It’s been longer than I intended since my last post! I kept meaning to sit down and write and never quite got round to it…

The weekend before last we went to a companion show on the Saturday. I had a long list of options but none were particularly near so wasn’t sure what to do, then at the last minute found this one – with obedience! Decided if that wasn’t meant to be then nothing was 🙂 So off we went!

We got there early because the obedience was starting at 10:30am and the pedigree classes weren’t kicking off until 1:30pm, so the plan was to get there for 9:30ish and walk Solei round and settle him, work his round right when it started and then put him to bed so he could have a sleep and be well rested for the afternoon.

My plan actually went to plan too – well, except for the fact Solei was a little sod and wouldn’t show with his tail up regardless! We got there nice and early and had a walk around and practiced a bit of loose lead walking and a few sits, then we went to do it for real just after half ten – I think we were the first to go. I was *so* pleased with him! His heelwork was so much better than the previous week and his recall was perfect. Really the only thing I was disappointed about was when we stopped at the end of the heelwork I had to command him twice to sit, which he’d done better the previous week and had been doing on one command outside the ring – c’est la vie!

He did both stays perfectly, and looked absolutely gorgeous – I’d bathed him at 7 that morning because I hadn’t had chance to do it the day before and I decided he really couldn’t go looking the way he was (it was actually worth my while because a couple of people – including a groomer – commented on how nice he looked 🙂 ) so he looked fantastic and he was on the end of the line (everyone does the stays together at a set time) where the next three dogs happened to be Australian Shepherds, so looking Aussie, Aussie, Aussie…..oh, small fluffy black and white thing 😆 Wish I’d had my camera, it looked very cute.

And……Solei ended up with a 2nd! He was very unlucky in that we were tied and had to do a run off for 1st and 2nd, which was another recall. He was halfway to me when the Aussie that had been doing it’s test in the next ring must have seen him out of the corner of his eye and came CHARGING over! Headed him off and Solei was a bit rabbit in the headlights, though the Aussie only wanted to play but that obviously ruined that attempt! So we had to do it again and although Solei seemed ok I had to call him 3 times before he came because he was looking over towards the other ring, very unsure about coming in case he got charged again! Still, not really a bad thing because it’s a good reason for not winning 😉 and we’re not ready to win out of this class yet (which we would have done if he’d come 1st). Very proud of him!

In the pedigree classes Jeanie was in Puppy & got a 2nd, Darwin won Non-Sporting(!! – 2 wins out of 2!) and Solei was 3rd in Open (with me holding his tail up again 🙄 ). Unfortunately it was a very hot day and Darwin was very hard work in his class and then totally lost it in the challenge – wasn’t happy and wouldn’t put his tail up and show for anything. In the novelty classes I entered Darwin & Jeanie in the Brace and they got a 3rd and then Solei got a 3rd in Dog the Judge Would Like to Take Home!

That Tuesday (30th) a man came to look at Jeanie and he’s taken her 🙁 Very sad to lose her…she was my third longest stayer, miss her a lot – as does Darwin! But she’s gone to a good home – he’s had two dogs from S&T before who are now 11 & 9. Her first night with him she started off sleeping in her box, by 2am she was on his bed 😆 and guess where she sleeps now! I bathed her before she went and she looked gorgeous…it’s a shame she’s so temperamental with that tail!

There were a couple of shows on last weekend but nothing I especially wanted to do, so I decided as the dogs have all been doing quite a lot recently it was about time they had a weekend off, so we did absolutely nothing!

I’ve actually managed to get away with not bathing Darwin since he went to the Bath and West on the 28th May 😆 But he’ll have to be done this weekend as he’s doing an open show on Sunday! Be nice to do an open show for a change, excluding that failed attempt on the 13th June where I went to an open show but had to leave before the Paps, the Bath and West was my last one.

S&T are going to EoE Champ Show this week, the plan was to go up on the 9th, show on the 10th and come home on the 11th whilst the dog sitter looked after most of the dogs here. Unfortunately she could no longer do it, so I offered to help….and somehow I’ve ended up agreeing to 11 dogs 😆 Really looking forward to it, though it’s going to be absolutely mad! Three puppies that’ll be 10 weeks tomorrow, five puppies that’ll be 8 weeks tomorrow (Fancy & Solei’s!), Fancy, a 2yr old dog (coincidently Fancy’s brother, who’s “on holiday” here) and Storm 🙂 I’m so excited about having Fancy’s puppies in particular.

They’re coming later today and will probably go back on Saturday night…oh it’s going to be a fun few days 😆