Since it is May 1st today, I didn’t have a riding lesson (we’re all good old socialists here, after all), but what I did have was a dog show. After the last one, I was persuaded to handle the dog at the next one, so I’ve tried to practice a little on and off over the last month. Of course, he’s just recently had a bit of a stomach upset, so it was touch and go if we could make it. But the last 2-3 days he’s been his usual crazy self, so we decided to give it a try.
Compared to the last time, Ringo settled in more quickly, and when the time came to enter the ring I had even managed to practice a bit. Of course, I still got so nervous just then that I forgot a few time. He ran fine in the first circle, and I managed to sort of position him after that, but when the judge came to look him over he just wanted to jump up and lick him all over. Fortunately, the judge said that boxers are supposed to be that way. ;) Running back and forth worked so-so (a little better once I stuffed him full of chicken so he had to chew and run at the same time; that slowed him down), and then I forgot all about stacking him once more time for the final evaluation.
Still, this judge seemed to like him too:
Male puppy of very good type, Well-developed head, good neck. Adequately angled shoulders. For his age a well-developed body that could be longer. Normally angled hindquarters. Could have firmer elbows. Excellent temperament.
Result: BIR-Valp, HP, BIG-Valp-4
Since it was just him in the boxer puppy class, he once again won the breed puppy group (and received another HP or “Prize of Honour”) and went through to the group 2 puppy final. We decided to stick around for it (though it ended up taking quite a while) and I was very pleased with how he ended up behaving in the ring when in there with other dogs. He even stood around fairly nicely for a while, though apparently (or so Elio tells me) I missed lining him up properly just as the judge was looking at him to decide the next placement. In the end, he got a 4th place (out of six puppies in total, I believe) in the puppy final. Pretty decent, I think.
Next time, its an official show, and he’ll be just old enough to be entered into the junior class, which means official results will be reported in to the kennel club. I better practice lots during May. ;)