Well it's been an interesting 10 days!

On the 17th we went to an open show. I'd entered Ria in Rare Breeds and AVNSC Gundog Junior and Elton in the Open Papillon class. Rare Breeds was on first and Ria was 2nd, so as I then ended up stewarding she didn't go in her AVNSC class. Elton won his class, Best of Breed and Group 4 :-D So very pleased with him! He actually didn't show too badly either...better in breed than group, but c'est la vie!

Two days later I'd entered a champ show with Elton, but mum slipped over at the previous show, badly bruised her arm and couldn't drive. So as I can't get a lift with anyone else, I couldn't go. I ummed about what to do with Elton and he ended up going with his breeder, as I couldn't think of a good reason not to! Nobody else has ever shown him but me, and we encounted a problem I hadn't thought of when she took him in the ring - he was worried about feet! He's gone for "normal" walks before, but as I say - never been in the ring with anyone else. A couple of people that know him commented that he wasn't that happy, so he obviously didn't show brilliantly. Nothing there. Then he came home on three legs! No idea what he'd done as he was fine when they arrived home - he must've twisted it playing in the 10 minutes they were all out together before he was brought home!

On Sunday dad drove us to a companion show, which was fab! Ria had a 2nd in AV Puppy (to a Great Dane!). They had a heelwork to music demonstration with Richard Curtis, and afterwards he did a quick masterclass which I participated in with Ria :-) They also had a proper size agility course (just jumps/tunnels) which Ria did with poles on floor!

I ran it like a normal course with her and she was fabulous! The only problem was the chute, which she's never seen before....very unfortunately she was quicker than they counted on and just as she got to the entrance the woman grabbed the end, it made a noise and scared her...she wouldn't go near it after that. Arrgh! Will have to see if I can borrow one at some point, the boys could use a lot of work on it too. Solei will do it as long as you hold it wide open but not if he has to push at all, and Elton has never seen one!

There were also two classes of obedience...I entered Solei in both classes and Ria in the easier class - leaving Elton out because although much improved I wasn't sure if he was totally sound. Ria's heelwork wasn't too bad except for as we were coming along the back side of the ring, where there were people sitting ring side on a straw bale eating burgers! She saw those and concentration was gone....sooo glad it was heel on lead! :-X Solei's heelwork wasn't bad, but he went into shut down on the recall again and refused to come! So that blew that.

As Elton seemed ok and Solei was evidently not, they let me substitute so Elton did the harder class (poor boy lol) in his place. He decided he'd do his flattening to the floor again at the beginning of HOL (fine for HF), but after that was very nice, it was a bit dodgy because the ground was on a slight slope and the new chair (which is meant to be so brilliant on that kind of ground :-P) hated it and literally stopped every time I tried to corner, which obviously messed up things a bit...and he sat up on return in the down stay (this is another problem we're having at the moment!). He was just out of the placings! Pity I hadn't entered him in the easier class because I think he'd have done very well there.

Then today Ria has been on a real adventure! Mum still can't drive, and I'd entered an open show...but this one was not far and I could get cheap train tickets, so we decided to take the train! I took Ria to the station on Thursday because I had no idea what she'd think (this is my baby that when she was younger wouldn't go within a few metres of a speaker system and was petrified of engines!). She seemed ok, but that's a bit different to travelling on one!

So this morning mum, Ria, Elton and I caught the train down, walked to the show and then Elton's breeders brought him home whilst we caught the bus back, a shorter walk and another train! I was sooo proud of Ria - she handled the whole thing with no problem, such a star :-) The show was sort of a disaster - Elton got binned in open, though I handled a puppy to 3rd in the graduate class. Ria got Best Puppy AVNSC, but she was the only puppy....not sure if she was an anti-puppy judge or if it was cos she didn't know what she was or didn't like her, but she didn't go over her as she did the others (it was an open class, Ria was the youngest by over two years!) and seemed to discount her from the beginning. So she was 4th of 4! Nothing in the puppy group.

And I think Ria has hit the awkward obnoxious stage :-( arrrrrrrrrragh!

Well this is going to have to be rather a potted account as it's been longer than I thought since my last update!

So, yes - Paignton - Elton & Solei. Solei I was actually pleasantly surprised with - he worked first and he started off really nicely, but it was already quite hot, the ground wasn't the best and the heelwork pattern was very long - so it went downhill rapidly! He really seemed to struggle, you could see him seem to find it more and more of an effort. But it was still an improvement on the previous year!

Elton showed sooo well :-) He wasn't moving quite as well as he should because he was too enthusiastic :lol: but I had the dog I showed in junior back :-D which was just amazing (he is coming back, slowly...and we were off grass too, which helped). He got a 5th in Limit Dog, which I was a bit disappointed with, but in Limit it's still a decent result.

