Just like her mother Wasabi, she tends to muck it up every chance she gets so that just so 'do, well isn't so in place any longer but that's okay!
---
I left home at 5:40am yesterday and drove 2 hours to get to the dog show in Woodstock, Ontario. It is an outdoor show under a large tent reminiscent of a circus tent. The judging tables and such were under the tent, the actual rings in which we competed were outside exposed to the elements. Rain was forecast. The temperature was easily 33 Celsius (in the 90's Fahrenheit) by 9am.
Upon arrival I laid down the outdoor carpet and then erected the pop up tent just like everyone else not in a motor home. The tent provided protection from the sun and the rain, as required. I also brought along an 8-sided plastic x-pen for my Spicy in which she could relax while I dealt with the rest. Once the tent was up out came the grooming table and ring side table followed by the grooming kit. With minutes to spare Spicy and I made it to the Ring to compete against five other Havanese. Wait, I forgot to mention that the last thing Darlah did last night before bed was bath and groom Spicy for her show the next day. I mention all this just to illustrate the nature of those of us that compete, that spend hours bathing and grooming, loading the van, driving hours to the site, setting up at the site, preparing the dog yet again and then entering the ring. And if, like I did yesterday, you lose right out of the gate, your day is done just like that. It can be discouraging especially when you and I know that Spicy is a wonderful example of the breed that is going to grow into an awesome classic Havanese. It's worse when I think of all the effort Darlah put into getting her ready, all the handling classes we've attended, all the training and practice that got her ready to walk into the ring. I didn't start doing this yesterday. Spicy and I know what we are doing in the ring together. But yesterday, we lost, just like that.
Today, we got up and did it all over again. As the Havanese weren't in the ring until later Darlah bathed Spicy and made her ready for the show ring first thing this morning. I left for the show at 7am. Upon arrival we repeated everything from the day before. Today's Judge was Mr. Ed Bivin. It was the second time I'd had the pleasure of showing a dog to him. The first time was two years ago at the US National Specialty in Chicago. Treasure was a puppy at the time and this was our first US dog show. There were over 200 Havanese at this show. It was incredible. Treasure was entered in a class of 14 senior puppies, ages 9-12 months. She made the cut and placed 5th. I was very proud of her. I was also very impressed with Mr. Bivin's control of the ring. It is one thing to judge a half a dozen Havanese as he did today. It was another thing entirely to be good enough to handle a couple of hundred. And, believe me, he was good enough. He knows how to judge and he knows his dogs. I entered the Woodstock show just to get the chance to show him Spicy. It reminds me of the more historical justification for dog shows; showing your lines and your breeding stock to other potential breeders while they did the same to you. In today's modern high technology society we've lost a bit of that but today I wanted Mr. Bivin to evaluate Spicy based on his knowledge and experience of the breed, which is, as I mentioned, significant.
To get a point towards her championship I had to beat the other entry into the Bred By category. I entered the Bred By category on purpose, instead of entering her as a Junior Puppy which she is. I wanted to make it clear that Spicy was our own breeding, a Talemaker Havanese, so that I would be judged accordingly. Mr. Bivin did not disappoint. Spicy and I went around the ring with the other Bred By entry, a nice bitch expertly showed by Corinne Kolzow up from Chicago for this show. Spicy has always walked the walk. She moves quite nicely, as does Corinne's little girl. The Judge watches their movement from the side view. Then Spicy went up onto the table to be examined. She stood exactly as she had been trained, her tail wagging gently. The Judge runs his hands all over her body checking the structure, measuring the distances, all part of the breed standard. Then we were asked to walk her down and back so that he could evaluate her movement from dead on. Then we waited to the side while the other pup was examined. Then, unexpectedly, he asked me to place Spicy on the table again and checked her again paying particular attention to her length of body and rear. Unlike yesterday, when Corinne and her pup beat us, today Mr. Bivin judged that Spicy was the better bitch and awarded us best in Bred By. That meant we weren't done yet.
Spicy and I went back into the ring to compete for Breed. This time the campaigning "specials" were in the ring as well as the Winners Dog and Spicy who was Winner's Bitch. They all repeated what we had already done and I remind you that it was well into the 90's, sun shining brightly. For those of you really paying attention remember that I am still putting drops in my eye every two hours and the light doesn't help. Mr. Bivin was thoughtful and considerate enough to have us do our down and back under the tent rather than out into the sun. He was thinking of the dogs and we all appreciated it. When all the dogs had been examined we were all lined up in a row in the stack position. Spicy does a nice natural stack and I keep her attention focused on me until the Judge comes close at which time she will quite often glance at the judge and start wagging her tail. One of the campaigning specials won breed, as expected. And Spicy won Best of winners, Best of Opposites and Best Puppy for her second point of the day. It was very gratifying and made all of it worthwhile just like that.
Then, we waited to compete in Puppy Group. First the rest of the breeds in the Group had to be judged and finally the Group is judged. Probably 90 minutes or more after we'd been in the ring the Toy Group was judged. The challenge for 90 minutes is preventing Spicy from overheating and getting bored out of her mind. It can get interesting and it was very hot. After the Toy Group is judged, the best puppy from each breed in the group also compete against each other for best puppy, unless one of the breed winners competing for Group is in fact a puppy and places or wins the Group. As a puppy winning group they would automatically win best puppy. That is exactly what happened today so Spicy didn't get a chance to compete against the other puppies. There will be a next time.
It took maybe ten minutes to take down the tent and pack away all the rest of leave. We arrived back in Toronto just in time to deal with rush hour. Finally, we arrived home just after 6pm exhausted but satisfied. It was a pleasure being judged by Mr. Bivin and a thrill to achieve Best of Winners.
Until next time ...
Nathan