The Dominion Chihuahua Club Specialty Championship and Open Shows happend last weekend, something we would have reported on sooner but it's been a crazy busy week and we've barely had time to catch our breath.
The specialty show (which had more long coat entries than this year's Westminster - just sayin') was judged by NZ Toy Specialist, Gerard Price. We realised, when we were lining up the team, that all our entries were descended from our two veteran entries - and foundation dogs - Narci and Nikita.
This made us very happy as breeders, particularly when Ava (Narci's daughter) took Reserve Best in Show, Ben (Narci and Nikita's grandson) took Best Junior in Show and Tinky (also Narci and Nikita's granddaughter) took Best Intermediate in Show.
Narci trotted out in the ring like the show dog of old and took Best Veteran in Show, despite the "dad bod" he's acquired since he retired from the Show ring.
It was such a gamble, when we imported Narci from Greece (not to mention an eye-watering expense). The kennel he came from, Mystic Legion, said they were letting this beautiful Greek Champion come to us, because they "had something better coming up". That "something better" was Drago, who won Best of Breed at Crufts a couple of years later, Can't argue with their logic.
Narci proved to be exactly what we needed for our lines, however, and soon earned his NZ Championsip in addition to the Greek Junior Champion title and the Greek Champion title he arrived with. He and Nikita have made some beautiful babies together and it was thrilling to see their descendants doing so well at the show this week. We have worked with these lines so carefully ever since Narci's arrival, to bring out the best in our dogs. Narci brings not just coat and a head without peer, but he has a temperament to die for.
In the Open show, judged by Lydia Jin, it was Ben (Narci and Nikita's grandson) who took Reserve Best in Show and Best Junior in Show, Tinky (Narci and Nikita's granddaughter) took Best Intermediate in Show and little Stella (Narci's daughter) took Best Baby Puppy in Show.
Nikita took Best Veteran in Show, this time, so both our veterans stood out to the judges and were rewarded for their type and their temperaments.
All in all a great couple of shows. wonderful atmosphere and some great results for Team Kitaco.
