Last weekend was busy. Dad Ria sat, whilst I was showing Elton in breed on Saturday and then again on Sunday, plus Solei in obedience that day.

Saturday was a disaster....the judge was clearly anti-Elton, and despite the fact he showed well and looked good he was beaten by dogs that really shouldn't have beaten him, and only beat a large puppy (the only dog he did beat) with it's tail down by the skin of his teeth (ie the judge actually had to think about it). It did mean I left early, so was home by lunchtime!

Sunday was more...interesting. Though it just was not Elton's weekend! I had entered Fern, so "borrowed" her back for the day. All fun - Fern & Elton in breed, Elton & Solei in obedience.

There were 5 dogs entered in Fern's class and 5 dogs entered in Elton's, though only belonging to two other people (they both had two dogs in each class). Fern actually showed much better than I was expecting, Elton wasn't so good but was passable...physically he's mature, mentally he still has a very long way to go! I thought we'd sorted this problem out, as he's showed well for the last few weeks - but upon thinking about it for the last 6 shows he's done we've either had separate dog/bitch rings, dogs in before bitches or Papillons in the ring very early. At this show, where we'd had most of the terrier group in before us - as well as three toy breeds - it all went slightly out of the window!

So they both won their classes by default (& Fern Best Puppy in Breed), and then they had to go against each other for Best of Breed....and then the fun started :-P Elton saw Fern, and omg he went crazy. Of course the last time he saw her she was a week in season, and Elton needs no encouragement in that department anyway. He's bitch obsessed at the moment - I'm sure that's the problem in the ring.

Anyway, he had moments of being ok and I did get him to stand quite well (when the chair is an advantage...easier to block his view lol), but Fern beat him!! She's not the best bitch, and that just should not have happened - even the way he was showing, he wasn't absolutely atrocious and unassessable.

Later Fern was slung out of the group but had Puppy Group 3 :-) They were doing a best Reserve Best of Breed so Elton went into that and showed much better, but the judge plainly didn't like him (think I'd worked that one out after the breed!)

There was a limited obedience show being held alongside, but this time it was limited by radius - you had to live within 80 miles (I scraped in being about 77 miles away!) - so we were up against the Border Collies, Working Sheepdogs and the like.

There was no Pre-Beginners class, so I'd put Solei in Beginners & Novice, and Elton in Beginners. I was fully expecting to have to train all but Solei's Beginners round!

As was demonstrated by UK Toy it always gets a bit hectic when I'm trying to balance breed + obedience! So I took Solei up to work Beginners early. He was better than I thought he was going to be, and the surface was quite a good half way house - a weird rubber/fabric/sand type stuff (outdoor equestrian arena) that was bumpier than a hall, but not quite as bumpy as some grass.

The judge commented that he lost position in the heelwork by drifting - typical Solei, this is his "oo er, I'd better go a bit wider because that bump was scary and the chair might get me!" "Oh, ok it must be safe - I'll come back into position." "Ack, there it goes again" "Oh, ok it's gone again"...etc! But on the whole he was very good. His recall was the best it's been for months - he used to have a superb recall, but had started not coming in straight.

I so nearly missed stays - I was busy chatting, looked at the clock and it was 11:46am - stays were 11:45!! I grabbed Solei out of his crate, couldn't find the lead so put him on my lap and charged up to the ring - luckily they weren't running quite to time and I got there with seconds to spare!

I didn't bother doing stays with Elton as A) I didn't have time to grab him as well (plus I discovered once outside it was raining and he hadn't yet shown!) and B) his chance of doing the retrieve was low, his chance of not losing so many points on the retrieve he'd be totally out the placings was almost nil!

Solei needs a good rest in between his rounds, so I was planning to do Novice in the afternoon. Being pleased with his morning performance I was in two minds about whether to do it or not, then the Novice stays clashed perfectly with the Papillon breed classes so I decided to abandon the whole idea and quit whilst I was ahead!

Once the breed classes were finished I took Elton up to train his Beginners round, only to discovered they'd finished and wouldn't let him. I was not very pleased, given I'd paid to enter him. The communication was crap all day - there was a tannoy system which they could have used (as they later used it to call for a dog for the run off!) but chose not to. They knew he was here cos I'd "booked him in" so it wouldn't have taken much effort to just give a last call for the class.

Anyway, that aside Solei ended having a run off for 3rd & 4th. The exercise chosen was a recall, and he did the most GORGEOUS recall....I honestly couldn't fault it, and I'm as critical of my dogs as you can get. Then he buggered up the finish!! He found an interesting spot on the floor (and there really must have been something there as the other dog did exactly the same thing, just not as badly) and got distracted, then finished crookedly.

Still, I'm very pleased with a 4th - he's started off this year so well, I just hope it doesn't do a sudden nose dive like last year! He started off really well, then it couldn't have gone anymore downhill.

A quiet April on the show front now....a breed club championship show with Elton on the 17th, and that's all I have booked for this month - though I'm hoping to find a fun show or two later in the month to take Ria along to for experience :-)