Newfoundland National Specialty

Kerri and I spent the whole of last week at the 2008 Newfoundland Club of America National Specialty in Warwick, RI. I have to say we had a FANTASTIC week -- new friends were made, old friendships renewed... Too much beer, WAY too much laughter... It was a lot like Camp. LOL

A National Specialty is an All-Newfoundland Dog Show held each year by the NCA and a local club which was our club this year. The Specialty won't be back to New England until 2016. There were about 700 Newfs in attendance. It was really nice to be with a bunch of dog people who are already Newf savvy.

Eli's first Rally entry was bright and early Tuesday... OUTSIDE in the POURING rain.... on GREEN freshly mown grass...

The poor boy didn't have a chance.

He ambled into the ring like a pro... Setup nicely... The judge (Tippy Chase) asked if Kerri and Eli were ready... Kerri replied "Ready!"... They took three steps in perfect heel.... I thought they had it.... Eli then turned his attention to the grass and it was over.... It was raining so hard that they had a rain delay shortly after Kerri ran.

At this point I made the considered decision to pull him from Obedience... If he couldn't hold it together in Rally, Novice wasn't going to be a positive experience for either of us.

Wednesday dawned sunny, but WINDY and COLD... Once again the Novice A Rally class was bright and slightly less early. Second verse, same as the first -- 'otta be better but gonna be worse... Imagine Tuesday except the judge was Pat Scully and at the first sign he turns to lean head first into the wind, puffs his chest out and inhales so deeply I thought he'd turn himself inside out... and then starts snuffling the grass.

I know it sounds like a dismal failure, but there were some positives... even completely distracted he did SOME decent work... He was up and happy and full of spirit... this is progress... He just didn't have any focus -- the whole world was full of VERY LOUD GRASS... and GIRLS... unspayed GIRLS... %sigh%

He really didn't have a chance.

But it was fun.

Thursday was conformation. Eli was entered in the Novice class (dogs without any championship points) and luckily it was the best weather of the week. I was a wee bit nervous and just because Eli wanted to see how much stress I could take; he had liquid diarrhea 10 minutes before we were to go into the ring. Let's just say you'd be amazed what Wet Ones can do for a dog's coat when you are desperate.

While he didn't make the cut, the judge (Mrs. Edeltraud Laurin) certainly wanted him to... She came back to us 3 times to look at him, but unfortunately he chose that point to get the wiggles. ACK! Overall, he looked beautiful (Cathy, Eli's breeder, mercifully trimmed him for me) and moved extremely well. I even got some really nice stacks -- even when I hand stacked him.

It was a good experience for both of us and we felt pretty well prepared even if we were up against big name handlers. We have a few things that really need some work... the free stack at the end of his down&back comes to mind... LOL At least he didn't leap into the air when we got back to the judge or try and kiss her... both of which he often does in handling class. Most importantly, I didn't puke on the dog or judge!

There was NO expectation that he would do anything in the ring, this was about experience and being able to say we were on the big stage... I honestly couldn't have asked for things to go any better -- this was a huge win for us.... Someday we will be ready but not yet... What was really driven home for me is how juvenile Eli still is. To us, he seems all grown up physically (certainly not mentally), but after watching BOB yesterday, it is very clear that he still has a long way to go in filling out. Some things can't be rushed. LOL

Here is a picture of Sandy, Onyx, Me and Eli... Onyx & Eli are littermates, if you can't tell. We were fresh out of the breed ring... For the record, I stole the pic from Claire.