The Blog of the Frog

Right, our weekend!

At UK Toy Winston, Wallace and Tara were unplaced. Sam won a large Junior Dog class (at 12 months and 8 days against dogs of up to 18 months!), Tosca got a 2nd in a very large Minor Puppy Bitch class and Tammy a 3rd in Open Bitch.

At the open show Solei won Graduate and Storm won Open and BOB (with only 2 Papillon classes I was well pleased 😆 ). Tarna got 2nd in AV Toy Puppy despite being completely overwhelmed and not showing well (her first show, bless) and Topsy got 3rd in AV Toy Graduate and then followed it up with Best AV Toy Puppy! Nothing for either in the groups. Storm looked really good and I thought he might have placed but no. Topsy looked very out of place in the puppy group, very raw. Even though there were actually only 5 dogs in there (and 4 places) I knew before the judge started that Topsy would be the one thrown out, but she was by far the most immature!

That’s the first time I’ve ever handled a dog to BOB and only the second time Solei has won a class with more than 2 dogs in it so it was an incredible experience. Then to follow it up with the pups placements as well was fantastic!

The house seems very empty now I’m back down to two, I really enjoyed having 5 about! But not the usual two…

We offered Sarah to K a couple of months ago and she was desperate to see her so on Sunday they all came over to pick up the dogs and see Sarah. K really liked her and thinks she may have her, which surprised me because she’s quite ticked and they don’t tend to like that in America. I’ve had Sarah for almost half her life and because I had to put so much work into her she’s very attached to me now. So she’s gone to S’ house! K is staying with S and we decided that it would be a good idea for her to go and live with K so she could do everything for her and bond with Sarah a bit, but I would still have some contact with her and I’ll still show her, rather than her going on a plane and getting off in a strange country, with strange people and no me at all! (If she does take her, which is umming and ahhing at the moment)

So it’s very quiet here now! They left Storm (coincidently Sarah’s daddy) because they were really pleased with how he was looking (I’ve got more time to put into de-staining him!) and took the three girls, but it’s so quiet with just two mature dogs. Especially after having 5 dogs, three of them puppies! We’ll see how the babies go over the weekend and then Storm will go back home and probably whichever pup/s needs the most work I’ll have here. Or Sarah back. Or both!

If she does go I’m actually fairly ok about it. I knew she was probably never going to stay here for good and there was a chance K would have her, it was just a bit of a shock because I thought she would be too ticked for K and I also wasn’t expecting her to go so suddenly! I think she’s just coming nicely out of that silliness she went back into after her season though so timing is pretty good – even last week she wouldn’t have been ready. It’s only in the last few days I think she seems more like her pre-season self! I’m really gonna miss the little brat though 😆

You should have seen Sarah on Saturday – I didn’t have anyone to leave her with so she had to come even though she wasn’t showing. She couldn’t understand why she was at this show and not showing – she was so indignant!

We’ve got a double weekend again this weekend and Sunday is a club show which means lots of dogs! Eleven, to be exact 😉 Meant to be twelve but Tarna is teething and her ears are all over the place so she’s not going.

Saturday is an open show with Sam, Sarah, Tosca, Mac, Jason and Wallace. Sunday it’s Winston, Sam, Mac, Storm, Jason, Wallace, Igor, Solei Tosca, Topsy and Sarah! Luckily all the dogs going Saturday are going on Sunday as well so that makes it a little bit easier.

Because there are so many we split the bathing over two days, and because we’ll all be at a show on Saturday we’re doing most of them today and tomorrow, so this afternoon T and I are going to get a conveyerbelt going and start them! It’ll be mostly the puppies today because they haven’t really got enough coat so that an extra day or two will make a difference.

It almost feels like summer today 🙂

Monday wasn’t the best day I’ve ever had at a show, though I suppose it didn’t help that I’d had such a good day on Saturday!

We only had two breed classes, so we’d put Sam, Sarah and Tosca in the first and Solei, Jason and Topsy in the second.

The first class was about 9 dogs. Sam won it (that dog can do no wrong! 😆 ), Sarah got 3rd and Tosca got chucked. The second had 6 dogs and Jason won the class and Morris got 2nd. Solei was pulled out 5th, but at open shows they only away down to 4th so technically he got nothing! This judge was American and whenever you get foreign judges they always seem to pull out 5. Topsy was chucked.

