The weekend was…wet 😆

On Saturday as it was particularly local and not raining when we started I took Vale, Solei, Darwin, Sarah and Topsy. Luckily before I entered anyone I took Darwin and Topsy (separately) around the ring and Topsy totally freaked out at a couple of Clumber Spaniels sitting mindly their own business outside the ring, so I entered Solei instead (I had four dogs & three classes so I was definitely showing Darwin & Sarah and then debating whether to show Solei and leave Topsy out or give Solei a break and show Topsy).

Darwin was still rather unsettled and didn’t move that well (he’s worse atm than he’s ever been!) but did a couple of steps well enough for the judge to see movement and got 3rd (the Dachshund that won the class went on to get BIS as well as BPIS). I’m really pleased with how well Darwin’s done at the companion shows so far this year; because you can’t have won a Junior Warrant, CC or RCC it eliminates the “top” older dogs from competition, but the youngsters haven’t usually had a chance to win any of those yet so you get some very, very nice puppies that may well go on to win CCs and become Champions but haven’t yet had the chance. Darwin has been placed in every single puppy class he’s done except one 🙂

Sarah won AV Non-Sporting! Solei nothing in AV Open (poor Sol usually gets the raw end of the deal, he’s the last to show and I’ve often done quite well in preceeding classes so it often stops them placing him too! Or/and they don’t know what a Phalene is) but he showed ever so much better than he has for weeks so I was still pleased! Then Sarah went on to get Reserve Best in Show!!! Not bad for her first ever companion show 😀

In the Novelties Topsy got a 4th in Best Local Resident, Solei was 4th in Most Appealing Eyes and Vale was 2nd in Waggiest Tail 🙂 It started off dry and indeed Darwin got to show in the dry, then the heavens opened for Non-Sporting and continued in to Open so Solei, Sarah and I all got soaked! Mum did a fantastic job drying Sarah off for the challenge and actually the rain had eased off by then so it was worth doing. After that I think we got most of the rest in in the dry!

Sunday I wished I hadn’t bothered and if I could turn the clock back I would happily have not gone! If it wasn’t for the fact I had Sarah I probably wouldn’t have, but as I had her all weekend I wanted to make the most of it. (Just the four Paps/Phalenes, too wet for Vale)

They started late and then judged the Puppy class inside in a barn which Darwin decided he hated and put his tail down. He really wasn’t happy which is so not like him, especially the way he has been showing lately! He got a 3rd.

Then they moved outside because it was a very small barn and wasn’t really big enough for the puppies, let alone a large class of adults. We all got bedraggled, Solei was thrown out which he really didn’t deserve and Sarah was last in her class. I missed a couple of Novelty classes which I wasn’t happy about as I’d only entered to support them and it was their fault not mine, and got chucked out of every other class I went in to bar Solei scraping a 5th. I can honestly say it was the worst companion show I’ve ever been to! Judging was inconsistent (would look in one dogs mouth and not the next, would ask one dog’s age and not the next), weather was lousy and results (from my point of view) were awful. Shame because I really enjoyed the same show last year (and no, I didn’t win anything major!). If the weather had been nice it would probably have been very different, but with all the factors combined I was just cold, wet, tired and miserable 😆

Onwards and upwards….