Wow…what a weekend!

I had planned to head down to stay with Joy and Becca in Oxfordshire on Friday evening to then travel on to Richmond the following morning. Drew was off work so bathed the 3 entered dogs (Spark, Dottie and Mouse) during the day and got stuff ready but I was just feeling that way out having had a pretty awful week with one thing and another and Friday morning I was dubious about going at all, in these hard financial times I was wondering about the sense in driving such a long way down to a dog show (why I hadn’t thought of this when I entered I don’t know?)…Richmond Champ show is about 360 miles from us down in Surrey! However a couple of friends called in the morning to see how I was (since I was being so miserable) and I was soon cheered up and motivated enough to decide that yes, we were going after all! Lol This really isn’t like me at all!

I got home from work and we packed the van and fed the dogs and left home about 8.30pm and managed to miss most of the Friday night traffic but my god…the roadworks…you wouldn’t believe!! We arrived down at Joys’ for 11pm and cracked open a bottle of wine and took the time to chill and natter…’til 3.30am!! ahem (always the same when we get together!). Fortunately we didn’t need to be at the show early doors since Spark was first in in Limit Dog which I knew would be late morning. It was a glorious day, warm and sunny, we sorted all the dogs before leaving around 9am and arrived at Loseley Hall around 10.30am just time to get all the stuff in and get Spark up on the table for his last minute brush/trim before his class. I wish I hadn’t bothered…he was such an idiot! I can only think having all these bitches in season at home is driving him nuts because he’s usually so easy to handle but he just would not settle! Every time we moved he wanted to gallop round the ring and when I checked him he went into serious sulk mode!! We got binned…I’m not surprised!

There was a quite a gap before Mouse was in Minor Puppy bitch with a 45 min lunch break after the dog challenge and veteran bitch class. This gave me time to get her out and let her have a good look at everything; although she’s been to lots of flyball comps etc there are very different sights/sounds at a large all breeds Champ Show such as this one so I wanted to make sure she wasn’t over faced by everything. At just 6 months old she’s not very big and she’s still a real baby so I wasn’t sure how she’d do but just wanted her to be happy in the ring. I was pleased with how she behaved, she’s such a quiet and placid little pup that she doesn’t find standing still all that difficult (vbg); I knelt alongside her and stacked her so as to avoid her looking even smaller alongside me! She moved well…how a 6 month old puppy at it’s first show would…some nice bits with some giddy bits thrown in…I was MOST displeased however with the bloody boxer exhibitors in the next ring who kept chucking bits of cooked steak, chicken and dried liver around which kept landing in our ring! Mouse wouldn’t take her nose off the floor in that corner of the ring and managed to grab a large piece on our last run round making it almost impossible for me to stack her afterwards (she’s very foody!!). I retrieved a large handful of different tit bits as I left the ring and I’d already seen the boxer judge do the same in an earlier class! Anyway…Mouse made the shortlist and was placed 4th (reserve)…only one place outside of qualifying but I wasn’t bothered. She’d gone well and received lots of nice comments from those watching outside the ring and I was happy with our place.

