Well, we made it to the show on 25th April. Solei did his obedience, and I also put all 3 boys in the pedigree classes for a bit of fun…Elton (who behaved horrendously! It was only the 2nd time he’d ever shown on grass, which was also rather long for his little legs – so movement was barely assessable!) was 3rd in Any Variety Puppy, Solei 3rd in Any Variety Open and Darwin won Any Variety Non-Sporting.

Solei did two obedience classes. The easier class he did very well, the harder class was fine except the retrieve! As I mentioned last time, retrieve and Solei aren’t a match made in heaven at the best of times. On this occasion he wasn’t paying attention to where I threw it, so I sent him out to fetch it, he sniffed about for a while looking for it and then decided he’d give up and run in very fast enormous circles round the field(!!!) When he gets like that there’s no calling him back, so I waited for him to do a few laps and get it out of his system and then called him back – he came and the judge asked if I’d like to do that again! We did, and actually he did it very nicely the second time – shame it didn’t count!

I also did the bottom class with Darwin, for a bit of fun. He wasn’t very good but he did it! His major failing was the down stay – I haven’t done any practice on grass (I never thought I'd have him this long, so he was never intended for obedience - just conformation) and he broke it because the smells were too much and he felt the need to get up and sniff them properly. Needless to say he didn’t place, neither did Solei in the harder class – but my little star won the easier class! Really pleased with him, especially given that was his first obedience in show environment since last September.

Oops. I haven’t had the urge to write and haven’t had the inclination to force myself! End result…no blogging for almost three months. Eep. Though I can’t believe I didn’t even post about Crufts!

Obviously I can’t analyse the last three months in detail so brief summary – here goes nothing!

Crufts…wow, what can I see. I booked a travelodge in Coventry and we stayed a night away from home for the first time in years. We went up on the Saturday, with Solei; who I’d entered in Limit Dog for the second year running. I wasn’t expecting anything, just a nice day out! Anyway, Solei totally surpassed my expectations by getting fourth in a large and very strong class! Absolutely over the moon.

At the end of the day S&T took Solei home, and off we went to our travelodge! Woke up bright and early on Sunday and arrived at Crufts with just about perfect timing. What a fantastic day! Spent much of it with friends and their Golden Retrievers, one of whom’s birthday it happened to be – cake all round! Human birthday that is, not dog…

I did lots of shopping, spent far too much money and it was the most fantastic weekend!

Elton has grown up enormously! He’s 11 months old now, and fast approaching his first birthday. I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of him…we’ve had our ups and downs, but for a Phalene he’s done so well. He had a couple of iffy shows shortly after my last post, but the tide turned and things picked up again!

Best Puppy in Breed & Puppy Group 4 at Bristol on 20th March, plus 2nd in the Novice Stakes.
Best Puppy in Breed at Okehampton on 28th March
Best Puppy in Breed & Puppy Group 3 in a superb puppy group at Exonian on 3rd April
1st Novice Dog at the Papillon (Butterfly Dog) Club Champ Show on 11th April

annnd yesterday we went to WELKS (big all breed championship show) and Elton was 3rd in Puppy Dog, so has qualified for Crufts 2011 too :D

The last few months have been such a rollercoaster…he’s been up and down and really stressing me as to whether he’d come right! Especially when he got to ten months old and his legs still needed to grow (a lot of toy breeds will have stopped growing by that point) but thankfully my instinct that he was going to be a slower maturer was right and he kept growing and has ended up back in proportion (phew!) He’s got a beautiful coat now, too. I’ve tried to take photos every month and it’s fascinating to see how it’s grown, even when I didn’t think it had!

Here's a video of him practicing in the ring at 10 months old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cH7FjP0fDs
Starting to get the idea of behaving on the move! And a georgeous free stack at the end.

He’s a very sweet little boy. More submissive than I’d like, but he’s cute and showy and seems to be intelligent! Though having said that, despite the fact we’ve been practicing obedience at home since he was very small, he’s just FINALLY got the hang of the word “stay”! He's getting much better about people going over him on the table, though still hasn't properly settled on the move.

Other than that I’m not sure there’s a lot to report. Oh! Darwin came to Okehampton and was Best of Breed and 2nd in the Toy Group :D Which was very exciting – that’s my highest (non-puppy) group placing to date. He’s only shown 4 times so far this year, so hasn’t had much opportunity to do well!

Solei is pottering along. He finished 2009 as the 3rd Top Obedience Papillon! We’re dealing with each problem a step at a time, and are slowly getting there...then something else comes up :P Ah well, we'll keep on keeping on. He's slotted right in to the higher obedience class, after a rather embarrassing first week!

Retrieve and Solei are somewhat...dodgy. Given I'd asked to move him up rather than being told I could (despite the fact in every other area he was working way above the level of the class he was in), I felt we had more to prove. So along we went, everything was going beautifully....until it came to time for the retrieve.

I sat him beside me, told him to stay, threw it. Gave the command to go fetch it, he charged off after it, picked it up....and then decided this was so much fun he'd have to start running in circles. He went absolutely crazy XD he wasn't trying to dodge me or keep it away from me or anything, he just went completely crazy running in circles. I was a flustered mix of hilarity and embarrassment, everybody else was just amused! Then once he'd finished his circles he brought it back! Except....we were doing the retrieves in pairs amd I'd gone first. The instructor forgot to tell me to "hold" (not necessarily literally) my dog when he asked the next person to go, and I was still a bit all over the place from that....so I wasn't paying attention properly, didn't tell him to stay, she threw her toy....and Solei went to go fetch it!

It was one of those relatively big kong (tennis ball type) dumbbells....and Solei hates that material so he went over, put his mouth round it (which he could barely manage) and then decided he wasn't gonna pick that up....so he starts his circles again. By this time everyone is laughing their heads off :-X I get him back beside me, this time tell him to stay and there's no problem whilst she does her retrieve

So after that the instructor says ok, that's good....go back to your seats...and Solei decided that means retrieve again! So he charges off to where I'd thrown it the last couple of times only of course there's nothing there....so he looks at me like "where the hell is it then?!" and then does another couple of circles. A memorable first class?!

Ever since Solei started retrieving we've been using a sock...the only thing he'd pick up. Recently we actually managed to progress to a small rubber bone, but still he wouldn't sit and hold anything in his mouth - he'd either bring it back and stand in front of me, or bring it back and sit, dropping it in the process.

BREAKTHROUGH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCVFTNGcH2M
Terrible mouthing, and only on the bed...but here was Solei actually holding something and sitting!

and then....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lTaAqAMYx0
So proud of him - not the best angle (only place I could put the camera) but Solei retrieving complete with a sit & hold at the end! Still mouthing quite badly but wow, we've had SO much trouble with the retrieve I honestly doubted we'd ever get this far. He still won't have anything to do with a dumbbell, but one step at a time.

Tomorrow we’re off to a companion show, so that Solei can do his first obedience of the year! Wish us luck...