Having just finished up at the ARC National Specialty in Greeley, CO, we've started our tour of Colorado, the Rockies and are in the planning stage for our return home via a Southern route. The show went well -- lots of shots, lots of great people we hadn't seen in over a year, lots of late nights processing and little sleep overall. We had a blast!
We traveled with Max, a Rowdy son who was showing on the "big stage" for the first time and Sundance our boy who was traveling to a big show for the first time as well. Both boys were absolutely wonderful. They handled the time in the van without complaint; they met many wonderful people and, especially, children and made some very positive impressions for a breed that is often misunderstood. Of course, these are two very special boys so we were not at all surprised and we explained to people that not all Rotties were like those two boys but that many were. We were very proud of them.
Max showed for the first time on Wednesday in Carting and he and I managed to handle the course well enough to be in line for a qualifying score. Then there was the 3-minute down/stay with 5 other dogs. Max had a pefect 2 minute 45 second down/stay! The two boys on either side kept staring at him and it was his first down/stay in "clutter" with other dogs and he just finally got to the point where he had to stand up and show them how big he is. He never showed any aggression and never said a word but standing up during the stay is a DQ. Despite the DQ, we were very proud of him. Sundance was supposed to show in Carting as well, but when his time to perform came up, I was inside taking pics of the Futurity Winners. Linda wanted to take him in but was concerned about how he would handle the down/stay without me there. So we scrubbed Sundance's debut in the working category. He'll have his chances after we get home.
On Thursday, Max showed in the Open Dog class and made the cut and finished overall in 5th place -- out of the ribbons but still an outstanding placement for a dog that hadn't shown until late January of this year. Here's a shot of Max in the ring with his handler Kimm McDowell.
And another of him moving around the National's HUGE ring. He showed perfectly and we could not be more proud of him.
Max also showed in the Sieger Show (German-style) on Sunday in cold, gusty, rainy conditions and did very well under a judge for whom he was not exactly the right style. He again placed 5th in a large class and received an SG (Very Good) Rating and a very complimentary critique.
Yesterday, both boys ran in the snow in Rocky Mountain National Park and Sundance ate the snowballs I threw at him
. Max thinks Sundance is kinda silly but still likes him. Today, we're off on our trek to the Southwest corner of the state to see the Anastazi ruins. I may not have internet again until later in the trip but I wanted to share Max's experience with all of you.
Jim