Jason got BOB and Group 3, and Sam RBOB.

Tosca, Topsy and Solei were the only Phalenes there and as Tosca was unplaced in the first class and the only two dogs he threw out in the second were the two Phalenes, I think it’s safe to say he didn’t like them!

We stayed on for the Puppy Stakes (under a different judge) which was worthwile as Tosca won it 🙂

I was a bit galled because Solei is showing again on Saturday, but he won’t be bathed again. He always looks nice but never as nice as he does the day after he’s had a bath. I don’t think the judge on Saturday minds Phalenes, so he was looking fantastic for a judge that wasn’t even going to consider him and now he won’t look quite as good for a judge he might have a chance under! Waste of a bath 😆 He’ll still look good, I wouldn’t dream of showing him otherwise, but he’s the sort of dog you think looks great and doesn’t need a bath….until you bath him! I’ll top and tail him (ears, tummy, feet, maybe trousers & tail), just not bath him properly.

Yesterday I went over and we bathed for Saturday, because Wallace (b/w Papillon, Jason/Mac/Morris’s father) has been in America for almost a year now and he’s coming back today (Friday), so S & T had to leave for London at about 3am this morning, pick up the humans from one airport, go to another to pick up Wallace(!), who may not clear check in until around lunchtime, and then come back home (London about 3hrs away). After that K (one of the people) will want to bath Wallace (he’s showing Saturday) so there was no way we could fit our lot in as well!

This weekend is the weekend we’re splitting up – it’s UK Toy but it’s about 3hrs drive each way and I don’t think the judge will do a lot for Sol so I opted not to go. Instead there’s an open show less than an hour away which I’ll be going to. There are 6 dogs going to UK Toy and four coming with me, so with a hectic week as it is of preparing for guests the less that need bathing the better, thus leaving Solei!

So tomorrow S, T, American guests and Winston, Sam, Wallace, Tosca, Tara and Tammy will be headed for UK Toy in Stafford. Meanwhile I’ll be headed for this open show with Storm, Solei, Topsy, Tarna and Sarah (who’s just coming along for the ride – she was meant to be going to UK Toy but she’s refusing to show for anyone but me atm so she’s not going!).

Because today is so hectic for them I picked up my dogs yesterday, so I’m currently living in the chaos of 5 dogs from Thursday-Sunday! I’ve got two 3yr old entire males (who are marking everywhere!) a 12mth old that still thinks she’s about 6mths and two 6 month old puppies…yes, I’ve got my hands full thanks! Sarah tried to kill Topsy when I first brought them home and Solei is convinced Topsy is his one true love and keeps trying to mount her (which is going down really well!). On the plus side it’s nice to see the puppies playing, the three of them are having great fun chasing each other all over the place! Solei and Topsy play quite nicely together as well actually, when he’s not trying to mount her! Storm is as good as gold, no trouble at all (except for the marking).

I’m currently attempting to keep them clean until after they’ve shown on Saturday, and Storm is absolutely horrendous to keep clean. You look at him and he goes pink! And his pre-show prep is even worse than trying to keep him clean 😆 Not helped by the wet weather we’ve got at the moment, I’m constantly drying off dogs and sorting Storm’s feet and underneath out!

We’ve only got two breed classes but we have Any Variety classes for each group and if your breed doesn’t have a puppy class you can enter a puppy in AV without having to put them in a breed class (I checked with the kennel club that it applied to any AV class not just puppy as well), so Solei is in Graduate Papillon, Storm in Open Papillon and then Tarna in AV Toy Puppy, Topsy in AV Toy Graduate and I’ve also got Tarna in the AV Minor Puppy Stakes (all breeds/groups) and Topsy in the AV Puppy Stakes. I’ve only got one pair of hands so I could only have one in each class, and Tarna is teeny one of the litter and Topsy big one so it works best that way 😆

To say nothing of the fact I’ve got to prepare 4 dogs to show and show them all by myself, Storm will also need a 5 mile (slight exaggeration…) walk before he goes in the ring cos otherwise he’s way too hyper – he’s like a coiled spring, awful to show (I’ve had the pleasure!) and ruins his topline and movement – and Topsy will need a walk as well to settle her.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way 😀

It was Sarah and Sam’s 1st birthday on Friday! We celebrated with extra treats and then they both got a lovely birthday bath – it was the best birthday present they’d ever had 😆 – for the show yesterday. They grow up so fast, I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since S emailed me to say Sally had given birth.

