Locksley here again today. We don’t go to Shows, but Auntie Doris and Uncle Bob do a lot of them. Here we have invited their champion Marmalade to tell what it’s like to go showing.

I’m just going to add what Auntie Doris told me: most shows have classes for certain breeds, where you have to be up to the standards laid down for that breed. I wouldn’t fit a Rex breed standard because of my funny long hair. But I could be shown in a ‘pet’ class, where you are judged on different things: cleanliness, friendliness and tractability. There are different classes in each section, and if you win your basic class, you go on to compete against other class winners to get the section winners. Oh, and U/5 is age under 5 months, and 5/8 is five to eight months, so adult is above that.

Entries for classes at the ‘Bradford’ Premier Small Animal Show 3-4 Feb 24.

Section	Total
Self Adult	61
Self 5/8	49
Self U/5	47
Marked & Ticked Adult	54
Marked & Ticked 5/8	49
Marked & Ticked U/5	47
Longcoated Adult	4
Longcoated 5/8	8
Longcoated U/5	17
Shortcoated Adult	94
Shortcoated 5/8	73
Shortcoated U/5	58
Guide Standard Adult	7
Guide Standard 5/8	3
Guide Standard U/5	2
New Emerging Breeds Adult	5
New Emerging Breeds 5/8	3
New Emerging Breeds U/5	5
Juniors	74
Adult Owned Pets	56
Junior Owned Pets	33
Clipped Pets	4

Over to you Marmalade!

Marmalade’s Premier Show Feb 24

Hi,

I’m Marmalade and I live at Castle Buckmore in Kent with a lot of friends, presently I am living with Anne, Lucy and Hetty.  I like them, although they have chewed my lovely coat.  

In February before I lived with them we went to Doncaster (which is up North somewhere, I don’t know where North is but I know that it is a long way from here as Daddy Bob had to drive and it took a very long time).  They had to stop a couple of time for bean based refreshments – not sure if this is soup or something else.

We arrived at Doncaster early Friday afternoon and went to the show hall which was at the racecourse, it is a very big show (Mummy Doris called it a “multi fancy show”) as there were over 1,000 rabbits and 700 guinea pigs, along with 200 or so rats, some Gerbils and some Mice.  Mummy Doris prepared my pen which was quite a lot bigger than a normal show pen and because it was a 2 day show I had this weird wood stuff, we normally have fleece. It was a bit scary being in a big pen, but I got lots of veg to eat overnight, which was yummy, they went off to a hotel, whatever one of those is.

I had a lovely sleep and Mummy came back the next day to refresh my food.  I was being judged today so she got me out of my pen and checked that I was nice and clean and I also got some more vegetables too.  Well then I didn’t see my parents again until quite a bit later in the day, they spent the day looking at the stands and giving out prize cards, there were a lot of these, so imagine my surprise when some appeared on the front of my pen!  When my Parents came back they seemed very happy with the cards I had. They gave me some more food and left for the night, I set about the big pile of veggies they left and had another lovely sleep.  

Then the next morning more cards had appeared. When my Parents came to feed me and check I was clean (for the 2^nd show) they were very pleased and took a photo of me. Then, I didn’t see them again for a while as Mummy Doris was writing a judging book for Aunty Janet and Daddy Bob was writing cards for the Rare people show. While they were away some pretty things (read rosettes) appeared on my cage. My Parents were very pleased as I had won Best Boar on the Saturday, and then later on I got a pretty thing for the show on the Sunday. Then there was a presentation of all the shiny things (we didn’t get any of those), then we got put back in our travel crates for the drive home. It was a bit longer than the journey up because Daddy Bob needed more bean related refreshment, and we had to make a detour to drop a piggie off to Mummy Doris’s friend.

I really enjoyed my weekend at Doncaster, I hope to go again soon, pictures of me at the top, and my pretty things below.

Thank you, Marmalade, that was brilliant!

Tomorrow, you’ll never guess what animal we have for T – don’t miss it!