Monday, December 15, 2008

Crown Classic, your pugs are so skinny and the invitational

We ventured off to Cleveland for 2 days of the 4 day all breed agility, obedience, conformation, shop til you drop giant circus that is otherwise known as The Crown Classic.....and we had a blast! I don't always really enjoy big events with *lots* of spectators, but it was fun this year. It's not being watched that bothers me, when I get in the ring, it's all about me and my dog. It's walking around and aswering the same questions all day long and the non-stop "can I pet your dog?" I understand people go to dog shows to interact with different breeds and ask questions about them, but the dogs entered are living creatures and it's a long day and for most dogs it's just too much for them. I used to just say yes, but I'm a big meanie now and I look out for my dogs best interest.

Kittie ran two days and Abby ran one. Kittie was wild in her first run of the weekend. She's little miss steady, who just won't drive ahead of me even enough for me to rear cross.....she apparently is getting in touch with her inner wild child! and drove straight ahead and took 2 off course jumps. She was having fun and I couldn't help but laugh after the intial shock! She Q and took 3rd in Jww that day, on Sunday she had a very nice standard run and took 1st! 2nd place was a full 10 seconds slower!! JWW was a nice run, but she took down the 2nd bar, oh well...... Kittie was happy and focused in a very loud and chaotic environment, so I have to be happy with that.
Abby's runs had a common theme. They both started and ended really well, with a bit of a disaster in the middle. Lots to be happy about in them and I got her head back both times and had very nice finishes. Abby recieved lots of compliments about her speed too.

Weave poles were a problem in both runs. Where we're taking classes now they always just use 6 poles and at first I whined enough that they put out 12, but lately I've just been going with the flow and it goes to show you that you need to train on 12 poles. It drives me crazy when they use 6 in classes. I guess I'm going to have to go back to being the official pain in the ass at class and insist on 12.

One really annoying thing that came up a couple of times was nasty comments about my dogs' weights. People are so used to seeing fat pugs that they don't comprehend pugs can be thin. I tried explaining that they are athletes and you certainly woudn't expect to see obese runners or gymansts.....to blank stares. Oh well, I have 9 1/2 year old pug that can still run circles around 2 year old pugs.

I did spend some time at the papillon ring, watching breed competiton and I'm in love. A pap will definitely be joining us sometime in the new year.

I want to congratulate everyone who qualified for and competed at the invitational. Amy and her pug Zoro just seem to be getting better and better. They Q n 3 out of 4 runs and were up there in the results! Big congratulations to Angie, who won the 8" class with her toy fox terrier Duncan & the 16" class with her rat terrier Dylan. Just amazing and Duncan is only 3.
Watch thier finals runs here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU57KnrFTns Dylan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WkI9DO9bjQ Duncan

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