Canada - Long Sault 2011 Day 4

August 29, 2011. The last day of a long 4 day circuit. The rain ended and it was another beautiful day. Daisy was really starting to get the hang of showing but she does need to mature a bit. I’m glad she was able to get so much ring time so I could assess where she was.

Waiting to go into the ring with the kids.

I thought Daisy was going to kiss the judge.

Daisy is so relaxed in the ring by the last day she’s napping.

Sawyer is really getting his head up and looking good.

All in all it was a great trip. It’s a beautiful site and always a lot of fun. Now, back to the US!

Canada - Long Sault 2011 Day 3

August 28, 2011. Show day 3 in Canada. Today was a bit cooler and the forecast was for rain. I guess hurricane Irene was making her way north after all.

We started the day with the Pointing Dog Specialty. Daisy was in the puppy sweeps and took 3rd out of 4…yeah, we finally had some success. I think the judge liked her stacked but was amused by her long legs and the impact on her movement.

We were able to watch Pat and Kevin before the rain started.
Alice and Halle looked great in the ring but Alice took the breed today. She is the more experienced show girl.

Since it poured the whole day, it was not appropriate to have the camera out so we didn’t get any other pictures. Sawyer whacked his back on the RV closet door the night before and I could feel the impact on his movement. I’m sure the damp weather didn’t help. So no ribbons for Sawyer today but we're still riding high on the specialty win so that's ok. 



Canada - Long Sault 2011 Day 2

August 27, 2011. Day two in Canada. Today we had the all breed show and the Weimaraner Association of Canada (WAC) specialty. We started with the all breed show in the morning.

The more Daisy is showing the better she’s getting, at least with the stacking.

Sawyer showed well.

Prada went Winner’s Bitch and Dude was Best of Breed for this time.

Next up was the WAC Specialty. Daisy was in the puppy sweepstakes.

She was fine during the puppy sweeps.

Then the regular classes started. We were waiting outside the ring for our turn and when the judge approached the table to write in her book, Daisy started barking at her. I knew right then that we were going to have a problem. I’m not sure why but for some reason Daisy was not comfortable with the judge. Our first go around she turned her head to keep her eye on the judge the whole time. We certainly tried and the judge, Rita Walker, was extremely gracious giving Daisy food and trying to make it a good experience. She took the food but wanted no part of the exam. We excused ourselves and the judge had us go one more time around on our way out. Daisy was completely fine for the rest of the day and the weekend of shows.

We did capture the experience so we can laugh about it now.

For the Weim specialty, long hairs and short hairs show in the same class. Prada was in the Open class with the only long hair entered in the show.

Prada ended up going Winners Bitch.

Luckily Sawyer had no problems with the judge and showed wonderfully.

We were thrilled that the judge selected Sawyer as Best in Breed at the Specialty!! He got a huge rosette and a beautiful painting.

In Canada you can see your show photos that day and order them. Usually you can get the photo the next day but of course I took a day to decide which one I wanted and then they were too backlogged to print photos so I have to wait for them to mail the picture from Canada. It did turn out nice so I can’t wait to get it.


Our set up was in the overflow area since there were no camp sites available. Everyone in this area was hooked up to a large generator. They had this set up so I had to get a picture of this since I can’t imagine this happening in the US.

Canada - Long Sault 2011 Day 1

August 26, 2011. We started a four day circuit in Long Sault, Canada. There are lots of showing opportunities with four all breed shows and two specialties. Daisy made she debut here. She’s only 7 months old as is still growing into those long legs of hers. She didn’t do too bad her first time in the ring but I obviously need for her to mature a little before entering lots of shows.

Pat and Kevin were also up in Canada so we got to see them at the shows each day. They were the only two Tibbies entered so at least one of their own dogs was getting a point each day.

Carol was also in Canada with her puppy Loui. Daisy and Loui played together in May at Nationals.

I think I remember you, but you look bigger.

Oh yeah, I remember how much fun we had! 

Who's mouth is bigger? 



Dude is wondering what those stupid kids are doing.



Sawyer and Daisy hung out together in the expen enjoying the beautiful weather.

I felt slightly guilty enjoying the gorgeous weather as everyone at home was preparing for hurricane Irene.

There was a match show in the evening so I entered Daisy to work on her movement. I tried a different collar but that seemed to be worse. Oh well, we’ll have to experiment until we get it right.