First show since Crufts yesterday! I hadn’t entered Solei because none of us knew the judges name, and as a general rule if none of us know who they are they’re not going to know a Phalene 😆 So I didn’t bother as he’s showing on Monday. We had Winston, Tosca and Topsy doing their first show, as well as Sam, Sarah, Mac and Jason.
Sam, Sarah and Winston were in Yearling which was a large class of 10. Sarah hasn’t shown for a month so she was really happy to be showing again! She wasn’t going as well as she can – she was silly on the table and I had to move part of her triangle on a mat which is one of the mats she really loves and I couldn’t get her head up off it! The judge was wearing a very dark purple top and a long dark skirt as well so an awful lot of the dogs really didn’t like her. I had Sarah standing beautifully but as soon as the judge came and made a noise to get her attention the tail dropped faster than the stockmarket of late! For the same reason I couldn’t get her standing with her tail up at the end of the triangle either. She was absolutely fine with tail right up the rest of the time, it was just when the judge was near.

Anyway, she still got a 4th and Sam won the class! Winston didn’t place but at only 6 months old and at his first show against dogs up to 24mths…not really surprising!

Next was Graduate which had Mac and Tosca entered. They know how much Mac loves me so I got to show him 🙂 He’s a lovely dog to show actually, and so easy after Solei and Sarah. This was a smaller class of 5 or 6 and Tosca got a 4th, and Mac won it! He wasn’t keen on the judge either, but went for the backing away approach rather than putting his tail down.

Jason got a 3rd in Open, then Sam and Mac went back in for Best of Breed. We thought it would go to the Open winner so it was a great surprise when Sam got it! Then later he went on to get Group 2! Not bad for 1 day out of puppy 😆 The judge said she wanted to give him Group 1 but he was flagging at the end (he wasn’t, he was just a bit distracted, but still…)

Tosca also did the AV Minor Puppy class and I think got a 4th again, and Topsy did AV Puppy but didn’t place.

Had a fantastic day, it was so nice to be back at a show again. No rest for the wicked though – Solei has to be bathed today and Sarah needs her trousers dunked, then we’re back at a show again tomorrow!

I’ve missed all this so much, really happy to be back 🙂  It’ll be a mad week this week, Wallace is coming back from America with Karen on the 28th, then we’re splitting up on the 29th and they’re going up to UK Toy with Winston, Sam, Wallace, Tosca, Tara and Tammy (Sarah is entered but at the moment isn’t going)  and I’m going to an open show with Solei, Storm, Topsy and hopefully Tarna as well.

After that follows a hectic week and then we’ve entered an open show on the 6th, which at the moment S & T aren’t planning to go to now. If they don’t I’ll still go down with 2 or 3 of the dogs. The next day is then the South Wales Papillon Club open show, which I’m really looking forward to – I love the club shows even though they’re usually utter madness cos we take so many dogs! I’d need to check my schedule to be sure but I think we’ve entered about 12 dogs!

The weekend after that is the Papillon Club championship show, then a weekend off and then it’s the first championship show since Crufts, WELKS. I’m really looking forward to that as well because other than Crufts (which doesn’t really count because it’s unlike any other) my last general champ show was 7th September so it’ll have been almost 8 months(!) since I’ve last been to one.

I’m getting itchy feet again – not that it needs to be Spring for that to happen! But my clutter is really bothering me again and I’m desperate to spring clean. When I moved last July I got a new wardrobe, but other than that I just moved in all my old furniture and plans for the other new bits never materialised! The wardrobe is actually more or less all I need (it’s a cupboard as well) but I’m in desperate need of drawers! I currently have piles of stuff all over the kitchen worktops and my grooming table, and 2/4 of my kitchen drawers are holding paperwork which should be filed in the drawer unit I don’t have 😆

So this is mission one. The other thing I’m desperate to do is get a couple of framed things (can’t say photos cos only one is a photo) up on the walls but I can’t decide where I want them. I’m going to surround them with rosettes so the positioning is important, and I can’t decide if I want to put a shelf up for trophies or just use the top of my bookcase (which is currently covered in ornaments) which makes a big difference to where on the wall I hang things. I’ve said this so many times but this time I’m determined it is going to happen! Though I don’t know how I’m meant to decide about my wall….any thoughts?