The next day I finally managed to get the tunnel out in the garden! Had a short session with the boys (one at a time) and a couple with Ria - except that fun thing she did at 15 weeks, the first time she's seen a tunnel! It went really well, very, very pleased with her :-)

Then came National Gundog. Umm...what can I say :-P Ria didn't go quite as well as at Paignton, but only in a bouncy puppy sort of way - only the occasional moment! She had a 2nd in Puppy Bitch, and was beaten by a (much older) puppy that was so terrified it refused to be gone over! It was really, really bad - she shouldn't even have been placed, much less won the class. So that was...umm...interesting.

The next day we had another open show, toys were inside and gundogs outside. The weather was awful, it poured most of the morning, then stopped and it was actually very pleasant - but unfortunately just as Ria's class (AVNSC Puppy) went into the ring it started raining again. So the judge didn't really go over them, and I think wanted to get it done asap! Ria went well until he moved us again at the end, when she just wasn't as settled. He pulled us out "as we were" which given Ria was on the end was not good - should've had her first lol

Elton, on the other hand, had Best of Breed out of a Papillon entry of 11 :-) So very pleased with him!

Monday evening was my obedience club's fun night. They had an agility course set up, so having been practising at home, Ria got to try a new tunnel! Only the tunnel - wasn't time for anything else. Elton did the tunnel too, but with a jump. I was going to put Solei round the course, but he decided it was more fun to do jump, jump, tunnel, bugger off :-P

10th was another open show. Elton wasn't very settled, had a 3rd. Went really well in the Junior Warrant heat at the end of the day, he was so tired he actually curled up and went to sleep on my lap whilst we were waiting! (big class) But it did mean he was lovely and settled on the move and really moved out, rather than messing about. Was still thrown out though! Maybe we can find an in between state? haha

Ria went really well, I was so proud of her. She was in AVNSC Puppy again, there were 5 in the class and she was the baby. She had 2nd! Beaten by an English Springer Spaniel who turned a year old the next day (and the ESS also had Puppy Group 3).

Sunday popped up to a fun day/companion show. Ria had a 4th in AV Puppy and Solei did the obedience and I thought was appalling but the judge disagreed and he got 2nd haha. Was going to do it with Ria and Elton too but decided to skip it. They had a little area set up with have a go agility - just three jumps in a straight line, round to a tunnel and then six weave poles. Having done quite a lot with Ria in the garden over the last couple of weeks I wanted to see what she'd done, so we put the jumps on the ground and I left her in a wait at the first jump....walked on to the third jump, called her and she came flying over the jumps! Had to show her a couple of times that I wanted her to go into the tunnel, but she did it eventually - and then I sent her round again in the same way but this time she did the tunnel no problem. Very impressed!

Then yesterday we've been to Bournemouth Champ Show. Toys and Gundogs on different days with a day between them and it's too far to go twice, so I'd only entered Ria. She had yet another 2nd (that's three champ shows done and three 2nds - I'd like 1sts but I'm not complaining, better than 3rd or lower!) but I was very pleased that the judge came out of the ring to find me and said was a lovely puppy she was :-) and to keep showing her, that it was very close between 1st & 2nd but the other puppy was just more mature (I'd hope so, she was nearly 11 months!)

Another show tomorrow! Then on Friday, and then after that it calms down - I've never done so many in such a short space of time before.

Wow, what a week.

So - last Wednesday was Ria's open show debut. She was in Any Variety Not Separately Classified (AVNSC) Graduate. I was expecting a large class so didn't have too many expectations. Elton was entered too, in the Papillon Open class.

Not impressed with the Papillon judging. It had been so hot and dry the ground was very spiky, and a lot of the little dogs wouldn't walk properly on it. Elton went REALLY well - he moved well, and stood beautifully. There were only two others in the class and neither of them moved as well, one of them went completely on strike, decided he didn't like the grass, didn't like the heat and put his tail down whilst looking thoroughly miserably and fed up. The judge placed Elton last. I'm used to Elton being placed lower than he should because a Phalene and open shows generally aren't a good combination...but that really took the biscuit. I was incensed.

Ria was in a class of six which was a lot smaller than I was expecting, and she was actually the only puppy. When we entered the ring four of the other dogs didn't turn up, so it ended as a class of two - which she won :-D and Best Puppy. She was beaten for Best AVNSC by a mature Chesapeake, that went on to Group 2.

I was feeling too rough for agility the next day, but mum went and picked up a tunnel and two jumps for me that they said I could borrow over August :-) so looking forward to getting those out!

The weekend was a two day obedience show. On Saturday I'd entered the boys in the Special Pre-Beginner Stakes, and Ria in the Special ABC class.

Solei never actually worked (long story), Elton did a lovely round except for deciding he'd flatten himself to the ground a couple of paces into heelwork. I called him back to heel and he then did some beautiful heelwork, silly dog :-P I thought he'd done badly so went home, it turned out he was actually in a run off for 5th/6th - so he got 6th by default, as we weren't there to run off. He was faultless on everything else.

