Another early start but with Sunday traffic we were at Blackpool in good time. The mood around the ring was light and most people were there for the fun of it. Sadly one of the black sheep of the breed had the gall to turn up and was thankfully given the cold shoulder by other exhibitors. The truth will out ..
As I had said in an earlier post I was going with no expectations, I had overheard the judge discuss the class that Orin won at SWGSD and therefore knew Orin was not going to be his winner. With hindsight, it should have been Ross in the ring for the Blanik boys, and maybe Kaiah should have been there too. Still with entries closing weeks before shows I'd already paid my money so took my chance. Orin was predictably last, though his performance was not to blame, judges simply interpret the breed standard differently. I have to say he was a perfect gentleman, giving all exhibitors his time and patience, a very nice man. Sarah had already made the decision not to enter, so I asked Shonagh to handle for me. She was such great fun and I loved her manner with the dogs. She took Orin in and I cleared off, but having been calling him "Loki" at some point she realised she was getting it wrong ... she called out to Sharon "What is his name?" Sharon misheard and looked up his number. "No, his name?" "OH Shit" called out Sharon errr Orin ... Bless him we called him "O Shit" all day!
Whilst males were being judged Siska spent most of the morning entertaining herself, chewing the rope, digging holes, rummaging in bags, hassling Orin, hassling Hooch ... and filling up her mouth with mud and grass. Still it was soon time for her to go in and she won the class. One obvious difference between the two of them is their "Ring Presence." Orin is there to do a job and he puts his all into it .. Siska is there for entertainment and concentrates on everything apart from the matter in hand. Hopefully in time she will take it a little more seriously. Hmm I doubt it somehow!!!!
Anyway little miss won her class and came out very pleased with herself. After standing all morning, I decided to clear the chair of its contents and have a sit down. I turned to get a drink and there she was, Siska, as large as life sitting on the chair! She is so funny, she just makes you laugh. We took photos and I fully intended getting her off the chair to sit on it myself, but when someone said, I need a chair get it off so I can sit down I decided she could stay there all day if she wanted. As I told him "No, my chair, my puppy!" I literally had to wake her up to go into the challenge!
Anyway during the break between the class and challenge Joe who owns Fransisco came to talk to her. He said "I hear your photo is already on Facebook in this chair!" He then went on to say what a character she was and that he could see so much of her father in her. A complement of course but, but I see her mother in her! I guess we all see our own line.
Anyway back in the ring and Siska beat the older puppy bitch for best puppy bitch, but the winning MPD puppy beat her for best puppy. The judge commented that she was beautiful in stance, but needs to focus on the move and come up on her front. A fair comment and we have observed that already. As Siska was coming out of the ring two men went straight over to Shonagh, they were concerned about her mouth ... We all looked .. OMG, no worries, it was Pink vet bed .. someone somewhere now has a hole in their vet bed! If you look closely you can see some of it on her teeth here.
So the next show is on Thursday .. then we have a three-week break. Orin's coat is really starting to fall out. He and Ross have had a bath and a blast today. Orin has a huge coat, so we'll see how he looks show by show... I won't show him naked, but if he's like Mikey and Louis I may still get away with it. Here's hoping.
