Monday, June 08, 2009

Howdy Y'all

Yep, in case you couldn't tell from the title of this post, I'm back in Texas. Houston, Texas to be precise. And it almost feels like being in hell, because it is SO hot. Wow. I went from a very wet and cold weekend (it never got above 13 degrees Celsius) to being in the middle of an inferno (34 Celsius). My body is freaked right out LOL

Anyhow, it was a good (if miserable weather-wise) weekend at the dog show. I drove to Edmonton on Thursday morning, making a stop at G&E Pharmacy to get DOG food. Yes, I checked the bag. And double and triple-checked it too. I also stopped at PetSmart to pick a few things up for a co-worker of my mom's, and then made my way to the show site.

Thursday night our club (the American Cocker Spaniel Club of Canada - Alberta Region) and the Midwest Cocker Club co-sponsored an obedience fun match. I was asked to judge the Novice class, and after a wee bit of confusion around start times, etc, had quite a lot of fun with it. Most of the dogs were pretty good, and the people seemed to enjoy themselves. There are always one or two people that feel like they've failed as trainers if their dogs aren't little robots, but otherwise people had a good time. As a thank you, I got a cute little bag with a picture of my Farley-boy on it, so I was happy.

Friday I ran Grace in Rally Obedience twice. In the first trial she did very nicely and earned a score of 95 (out of 100). I was very happy with that. In the second trial we had a slight miscommunication about the Call Front-Finish Left-Forward sign . . . she didn't feel that sitting in front was required, while I did. Still, we ended up with a 91. Respectable for sure. Friday night was a Puppy Sweeps for the ACSCC club, and Jack did very nicely, winning his class over a champion dog. I was thrilled with that.

Saturday was BUSY. We had three dogs to get ready for the ring (between my friend and I), and ring time was 10:30am. Jack won his class (again, over a champion dog), so everybody was quite pleased. For a dog with bad teeth, he did nicely. The cool part was showing Jackie's girl Tink (Rus Can Ch Freestyle Collection Perfect Pixie) to Best of Opposite Sex to Best of Breed. Not too shabby at all! It was nice to have a big win, even with somebody else's dog. Then I literally ran to the Rally O ring with Grace, where she earned a score of 95 to earn her Rally Novice (RN) title, High Scoring Cocker in Novice A award, and High Scoring Cocker in Rally Obedience (which isn't an official award, so we didn't actually get anything for it, but she DID have the highest score!). What a day!

Sunday was a bit quieter, with just two dogs to get ready, but we showed at 9am. UGH. That's early for dogs that need grooming like our breed dogs. Jack won his class, but was the only one. Still, it was nice to get a rosette to take home. No Rally O, so I didn't have to run between rings. I did have to pack my car and leave fairly quickly after the judging was done, though, since I had to get home.

Other than the miserable rain and wind and cold, it was a good weekend. We had fun, and everybody won something. Jack's sister Blush finished her championship with a BIG FAT 5 point win on Friday, taking Best of Winners and Best of Opposite Sex over several champions, and then Tink and Grace did their share of winning too.

Now I'm back in Houston for work . . . and really wishing I could just sleep in my own bed!

4 comments:

{Sarah} said...

Sounds like you had a good time at the show. Have fun in Texas, even if you are feeling like you might melt to the pavement!

Brenda said...

wow what a busy weekend! Way to go Grace and Jack Jack!!!!! Sounds like you all 3 had fun and brought back lots from the show :)

Unknown said...

Congratulations on a great weekend. Think of cooler temps and you'll survive Houston :)

Lyndarae said...

we had lots of fun spending money at the auction. That was a highlight for me. i was pretty warm with my insulated pants on. Crazy weather!