If you are one of the lucky ones to qualify for Crufts next year, how safe are your dogs on the benching bearing it in mind that members of the public  do get access to alot of breeds.  Unless you attend with someone else who can look after your dog/s and vice versa while you go and shop or to the call of nature, how do you know that anyone cant just walk out with your dog.     I would love to go next year if I qualify but this concern has been praying on my mind

My partner comes with me every year and sits at the benches with my dogs, thats the one and only show he attends per year! lol :)

Yes, when I started doing open shows and hubby said it was boring and he wouldn't come, I laughingly said 'you're going to come if anyone ever qualifies for Crufts' never dreaming that one of them would get a Stud Book Number. I do try to get a friend to go with me if poss, but if not, he does reluctantly come with me to watch the dog. :-)

Although it's a nightmare they come shopping with me!  My mum comes but I know the people I can trust in my breed to leave them if I need to powder my nose LOL.  Though saying that was unable to walk around and go shopping this year, hope I'm fit enough to be able to do it next year though.

I would never EVER leave a dog unattended at a bench at Crufts and you are also told not to. It's too dangerous for so many reasons. You do need either somebody with you, a friend in the breed to watch your dog (provided your surnames are similar so benched close together) if you go to the loo or a fabric cage if you can trust your dog not to break out of it. I wouldn't even leave a dog in a normal cage as you don't know if people will stick their fingers in or feed the dog.

And also, I was appalled this year at some dogs left unattended at benches, we had to walk past on our way to the main ring (no way to avoid those benches) and several dogs just exploded barking and scared my youngest dog.

When we went to the Southern Counties last year we were pretty much the only people within our breed that sat with our dog at the bench all day, in fact me and my sister even had to water some 6month old pup's it was so hot that day and we hadn't seen the owner for ages, so we sat with them as well and kept them amused. I must admit I was a little upset that they weren't watered.

> how do you know that anyone cant just walk out with your dog

That one is easy to answer and i'm suprised no one picked up on it lol

You can't (or aren't meant to) take a dog out of the show with out the Exit Pass that you receive with you Entry Pass.

However like everybody has said, it's not a good idea to leave them unless there is some one there to watch them. Luckily for me there are people who vica verca with me and I will watch while they shop and they watch my dog when i shop :)

happens a fair bit in some breeds so ive seen, dogs left most of the day with no one coming back to tolet them or give them water etc.

My partner watches my dog for me, but when I go shopping I take her with me. I hate seeing dogs left on there own, they look bored and sad. I took my dog round the stalls before and after she went in the ring. She had a great time

Just a reminder that you cannot leave Crufts with dogs until 4pm. It's a very long day for all involved, so, just as everyone else said, take at least one other person with you if you qualify.

I've handled dogs for other people at previous Crufts but this year was my first time taking my boy. If my friend hadn't accompanied me, I would have struggled! There's no way I could leave my Tervy on his bench unattended, velcro-dog that he is. :) Some dogs seem quite happy on their benches, but it's still best to keep an eye on them. You wouldn't leave your children unattended, so why leave your dogs?

Good luck qualifying!

i dont like to leave my dogs either, my partner comes and we take it in turns to watch them.
there seemed to be lots of visitors from overseas this year and my pup got a bit freaked out by the constant flash of cameras. i know the public are paying to come and see the dogs but i wish they would ask before coming over to the bench and sticking a camera in my dogs face. by the afternoon he got used to it and wasnt bothered at all thank goodness.

> That one is easy to answer and i'm suprised no one picked up on it lol
>
> You can't (or aren't meant to) take a dog out of the show with out the Exit Pass that you receive with you Entry Pass.
>

My exit pass from last week is upstairs as despite trying to hand it over four times and assuring the man he should take it and check my dog he told me- "Nah that's for you to keep" My dog was in a trolley with the cover closed- My exit ass was for one dog but there could have been 5 in there as no one looked.

My daughters and I took shifts and there was always someone with her. At other shows though other handlers will often mind the dog if you need the loo or ten mins at shops

Well you do have to show the right number of passes on leaving for the number of dogs you leave with, same to get in. 

Dogs are only allowed in and out of certain entrances, which was a pain for me wanting to go from hall five to hall 2 which would have been quicker to nip across from outside.

So stealing the dog is unlikely, but of course doing something to them on the bench is a possibility, but as no-one will know which dog belongs to who when all the exhibitors are around the benches, the chances of a stranger interfering with your dog are minimal as exhibitors will recognise fellow exhibitors and a no good is likely to stand out.

Most people there are dog lovers and will keep an eye out for your dog if you ask them.

In fact I showed a dog for someone who had to work, the brought him before work, and a  Friend looked after him until I got there to take over and took him home with us where his owner met us to get him back on the Sunday.  Unfortunately he didn't place, but he showed fine and was as happy as Larry all day, so hey ho.

I would love to go next year if I qualify but this concern has been praying on my mind
If you show regularly at Champ shows then you'll get to know the people, particularly those who are usually benched next to you as dogs are always put in alphabetical order of the owners' names.  So chances are that you will know the people who are benched either side of you or certainly very near.
When I have been on my own or have needed to take my daughter somewhere else, then I would ask a neighbour who I'd know to keep an eye on my dogs.  I always used a cage fronts at Crufts (before the days of soft crates!) to protect my dogs from the public trying to touch them.  It is something to be aware of at Crufts with so many members of the public there...........

Someone in our breed went to Crufts this year but did not take her dog. She used her dog and handler pass and told the doorman. He shrugged it off and was not interested in the fact that she was left with a removal order and in theory could have walked out later in the day with anyones dog.