When Cheddar and Chester received their invitation to attend Crufts 2020, we were all so excited! Crufts is by far the most famous dog show in the world, and is the largest of its kind. It is an international event competed in by thousands of dogs, of all breeds, who are competing over four days for the ‘Best in Show’ prize. The event is held at Birmingham NEC, in several conference halls. It truly is enormous – there are lots of show rings where different breeds compete, and these rings are surrounded by shops and stalls of famous doggy brands and small businesses.
Our boys didn’t have the stress of competing in the ring – and let’s be honest, they would probably just bork at the judges if they did! Cheddar and Chester were invited along by Whimzees – the doggy dental hygiene brand – as ambassadors.
This is what we got up to at Crufts:
Journey
We drove to Crufts in the car, but managed to park in Marston Green train station – the nearest station to the NEC complex. We heard parking at the venue itself can be a little crazy and a long wait to get out afterwards! We caught the train to the NEC which took less than five minutes. The boys are really good on the train and like to look out of the window.
Who’s the short one now?! 
I’m not scared of no train
Whimzees
First of all we met up with the lovely Whimzees rep Marie who we had spoken to online, and headed over to the Whimzees stand. It was right in the middle of the main shopping hall, you couldn’t miss it!
Cheddar was filmed whilst being held by Doctor Danielle, an expert in pet dental care. He was very good, except for a small amount of borking.
Chester on the other hand displayed a large amount of borking, and had to be walked away! Clearly he wanted the limelight…
Insta Friends
We were really lucky to bump into some of our Instagram friends during our time at Crufts. Events like this are amazing as we get to meet some of our online friends in real life, and it’s great to put a human face to a doggy name. Here are some lovely photos.
On the left, we have Cooper from @supercooperofthecotswalds. He was so sweet and even showed us some of his tricks.
Bottom left is Rhubarb from @rhubarbthesausage, who is just adorable. I was obsessed with his collar and lead from @DapperDachshundDesigns. We managed to get Chester and Rhubarb to sit together for a photo!
Bottom right we have @the_sausage_sisters, Iris, Ivy and Violet. It’s always a pleasure to hang out with this awesome family – you will probably end up seeing them in a few of of our blog posts!
Human friends
As you can imagine, the boys received a lot of attention from the public at Crufts! They were stopped and fussed and cuddled so much – some people even recognised them from Instagram, which was lovely.
Cheddar and Chester quite like the attention, especially when people give them treats!
Crufts is a great place for people to find out more about different breeds from genuine owners, so we always love answering people’s questions on dachshunds.
If you ever see us, definitely come say hi!
Shopping
With hundreds of trading stands all selling a huge variety of dog-related products, we HAD to go and look round. We came back with so many bags full of treats, toys and clothes for the boys. They are definitely spoiled rotten!
Here are the boys visiting Plaque Off, Webbox and Natural Instinct (the brand of food the boys eat). We were lucky enough to be gifted some products from Plaque Off and Webbox for the boys to try out.
The Competition
The boys were not competing in the show, however we did get asked multiple times whether they were! We headed to the dachshund show rings to watch the other dachshunds compete, as well as meet the boys’ breeder. She introduced us to the boys’ dad, who is called Robin, and is absolutely beautiful. He is a real champion dog!
We saw every different type of dachshund in every different colour, I wanted to take all of them home with me – very puppy broody over here!
Home Time
When we got home, the boys were so tired! They had a very small dinner (lots of extra treatos = less dinner!) and slept for the rest of the night!
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed our blog post.
Cheddar and Chester 