The Blog of the Frog

Oh I’d forgotten what fun young puppies are! They’ve never, ever been apart from each other – and they’ve been with Sally’s puppies for the last few weeks so two of eight. Being a mean, nasty mummy I decided they could sleep in boxes on their own 😆 So on Thursday night into their own boxes they went….and they cried/howled/whined ALL night. I got no sleep so I suppose they had the last laugh! Actually I don’t think Elton was too bad, Lacey was the main culprit.

On Friday Elton came for a walk (well, a carry as they haven’t had their second vaccination yet) with Solei and I was really impressed with him…we saw children, dogs, bicycles, cars and even a 4×4 pulling a caravan and he didn’t bat an eyelid at any of it 🙂 He was better than Solei! (Who hates traffic, especially anything bigger than a smallish car)

T has been taking them out to the park and around the lanes but as a litter, so my main emphasis is really on separating them as much as possible because that’s what’s going to do the most damage.

Friday night I actually got 3 hours sleep before they started creating! Then dozed on and off after then but had to be up fairly early anyway, because Saturday was Chepstow Agricultural Show. Without rain!

The ground was dry, the weather was almost too hot and it was a lovely show. When we got there I picked up the catalogue and discovered I had the only two Papillons entered, so was hopeful of BOB 😉  Thankfully the judge didn’t withhold and both Darwin and Storm won their classes and then Darwin was BOB and BPIB again and then Puppy Group 2! Poor Storm, I’ve never seen such indignation…they know when they’ve done well and I’ve honestly never seen a dog look more put out and upset than Storm did when she gave the BOB rosette to Darwin, who was far from on his best behaviour! He was bad in his class (but again was alone so got away with it), had settled slightly for the BOB challenge (though had to be moved twice) , bad in the regular group (threw away a placing 🙄 ) but had settled by the Puppy Group. Oh and was 2nd in the Puppy Stakes! (Where he also went well)

So in four days Darwin has got 8 rosettes – two 1sts, two BOBs, 1 BPIB (2 BPIBs but there was no Best Puppy rosette at North Devon), 1 G4, 1 PG2 and 1 PG1 😀 He’s only got one open show left in puppy now 🙁 It’s his 1st birthday in two weeks – where does the time go! I’ve had such an amazing time with him this summer, I wish it didn’t have to end.

On Saturday night the puppies were once again very slightly better and last night I actually got more than 6 hours sleep before they woke me up 😀 Not sure whether they were totally quiet or whether I was just so exhausted nothing was going to wake me, but still – onwards and upwards!

This morning I took Solei, Elton & Lacey to the park and into town…Solei’s been having rather a hard time with Darwin so I thought he could come as well. They met three young boys in the park and I was really impressed with Elton – Lacey was still at the sitting quivering stage but Elton actually moved forwards (all on my lap – 2nd vacc isn’t until next week) and was wagging his tail! Lacey was a bit more confident after we’d been sitting there an hour or so but I’m very pleased indeed with Elton. As we walked along he sat on my lap looking around and taking it all in…didn’t seem particularly phased by anything.

That was until we were walking through town. Youngish woman who had about 6 girls (probably 7-11) with her and was pushing a buggy. These girls saw the puppies and SWOOPED down like a hawk on a mouse! They were literally screaming, totally OTT and so rough..they weren’t just trying to stroke him, they were grabbing hold and trying to pick him up and god knows what else. He was a bit more reticent with people after that and we didn’t meet anymore children, so I just hope that hasn’t done any damage because he really was doing so well until then. Wish people would keep control of their children!

Well…I’ve had an amazing couple of weeks!

On Wednesday 29th July we went to Dunster Country Fair…yes, we are completely mad! It was raining when we left and got heavier as the journey progressed….It was pouring by the time we arrived. Cue quick dash to the marquee! We’d arrived nice andearly so the groundinto the showground wasn’t too churned up and we got in without any problems and then we got a nice spot in the marquee, right in front of our ring…except it wasn’t! I was convinced we were in ring one so we set up there andit wasn’t until it was too late to move I realised that actually we were in ring three! Oh well, we managed. I had Darwin & Storm entered with Solei coming along to supervise! Both boys were 2nd in their classes and then Darwin was Best Puppy in Breed and Puppy Group 4! The PG4 was nice because he was BPIB by default (the only Pap puppy there) so when that happens it’s always nice to beat some dogs in the group and then you feel they’ve “earned” it! It poured with rain all day and getting out was decidedly dodgy (the whole place was mud soup) but actually we managed without too much difficulty.

Sunday was the South of England Papillon Club’s very first championship show, in Tidworth (Wiltshire/Hampshire). I’d been looking forward to it for ages cos I hadn’t seen everyone since Bath at the end of May! I’d entered Darwin & Solei and was also going to show a couple of other dogs.

