The world's premier dog show, Crufts 1999, which took place at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, on the 11th to 14th of March, welcomed an international audience to the largest celebration of dogs on earth.

Innocence Abroad: Our First Crufts
By H. Cavanaugh

Cell Phones

Britain, according to the BBC, is "the most intense telecommunications market in the world," a fact that was perfectly obvious from the number of spectators and exhibitors answering various musical warbles and songs and speaking into hand-held phones. Mobile phones have become as vital to showing dogs as a good brush or a decent pair of scissors, and spectators apparently can't leave home without them. Someone I sat next to during BIS judging got a call at the crucial moment. Perfect timing!

More from "Innocence Abroad" ...

Judging
The Exhibitors
Spays and Neuters
Facilities and Amenities
Discover Dogs
Additional Events
Spectators
Cell Phones
Gleaming Brass Horns
Photographers
Final Thoughts
History of Crufts