The Blog of the Frog

I’m vaguely losing the will to live atm 😆

The weekend before last was super.  Solei, Darwin, Jason and I went to an open show – Solei along for the ride, the other two to show. Darwin was 2nd in his class, Jason 3rd in his. M & P were there with Morris and he was BOB and Group 4. Lovely to see them again 🙂 Darwin was thrown out of the (enormous) Yearling Stakes….and Jason won the Open Stakes!! I could’ve been given my first CC I was so happy 😆 He went like an absolute dream, top form – better than in his breed class – he really did feel so good.

I passed on obedience the next day cos I was too tired to really be bothered 😆 and I wanted to go to ringcraft the day after (mainly because I’d promised someone I’d be there!) so needed to make sure I had the energy for that.

My puppies have gone 🙁 Elton & Lacey are back at Ts as of 7th October…they thought they should have a change of enviroment, I don’t know if I’ll get them back or not. Though I will be showing Elton at LKA in December!

That week Solei covered a bitch…so waiting to see if anything happens there – only got slips.

Last weekend we went to a breed club champ show. I’d entered Solei because T told me to 😆 and to my shock he won Best Phalene Dog! Though he looked amazing and showed very well, so it was deserved 🙂 Darwin was 3rd in Junior Dog, thereby qualifying for Crufts 2010, though he won’t be going. He’s going to be rehomed when someone suitable comes up 🙁

Nothing this weekend so I’m just attempting to build some energy back up and maybe tidy up a bit. I’ll be going to obedience with Solei on Monday as I haven’t been for the last two weeks! And we’ll see if we can get that last damn retrieve and get him out of this class and into the next.

Next weekend Solei, Jason, Darwin and I will be going to another open show with Solei just observing, I’m hoping to see a friend and her Toller there and hopefully we’ll have some good results too!

You can tell summer is over, there’s suddenly a lot less happening 😆

Oops, it’s been a while since my last post – evidently that’s what happens when you have 12 dogs in one house! I hardly had time to breathe, never mind post….was constantly doing something with one or the other of them!

So yes, let’s go back three weeks. This is going to be a very potted account because I can’t actually remember most of it 😀 All the dogs arrived on the 7th and we started to settle into a routine. On the 12th I took Darwin & Solei to a companion show and after much debate with myself over who else I wanted to take I eventually settled on Pippin & Brodie, the other two boys from the litter. It was an incredible day, by the time we arrived it was actually almost too hot! Darwin went into Junior and Solei into AV Toy, Utility or Pastoral. Darwin went well on the whole, didn’t move brilliantly but he never does – especially on grass – still needs to “grow up” a bit and settle down! He stood beautifully and still won the class 😀 Solei decided he wasn’t going to play ball at all, he’s such a pest…I think he’d decided it was too hot. Though even he pulled it together slightly better at the end and to my amazement was 3rd! (Imagine what he’d have done if he’d shown well 😆 ) I only did the two classes, so that was that – judge didn’t even look at Darwin for BIS.

The next weekend we went down to Devon and after another debate over who to take, this time I was most ambitious – took Solei, Storm, Darwin and Vale to show and Elton, Lacey and Pippin to watch (on the basis the schedule wasn’t clear whether “baby” (4-6mths) puppies would be allowed to enter and I wanted Elton there incase they were, I wanted to see more of Pippin’s temperament and Lacey had gone all stupid and needed the exposure!) – 7 dogs!

Pedigree classes I entered Storm in AV Working or Pastoral (there was no Toy and that’s where the steward told me to put him 😆 ), Vale in AV Non-Sporting and Darwin in AV Open and Novelties Solei (who’d come for the obedience) into Best Mover and Vale into Veteran and Waggiest Tail.

Storm evidently wasn’t the judges type at all (or maybe he just preferred his working/pastoral as Storm was the only toy!) and he was 5th in a class of 5. Vale was 3rd 🙂 and Darwin won Open! It was a very well done show, they had a main ring with displays going on and after all the pedigree classes were judged the winners all went over to the main ring for the Best in Show judging and were each announced as they went in – it was like Crufts! 😆 aannd….Darwin was Reserve Best in Show 😀 He won a lovely rosette and a little cup which is to keep forever!

Vale was thrown out in Veteran (though she shouldn’t have been, she looks fantastic for 10) and 3rd in Waggiest Tail. Solei was 5th in Best Mover! The class rosettes were enormous, I’ve never seen anything like them – to the point Darwin’s 1st was actually slightly bigger than his RBIS 😆

The real highlight and icing on the cake was doing the obedience with Solei. I entered him in Starters & Triers (we’re getting ambitious now 😉 ) and he was 2nd in both!

