Tory @ Sammamish Kennel Club

Tory earned his second Novice leg on Saturday, January 14, at Sammamish KC in Puyallup.  He earned 1st place with a score of 197.5 under Judge David Maurer.   The stays were particularly challenging (but they are not on the video) because the Collie next to Tory got up and ran to the ring exit.  Tory was the last dog on the end, closest to the ring exit.  The Collie's owner followed the dog, along with ring stewards.  A lot of close activity that Tory did a great job of ignoring!  Thanks to Ingrida for video taping!   Thanks to Judy for going in the ring to get our award because I was showing Breeze at the time the class ended!

Five hours later Tory went in the Beginner Novice B ring and earned another 1st place with a score of 197+ (winner of the run-off) under Judge Chris Cornell.   Thanks to Ingrida for video taping!

Unfortunately the weather and breed ring conflicts prevented me from showing Tory in obedience the next two days at Puyallup.   Oh well, we'll have more opportunities to finish our CD & BN in the future!



Snow Breeze

We ended up with about six inches of snow at my house today.  When I finally pushed the patio gate open to let the dogs out in the big yard, Breeze took off.   Then she discovered one of her buried basketballs -- much to her delight!   (I have no idea where the background noise is coming from in the video.  It sounds like my teeth are chattering, or there's a woodpecker on my shoulder.  Hmmmm!)

We braved the weather this past Saturday & Sunday to make our conformation "debut" at the Puyallup Dog Shows.   When we first arrived Friday afternoon to set up and walk around, she was a bit taken aback by the vendors' dogs in x-pens misbehaving and acting aggressively towards her.  But she recovered quickly and was thrilled to meet a young boy who reminded her of Spencer!

The grooming area was hectic, as usual, but she took it all in stride.  Although she didn't do anything beyond blue ribbons, I was thrilled with how she showed.  She was up and happy and playful outside the ring, but inside she settled down, gaited, stacked and held still for the judges.  At the end of the down & back she was happy to bait off and schmooze the judges, both of whom commented on how "happy" she was.   When a puppy starts its conformation career, all I ask for is happy and relaxed. 

Going into the show building one day, a clueless and obviously non-dog person opened the door, stepped out and immediately pointed her umbrella at Breeze and popped it in her face -- about 3 feet away.  Just like a puppy temperament test!   Breeze growled and jumped backwards, then immediately recovered as I chastised the woman for popping an umbrella in a dog's face!

The one day I was able to show Tory in obedience he delighted me with a 197.5 to win Novice B and a 197+ (we won a run-off at 5 pm after arriving at 6 am) in Beginner Novice B.   Here's Tory, pictured above, before the snow got deep.  In his opinion, it's never too cold or too snowy or too anything to play Frisbee!

While I was at the dog show with the big Belgians, Journey (my 14.5 yr old Schipperke) had a vacation at Auntie Alda's house.  Here he is curled up on the bed with Anka Cat, Alda's kitten who "adopted" Journey and really enjoyed having a small dog around the house.  (As opposed to Alda's two Belgian Sheepdogs.)