We just won the CRUFTS: I feel confused and happy. A disorienting and surreal situation. I still can't decipher and understand the boundaries and scope of what just happened. It is a unique event in the world, no one expected it because this title historically does not come out of England! It is absolutely the first time in history that a bulldog born and raised in Italy achieves this amazing result. So, still bewildered, I enter this small shed, built inside the NEC, where there is a veterinarian, a table and a table for the examination. The atmosphere is unique; it must all be done in secret. I am asked to make the dog move, but we have to go to an area where no one sees us. The doors are strictly closed and no one can enter. Koby takes his walk and the vet applauds and says "yes he is a bulldog". Let's go back to the shed and start the visit. It starts with the eyes, which are perfect, continues with the wrinkles that get the same result and the nostrils that deserve another applause. Check the ears, not only the inside but also the texture. Switch to the feet; he examines one by one the fingers and the interdigital spaces, he dwells a lot on this investigation, which Koby passes brilliantly (he has never had an interdigital cyst in his life!). Then check the knees, performing what in veterinary jargon is called "the movement of the drawer". Left paw ok, check the right paw, where there is the pimple! As soon as he places his hand on his thigh to perform the movement of the drawer, he feels it to the touch and stops to look at the slightly alopecic area. He asks me "what is this?", I reply "a pimple!" and he, with a completely contrite expression, begins to touch it, squeeze it, scratch it, rub it, scrape it. And this is where irrationality took over, impulsiveness dominated the scene and ... I slapped him on the hand. Yes, because with each scratching, scraping, rubbing a little hair fell out (as expected).At that moment I felt full empathy and total understanding for the Pope when he nudged and slapped the Chinese believer.

DON'T DO IT, DON'T DO IT, DON'T DO IT!

I told him "please don't do this, you make me fall more hair" At this point very angry, with an expression halfway between anger and disappointment, he lets us out. A coming and going of people begins, about a quarter of an hour passes and then he calls us back: bumping his head he says that with great regret he will not let Koby participate in the group, because - and he shows me a handout - among the exclusion problems there is also dermatitis. I don't argue, I'm in a foreign country that has its own rules: if I participate in that country, I accept those rules. However, I am deeply convinced that it is a great injustice; Koby was missing a handful of hairs, which fell out during the night, which is barely visible. But so be it. In the opinion formulated for the exclusion it says "a non-optimal condition of the hair on this day". These are the rules of the CRUFTS, English rules.

And now, what do we do? Dunno... let's go back to our station, stop the emotions and try to reason. I meet an English friend who asks me how it went and I explain what happened. In three minutes and the whole world knows it, messages from friends, onlookers, acquaintances and even strangers begin to arrive. Our small and somewhat mean world is too strong. It might seem that the day is over here and instead...

To be continued...

End of part four

March 16, 2020