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THIS MORNING
Directly following their wins at Crufts 2008, Karen & Kath were contacted by the researchers of the ITV Programme “Good Morning”, a TV show which goes out live every weekday, with Fern Britton & Philip Schofield. The researcher needed them both to be available that Tuesday morning, in London obviously with their dancing partners Fly and Spice. It would mean travelling home from Crufts on Sunday night, and setting off to London the next day to be available Tuesday morning.
The first job for Karen on her return home was to cancel her business clients for the next day and fit them in on another day. To Karen's astonishment all of them already knew of her success as they had all been watching the BBC Crufts Programmes and were more than happy to re-schedule their dogs for Karen to continue celebrating her success.
So Monday morning was a flurry of unpacking, washing, ironing, and re-packing before they left for London that afternoon. The journey South was an absolute breeze with traffic on the light side and moving very well indeed. That was until they got ¼ mile from their hotel! It took 25 minutes to get through a small queue to turn right at the last set of traffic lights! As always in London , if you go anywhere with a dog you are met with amazement, oohs & aahs. The hotel reception was no exception; they even found themselves being photographed by some tourists who were staying there! Once they had accessed their rooms, they found a nice area of grass for the dogs close by, then back to the room, fed Fly and Spice and then enjoyed an evening meal themselves which proved to be their only moment of relaxation since Crufts. Once back in the rooms it was time to work out how to condense their routines from 4 minutes to just 45 seconds, and from a ring size of 35 metres square to one of 5m x 2m for the next days show! Then it was into the lifts once more to float down the 8 floors to the ‘dogs' bathroom'. Not a trip that either of them wanted to make in the middle of the night! One of the rooms overlooked Earls Court and the streets were anything but peaceful with the constant traffic noise which neither of them are used to at home, but eventually they each slept rather fitfully with their little doggy companions dreaming at their sides. At 7:15 , the following morning, with Spice and Fly fed and exercised and a hearty breakfast safely inside Karen and Kath, they made their way to reception to wait for the car which would collect and take them to the studios. Karen and Kath were shown to their own ‘green room' which would be their base camp for the morning and were offered drinks and breakfast style nibbles. There they could get changed; watch TV and the dogs would be able to relax. Relax! There was a constant stream of folk who wanted to come in and talk to the dogs and tell them how much they would love to have a dog at home but for many reasons were unable to. Then it was up to the studio to see how much space they would need and how best to position the carpet. Rehearsals with the dogs would come later. Then off to meet the sound people to make sure that the music was just right for their edited performances. Back to the green room and time to take Spice and Fly out for a comfort break. These studios are positioned right on the banks of the Thames, near the ‘London Eye' so a walk along the embankment and a snuffle around on the grass kept the dogs relaxed and happy. On the way back into the studio there was a crowd of photographers at the entrance. Karen asked who they were here to see and they were waiting for shots of Michelle Ryan the new ‘Bionic Woman' who had a series starting that week. The non-bionic Kath, Karen, Spice and fly posed for some photos before waving a cheery goodbye to the paparazzi!
Back to the green room, a little time spent relaxing, more drinks and snacks and then rehearsals for both teams where they were given a little time to get the dogs into the studio and run through a few moves. This was followed by changing into costume and then a trip to hair and makeup. There were a couple of films taken with Philip and Fern introducing them as a feature for later in the show and then time to wait for their slot.
After their appearance Karen and Kath returned to their room to change and watch the rest of the programme. A hilarious piece about an elderly lady who works part time as a sex aid party planner! She had brought plenty of samples along with her for Fern and Philip to try. Watching Philip try to keep a straight face as his shoulders were rocking with laughter was great fun, he just managed to pull himself together at the end of the interview after he had put the whinnying under-garment shaped like a horse's head under a cushion! Programme over and once the presenters had done their promo for the next day's programme, they were all back on the couch for a quick photo shoot with Philip and Fern.
Everyone at the studios from the presenters to the coffee gofer were brilliant. They all treated the dogs so well and really looked after the quartet as if they were real stars for the day. But all things come to an end and they were soon in the back of another car which was driving them back to the hotel so that they could pick up their own transport for the journey home. Listening to the radio traffic news, the word was – if you want to travel north today… don't bother! Everything was closed, blocked, delayed and impassable! Any chance of a helicopter transfer next time?
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