Wow, we thought Serena's 3 Baby Puppy of Groups were amazing last weekend in Gore. Not to be outdone by his daughter, the Benster upped the ante and took 3 out of 4 Reserve Best of Groups and all 4 Intermediate of Groups at the Waikouaiti and Forrest Park shows last weekend in Dunedin.
The weather was pretty awful, freezing winds in the morning, rain in the afternoons on Saturday, and then more cold winds on Sunday and finally, right at the end of the shows, sunny and delightful weather just in time to drive home.
Poor Serena had no hope of emulating last week's win. the grass was so thick and high she literally couldn't walk on it. She had to bound over it like a bunny. She had a great time and showed very well (4 Reserve Best Bitch and 4 Baby Puppy of Breeds), but the groups went to dogs with longer legs who could negotiate the thick grass without having to do any gymnastics, LOL.
Ava was funny this weekend and thoroughly unimpressed with the weather, She took all 4 Best Bitch and a Best of Breed and 3 Reserve of Breeds, but was knocked out by the Mighty Felix the Grand Champion Pom in the Group lineup.
Also making her away-team debut this weekend was our newest handler, Haley, who we have thoroughly corrupted (she swears she never wore pink before she met us, LOL) and who did a great job walking out Mojo for us and even Ava in the last show, where the judge, when Haley remarked that Ava was showing her the ropes, responded, "actually, I think she's having you on!" (Ava made Haley carry her to the table. We joke that Ava is pretty dumb, but she managed to convince Haley that walking on wet grass is not her thing. so it was perfectly acceptable for Haley to do all the work and carry her, hahaha.)
Haley is the proud owner of Zoey (Kitaco Angel at Heart) who, if she decides she likes it, might be joining the team sometime in the future. Zozo is still debating the merits of chicken treats v I want to sniff everything, so we are doing some show training, and we'll see how she goes.
To keep Serena company, we also took her baby sister, Kitaco Romeo Oscar November, along for the ride.
She was dubbed The Marshmallow by one of the other exhibitors last week in Gore and the name has kinda stuck, so much so that when Haley suggested we rename her Marsha, we knew right away that the name was absolutely perfect. Marsha is too young to show but she had a blast learning to walk on a lead and saying hello to the Great Dane puppy she found in her travels.
Highlight of the weekend, however, may just have been Mojo, whose epic attempted leap onto the toilet seat in the motel resulted in a rather surprised (and wet) puppy and us laughing so hard we couldn't breathe. He wasn't distressed, at all, just a bit confused and utterly trusting that we would rescue him from his predicament.
Thanks to the show committees for some great shows, please cut the grass shorter next year, and have a word with whoever is booking the weather. Thanks also to Jorga Dixon for her fabulous photos.
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