Stubbylee Blog

A busy weekend of showing with Driffield today and Burnley & District yesterday. It was a big day as Andrew was taking Leo to his first show. There were no breed classes just AV but it would be good experience for his first show. We took Magic for company and more experience for her and Diva as there was a qualifying heat of the KC Junior Warrant Stakes.

First in was Magic who went really nicely to be placed 4th in AV NSC Puppy and then it was Diva in AVNSC Open. Diva was pulled out second but then some woman with a Keeshound who was placed third somehow managed to get herself into 2nd. Liz didn’t say anything until afterwards when quite a few people said she was placed 2nd. By then though rosettes had been awarded and when queried with the judge he said 3rd - but there was to be revenge - more on that later. Liz & I were forced to leave the hall whilst Andrew went in with Leo, otherwise he has a tendancy to look for us and Magic. Leo went really well to win his class and then went on to Reserve Best Puppy in Show - not bad for first time out. Then it was on to the KC JW Stakes with Diva and the Keeshound and 17 others. The judge pulls out 5 dogs to qualify plus one reserve. Diva made one of the 5 but the Keeshound was only reserve. Revenge is sweet.

Today was Driffield and Leo’s first Championship show with 130 Border Collies. Andrew was thrilled to win his class and qualify for Crufts to complete a fantastic weekend for him. The Collie people were so friendly towards Andrew and made very nice comments about Leo. After spending all his life with Borzoi the tables have now turned and we have to go and cheer the pair of them on….certainly no hardship, we are very proud of them both.

Magic thoroughly enjoyed herself in the ring and behaved with some decorum despite  Leo occasionally barking encouragement! At home they are always together, eating, playing or sleeping and have a fantastic relationship. I am sure that he was very proud to watch his girlfriend win Best Puppy.

I went into our local Morrison’s supermarket on Saturday and there next to the quick checkout were advent calendars

 September 13th and they’ve got advent calendars on display

I haven’t even had my Summer holidays yet and they’ve got bloody advent calendars

Not only that some of the calendars had 32 days - where has that one come from? 30 days hath September, April, June & November all the rest have 31 except February with 28 - oh yes and some advent calendars with 32.

Bloody prodcut merchandising. Why not take it to the logical conclusion; lets have 364 day advent calendars where we can start the countdown to the next Christmas on Boxing Day.

After a break during August its back to dog shows again starting last week with a trip to South West Hound where Liz was judging borzoi. I’d volunteered to steward for her but also did the rest of the breeds in her ring; Deerhounds, Irish Wolfhounds and - completely different - bloodhounds. The show was held at an auction mart with plenty of good facilities and a pleasant welcome from the committee. The only blight on the day for the show was the presence of a KC Field Officer.  From experience there seems to be two types of Field Officer, those that see their role as helping Societies make their shows better and run efficiently and then there’s those who seem determined to pick fault in the minutest detail. Unfortunately this one was the second type.

Yesterday we went to Darlington with the Diva, Rush and Magic.

What a quagmire.

It stayed fine for most of the day but there was mud everywhere, lakes were forming in parts of the showground - even some of the rings. You could see a track of mud developing in rings where dogs had been moved round. Outside the Secretary’s office was a sea of mud despite the woodchip that had been put down and great gouges where tractors had moved around. The tractors were kept busy towing vehicles off the showground, some had simply sunk and bogged down where they were parked.

Despite it all the Committee did their best to ensure the show ran as smoothly as possible and should be congratulated - as I said to the Treasurer when I collected our stakes winnings I hope they are able to complete the show.  It was amazing how many people were complaining about everything as if the Society had made the ground like that on purpose. One thing I saw - not sure if its a definition of optimism or stupidity - was one woman walking through the mud wearing white jeans.

As for the showing the judge was a very pleasant & polite Australian. Rush & Diva both won Reserve Best of Sex with Magic winning Best Puppy. Diva & Rush were in the Portable Conveniences Open Stakes - what a great, glamorous title - both finishing second and winning £20 each and with some very nice words from the judge. In the puppy group Magic was unplaced but we didn’t expect anything when we saw who the judge was, his arrogant and brusque manner was the complete opposite to our breed judge or Mrs Chapman in the stakes. Some of these judges need to realise that even dogs at Champ shows deserve a bit of respect and consideration when they are being judged especially puppies - yanking their mouth open doesn’t do a great deal for a young dog’s confidence.  Judging quickly & efficiently doesn’t mean you have to be rough. You do suspect at times some judges think its all about them and see themselves as being far more important than the dogs being judged.