Ho hum!

So, on Sunday we went to a companion dog show with obedience – hoping for better luck after our failed attempt last time! For the first time I put both Darwin & Jeanie in Puppy together, which backfired as for the first time they were both unplaced 😆 Solei was in Non-Sporting and he was fine on the table this time, though still mucking about on the stand which called for manually holding his tail up at one point! Never the less he looked good and got a 2nd behind the eventual BIS winner 🙂 Vale came along as the show was in aid of the Labrador Rescue Trust and I entered her in Veteran where she was unplaced, though I think looked very good for her age – planning to try and have her out more this summer!

Solei was making his obedience debut, so after he’d done his Non-Sporting class we started our three mile hike round the field to try and settle him down so his heelwork would at least vaguely resemble such! It was at a Rugby Club so the field was in good condition and quite level – perfect (well, given it had to be on grass – hard standing would’ve been perfect perfect!) for his first time.

Eventually I decided I couldn’t walk him anymore and that would probably suffice, so we entered the ring (very nervously!). Deep breath as we started our heelwork (on lead). Solei wasn’t at his most settled to start with (probably my fault, nerves going down the lead!) and the lead wasn’t as loose as I would have liked but after a couple of turns we both settled down and he worked a lovely round, albeit quite a bit further away from the chair than I wanted. His recall was perfect – came on the first command with such enthusiasm he crashed into my legs! – and he did a nice sit. I didn’t realise when I entered him but upon looking at the exercise list there were no stays for the lowest level, shame because it meant the heelwork carried more weight! I didn’t think we’d done anything but hung about for the placings to be awarded anyway, and to my complete surprise we’d done enough for a 4th! The judge said the rest of his round was lovely and he only lost marks for being too wide during heelwork (silly dog is scared of the chair…you’d think he’d be used to it after this long 🙄 ) so not a bad debut, me thinks 🙂

When we first arrived I saw they had a scurry. Didn’t think much of it because a scurry usually involves a retrieve which is beyond Solei at the moment, but as the day progressed I saw it was actually a fastest recall, so I put Solei in for a bit of fun…and he ended up winning! Beating all the big dogs along the way 🙂

So all in all it was a brilliant day and shows Solei’s versaility – from a 2nd in the show ring to a 4th in obedience and rounding off by showing off his speed and becoming “The Fastest Dog in the West 2009” – or at least that’s what his rosette says 😉 Hopefully his obedience placement will be the first of many 🙂 I was a bit concerned initially because he is only capable of the exercises in the lowest level obedience classes and I thought he might have excluded himself from them now by placing, but after looking at a few schedules the majority are either not having WON a companion show obedience class or 1st-3rd in a companion show obedience class, so we just scrape through with that one 😆 I found one where you can’t have placed at all in any obedience class, but hopefully they’re very few and far between.

So this week we’ve been trying to improve our heelwork (and failing!) and working on our retrieve (and making progress, though still nowhere near a proper retrieve)

Talking of which, believe it or not, Solei’s tooth is still there! Now that we’re doing increased retrieve practice that’s going to pull it out before long but I never would have dreamt it would still be there 22 months on. Was a bit annoyed because I wanted to enter him for Three Counties and so nearly did, in the end didn’t because I was sure it would be out and of course he could have done it 🙁 Even more frustrating is I *really* wanted him to do Windsor but because it wasn’t until 3rd July I thought it would be a waste of money. Ok there’s still a week to go but if it comes out between now & then it’s because of all this retrieve practice which I wouldn’t have been doing if I had entered Windsor, so he would’ve been ok for that too! Araagh!

Monday was my 21st birthday…for the first time since I was about 10 I actually had some friends over 🙂 All doggy people, naturally! S&T came, three other Pap friends and a friend who has Goldies 🙂 Sat out in the garden in lovely weather and had a nice BBQ lunch. In the evening I took Solei to obedience as usual, being a glutton for punishment 😆 The latest puppy class has just finished and a lot of them had come up to the next class thus swelling our numbers from the usual 5 or 6 to 14(!). Problem with that is now it means there are two very definite ends of ability (and some in between) – from the dogs who are still starting to master a sit & down to those that are not that far off the next class. Next week our trainer said if we wanted to those who are going to do their Bronze Good Citizen award in July could stay behind when the normal class finishes and do a bit more work which’ll be good 🙂 I’m not taking it with Solei but that’s because I would love him to get the Top Obedience Papillon which is awarded by the Papillon Club every year. It runs from 1st Jan – 31st Dec and you collect points by placing (or even just participating) in obedience shows…but the Good Citizen awards also count. You get 4pts for Puppy, 6pts for Bronze, 10pts for Silver and 12pts for Gold, so if possible I’d like to do at least his Bronze & Silver (and preferably Gold) in one year and if I can get to a few obedience shows (even just companion) with him as well he might stand a chance – I reckon he needs at least 30 points. However, this year is obviously more than halfway through now and although he might well get his Bronze & Silver this year I’d rather have a whole year to try and collect points, and do some more practice towards Gold – he can do Bronze, a couple of exercises need work for Silver, but he’s way off Gold atm. So that’s why I’m not taking it this time and she said as he’s ready he’s more than welcome to stay behind and do the extra session too 🙂

Solei & Fancy’s puppies are now 6 weeks old! They’re growing up so quickly. I honestly don’t know what to make of them at the moment…we have 1 little red sable girl, 1 bigger very dark red sable girl, 1 black & white boy, 1 red sable boy and 1 very, very, very dark (calling him black sable atm) red sable boy…who can remain being called black sable because it differentiates the two sable boys 😆 The little girl is going to be too small so I won’t have her, other than that I really wouldn’t like to say…luckily that’s because they’re all looking quite nice rather than all looking awful 😆 I’ve liked the black & white boy from the moment he was born and he is still my favourite, but I’m far from saying oh yes I’ll have him. The black sable boy did nothing for me until his eyes opened, and I’ve really liked him from that point…then the big girl did nothing for me until I saw them at about 5 weeks and now I rather like her too 😆 No decisions will be made for a long time yet, time will tell.

Ooo I almost had my other breed puppy too! A bitch was confirmed pregnant and had her puppies just 3 1/2 weeks after Fancy’s, which wasn’t ideal but I’ve waited so long and wanted it so much I didn’t know if I was prepared to wait (especially given it could be months and months). However, as it happens she only had 1 of the right sex who is incorrectly marked so that was my decision made for me! I’m disappointed even though I know it was probably a good thing in that now there’s going to be at least 4 months between Fancy’s litter and this pup which is a much better age gap.