Taking the dog to Badminton for the first time.....

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rema

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Can anybody give me some hints and tips...My pup is 7 months old now and i have never taken a dog to badders before.We will be caravaning too.Would a harness be better than a lead?.I will of course take a shed full of poop bags.Any advice would be grand thanks.
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A 7 month old is likely to find all the hustle and bustle very exciting so a harness may be a better plan. Keep him on his lead and try not to let him bark at the horses!! Hope you have a fabulous time, I haven't been to Badminton for years, am very jealous!
 
Dont go on XC day, especially if it is sunny and warm, as it will be absolutely packed
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Dont go anywhere near the trade stands as ditto
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And PLEASE make sure (as I am sure you will!) that you take a bowl and plenty of water if it is warm, so many people drag their dogs around all day without a drink or a rest, it is horrible
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But look out for two greyhounds on XC day (a black one and a white one) as it will be me
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Accompanied by sister, niece (aged 5) and nephew (his birthday on XC day, he will be 1
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) - so no chance of us going anywhere near trade stands or XC jumps with that lot in tow
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I would say that a harness will give him something to pull against!

Otto will be going to Badminton for the first time this year, I will take him on his normal slip lead, but also carry a his Halti lead just in case. He is used to big crowds as he has been everywhere (In busy shops, rugby matches, etc
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) and he is very well behaved in them, so I am not too concerned.

As Acolyte says take water! Although if you can get near stands, most of the doggy ones have bowls outside. I will be taking a big bottle and a bowl in the car, plus one of those travel water bottles/bowl thingys for in a rucksack.

There is a Doggy Creche for when you want to go in the Grandstand, my friend put her two in it once.
 
Thank you both.I have got one of those material foldable water bowls that will fit in the rucksack.
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Hubby will be left holding the dog whilst i spend his money in the tradestands hehe.I think me and hubby will have to take it in turns to watch the horses jump on xc day.We will have a amble round xc and have lots of rests (the hubby needs them aswell).
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If he is a puller or could possibly get scared by the crowds, I would not use a harness, as Hen suggests, it would give him more strength to pull, I would go for a good quality collar or half check chain/collar and a good lead that will not hurt your hands or give i rope burn, or a chain lead
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Don't go for a collar with a plastic clasp, as they can easily come apart with a stronger dog or with one one pull back from you
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so get a collar with a buckle fastner or a half check with no clasp, one that jsut goes over the head.
 
Thank you Hen and Cala.Is it better to well throw him in at the deep end so to speak and put him in as many crowd situations as possible before hand so Badders does not completely blow his mind?.We went to our first agility at the weekend and that was manic lol.I will be going to let him look at a few more soon.
 
I first took my boxer at 7 months and he's been every year since for 5 years! We camp for the whole event. It can get blimin cold at night (sure it froze last year!) so we take a thick dog coat for him. I don't use a harness as it means I can't control his wondering nose, would recommend a short lead.

We watch the SJ in front of the big screen, don't think I've ever even been in the grandstand in the 7 years I've been going!
 
Never been to Badminton but go to Burghley every year for all four days. Used to take Sweep on the Thursday or Friday - only took him a couple of times on the saturday but it gets too busy and can be far too hot. Now he is old I don't take him as its too much for him. On the saturdays I would only ever walk him around the cross country - never go near the trade stands (far too busy) and never took him on sunday as usually have tickets for the show jumping and no dogs in the stands. Always took him to visit the pedigree stand for free snacks....
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Thank you Bozzy and Silky.He is a Border Collie so always full of energy.XC day we just bimble around the course and i know what you mean about the tradestands.
Right so the list so far is,
Water bowl,water.
Semi choke collar and short lead,
Poop bags,
Bed for the dog.
We are in our caravan and hubby cannot stand the cold so the heaters will be on,
Also are the corkscrew tether thingy's any good?.If we decide to BBQ in the evenings we thought we could tether the dog on one of these...Yey or nay??.
Sorry for all the questions..
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I would say yay to the corkscrew thingies (although my mind wandered to wine when I first read it
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) - we used to use one years ago when we caravanned and only had two Boxers, they were great
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Just less practical for the 12 or so cavaliers which followed the boxers (that is, 12 at any one time....
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)

It leaves you two hands free and generally the dog is happy as long as it can be near you and see you (without getting to the BBQ food
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)
 
Ooh heaters....bliss!! Think of us in our very cold tent
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We use one of those corkscrew things, they do come in handy as we have no where to tie.

Found a pic of us last year!
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You will have a great time and so will pup. I am in the caravan again this year with my friends and a retriever, 2 cockers and a weimerarner so if see utter chaos being created please come over and say hello and join us for a drop of vino.
 
Hey guys, I'd just like to draw your attention to the dog creche at Badminton (I know it's been mentioned above)

It's run by the Langford Trust, manned by regular helpers and a few friendly vet students
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There's a donation of around £5 (I think) and a time limit of 2 hours (you can bring them back later, but they can't stay in for more than 2hrs at a time).
 
i may take Minnie up one day this year, so if you see a little black staffy x with a ball/stick/toy in her mouth attached to a manic blonde hidden under her shopping, thats us, do say hellooooo
also there is a great harness stall there with fab be kind type dog harnesses for persistent pullers, loads of lovely colours minnie has many!!!!
 
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