After a few days of resting my arms and hands, I am finally up to writing a report about our trip to this years Swedish Boxer Championships. Ok, maybe that’s a little bit of an exagerration, but I did get quite worn out by handling Ringo for a whole day around a lot of people and a lot of dogs.
It began with a very early start (we left at about 3.30 ... am), and while we didn’t stay for the whole thing we were still away until about 5 pm. By which time I was quite knackered. The weather was rather cold and windy for most of the day, and Ringo was not as well-behaved as he has been for most shows this year. Outside of the ring, he was pretty stress-free (but he was very excited to meet his brother again, and his brother’s ‘girlfriend’, aka the breeder’s gorgeous new puppy girl from Italy), but inside he was a bit of a handful. Not as bad as he has been in the past, but enough to up my heart rate quite a bit.
His class had 18 dogs signed up, but I think only 15 or 16 showed up. Still, it was enough that after an initial look at the dogs (mainly at their heads, it seems, as she walked up to each of them and got their attention to look at their expression), the judge decided to split us in two groups. Fortunately, the split was right before us, meaning we got to walk in first of the second group. With Ringo, the less you have to wait around, the better.
When it was our turn to come back in, we started with two laps around the ring. Since we didn’t have a dog straight in front of us, Ringo pulled a lot less than usual and did a pretty good run. Then, time for his individual evaluation. Teeth went pretty well, and the head-check too, but when she wanted to feel more along his back he had had enough and got frisky. He got uppity with me first, and then with her too. Ugh, I was certain we’d get sent out and maybe even reported for aggression, even though it was really just Ringo being uppity.
fortunately, Swedish judges are not as ... up-tight about behaviour as some foreign judges are, and she’s a boxer specialist and a boxer breeder. So, she sent us off to do our individual run. He fought with me at first, but I tried to take my time, and managed to distract him by dropping some candy (a bit of a lucky break, but I will keep that tactic in mind). Once he’d found it, he had forgotten about being a bad boy, and ran okay. She then checked him over again, and now it worked fine.
I waited very nervously while she finished up his report, and then when she came over to me I was certain it’d be a 2 rather than a 1, since she’d spoken to all the 2’s right off. But no, she told me he’d get his one, but it had been hanging by a thread. Not because of his looks, not at all, but because of his behaviour. She said she recognized it wasn’t aggression at all (whew), he was just being uppity, but still, he didn’t show himself to his advantage. I thanked her profusely and promised to work harder on it.
I was so relieved when we got out of that ring, and then it was good to see his brother also get a 1 right after him, since last year he had only gotten a 2. Then it was back to a bit of waiting, before we were called back in for the class placements. I tried to keep some of the advice from the handler class this spring in mind, such as walking into the ring with confidence. As a result, I have a hilarious photo of myself. ;P Not sure I will be posting that one, but some new pictures will be going up in the gallery soon.
In any case, into the ring we went, with the rest of the 1’s. I think (things kind of get a little fuzzy when you are in the ring) she started by saying she’d weed out a few more dogs. Talk about being nervous as she walked around the ring, and occasionally walked up to someone to thank them and send them off. When she came up to us, she took a look (fortunately, Ringo was posing nicely right now), then walked past us and (I think) weeded out his brother who was standing behind him. So, we had survived the first cut. Then she asked the remaining handlers to run their dogs another two laps. Despite being right behind another dog (well, okay, I was late to get started, I was being kind of ditzy, so we ended up with quite a gap ;P), Ringo ran okay. Again, I tried to keep some tips from the handling class in mind, to try to show off his run.
Not sure if that was what made the difference, but we made it past the next cut too (at least, I think there were two cuts ;P). That’s when I started looking around and counting how many dogs were left, and it seemed like around five ... which means we’d have a shot at placing in the class. Then it was time for a final good, hard look at the dogs, and again she concentrated on their heads. During the class before ours, she had narrowed it down to two dogs competing for the first place and then proceeded to explain why she she’d be placing one before the other. She had said she was a very head-focused judge, and she picked the dog with a less coarse head even though the other dog had a more fully developed body. This had certainly given me some hope early on, because some judges have called Ringo’s head a little small.
In the end, she placed us 5th, or Reserve as it is called. So, I guess I was right to get a little hopeful from her comments about the sort of heads she likes, and also by the fact that she decided to keep him in despite his behaviour. If he had shown himself perfectly (not just during the individual evaluation, but also by posing better—though he did fairly well—during the final showdown), perhaps we could have climbed a place or two higher. But I was certainly thrilled with this result. The critique was also very nice:
Very good type. Masculine head, good expression, dark eyes. Straight, somewhat slight underbite. Good neck and back. Harmonious anglulation front and back. Moves well.
Definitely worth the long trip, and the aching hands and arms. It was also great meeting up with his breeder and their dogs again. And it was kind of neat when they mentioned that they’ve actually had people inquire about him and his brother for breeding. Of course, first his hips and knees have to be X-rayed, which we will do this upcoming Monday. Then we’ll be waiting very nervously for the results for a couple of weeks.
Oh, but I almost forgot. Before we left, I actually got to show another dog. Ringo’s aunt, Riddles Petula Clark, or “Tuja”. Unfortunately, we only managed a 2. I suspect the breeder would have done better with her, being more used to masking flaws (such as a slightly too curly tail), but it was fun to get the chance. It was rather amazing to feel what a difference it is to have a dainty little bitch at the other end of the leash instead of a big, buff boy. But for me, boxers are a very masculine breed, and I must admit to finding the boys better-looking for the most part. But also a lot more troublesome. ;P