Today our first event was Rally and we weren't scheduled to start until 11:50. I was so glad as yesterday was very tiring and it was nice to have a leisurely morning. What this really meant was that I had time to do some shopping! As it turned out I was way too worried about missing my turn and wasn't in the mood to buy a thing.
I could have shopped leisurely as, like yesterday, it turned out things were running late in the Rally ring and the start was now delayed until 1:00pm.
But that wasn't good news at all as we were scheduled to be in the Conformation ring at 1:00. We spent most of the morning just hiking back and forth between the two rings to make sure we'd be in the right place at the right time. We put many miles on our shoes today for sure.
As we were hanging out near the breed ring we saw a lady that has a border terrier that we had met at an agility trial. She introduced us to her friend that was showing her dog for her. It turned out to be a friend of Harriet's and she was willing to show Boogie in Conformation for me today. How lucky was that -it was a HUGE relief to me. It was a good thing too as I had to be in two places at once - which isn't possible.
So Mike stayed over to watch Boogie compete in Conformation while I hightailed it over to the Rally ring to do my walk-through. On my way I found this guy in a golf cart that was really nice and offered me a ride. He told me this is THE largest show in the country. He couldn't believe I entered both conformation and rally in my very first show - and at the largest show around to boot. What did I know?!
Once I got to the rally ring I did one super quick walk-through (not sure why I bothered with that) and then ran all the way back to the conformation rings trying to get there in time to watch little Boogie compete. I got about three rings away and I could see Boogie trotting around the ring with the other dogs looking like a little superstar. I stayed a couple rings away so as not to distract Boogie in any way.
I couldn't believe this was my dog! He was doing the perfect gait - he looked so experienced. Was this the same dog as yesterday?! Wow, what a difference a handler can make. It was truly night and day. He stacked perfectly and stayed there just like a little statue. The judge looked him over so thoroughly on the table that Mike thought the guy was giving him a full medical exam! A little more trotting around and the judge points to Boogie first! Wow, Yippee! Boogie got first place in the 6 - 9 month old puppy dog class. That's my boy!! He was such a perfectly behaved little boy for Alison. Wow, she's good!
This meant Boogie got to compete again a little later for best Border Terrier dog. Once again he was perfect for Alison - I don't know how she does it! When all was said and done, Boogie got Reserve Winner. This means he got 2nd place. The judge was a very talkative guy and said that he really liked Boogie a lot. The only reason he placed Boogie 2nd was that he felt Boogie carried his tail a little high.
I don't know anything about all this showing stuff but I must say I did notice that Boogie's tail was a little higher than most of the dogs - but I didn't know that was a bad thing. I think this judge just has a "tail thing" as he told Alison that another dog she handled held its tail too high as well.
Mostly I'm just really proud of Boogie for doing exactly what Alison told him to do. I don't know how she did that! I'm very proud of Boogie and so very thankful to Alison!
Here is Boogie with his 1st place and Reserve Winner ribbons. This is not how he is supposed to stand but I thought his little face looked cute. I also learned by looking at this picture that I'm not holding his tail correctly...or else he had a tired tail from holding it so high earlier!
No time to bask in our glory (tee hee), we had to rush over to the Rally ring. They had gotten a little further behind and we had to wait about half an hour. But that's okay because if they had been on time we would have missed our turn.
Once again today, Wazzu was first. She seemed in a really good mood today and I was determined to do exactly what the signs said today as I didn't want to let my girl down again. Wazzu, like usual, was perfect. She was head and tails above all the other dogs. As we crossed the finish line I was so happy as I was positive we got a perfect 100. Oh oh, here comes the judge again. She said "Oh my heart is just breaking for you." I said, "why, what did I do wrong?" She told me I had completely skipped one entire station. Other than that she said we had a perfect score of 100...but instead we were disqualified. Oh poor Wazzu. Once again she would have had 1st place if it weren't for my error. I'm beginning to side with Mike and agree that Wazzu should be the one reading the signs.
Like yesterday, Boogie was the last one to go. As I approached the start line the judge pleaded with me to PLEASE remember to do all the stations. There is no way I want to let both of my dogs down so I was concentrating really hard! (I have a hard time these days remembering agility courses and darn it's now the same with rally!)
I was so hoping that Boogie would have a little better attention span than yesterday. Wow, was this the same puppy! He was doing so well. We had a little trouble with one station and we had to re-do it but other than that he showed that he does indeed belong in this competition. And I remembered to do ALL the stations!
To my surprise, when the awards were announced, Boogie got 2nd place! Whoo hoo! Now that's my boy. I knew he could do it! I was so happy when I noticed that yesterday's judge had watched today's action so she could see that Boogie really does belong here.
Today was much more what I had been picturing in my mind. Mike and I both feel so much better today. I think he may even keep Boogie after all....although he's considering getting rid of me saying that Wazzu deserves a better handler.
Debbie
1/5/08
No comments:
Post a Comment