This feeling extends to my computer and websites as well, so I’m currently deleting, backing up and generally sorting out!

Completely coincidently Draca and myself seem to have been thinking along the same lines re assistance dogs! This is something I’ve been pondering again for the last couple of months. It’s a tricky problem and so I’ve been exploring a few different routes. Thank goodness for email! I’ve sent so many to various people, I don’t know what I’d do without it – especially as I find the phone so difficult. I don’t want to say too much because it’s very liable to go very wrong (as these things always seem to), so suffice to say this will probably be all I’ll say about it until the end of April at the earliest.

It’s our first show since Crufts this Saturday, and the babies are all grown up! The Papillons were 6 months on Sunday and the Phalenes 6 months yesterday, so this will be their first show 🙂 Could be interesting!

Well, what a day.

We left home not long after 3am, and we arrived at the NEC about 5:45am.

Sam won Special Puppy Dog (and then Best Puppy Dog by default), Tara got a 4th in Mid Limit Bitch and Tammy a 4th in Limit Bitch. Mike & Pauline got a 2nd in Limit Dog with Morris.

Our three older boys were all chucked! Solei went like a dream, stood beautifully whilst the judge went over him and looked fantastic….but evidently not to this judge’s taste, which was expected.

After he’d decided on his Best Puppy Bitch Sam went back in against her…..and he got BEST PUPPY IN BREED! We’re absolutely over the moon, not sure if it’s totally sunk in yet. Sam’s mother, Sally, got the Bitch Challenge Certificate at Crufts in 2005 so it was even more fantastic for Sam to get Best Puppy there!

Sarah is very happy for her brother, but she insists that he only won because she wasn’t there and obviously she would’ve got Best Puppy in Breed otherwise 😆 Actually you should’ve seen her face when she realised I was leaving her behind on Thursday, she was not amused at all!

I had a few things I needed to buy and although I did get round some of the stands I completely forgot what I needed! So I’m still out of a couple of crucial things. Next year I take a list 😆 I really enjoyed the experience though, I’m glad we were on a Thursday so next year I’ll know what I want to do but it’ll still be a weekday. When we’re at the weekend I don’t intend to move from the Pap ring!

Things must have been chaotic, apparently I never posted after my highly exciting experience! Tut tut, won’t do…

On the 17th we had an open show, under a breed specialist judge. I can’t remember if I mentioned it or not but I’d been looking forward to it because I knew she liked Phalenes and knew what she was doing! I also knew she really liked Morris and he would almost certainly get BOB.

Sarah was a little sodling 😀 She was perfect, just the way I like her! Silly about showing her teeth but other than that she was fine. On form actually….at the end when we were all standing the dogs and the judge was looking down the lineup she was leaping 6 feet in the air, landing and standing beautifully, barking at me, repeat! It was very funny. Sam won the class, she got a 3rd.

Solei fidgeted a bit on the table (need to do a bit of table work with him before Crufts…he’s started moving when the judge goes over him again) but nothing major and moved beautifully as Solei does 🙂 And he won his class! That’s the first “proper” class he’s ever won at a general open show. The only others he’s ever won there have been 2 dogs in the class (including him) and the other has shown really awfully with their tail down.

Then he had to go back in for the challenge, and he got Reserve Best of Breed!! Sometimes they have rosettes for RBOB, unfortunately not at this show. But they also don’t always award RBOB so we’ll take it 😆

Sarah then went back in and got 2nd in a large AV Toy Puppy class 🙂 So it was a fantastic day.

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Then yesterday we went to another open show, but nothing remarkable. Sarah wasn’t quite as good (it was only a class of 3 and she wasn’t really in the ring long enough, she just found her feet properly after she’d been placed!) but not atrotious and did enough to get a 2nd, behind her brother of course! We’ve done the 1/2 with those two so many times over the last few months. They only have 1 show left in puppy now (well Sam has Crufts as well, but that’s not a puppy class in the conventional sense), I’ll be sad when it’s over. Been a fun few months! Still, we’ve got the Phalenes and Winston to come out now; they’ll be 6 months old on the 18th and 16th of March.

And I’m feeling a lot less stressed about the dogs now, we don’t seem to have upset tummies anymore 🙂 Thank god for that!