The Castlewellan Show 2011

Pip and myself went to the Castlewellan Show on Saturday. It was Pip's first major outing (I don't call the odd trip to town/the beach major). On the way in, she was terrified of the traffic on the busy main road, so I had to carry her a bit of the way. She kept trying to jump onto the wall beside the footpath, but she couldn't quite jump that high. I suppose she would have felt safer if she was up high.

For most of the day, her tail was between her legs. She has always been a very nervous dog - a new cardboard box in the yard could be very scary, or even someone opening a window. But as the day wore on, I noticed Pip's confidence grow and grow...

For the thrid year running, the Castlewellan Show's day was wet. In 2009, the ground was so saturated that people wore wellies. Last year, there were some heavy showers. And this year was no different.

Pip wasn't impressed.

The rain was already pouring down by the time we had payed our entrane fee, and Pip experianced her first horse sighting. She looked at the horse as it trotted around the practise area, but didn't bark - that was a plus!

The horses in their trailers didn't scare her that much either.

There were donkeys there, too.

Pip was really interested in the miniture horses being judged.

This Alpaca (I think) didn't like Pip.

With all of the animals seen, we went along to the dog agaility. Pip was realy confident with herself now, but then she heard the sound of a dog going through a tunnel, and was scared again. While we watched, Pip lay down and watched. Eventually, after a lot of hugs, she became used to the noise and began to enjoy herself.

This Bearded Collie was very good!

And so was Pip. Time to go home.

The traffic on the way back to the Land Rover scared her again, so she lept onto the wall. I took a photo...

...and lifted her down. Only for her to jump up again! So she walked along the wall while I stayed on the footpath, like a child walking along a wall at the beach.

And I'm not even going to get started on how Pip almost destroyed a PDSA stall...