We had a fantastic entry (I’d need to check my catalogue but I think it was 266 dogs making nearly 300 entries) and so all the classes were large – biggest was Limit Dog with 25 entries so I was glad I’d just opted for Phalene Dog for Solei! (That would usually be his class)

The Club had really gone all out with cash prizes & food for the winners of each class and the major awards (BIS, RBIS, BPIS..etc) as well as sashes for BIS/BPIS and gorgeous rosettes for just about everything you can think of 😆 There were also lovely rosettes for 1st-5th in every class as well as a lovely medal in a box thing and they published a gorgeous catalogue with 3 generation pedigrees of every single dog entered. Oh and there was lots of (free) cake.

My day kicked off with Puppy Bitch showing Pixie (don’t know if any of you remember but I had her living with me with her sister for a few weeks back in Jan/Feb this year), who has just turned 10 months old but was actually attending her first ever show having just finished a season. She now belongs to friends.

You can imagine it was quite a responsibility showing someone else’s (who was sitting watching to boot!) dog at their very first show 😆 But I was so pleased with her, she went really well and got a 4th in a good class – icing on the cake she beat her sister (who S was showing) who has won very well including two Best Puppy in Breeds at champ shows! Shame she only just missed qualifying for Crufts by one place but never mind, not bad for your debut 🙂 Think that was the highlight of my day!

Then I moved on to Junior Dog with Darwin. He’s actually still a puppy having turned 11 months at the end of July, but he’s not a small dog and Tyler was in Puppy so I thought I’d give him a go in Junior. He was the youngest in the class (which again was a good size) by a couple of months so I was delighted to be short listed with him and then go on to be placed 5th! He also beat some dogs which have been doing a nice amount of winning 😀 I’d also put him in Novice Dog where he was 3rd, again beating some nice dogs and losing out to two much more mature (Novice is a win restricted class so open to any age as long as you haven’t won too much) than himself.

I then showed Topsy in Phalene Bitch where she won the class 😀 Beating Tosca, her sister, who has done a lot of winning.

Finally there was Solei who pulled all the stops out for me and absolutely showed his socks off (delighted with him, he hasn’t shown that well since the beginning of May :)) to be placed 2nd in Phalene Dog behind an Irish Champion who went on to Best Phalene in Show. I actually think he should have had the class which would have also been a nice end to his last show but c’est la vie! His tail didn’t drop *ONCE*, even on the table where he would usually drop it whilst being gone over (like most of them do) it didn’t drop because he was too busy wagging it 😀

To round off the day in the “fun” classes Solei was 5th in Best Fringes…he never does anything in there, everytime I swear I’m going to stand there and hold his ears up (he has better fringing than 99% of dogs in this country (as shown when I hold his ears up!) but because his ears are down it doesn’t look impressive like curtain fringing on a Papillon) but I can never bring myself to do it! She only gave him a 5th because she had 3 Phalenes in there and he was the best of the Phalenes and she thought she ought to place one of them 😛

On Tuesday I went down to Paignton Champ Show as a spectator. Was horrible being without a dog 😆 I felt like I’d had my right arm cut off! Had a lovely time though and would have been very rich if I’d had £1 every time someone made a comment about me being there on the wrong day! (Gundog/Utility). It rained *all* day.

The double irony was Wednesday *was* Toy Day and I wasn’t going 😆 I’d thought about it and in the end opted for North Devon Open Show instead as I could take Solei and show both Storm and Darwin there, if I’d gone to Paignton I’d have had to leave Solei behind and might well not having anything to show either. Though as we were on our way there I was struck by the irony that we were actually travelling further to this open show than it would’ve been to a champ show…

Driving down it actually *gasp* wasn’t raining! The weather was lovely all day (100% of judging outside) and it was just a shame that it had rained all day on Tuesday because otherwise the ground would have been ok too. As it was people were being towed in more or less from the start and we were very fortunate to make it in under our own steam (just). We were one of the last cars to do so. They delayed judging for half an hour because it was taking so long for everyone to get in – we were queueing outside for a good 30-45 minutes *and* I’d made sure we’d got there early!

Darwin won his Junior class….which was no great shocker as he was the only one entered! Though I was terrified the judge would withhold. Storm won his Open class (with competition). To my surprise DARWIN was then Best of Breed with Storm Reserve Best of Breed and so Darwin was then also automatically Best Puppy in Breed.

Darwin was then Toy Group 4 and Toy Puppy Group 1!!! Totally shocked and absolutely over the moon…was going round with a stupid great big grin on my face all day. Not sure which I’m happier about…the fact he placed in a strong, good sized toy group full of adults at only 11 months or the fact he won the puppy group!

Then today I’ve just picked my puppies up 😀 😀 So excited to have them home, I’ve waited nearly two years for this…can’t quite believe it! My house feels complete again now.

