Solei has been poorly – again! Before I start please excuse the graphicness and skip to the next paragraph if you don’t wish to read 😉 He came back to me with diarrhoea which we thought was probably just caused by him getting himself a bit worked up at being away. He continued with it for a couple of days (it wasn’t really bad, very soft but still formed) during which time first T came over and then the next day S. It got worse and then he started being sick – really peculiar actually – he’d been in bed with me absolutely fine, mum came in to get me up and he went and sat on the chair looking as if the world was ending…I took him into the kitchen to get some breakfast (for me) and he was sick. He wasn’t off his food so I fed him a couple of hours later and although he wasn’t acting his usual self (which he had been up to then) he was fine until mum came home from school….at which point he was sick again (5-6hrs after having eaten!). Bizarrely everytime he was sick was either just before or just after mum came in the room so I don’t know if that was coincidence or if he’d got himself in a state. I was going to take him to the vet cos I was really worried by that point (poo was liquid as well) but by the time he woke up the next morning he was absolutely fine in himself again and not being sick so he never went! Within a couple of days the diarrhoea was back to soft piles from liquid and now he hasn’t actually been at all for about 2 days (he’s on small meals of chicken & rice so not a lot is going through) so I hope he’s back to normal now, or almost so – wonder how long I give it before I started to worry he’s constipated 😆 He’s been charging everywhere, seems fine in himself and I showed him both days this weekend with no problems.

I doubt it is/was a bug. The progression was too strange and he’s been a bit funny in certain situations. He was absolutely fine when he was away from me for 48hrs and 2 nights for Boston but Manchester was only 2 weeks later and again it was 2 nights and 48hrs so I wonder if two lots of being away from me so close together was too much. The problem is there’s a seminar on Sunday (3rd Feb) and they’re taking Phalenes up to explain about the earset and give people a chance to look at them and go over one. Solei would be by far the best for them to use as the dog to go over – he’s not silly on the table and structurally he’s a lovely dog – but would it be a bad idea to let him go away from me again? I would drop him off on Saturday evening (he was picked up for Manchester when I usually take him over which may have made a difference as well) and then collect him late on Sunday night so he’d only be away for 1 night.

He is a clingy dog and I don’t want him to start being really silly (he already suffers from a degree of separation anxiety and is very hard to leave alone at home) so I wonder if it might be a good idea to let him go as long as he’s better by then, but on the other hand is it too soon? Obviously his welfare comes first but it would also be a fantastic opportunity for him to be seen as a good example and to have lots of people able to get their hands on him. I would really like him to go but not at the detriment of his health – it’s been a very stressful week! Thoughts?

On the other hand we’ve had a fantastic weekend! On Saturday we didn’t arrive until 11am because in their wisdom they’d put the toy group after utility (which was a really stupid thing to do as the toy group is almost always the last to finish even when it’s the first group in!). As it is we didn’t get in for another couple of hours. Then to top it all we had a very slow judge, and she was still judging at 7pm – I kid you not!! The Papillons were done a few hours earlier but Jason won BOB so we were waiting for the group. She looked very hard at Sarah but eventually only gave her a 3rd, Sam winning the class but then being beaten by a puppy in another class for Best Puppy in Breed. Solei got a 3rd as well, but no comment on that 😉 In AV Toy Puppy Sam and Sarah got 1st & 2nd respectively! Luckily it was worth the long wait as Jason got Group 3 🙂

On Sunday we went to a show where all the judges were from Malta. Must say my illusions were shattered! We left just before 6:30am and I think it was about 8:30pm when we arrived home. The irony is we never stay that late at open shows, it was my first weekend with shows for a month, we don’t usually do two in a weekend and they were both late!

There were 4 puppies in Sam and Sarah’s class. Once again the judge was looking really hard at Sarah, he kept coming back to her but eventually gave it to Sam, Sarah getting 2nd. For some reason he was giving almost every class to a dog rather than a bitch. There were no puppies in the older class so whoever won that class automatically got Best Puppy. Then came Open, which was where my illusions were shattered! We had Jason, Tammy (Phalene) and Solei, Morris was also entered (Mac’s brother) plus 2 other dogs. Now Malta is part of the FCI, and in the FCI they recognise Phalenes as a breed in their own right with their own standard and everything so I was expecting to have a fair shot at this with a judge that wouldn’t automatically disregard a Phalene……no chance!! Morris won the class, Pap #1 2nd, Jason 3rd, Pap #2 4th and after much thought he pulled Solei out for 5th (having run out of Paps by this point 😛 ) and chucked Tammy! I wasn’t really upset because I’m used to it by now but I really expected better from an FCI judge.

In the challenge Sam pushed Morris really hard and actually almost ended up with BOB as well as BP! Morris won it by the skin of his teeth but then didn’t perform well in the group and so didn’t place. Sam gets quite worked up at shows (excitement); when he was younger everytime you got him out of the trolley he’d start snorting! He doesn’t do that anymore but he does often get an upset tummy. He was in the ring doing the toy puppy group and he did a poo, getting it all over his trousers in the process! You’re allowed 10 minutes to sort them out if something like that happens so he was promptly whisked out of the ring and we had a quick panic getting him cleaned up! 🙄 But it was all worth it….because he only went and got Puppy Group 1! It was all Sam’s fault we were so late home – as he’d won the group we then had to stay for Best Puppy in Show! He looked lovely going round that ring. He still looked such a baby compared to all the others in there, and by the end you could see he was flagging – it was a big ring for such little legs!

He got RESERVE BEST PUPPY IN SHOW! The judge said it was a very close decision and the Lab which was Best Puppy in Show had already had two previous BPIS wins so we can be very happy indeed with that 🙂 He was fantastic!