Mouse at 6 months old

Bryning Believe in Me

We had another good gap before Dottie was in Limit bitch which gave me plenty of time to get her trimmed up and get her coat flattened (she does tend to go rather wavy after a bath…a bit like me! lol); I’ve discovered that the best way to sort this is not to bother with any fancy products but simply spray the coat with water, give it a good rub through with a towel, brush it flat and put a toweling coat over the top for 20 mins or so. I was pleased with how she looked, we went and sat by the ring, I put her in the shade by a chair and was watched the Post Grad class, this finished with a lovely line up of bitches but I must admit, I was starting to wonder whether I’d entered the right bitch and whether Faith might have appealed to this judge more than Dottie. It appeared to me that she wasn’t bothered about flashy or glamorous or lots of bone/coat just good honest soundly constructed dogs that could move well. I know that Dottie would fall into this category I just worried that there may be a little too much of her since she is well boned and coated and probably not quite as feminine and ‘pretty’ as Fi. Anyway, there were 16 entered in Limit Bitch and only 1 absent so a nice entry and some really nice bitches. By this time the sun had really come out and it had got rather warm (my jacket had come off and my treats were all in my jean pockets). As usual Dottie presented herself well, in the line up and being gone over and she moved in her usual free flowing and effortless way; she also never even broke into a pant while a few of the others in the class were starting to flag, testament perhaps to her flyball career….a quick jaunt around a showring wasn’t going to bother her in the slightest! We made the cut and I had a really good feeling about how she’d gone and was really quite hopeful that she would place top 3 and get her stud book number (and lifetime Crufts qualification) which is what I was hoping for…she got a bit fidgety but I managed to settle her and I was pleased as punch when we got pulled out first! Yippee…stud book number and a place in the challenge! There were only 9 in Open bitch so I knew we didn’t have too long ‘til the challenge so I found her some shade and gave her a drink and kept brushing that coat down, we headed back to the ring and the shaded chair and waited for the Open bitch class, this was won by a super little champion bitch, I went into the challenge with a totally open mind, I had no idea what would happen…the Post Grad winner and veteran winner were both very nice bitches that were going to challenge hard for the prizes so I just concentrated on my dog and she didn’t let me down. As I had thought the CC went to the Open winner, Sh CH Altricia Fancy Free of Tudorhurst, a well deserved win since she moved like a dream but I was absolutely over the moon when the judge came straight back to us with the Reserve. My little girl has won her first reserve ticket!!

I can’t tell you how chuffed I am because I really rate this little dog and I’m so pleased that the judge also recognized and rewarded this. I know she’s not particularly flashy or glamorous, she’s not got those flashy markings or that ultra feminine head and semi erect ears that seem to be so fashionable these days but there’s so much more to a dog than its' head and markings! She DOES have a lovely lay of shoulder and reach of neck and beautiful rear angulation and a lovely straight driving action from behind that allows her to cover the ground so effortlessly but so much more than that, she’s a lovely dog…so open and honest and friendly, always keen and happy to oblige, full of fun and just a joy to live with. I await the judges’ critique with interest.

Dottie after winning the Res CC

Locheil Crazy Chic at Bryning

Full Richmond results HERE

I think we grinned the whole way back from Richmond to Joys’ house where we enjoyed a lovely meal and celebratory drink although I have to say, we weren’t so late to bed…everyone was knackered!

Sunday morning we had a bit of a lie in before sorting the dogs out and heading over to Up and Over dog training club at Heyford, Joy was teaching the Good Citizen Silver class which I joined with Mac who was a bit of an over excitable idiot bless him…he did do a lovely recall and some nice stays though. Becca was teaching the agility class so I joined this with Faith who was also a bit of an over excitable idiot! At least she remembered to stop on all her contacts, pity she couldn’t concentrate for longer than a nano second and when she did I was always in the wrong place! Lol

After the classes were over one of the instructors got her flyball equipment out for a few people to have a go on so we did a rather impromptu demonstration getting Mac, Faith, Dottie and Ethan out and running them together as a team, they had fun and so did we. We then did a bit of training with a couple of young dogs from the club who did really well and picked it up very quickly. It was nearly 4pm by the time we got back…we were all starving!

We messed about with the pups for a while…this is Beccas’ pup Chewey (aka Aviary Atlantis). Chewey is sired by Bond (Locheil Time Moves On) so is a half sister to Dottie, Dazzle, Teal etc and her mum is Wren (Bryning Goldfinch); she and Mouse are nearly the same age and very similarly bred but you never met two more different puppies!! Mouse is a very quiet, steady and sensible little dog and Chewey is…well…mental!! She is an awful lot of fun though!

Chewey approaching 6 months old

Aviary Atlantis

We finally left for home around 6pm and got back at 8.30pm…tired but happy, I was so glad we’d made the effort and gone, we had a really good weekend.

We're off over to Darlington Champ show this weekend and then down to Oxford again for flyball at the Mad Mutts show....not sure how we'll top this one though!