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!