Ria...wow, what can I say about Ria. I'd only put her in the Special ABC (Anything But a Collie) class as I thought it would be a fantastic experience for her first show - there were no stays, and you could reward after every exercise. Her heelwork was lovely, we had a slight blip on the recall where she tried to come with me (fine after I put her right - because she's not used to doing a full obedience round and is lacking in experience when I put her in a sit at heel position and then started off she thought we were doing more heelwork...so I left her in the down, no problem!) and the recall over jump was more of a recall around jump :-) but her trick went well - I decided to send her around me.

Having thought I hadn't had the best day there, I decided to go on to a companion show. Ria had a 2nd in AV Puppy (after a very tough decision by the judge, who couldn't decide whether to give 1st to her or a Beauceron!) and then we did the obedience.

Ria & Elton both worked the lowest class and actually managed to tie for 4th/5th position. I opted not to run off as they were both my dogs, so not quite sure who got what! lol

Solei & Elton both worked the second class - Solei went completely to pieces and decided he wouldn't come on the recall then went down in the sit stay (he has NEVER broken a stay in his life until then!), Elton did his flattening again (rolls eyes...why he's started this I don't know! He even did it outside the ring when he knew I had food) followed by lovely heelwork and came 2nd :-)

Solei also worked the top class, but just lost the plot entirely (this was before he worked the second class, I think if I'd done them the other way round I may have got a decent performance out of him in the easier class). It was also very hot, which probably didn't help.

On Sunday we were back at the obedience show. This time Ria, Elton & Solei entered in YKC Starters, and Solei doing the YKC Elementary class too.

By the time I'd been there five minutes three people had come over and said I had a rosette! This resulted in me being very confused as they were talking about different classes - it eventually transpired that Elton had got a 6th in the Pre-Beginner Stakes, but Ria had come 6th in the ABC class!! Thus the confusion - they were both sixth places.

That win qualifies Ria for the ABC finals! At the grand old age of 6 months 4 days! And the rosette is enormous :-)

Ria did a respectable round in the Starters class - heelwork was a little loose in places, but it was respectable. Elton - as seems to be usual these days - started off his heelwork by flattening, then was ok. Recall was superb, I'd taken the new chair and he's developed a new technique - he comes and puts his front paws on the foot plates! He is close, straight and his bum is on the floor so they can't really mark him for it (no-one has yet, and he did it for every recall all weekend!) and it is very cute. Solei did the best heelwork of the three of them, then blew it in the recall - he wouldn't! I was calling, and calling, and calling and he would NOT move from the spot. That's what Solei does when he gets himself in a state, he seems to worry about coming cos it might not be safe!

Ria won the class, Elton was 2nd and Solei 3rd. Both Ria & Elton were in qualifying marks but only 1st can qualify, so Ria has now qualified for the YKC Starters Obedience at Crufts 2012!

Solei managed a 3rd in the Elementary class, his recall was better. So that was the weekend - what a weekend!

Monday was meant to be the last run through for Ria's Bronze Good Citizen award, but I was unable to make it having done obedience both days at the weekend and with a champ show coming up on Tuesday and Wednesday - so fingers crossed Ria is ok when it comes to the test!

Today I have been at Paignton with Ria, her very first championship show. I was very nervous as it was the first time Kooiker people had seen her since she was four months old and my first time in the ring with them! Thankfully Ria's class (Junior Dog or Bitch) only had three dogs in, one being owned by her breeder, so wasn't as scary as it could've been!

The judge was very heavy handed at her first show and when he got to her back end whatever he did made her go "oh sh!t" and she was quite unhappy, very very frustrating as she's always been SO good about being gone over - I was a bit concerned as a baby cos she would stand like a rock, it was too good for her age! lol

Apparently it has left a lasting impression - she wasn't atrocious, but not as solid as she had been. However, as she was so good prior to Wednesday hopefully she'll soon recover. She's still fine with people! The other exhibitors commented on how friendly and well socialized she was, which was lovely to hear.

She was rather lacking in maturity compared to the others (there is her at 6 months 7 days, the others were 12 months (only in puppy by the "first day of show" rule) and nearly 14 months!) but got a 2nd, and Best Puppy in Breed :-D Sooo pleased with her, she behaved really well except for the slight uncertainty about being gone over.

So by 6 months 7 days Ria has done her first show, won her class and BPAVNSC, qualified for the ABC finals, qualified for the obedience at Crufts, qualified for breed at Crufts and got BPIB at her first champ show! WOW.

Back again tomorrow - Elton's turn, and Solei in the obedience. Hoping there won't be a repeat of Solei in the obedience at Paignton last year, but after the weekend....arrrgh