Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Fifth Element

I best start with the end of the weekend and work backwards because today was the most significant day.

Introducing ... New Canadian Champion Invictus The Fifth Element! My darling Bubbalicious took Best of Winners both days to complete her Canadian Championship. No show photo as yet but here we see her at the end of the line, with me, in the Best of Winners position waiting to get our ribbons and crown Leeloo a new Champion. Special thanks to my Dad for taking the photos of this wonderful moment!

So much blood sweat and tears goes into getting that purple(Winners) or yellow and purple(Best of Winners) ribbon. No money, no prizes, no glory ... just ... bits of fabric. But oh what beautiful bits of fabric they are because they add up to a new title on a gorgeous dog. This is me with Leeloo in Winners Bitch stacking her for the judge's exam. We were the only class bitch entry so unless I could pull off Best of Winners we'd come away with no points.
Not to forget little Archer of course ... he had a semi-successful weekend. On Saturday I was a bit rushed for time and ended up pretty much just taking him straight into the ring without any practice to get is brain in gear and he was a total knob. Today I took some time to practice and get him settled and he showed like a dream. Here he is in Winners Dog today and what do you know? He won for another point!

This left us in a bit of a dilemma since I knew Leeloo would show okay with my mom and Archer, a momma's boy, would not show well if she took him. So what did I do? I gave my mom Archer of course so Leeloo would win! He wasn't too bad but he kept trying to turn around and look at me and Leeloo.  Here we are in the Breed ring with Archer and my mom in front and me and Leeloo behind. Archer doesn't look too stricken right?  
Okay, if you look close Archer does appear a little stricken in this photo! He is quite tense and unsure what's going on. My mom did great though showing a sucky-boy Ridgeback and I want to thank her *very* much for dragging him in there! The dog ahead of him is Sissy who took Best of Breed and me in back with Leeloo. 
In all it was a surprisingly successful weekend and one I actually expected to come away from with little more than experience for Archer. Leeloo hasn't beaten The Boys before so I was a bit surprised on Saturday, I even looked over to my Dad and some friends watching and said "Did I win?" after the judge pointed to me for Best of Winners! I once had a judge tell me that when you win don't look surprised because you should always go in believing you have a good dog. Today of course I felt sure Leeloo would finish after Archer won because I knew if he didn't behave the judge would give it to Leeloo (although I hate to force a judge's hand like that!) In the end we have a New Champion Leeloo and Archer on 2 points ... and everyone is now comatose on the couch! Just where they belong!

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