…in a past life :p

Southern Counties was ok, nothing of note! Except the weather which was fantastic. Then on Sunday I took Solei, Fancy and Winston to a local companion show – the organiser has Phalenes and has actually used Solei at stud in the past, so I wanted to support it as well as get Fancy out there.

Actually I haven’t kept you in touch with my dog arrangements have I. Sarah passed with flying colours after all the work I put into her culminated with winning Best Bitch and Reserve Best In Show at the South Wales Pap Club, followed by winning her class and getting a hard look for the RCC at the Pap Club Champ Show and has now left me to go back and live with T. S has shown her a couple of times now and I feel so proud watching her – I put so much into that dog and to think how she was when I first had her and to watch her now is just incredible!

So I’ve now got a little b/w Papillon dog instead, ie Winston! He’s actually Sarah’s half-brother – same dad. Very cute, very sweet but nervous. He’s a lovely little dog and never the less has still been placing and has qualified for Crufts next year but not sure he’s cut out for the ring. He’ll be 9 months old on 16th so still very much a baby.

And in the midst of all this I somehow aquired another one as well. 😆 Her name is Fancy, she’s 16 months old and a red sable Phalene. She’s never been shown because she’s on the larger side but quite rangy which makes her look much bigger than she is. However we were thinking we might like to show her a little bit and we were also hoping a move might bring her into season – hasn’t worked btw! – as she hasn’t even had her first yet. Due to one thing and another conspiring against us even though I’ve had her a few weeks now she’s only been to ringcraft once. I’ve discovered we’ve got a problem with people! She’s fairly happy to be in close proximity as long as she’s ignored, but the moment any attention is paid to her the tail goes down and she backs away – she’ll pull to the end of the lead and dig her heels in. Which is obviously far from ideal when showing as well – she’s fantastic on the floor but on the table as soon as the judge comes up to put their hands on her she cowers and would fall off the table if I wasn’t holding her.

So that’s my set up at the moment! Solei, Winston, Fancy and of course Vale.

Now, as I was saying! Companion show last Sunday. I entered Winston in AV Puppy, Fancy in AV Junior, Solei in AV Non-Sporting and also Fancy & Solei in the Brace and Solei in the special Grand Open class. Winston was ok and got a 4th (showed about the same as he showed on Saturday – actually he got a 4th then too!) out of quite a few so was pleased with that and Fancy didn’t place which was expected because she wouldn’t actually allow the judge to go over her. By the time it was Solei’s class it was raining so he looked a mess…I’d groomed him before I went in but by the time he went up on the table (having already had to stand on the floor) his ears were soaking and looked really awful – all straggly – and his tummy, bib and the feathering on his legs were all wet too. Still got a 3rd, but he was the only dog who looked wet! All the others had repellent coats so though they must have been wet they didn’t actually look it. Got him dry for the Brace/Team but it wasn’t a proper thing – she just went round talking to all the dogs, and the main reason I’d entered them was because they look fantastic moving together. So nothing there. Then Solei went into Grand Open which was a large class. I went in and got a good position, then this young boy came and slotted in behind me with a Golden Retriever. We’d already seen the dog drag him across the ring in a previous class so I knew he didn’t have control over him and he was pulling only an inch or so from Solei…so I thought uh oh, here we go! Solei actually is now pretty good with all other dogs but there are limits, and obviously if you’ve got a large dog up your bum you want to turn around and look! But then when the judge started the class she said she was going to split them, and it turned out she wanted to move all the dogs so split them into large and small. Can’t tell you how happy I was to hear that – partly because Solei was away from the Retriever, and also because he moves like a dream and if she was going to judge on that…and he did win it! So that was a great end to the day.

Since then it’s been hectic….my grandmother was diagnosed with alzheimer’s and vascular dementia about two years ago, and all of a sudden she got much worse. She went into a rehab place where it turned out she had another UTI (she gets them frequently and they always make her so confused) which they treated, as well as rehydrating her because she hadn’t been drinking at home so was very dehydrated. We went to look at a couple of care homes whilst she was there because grandad is really struggling to cope and we thought it may be needed in the not too distant future.

So she came home last Wednesday and things weren’t too bad….until we got a phone call early Saturday (yesterday) morning from an ambulance man to say grandad had chest pains and they were taking him to hospital – needed mum to go round and sit with granny because she’s not safe to be left alone. Grandad had a triple heart bypass about 15 years ago so obviously anything like that is even more of a worry.

So panic stations, we tried to see if they’d take her back into the rehab place she’d only left a couple of days before (timing!) but they didn’t have any beds, so she’s now in one of the care homes we looked at for a couple of weeks, which is only about 5-10 minutes walk from home so very convenient for us. Meanwhile grandad will be in hospital for at least a few days and has either had a mild heart attack or a severe angina attack.

Everyone’s been under such pressure over the last few weeks, I’m so stressed! I’d go mad without my dogs.

S & T are away now until the end of June, so I’m completely out of routine as well. They’ve taken Winston with them and I’ve got two of their other boys here instead so at least I’ve got something to occupy me. I’ll be picking up a friends girl in a couple of weeks as well, because I’m showing her for them but I’ve never even taken her on a lead before so I’m having her for about a week so she can get used to me and chair!

Oh well, at least I get to see them on Tuesday.