They also had a have a go agility course which I did with Solei, and he would not go over the a-frame…which surprised me because although he’s only seen it once before on that occasion he went over it 4 or 5 times perfectly happily. However once we got past that although he was very slow he did the whole of the rest of the course off lead and went over/through everything no problem! We had a fantastic day.

Then last Friday Solei had his second agility lesson in ages (a couple of weeks ago was his first in 8 weeks and not with our normal trainer) and he hasn’t forgotten everything 😀 He’s sequencing a few obstacles now!

Sunday we went to Okehampton, S came with us, along Darwin, Tyler, Sarah and Storm – and Solei to spectate! So it was a carful. I handled Darwin and Storm. Tyler won the first class and Darwin was 2nd (yes, more than 2 there :lol:) and Sarah won Open with Storm (daddy!) 3rd. Sarah was then BOB! (and I got to take her in for the BOB challenge cos Sue had Tyler). Given my history with Sarah imagine how proud I was when I then later watched her WIN the Toy Group!! 😀 She didn’t do anything in BIS but it didn’t involve any extra waiting cos the toy group had taken so long everyone else was done so it was straight from group to BIS for her.

That’s my girl! <3

Puppies went to ringcraft for the first time last Tuesday! Elton handled it like a pro, he wasn’t as settled on the move but he was so happy 🙂 Lacey was actually much better than I thought she’d be and was pretty good on the table and gorgeous on the move the first time, though not so good the second (probably tired). The other two boys were pretty bad 😆 and Polly stayed at home. I’m having them all to stay tomorrow 🙂 Along with Storm, Wallace and Igor. Should be an interesting fortnight!

Decided to be a bit different this weekend! Not a companion show in sight.

On Saturday we went to a small fun show…only novelty classes. I wanted to get the puppies out, now they’re able to go on the ground! Interesting class selection, they had an AV Non-Sporting and AV Sporting even though it was novelty, so I put Darwin in N-S and he was 2nd. As it was Novelty and not being judged to standard I put Vale in Sporting and she won it!! From there on followed a fantastic day. Solei was 4th in Best Trick and 3rd in Musical Sits (to my great satisfaction, as he beat a lot of the more traditionally obedient breeds 😆 ). Vale added to her tally with a 2nd in the Irish Brace (with Elton..), a 4th in Fastest Sausage Eater (let the Lab side down, but it was pieces of sausage on a tray and she was unlucky in that hers were very scattered which made all the difference – there was only a second or two between 1st & 4th) and a 1st in Waggiest Tail! She then got Reserve Best in Show!! Solei also tried the fun agility course and came 4th in that (we won some more minijacks… 😆 )

On Sunday we were to another fun show, but in previous years it’s always been a proper companion show with obedience and although this year they’d dropped the pedigree classes and gone for just a fun show, they’d kept the obedience classes exactly as you’d expect at a “proper” show. They had Starters (Heel on Lead, Recall, 30 sec Sit Stay, 1 min Down Stay), Triers (Heel on Lead, Heel off Lead, Recall, 1 min Sit Stay, 2 min Down Stay) and Improvers (same as Triers but with a Retrieve too).

I took the usual 5 of Darwin, Solei, Vale, Lacey and Elton but I decided Darwin should have a break cos he’s been doing a lot lately (although he enjoys it 😆 ) so it was just Solei, Elton and Vale showing. They were the most *enormous* classes I’ve ever seen in my life….Prettiest Bitch took more than half an hour to judge. I entered Elton in Most Handsome Dog, Vale in Veteran and Waggiest Tail, and Solei in Starters Obedience….then decided what the hell and went back and put him in Triers as well 😆

And this was where the fun started! The novelty classes were taking so long to judge I decided I’d work Solei’s Starters round before I took Elton in (2nd class). So I walked him around a bit to settle him, decided this was as good as it would get and entered the ring…sat him beside me and waited for the command to move, started moving and the chair crawled forward at the pace of a snail. I was trying to work out what an earth was happening (it was fine before I went in the ring) and eventually realised it was conserving power because mum had obviously forgotten to charge it (it can only be done at night now because of Darwin & his wire fettish) and my battery was dangerously low! So I thought Solei’s heelwork was horrendous (though to be honest I wasn’t really concentrating on him, more worried about the chair!) because he couldn’t work out why on earth I was going so slowly. Though his recall was lovely and both stays were perfect! He ended up coming 3rd 😀 Which was wonderful cos we were competing against lots of the more “traditional” obedience breeds and there were around 15 dogs entered 🙂

Crawled over to the novelty ring to take Elton in, he was unplaced and the judge said to me afterwards he needs to grow into his looks 😆 I said I couldn’t agree more, he’s ugly as anything atm but I wanted to give him some ring experience! I’d arranged with mum to bring Vale over to me so I didn’t need to move (Veteran was the next class) so we swapped dogs, and luckily I knew the ring steward so she moved Vale for me…though it was a shame because she doesn’t move as well as she does for me, she doesn’t even move as well for mum. She was thrown out too!

