I should know better

I haven`t been here for some time, and the main reason was that Allegra died.

She was my special girl, and for a time I thought that without her I wouldn`t go on with dogs.    But all the others are still there, and with the encouragement of friends (and of Sparkle and his scatty sister Tess Trueheart) I have begun going to shows again.

With mixed results.  Sparkle has decided to forget his training, and in the ring shows a great persistence in climbing up my leg.  I am being very firm about this.  Tess is her usual daft self, but in the last two shows has shown some signs of maturity (at last!) and an increased ability to keep her tail up.    At the last show I paraded her and her best friend Plush round the ring before the show, and they flirted and pranced about and when faced with Notpap dogs clearly decided that together they were invincible.  I could see Tess thinking that Plush would sort everything out for her.  Fortunately this totally mistaken idea carried her through her experience in the ring, and she was well placed.   Plush herself is very professional about showing, and is no problem.

A sleepy Sparkle in the sun - "Why did you wake me?"

Sparkle and Tess are very attached to each other.   They still play like puppies.   And Sparkle has gone back to guarding the girls whenever we are out together.  The fact that his babyface just doesn`t fit that bill is quite beyond him. 

The last show was a bit of an ordeal.   A new showground, with very rough paths hurriedly laid down with recovered crushed old tarmac made the movement of anything on wheels almost impossible.   We struggled to the far end of the showground in persistent rain, to discover that all the toilets had been placed in a tight cluster at the entrance.  None where we were.  The whole toilet situation at outdoor shows is always very fraught, with long walks and huge queues common.  Next to the total incompetence of the judge, it is the favourite topic of conversation.  (One of the features of this delightful hobby that makes you wonder why we still do this). 

However, the dogs did not have this problem, and I was really pleased with how they had come on.   Tess Trueheart saw a black dog in the next ring and did not collapse and ask to go home,  Sparkle at last remembered the command “stand!” without it having to be expanded to “stand, you wee bugger!”  , and Plush, as usual, was quite reliable.  All were well placed.

On the whole, I think we will go on trying – at least for a while.