So, today we had another show. A big, national all-breed show about an hour away from where we live. Despite the size of the show, however, with some 1200 dogs both Saturday and Sunday, there were only 5 boxers entered. We knew this in advance, and we also knew that boxers were going first in their ring and Ringo was going first of the boxers. So, it could be either a very short day or a fairly long one. As it turned out, it ended up being a long one, but not for the right reasons. Which, in this too darned hot weather (I am burned to a crisp in places, despite putting on lots of sunlotion and trying to stay in the shade) wasn’t all that welcome.
The bad luck for the day was preceded by an omen: Ringo peed on Elio’s leg. Not on purpose (he was distracted by other dogs and moving around while peeing, and ended up spraying it a little too widely), but still. Not the best start. Not for Elio, anyway. ;)
We then got over to our ring, and just before we were ready to go in, some announcements were broadcast over the area with a loudspeaker system. Ringo found this very curious and gave off a few low ‘woofs’ in warning. But he didn’t seem unsettled, not precisely. However, as we got into the ring, more announcements were read, and now it seems he suddenly decided this was an unpleasant sound. So, with the ring facing such a way that I had to run with him towards the sound, we were so out of luck. All he wanted to do was run the other way. Either because the sound scared him, or because he wanted to get back to my dad (it could also be both, I guess, if he feels that my dad is ‘safety’). Over the last weeks, he’s suddenly turned incredibly focused on him, so much so that he won’t go for walks with anyone else. It may be a hormonal thing, but whatever it is, its highly annoying.
And today, it was more than annoying. It was disastrous. I’ve worked on his running and his posing over these last weeks, and for the last few days he’s done very well. Now, all that was out of his head. He just wanted to leave the ring, and believe me, so did I. The judge was an internationally well-known judge who has judged numerous prestigious international boxer shows. Unlike most Swedish judges (dog shows are far more casual here than in other countries), he was decked out in a fine suit, and he seemed to have very little patience with unruly dogs. Well, he did allow me to run the other way, to give me a better chance to show off Ringo’s movements, but I don’t think he was too impressed otherwise. Certainly, the result was pretty abysmal compared to what we’ve had at other shows:
Nine month, medium-sized dog. Brindle with dark mask. Typical head, narrow skull, not enough height. The eyes should be rounder. Correct bite, correct topline, square build. Nice angulations and croup. Movement is ok. Needs ring-training.
Result: JUNKL-2.
The critique isn’t horrible, I suppose. Lukewarm, I guess one could say, and the faults he found (the head and the eyes) seemed a bit peculiar to me. I looked at the other dogs in the class, and I could not see how Ringo differed from them at all in terms of height of his head. I suspect this judge is used to judging crop-eared boxers, which gives the illusion of a more domed head. I also can’t quite agree with his evaluation of the eyes. It was nearly 30 degrees warm and Ringo was stressed and panting, which made his eyes look a lot more squished and narrow than they normally do. Still, I do suspect that the 2 (which means he was judged as a ‘good’ rather than a ‘very good’ breeding result) had a lot to do with the fact that he showed himself off abysmally.
Nothing the judge could affect, of course, and he had to judge what he saw, but it really ticked me off that the announcement happened just as we were doing our thing and then it was quiet for the rest of the boxers. Plus, our ring was one of only a few where you could hear the sound very well. So if the sound was the deciding factor for his behaviour, we really got unlucky.
The bad luck didn’t end there. Before we went into the ring, we had promised to stay around until around 2 pm since they needed five boxers to do a sort of final test for a judge aiming to become an accredited boxer judge. After the little disaster in the ring, I really wanted to leave. I felt bad because I had had to make Ringo stay in the ring when he was upset, because I hate messing up in public and because I hate losing. Being around a lot of people while my nerves are unravelling is not a good idea for me. But I managed to calm down and we stayed since we had said we would.
And then one of the others didn’t show up, so we had to cancel anyway, because they needed a minimum of five dogs. Arrrgh! So now I sit here with a sunburn and a headache and without a pesky ribbon. Fortunately, Ringo doesn’t seem to care, and he did end up hearing that sound at a close range later on and didn’t really react. So, that’s something, at least. Now we just need to get to work on getting him used to fireworks and gunshots. He doesn’t care about helicopters right over his head, but booms and bangs are not a favourite.