I was in two minds as to whether to take Solei in for Triers or not…eventually decided I’d give it a go, cross my fingers and hope! Luck was actually on my side for once as they had so many entries in the obedience it was taking so long they’d decided to abandon the Heel on Lead and just do the Heel Free, Recall and Stays. So that was one less bit of walking for me to do! I’ve never done Heel Free in competition with Solei before, when we’re in a building he’s brilliant but on grass he usually wanders off because he doesn’t like the chair bumping, so on a hard surface he works much closer to me whereas on grass he works a good few feet away so it’s very difficult to keep the contact and concentration. I was sure he’d bugger off, cos he had when we’d done pratice outside the ring! To my delight he was brilliant. He started to lose concentration a couple of times but he stayed more or less with me the whole time 😀 I was absolutely over the moon with the round he worked! The only dodgy/funny bit was the ring was on a slope and as we were going up the slope my chair decided it couldn’t possibly manage anymore and stopped….luckily at that moment the command to “about turn” came 😆

Vale was 3rd in an enormous Waggiest Tail class….and to round off the day nicely when the obedience results were in Solei had come 6th in Triers! 😀 I couldn’t believe how good he was in both obedience classes, in the previous few days he’d been being a bit stupid and I honestly thought it would be a disaster. It was doubly nice because there was a proper companion show on the same day and I couldn’t decide which one to go to because it had a really nice class classification but no obedience….whereas this one had an awful class classification but obedience! So if the obedience had been a disaster it would’ve been so much better to go to the other.

I was starting to give up hope with Solei, he’s been such hard work and he’s so challenging…I was actually considering even giving up taking him to obedience classes for a while. Those results were exactly what I needed!

I despair 😮

Over the last few weeks Darwin has been getting ideas above his station which Solei doesn’t like, they’ve had a few fights (mostly minor, but a couple of more major ones that thankfully I’ve stopped before any major damage has been done…though of course one did result in Solei losing his tooth!) and my house generally seems to be a lot of growling and mounting!

He’s chewing absolutely *everything* he can get his paws on, he’s even been chewing the carpets. He started to chew through my laptop power cable on Monday last week (thankfully I noticed before he’d done any more damage than a few tooth indents in the plastic casing) and the next morning I was suddenly aware of a noise to my left (thought it was the puppies!)…..and he’d chewed through the cable to my electric bed controller 😮 completely through…seeing as I was in bed at the time I suppose I should just be thankful he didn’t electrocute either of us 😮

Then when I was feeding the other morning I’ve got no idea when but he’s chewed right through the cable to my DVD player 😮 and he’s started going through my freeview box, but luckily not enough to do it any harm – it still works! Which is more than can be said for the DVD player….

This morning has been spent putting casing on all the wires it’s possible to do so with! So *hopefully* my room is now Darwin proof…

I also ended up going through my old dog drawer and moving all non-food items to my new dog drawer (my first (old) dog drawer is just a kitchen drawer, my second (new) is one of the big drawers under my wardrobe!) and then taking everything out of the first drawer and sorting through. We’ve been doing very well at the companion shows this summer, winning lots of treats and being given lots of trial packets of food, I usually just throw them all in the drawer so I had some surprises!

I separated trial samples and “proper” treats, then into “in date”, “out of date” or “opened & out of date” and then put it back all tidily…I love tidying and everything in it’s place 😆 and I discovered almost all my treats are out of date – even though I only won some of them this summer! So now the left side of the drawer is full of trial samples that are still in date, longest date at the back and shortest at the front. Next to those at the back I put the treats that are in date and unopened. Right hand side of the drawer is treats that are out of date with the unopened ones nearer the bottom & back and the opened ones near the front so I can use them over the next few weeks! Then the out of date trial samples I got out and Solei will be eating them mixed with his normal food (which actually isn’t his normal food because this morning I opened a 2kg bag that I won last summer and discovered has just gone out of date 😆 but still) over the next couple of weeks.

