What a weekend! Now that we are home in the A/C, life is much better! It was HOT, HOT, HOT up in Greeley! Exhausting for us and the dogs, we still managed to beat the heat with some great wins.
Friday night, the Mile High Sporting Dog Fanciers were holding their first A match. Since we are members, we figured the least we could do was enter. This left Jenny to do the handling…and she is a Nervous Nelly in the ring! But judge Shelly Marx was super nice and helped Jenny improve her skills and relax! Karma’s handsome cousin, Gunner, was selected for Breed and then Mrs. Marx pulled out Jenny and Karma for BOS! Woo-hoo! Another pink ribbon 🙂
Saturday, it was down to business, Karma would be competing in conformation and Indy and Jenny were trying out Rally for the first time. First up was Indy in his Rally Novice B Class Debut. I guess now would be the time to explain a few things. Indy has only taken one Rally class and it was this past Monday. Jenny had been working on all the basics with him at home, and had seen a Rally competition at the Specialty we went to in Minnesota. When we were out in California, Jamie (Tok’s breeder) was raving about how fun Rally is, so Jenny thought, “How hard could it be?” Ha. At the drop in Rally class, the instructor’s face turned white when she found out Indy was entered this weekend. Yeah, Indy does great, but Mom…not quite a pro handler. And since Jenny doesn’t technically own Indy, she couldn’t enter the “A” class with all the other beginner-beginners. But, the entry was paid, it didn’t interfere with watching Karma, Tok, or Stoli, so we rolled the dice! Imagine our concern when the Rally ring was housed with grooming (read: HAIRDRYERS). Quick soapbox: All you single Dads out there, please, please socialize your puppy to a hairdryer and a vacuum. This isn’t something Marc did when Indy was a pup, and now Indy HATES both of those things. Anyway…we walk in and there are about 8 hairdryers going, we saw 4 female dogs in heat, and Indy decided the concrete wasn’t comfortable enough to do a sit!!! It made for an interesting run. But, we lucked out and were paired with the NICEST Rally judge ever, or at least in our two days of Rally we think so 🙂 Mr. Rick Garvin, was super nice, didn’t make a super difficult course, and gave the dogs the best opportunity to pass. So Mom and Indy headed in, and walked out with a GREEN QUALIFYING RIBBON!!!! Jenny noted the many things she needs to work on and walked around with a huge smile on her face for the rest of the day! Thank you Mr. Garvin!!
Then it was time for conformation, and our little Karmalita was up first, handled by….Daddy Marc! Marc had a great time handling Karma in Buckhorn and wanted to try his hand at it again. So the lead was passed over and Marc took her in the 12-18 month class. Karma was a little wiggly, as our happy girl can be, but her movement with Daddy was great as evidenced by the photo above. But she wasn’t quite the Judge’s cup of tea, so she walked out with a 3rd place yellow ribbon…at least it matched Marc’s tie!
After the Vizslas were done showing, Marc, Jenny, Indy, Karma, and Schmav headed over to the Koprowski’s hanger to let Zeke and Karma burn off some steam together. Little did we know that the big hit of the day would be Schmav! Puppy Newt is just his size, and thought he was the coolest thing ever! Karma, Zeke, and Indy didn’t do as much zooming as normal since it was so hot, but boy did Newt pounce after Schmav! Too cute!
Sunday, Karma and Marc improved, earning 2nd place in her class 🙂 Indy and Jenny didn’t do so hot in Rally. The course today was about 10 times more difficult than the one yesterday. Then to make matters worse, Indy caught sight of Marc while he and Jenny were working the course. While Indy did his spiral, Marc took the opportunity to hide since he knew Indy had seen him. Indy finished his spiral and then when he glanced back over…Daddy was gone!!! Oh no!! Then began a roo-roo/bark serenade at the top of his lungs. He was in a sit when he was rooing and the Judge couldn’t help but laugh. Indy finished the course, but it wasn’t pretty…tight leash as he pulled towards the exit anytime he saw it, more serenading, and a general urgency to leave the ring. The Judge kindly suggested we keep Dad away from the ring next time 🙂 Will do. But the qualify on Saturday was more than we could have asked for and we are thrilled with how the weekend turned out! We both handled and had a great time!