Everybody knows the saga of Solei’s tooth…well Solei and Darwin don’t have the best relationship, so I’ve been keeping Darwin in a puppy pen most of the time, which I now needed for Elton & Lacey! So after Sunday (knowing that it’s fights that primarily pull teeth out I wanted to wait until after the Pap Club) I started letting them run together more. This morning they had a minor fight…nothing major because I was right there and yelled at them as soon as I heard the warning signs 😆 but enough to pull Solei’s tooth out! I’m upset it’s finally out but pleased I was right to keep them apart – they’ve been properly loose together for barely more than a day!

The timing is very interesting though…it was no more than half an hour before I went to pick up Solei’s son & daughter. End of one era, start of the next?

I think it’s just not my month 😆 We went to another open show on Sunday. Ok the classes were larger than I’ve ever seen at an all breed open show (14 in Papillon Graduate!) but Darwin (none the worse for his barn experience and back to his usual OTT self!) was unplaced there and then I showed Jason in Open and was thrown out there too. I’m starting to get a complex 😆 is my handling this bad…

Darwin is terribly unsettled in the ring at the moment and it’s throwing his movement out which is a pity…he is a puppy and I like to see them having fun but it would be nice if he’d settle a bit more on the move, and he’s not a puppy for much longer either – he was 11 months old last Friday – so he ought to be settling down a bit. Instead he seems to be doing the opposite!

On the plus side Sarah was BOB and Group 2! Her first one 🙂 It’s just a shame Darwin was entered too because otherwise I would’ve been showing her and it would’ve been nice to have that accolade! I don’t think I’d have her now but I regret not asking if I could buy her when I had her as a puppy.

I’m not sure how much (if any) I’ve said here about these puppies of Fancy & Soleis, but as you may remember I had Fancy last year and she was mated but lost the litter. After that I wanted to keep her but she was giving Solei hell so I had to let her go back which was meant to be temporary. One thing led to another and she ended up having to stay with T and I was going to have the puppies back when they were around 4 weeks old. That ended up not happening and I was starting to think I’d never be able to have any of these puppies….well, on Monday I had a long chat with S who had a long chat with T and…..I’m having the b/w boy (Elton) and the bigger girl (Lacey) 😀 Wouldn’t necessarily have been my first choice but better than nothing so I’m very happy! It looks like it’ll still be over a week before I can have them so I won’t celebrate properly until they’re here 😆

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….

Well having 13 dogs was certainly an interesting experience! Hard work but Fancy’s puppies, in particular, was brilliant 🙂 They eventually all went back very late (10pm) Saturday night – ideally they would have stayed until Sunday but as we were off early to an open show they had to be gone before then!

The show was very pleasant, Darwin went like I’ve never seen him before – he was SO totally OTT. The judges before us had taken forever and a day and we didn’t get into the ring until nearly 4pm (having been there before 9am) so there was I worried about him being too tired – hah! He was completely the opposite. I’ve never, ever seen him like that – he showed appallingly, he decided the ring was for bouncing, skipping, jumping, hopping, pulling and bouncing round….definitely not walking/trotting or anything close to 😆 I had such fun showing him though, just like your feelings go down the lead to the dog the dog can send feelings back up the lead to you! Cos he was having such fun I was too. After he’d finished his triangle and up & down the judge actually said to him “You’re having too much fun!” 😆 His tail never stopped wagging either.

He was unplaced but there was just the one – Open – class and there were some lovely and far more mature dogs entered. Neither of the puppies were placed and so Darwin (along with the other pup) was still able to challenge for Best Puppy in Breed which he won 🙂 Somehow! Nothing in the Puppy Group, but the way he was behaving we were lucky to come out with BPIB 😉 Morris was BOB, Group 1 and then RBIS!! He’s won a few groups before and a toy show RBIS but that’s his first all breed RBIS.

Solei was a star at his agility lesson this week! Except for one bit in the middle where he totally lost concentration and at the end when he’d had enough. He did jump jump jump tunnel jump and jump tunnel jump jump jump in a straight line first time no problems 🙂 and the jumps were higher than in the past and he didn’t run under them once! After we’d done it a few times I put him back at the start, told him to stay and he decided he didn’t need me, he knew exactly what he had to do and he wouldn’t stay….and before I could even start moving he’d done all 5 obstacles practically before I’d realised he’d gone 😆 Which is actually good because it looks like hopefully he’ll be happy working away from me and won’t need to be glued to my side all the time (which would be impossible).

Tomorrow S&T want to go to the SoE Pap Club Fun Day which I’m not going to, so they asked if we could dog sit – I said we could, but in that case could I have Sarah (I had companion shows planned both days) for the weekend, which they said yes to! So I get to bring her (& I’m having Topsy too) back with me when we go over to T’s this afternoon and keep them til Sunday evening 🙂

Hopefully it’ll be a fun weekend!

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 😆