I’ve also filled (completely…to the point I ran out of room 😆 ) a 2 litre ice cream tub with an opened packet of treats (“liver squares”) and loose bones, bonios..etc and then as I thought I’d finished I discovered four packets of MiniJacks – and by this time my drawer was full 😆 so I’ve put them in a cupboard for now (along with two packets of CrackerJacks)

I think I might be ok for treats for the next couple of years…? 😆

On the plus side, Darwin has started his adult career with a bang… 🙂 On Saturday he was entered in Graduate at an open show down at Exeter. There were 7 dogs entered in his class and he only went and won it! 😀 Not bad for 5 days out of puppy (frustrating because the judge really liked Darwin and BPIB was 4th in that class so if he’d been 5 days younger he would’ve been BPIB and had a good chance at a group placement too!). 1st in Open and BOB (they didn’t award a RBOB) went to Morris who then went on to win the Toy Group and Best in Show!! M has wanted an all breed open show BIS for so long, it was the last thing that he really wanted Morris to do…and tbh unbelievable he hasn’t done it before. He has *15* toy group wins! (to say nothing of the two CCs, 1 RCC, 2 Pap Club BIS…)

Then on Sunday we went to a companion show and Darwin won Non-Sporting whilst Solei managed a very respectable 3rd in Open, then Darwin was BIS!! Hell of a weekend. Champagne all round 😀

Last Monday I went over to S’s to see a bitch she had just taken delivery of who is going to go to Solei on her next season. Gorgeous! The ears will be very dodgy but she’s really lovely.

Tuesday was the puppies second vaccination. They were all very brave, bar Elton who felt the need to do a little squeal! Mind you, he had a large lump by his right shoulder blade that I assume was from the first vacc, so even though the lump had gone down it was probably still sore. Came home from that and had Darwin to bath before a show the next day! We ended up doing him quite late and then had to take him over to Thes’ cos as I had her three puppies as well (from taking them to the vet) I thought I might as well take them back after Darwin was bathed so she could do the final touches. It was late when we got home so I fed the dogs and went to bed!

I was being very intrepid on Wednesday! As it was Gillingham & Shaftesbury Agricultural Show the public can bring their dogs, so whereas you usually wouldn’t be able to take non-KC registered dogs or puppies under 4 or 6 months (depending on the show), you can take any dog. So it was too good an opportunity to miss and I decided to take Darwin (obviously, as he was showing!), Solei and both Lacey and Elton. Lacey travelled well, Elton wasn’t so good but I still arrived at the show with two relatively dry and non-messy puppies! There was just the one class of Papillons – Open – in which Darwin was 4th and then Best Puppy in Breed and Puppy Group 4. I was absolutely delighted to see Andy, who I had for a couple of months last year when he was 4/5/6 months old, take his very first BOB 😀 He’s looking amazing and I think I made a mistake turning S&T down when I was offered him! Though I don’t regret it because his owner is a lovely lady and waited such a long time for a puppy, I’m so glad she got such a nice one!

That evening T brought the rest of Fancy’s pups and Sally’s litter round for us to look after until Monday, whilst they went to Welsh Kennel Club.

On Saturday Darwin did his last ever show in Puppy 🙁 A really nice companion show, though he only got a 3rd! Solei managed a 2nd 🙂 behind the RBIS winner…I’m really pleased with how he’s doing given his teeth. Vale won the novelty Veteran 7-10yrs class!

I really wanted to find another companion show for yesterday but there was nothing within a 50 mile radius 😛 which is very bizarre given the time of year! But still. Was a bit frustrating because there were two I really wanted to do on Saturday and I wish one of them could have been Sunday instead. In the end we ended up going to Fern Animal Sanctuary for an hour or so! I took Solei, Darwin, Pippin, Polly and Elton and all were much admired 🙂 and very bemused by some of the animals – first time ever seeing a pig! 😆

And then today is Darwin’s 1st birthday! My boy’s all grown up 🙁 I bought him a Kong Bone and he and Solei each had a chew stick.

He ends his puppy career with 6 Best Puppy in Breeds, 2 Best of Breeds, one Group 4, two Puppy Group 4, one Puppy Group 3, one Puppy Group 2 and one Puppy Group 1!! From a grand total of 7 all breed open shows. And at companion shows he has multiple class wins, two Best Puppy in Show and one Reserve Best in Show. He’s only been unplaced once, and the classes have usually been enormous.

