Some Notes from January ... or The Winning Weekend

January 24-25 was the Erie Kennel Club Shows and Larry's third outing as a "special."

On Saturday, he was pretty bouncy, but settled down enough to get Select (for his first major) and OH BOB. There were three group competitions (regular, BBE and OH) and I was a bit confused as to which was going on where and wound up racing rather unprepared to the OH ring. It went so fast none of my friends made it over to see us show, but Larry settled down fairly quickly and took FIRST PLACE!!! Wow - a visit to the OH BIS ring. In the meantime, Sunny Bear won the regular herding group. Our new friend Robin helped us get ready for the BIS ring - it's amazing how much experienced people can do with very little, and how fast they can do it! Larry looked like a star as we headed into the ring. This was a pretty long day for the little guy, and I could see the minute he was done with all this hoopla. No misbehaving, just a bit of a droop in his demeanor and posture. The win went to the Norwegian Elkhound, but I was pretty impressed with how well Larry did. Then we all settled in to cheer for Sunny Bear, and it must have worked, because he won! First Pyrenean Shepherd to win a Best in Show and I got to be there to see it. What a great feeling!

Sunny Bear - BIS
(the ribbon is bigger than he is!)

Sunday came and Larry showed better than Saturday - settled in a bit faster - and again got Select and OH BOB. It was easier to keep track of the groups this time, although it did stall a couple times due to the judges not being available as expected (one of the breed rings ran over and threw everyone's timing off by about 10 minutes, which can feel like forever). We were in the ring behind our new friend Robin, who thought the judge was really looking at Larry, but it turned out she was really looking at her Collie who won the group. Larry got second place - still an awesome achievement for him!

In addition to all our successes, Sunny Bear got another group first, Huey and Clive finished their Championships and Jolie Fauvette finished her Grand Championship. It was an exciting weekend all the way around!

Let's Look Ahead

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential. ~ Ellen Goodman

So according to the above quote, I'm doing okay - Larry doesn't have any flaws to find (of course, and if you think any different, don't bother telling me, I won't believe you!). Potential, on the other hand, well he has acres and acres of that!!

So what would I like to see in this bright new year?

Enough Agility proficiency to compete and possibly title in at least the Novice levels

More work on competition level Obedience, a CGC, RN title and possibly BN as well

Grand Champion and Owner Handler points

An introduction to sheep

And all without getting so focused on the end results that I forget that we're doing this for fun! Wish us luck (and don't expect to see us at home on the weekends very much - this is quite a list!)

Happy New Year!

Let's Review ...

Larry's First Full Year!

Many, many things have happened over the year. He started with a lung injury, spending two nights in an oxygen crate and three weeks on crate rest. Wow! Lots of room for improvement after that, but Larry never let it get him down.

He made lots of friends and discovered the joys of snow

BFF Gordie

Klaus and Larry

He went to the Pyrenean Shepherd Nationals in Georgia 

and placed 2nd in the Puppy Herding Group

He made his official show debut in May at the LEAPSS specialty at the New Castle shows

He got his first major (3pts) at the Canfield cluster

Two majors (5 pts) and a BBE Group Placement at the Chagrin Valley Classic

 (and was disappointed to not be allowed to roll in the mud!)

And finished his Championship from the BBE class at Waseon

Then we took a little break from showing in conformation and took a Fido FUNdamentals class

And survived another Thanksgiving dinner

Then we went to Florida, where he met back up with his sister Genevieve (for about 30 seconds!)

and won a Best Bred by Exhibitor award

All in all a very busy year - and this doesn't include agility training, squirrel chasing, saving the insoles from the shoes that try to swallow them or rescuing socks from forced marriages!

What will 2015 bring? It's hard to say, but we'll try in another post. In the meantime we hope your holidays were happy and wish you well as we ring in a shiny new year full of hope and promise.