Footloose

A bad day at a dog show is always better than a good day at work. That is how yesterday and today went with a little action adventure thrown in the mix.


Yesterday I was waiting for Ridgebacks to go in after Borzois when a man walks up and asks me if I own a dog named Raimi.

Your heart ever stop?

Apparently when I left Raimi in his expen with a roof and 8" pegs securing it to the ground I was committing the Cardinal Raimi Rule sin. That is: Never leave Raimi alone in an ex-pen while you walk away with another dog.

As I had walked away I could hear him barking. The barking stopped after a few minutes. All was well, or so I thought. This nice man tells me that Raimi was caught in the agility area while looking for me. Raimi, had he used his nose instead of his brain (which we all knew wouldn't end well), he probably would have run right past where I was standing watching the Borzoi. So when he got out he took a left instead of a right and found himself with the agility people.


Fortunately he is very friendly and his rescuer said he was pretty easy to catch and was now in a crate across the way from my tent and what did I want to do. Well, I had to go in the ring right away but figured I'd probably lose so wouldn't be long and then I'd go collect him.



All seemed well, I went in with Rory, promptly lost and then waited outside the ring for a minute when over the loud speaker comes "Would Raimi's Mom please come to the Show Secretary's table?" So off I went to collect my idiot.


There was Boy. Looking very alert and interested in all the goings on. Apparently the nice people needed their crate back. I said "You naughty Boy" and of course he went manic. While the manic joy was playing out Rifka's Mom ran up to me and said they need me for puppy. Well, that can't be right, we lost our class. What she meant was they needed me for Reserve ... which I missed because now I have a manic boy, and over-excited Rory, a person holding a lead who did not want to hold the lead of a manically over-joyed Boy(because he's very strong and she didn't seem to have much of a clue about holding a large breed who was manically excited) and she doesn't want to see me disappear with the lead. Not sure why - it's not as if I couldn't hang on to my dog, return the lead to the Show Sec. when I had everything under control and she could get it there. She was well meaning but just added to the confusion.


So finally we got it all sorted, she got her lead back and everyone is safe.

Today was the same except the Raimi adventure was confined to him barking in the truck while I showed Rory.

Rory needs to mature, grow into his legs and head and we'll see in a few months how he looks for his next show. I've no doubt he'll finish his championship but not as a puppy ... my dogs need time to grow up ... Raimi's not even grown up yet!

I'm not displeased with Rory; he lost his class each day to a structurally sound more mature puppy. Happily I saw this same puppy go on to get Winners Dog two out of the four days over a Open Class Male who already has his championship points. A nice win for a baby puppy and a good brag for his breeder!

Karma did very well getting Reserve Winners Bitch on Sunday (she lost the points to an already finished senior puppy bitch) which is gratifying as the bitch entry was 5 total - a nice showing for the girls. Adine - Karma's mom - hopes to handle her and I think it's an excellent idea! She will be much more relaxed and enjoy herself more with Mom at the end of the lead.

Lastly good luck to Rifka who is moving to British Columbia in a couple weeks and I'm sure she'll have a blast at the BC shows - keep the pictures coming! It was great seeing her and I'm excited to watch that pretty girl mature.