Here’s hoping the success continues now he’s up with the “big boys”! 😉

I took both pups to obedience on Monday night. I’ve been doing this with Darwin – getting there 15+ minutes early and just sitting in the hall with him watching the earlier class, so instead of Darwin I’ll now be doing this with one or both of the puppies. This week I decided to take them both and leave Lacey in the car whilst I went in with Elton. He thought it was wonderful, wasn’t phased in the slightest! He said hello to everyone (on my lap) with his tail wagging and was adamant he wanted to go down on the floor! Which of course he can’t do yet. His attitude towards people reminds me a lot of Solei’s(which I love) so I’m happy with that. I actually love Solei’s personality except for the stupidly nervous behaviour he has towards stupid things – like he never usually breaks a stay I’ve left him in before I recall….he did on Monday, you know why? Because one of dogs behind him was wearing a half check and the chain clinked! Even when I walk him on a normal lead he flinches at it…he has an incredible aversion to anything that might hit him, I haven’t got a clue why. I know Elton hasn’t been down on the floor yet but so far he’s showing no signs of it – though the only thing I’m really basing that off is he hasn’t shown any sign of nervousness withtraffic which is another thing Solei doesn’t like!

I love Solei to pieces but I really don’t want to go through all I’ve been through with him again!

On Tuesday I took Elton & Darwin to Pets At Home (trying to rotate who I take, so sometimes it’s 2 puppies, sometimes 2 puppies + Solei, sometimes 1 puppy + Solei, 1 puppy + Darwin..not yet brave enough for 2 puppies + Darwin!) because we were in need of more toys! Particularly balls, having just discovered Darwin has a ball fetish. I ended up buying a rubber puppy chew toy for Elton & Lacey, a pack of Kong Squeaker balls for Solei because even though he hates squeaky things they were the only balls small enough and they need to have quite a lot of pressure applied to make them squeak, so seeing as it’s for supervised play only and he’s quite gentle on his toys I don’t think he’ll make them squeak…hope not! A Kong Bone for Darwin’s birthday (he’ll be 1 on the 24th, where does the time go 🙁 ) And a pack of 6 squeaky balls for Darwin & the puppies. Darwin managed to make a hole and desqueak the one I gave him in a very short amount of time so they’re now for supervised play only..! But the puppies love theirs, though Darwin keeps trying (he can’t) to get it out of the puppy pen….

Wednesday was quiet (ha!) at home as everyone had done so much…nice to have a day at home for once! Then on Thursday we embarked on a trip to the garden centre. I left Solei & Darwin at home and just took the puppies, much to the boys disgust!

Well…they’ve never had so much attention in their lives! Elton was lapping it all up, standing on the arm of the chair, wagging his tail and offering licks to all who spoke to him! Lacey is much more nervous at the moment, she starts off cuddled up to me quivering, though gradually gets better as time passes. By the time we’d finished they were absolutely *shattered*. Even Elton couldn’t find the energy to make the effort to acknowledge people stroking him! He was flat out on my lap in the car on the way home, fast asleep. He’s lovely actually, when we’re walking round he sits on my lap quite near the front watching everything, like he’s the king of the castle in his rightful place and he knows it! So interested in his surroundings though, I hope he’s as brave once he’s allowed on the floor. And luckily no damage seems to have been done with those children in town 🙂 He was fine with the children we met.

The problem with meeting so many people is I get absolutely sick of having to explain over and over again what they are! You can’t just get away with a one word answer like you would with a more common breed, I end up having to go into a long spiel about “they’re Phalenes, drop eared Papillons. You know Papillons, the butterfly dog? Well these are the moth with the ears down…etc” and that gets so hard to repeat over and over and over! They were called Cavaliers, Spaniels, Chihuahuas and more yesterday…I don’t mind those three, Chihuahua is probably the most common one (and actually a long coat chihuahua can look *very* like a Papillon, even I’ve done a double take at photos of a Chihuahua before) and after all they *are* spaniels (Continental Toy Spaniels), but yesterday someone actually told me my puppies were Jack Russells?! I was near speechless at that 😆 Can’t quite see the resemblance, personally….

At the last minute on Saturday we decided to go to a local companion show. So glad we did! I just took Darwin & Solei and all I entered was AV Puppy with Darwin and AV Non-Sporting with Solei. Darwin won his class and was  Best Puppy in Show!! Solei got a 4th in Non-Sporting which I was delighted with as it was his first show since he lost the tooth.

Sunday was our ringcraft club’s companion show, this time Vale came as well as the two boys. Solei was thrown out in Non-Sporting (which I expected once I found out the judge had Cockers, had a feeling he wouldn’t like a missing tooth) and Darwin won Non-Sporting Puppy 😀 but was beaten by the Sporting Puppy winner for Best Puppy in Show.

I’d entered some novelties this time and Solei was 5th in both Most Appealing Eyes and Best Mover. Vale won Veteran 😀 was 2nd in Waggiest Tail and then was Reserve Best Family Dog! (RBIS for the winners of the novelty classes)

and so there endeth another hectic week!