
told us recently that her mother claimed to be
in agony the next day, because her ‘sides
were aching so much from the laughter’! |
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Generally most
popular with the crowds are the Scottish Terriers,
and traditionally now the Team leave sufficient
time at the end of their performances for the
crowd to vote for the ‘pack’ which they would
most like to see race again. Invariably
it is the Scotties. They run in two packs - ‘the
Tartan Terrors’ (stripped in traditional
fashion) and ‘The Hovercrafts’ (coats as
nature intended). The other ‘packs’ include
the traditional Jack Russels, whose main aim is to
‘get’ their quarry no matter what. The ‘no
matter what’ includes diving over obstacles,
under them, around them, bashing through them,
jumping over each other, under each other,
skidding along the ground triumphantly with lure
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mouth, and causing absolute chaos as they go. |
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Tricky Tykes
Terrier Racing