Harrisburg Day 3 - rain but no floods

August 14, 2011. Day 3 of Harrisburg. After the traffic issue yesterday, Pat and I left earlier even though our ring times were later. This was day three of conformation and another try at Novice obedience. The breed ring was first again and today we did take the Breed!



Then we literally ran to obedience. This time we were there before our start time so we didn’t have to move our run order, but we were up first. That’s nerve wracking because I like to watch a couple of teams do the heeling pattern so I’m more familiar with it.

Sawyer’s heeling wasn’t as good today but he stayed with me for the most part.

And he's always excited to get back to me during the recall.

We had to wait for half the class to finish before they did the first set of stays. Since Sawyer was first he was first up, he was also first in line for stays so there was only one dog next to him again. There didn’t seem to be as many dogs that qualified who were in for the stays so there was a little more room.



Sawyer seemed more relaxed today and was not panting. Perhaps I was slightly more relaxed and that affected him?



He made it through the sit and down stays without a problem and we were thrilled to have another qualifying leg. We had to wait for the second half of the class to get our score and ribbons. As it turned out Sawyer got a better score than yesterday and another 3rd place finish!



Two down and one more to go for his CD title. This judge, Barbara Doering was also extremely nice and we would definitely enter under her again.

While we waited for Tibbie judging to start, Aunt Pat was like the paparazzi with Sawyer. She thinks he’s so handsome so was taking lots of pictures of him.

Ok, Aunt Pat that’s enough now.

Breed ring plus obedience makes Sawyer a very tired boy.

Pat talked me into getting Sawyer’s picture taken yesterday so we went to pick up the photo today. He is a handsome man!

Next up was Tibbies. Pat didn’t get the major she needed on Halle but Alice took the Breed. Now we both needed to wait for the groups. Non-Sporting was first, then Sporting. Sawyer didn’t get any placements but there were lots of professional handlers in the ring and the competition is tough.

Is Sawyer hiding from the camera?

He showed well and that's all I ever ask for.

Harrisburg shows, without the flood

August 13, 2011.  Today was the second day of a three day circuit in Harrisburg, PA.  On the first day I went by myself, Sawyer won the Breed and we stayed all day waiting for the group.  My friend Pat and I were carpooling to the shows together for the next two days of the circuit.  We were a few miles from the show site on Saturday when the traffic just stopped.  Panicking that we’d be late for Pat’s ring time, I programmed the GPS to avoid that road and we got off the next exit to make our way around to the show site.  Unbeknownst to us, all the judging times were delayed by 30 minutes because of all the road issues.  Pat made it to her ring time with Halle and John Henry.  Weims were on a little later.  Sawyer showed well but no Breed for us today. 

As soon as we were done we rushed over to the obedience ring.  I had already alerted the ring steward to a possible conflict and the judge gave us permission to move to the end of the run order.  I always say I’m not going to do conformation and obedience on the same day because it’s very stressful to try to manage the conflicts and run from one ring to another.  And of course the rings are always at the opposite ends of the show site.  We did make it over there with some time to spare.  Obedience makes me very nervous, especially the stay exercises.  Sawyer did pretty well on all his exercises. 

He stayed with me on the heeling patterns.

I thought he was going to kiss the judge on the stand for exam.

When we got to the stays I was happy we were on the end because then there’s only one other dog next to Sawyer and we’re not sandwiched in-between dogs.  He did the sit stay but it was obvious he was stressed and panting, which made me even more nervous.  The dog next to him had gotten up but Sawyer stayed.  That dog was excuses so he had a little more room for the down stay. 

The down stay started, I just had to stand across from him and pray that he lasted the full 3 minutes.  And he did!!  What a good boy.  I was thrilled when the judge told us we had qualified.  This was our first Q!  The judge, Betty Brask, was extremely nice.  She came over to me after the stays and asked if I was ok because I was so pale.  I explained the nerves and that this was our first passing leg so she gave me a big hug. 

Way to go Soy Beans!

After all the scores were totaled we went into the ring with the other teams to get our qualifying ribbon.  We didn’t get a placement but that was ok, the main goal was to pass. 

When I asked for our score, it turned out it wasn’t tallied.  When they did the math it turned out that Sawyer actually took 3^rd place.  Unfortunately the judge had to get the ribbons back from the other teams so we could get our 3^rd place ribbon and $10 in vendor bucks. 

I smiled like this for the rest of the day!