The local fundraiser for "Dogs for Disables" was a fun dog show at our local park so I decided to go along and support the event. As I can only sensibly handle one dog at a time I had to choose who to take. Teasle in her jacket to raise awareness? Barney just in case there was a class for "fastest biscuit eater"? I decided to take Rusty who is by far the best behaved on the lead. We entered just 2 classess - best yearling and best gundog. The yearling class was first and prizes went to 5th place. 6 dogs lined up in the ring so I knew we had a good chance of coming out with something! He did pretty well at sitting and waiting while each dog was examined but kept being distracted by the biggest Spinone I'd ever seen who was clearly a huge soft lump and only interested in playing. When it was his turn and the judge ran her hands over him - he really jumped when she got to his back end - she laughed said "my he HAS got a pair! Unusual these days" and he looked at me as if to say "Mum you won't believe where she just stroked me!" then we had to do the triangle and run round the ring. I felt really self conscious, but I was really pleased as he heeled beautifully the whole time. If the points were on behaviour/obedience we'd have romped home first. But we did come... 5th! Poor lady who came 6th as least we weren't last. I knew we wouldn't get placed in the best gun dog - we were clearly out classed but a couple of real show dogs but I decided I would only be miffed if we were beaten by an overly chunky black lab that squealed the whole time. It came 4th and we came nowhere. Oh well it was only fun in aid of charity but yes a tad disappointed that my superbly fit working type lab lost out to the fat black boy who was lovely and clearly had some conformation characteristic that Rusty doesn't. As a consolation we went back over to the "fastest recall" stand where we were currently third for one more go. The real consolation was being only dog all day that did a proper recall from a stay rather than being held by a helper ;D ;D Rosette and chewstick bundle in my handbag we headed home. Once home I'd hung my bag up and sorted out some food for me. Barney had wandered out into the hall while the others watched me in the kitchen. When he's been left alone for a few hours he always makes a point of not being in the kitchen no matter what I'm doing so I didn't take any notice. Suddenly I heard a slurping noise. He'd raided my handbag for the treats I'd forgotten were there! Luckily he's a noisy eater so I caught him before he'd demolished too many. All in all quite a nice day out, for a good cause and I even won a nice necklace in the Tombola - and barney didn't eat that! Result.
Re: Rusty's day out Carole that was brilliant, thank you so much for sharing! I refuse to believe that Rusty was not the handsomest dog in town. What a shame the judge had no taste ;D
Re: Rusty's day out Hi Carole. Lovely account - thank you. Loved reading it and Rusty is clearly a real character.
Re: Rusty's day out That was a lovely read Carole , the judge clearly needed to visit Specsavers So pleased that Rusty behaved so well and made you proud bless him
Re: Rusty's day out Brillaint, sound's like a lovely day, even if your judge was biased.... At least Rusty got his just reward, Labs always prefer edible to pretty - even if he didn't want to share!! (Well, he did do ALL the work )
Re: Rusty's day out [quote author=Karen link=topic=754.msg3811#msg3811 date=1348478294] Lovely Carole, so glad you had a good day. Beats my weekend by a mile...! [/quote] In case you wonder what that means, I have put an update under my 'Starting feeding raw food' thread...
Re: Rusty's day out That's lovely Carole, thank you for sharing! Sounds like Rusty was a star - all your hard work paying off! Shame the judge couldn't recognise a dog that's 'fit for purpose', but we all know he was the most handsome one there! Love cheeky Barney robbing your handbag afterwards!
