Spring Songs & St. Louis

Argus should be tired (I sure am!) but he's laying on the hassock watching me, wagging like crazy whenever I look his way. He loves dog show weekends, and had a great time on this one. He especially enjoys being admired, sleeping on the bed in the motel room, and celebrating a successful weekend with a cheeseburger (no pickle, thank you). Jess & I had a wonderful time too, and Penny seems to be happy no matter where she is or what she's doing. She's as sociable as her dad and loved meeting everyone - and ate her cheeseburger even faster than Argus ate his.
We thought Penny was "star quality" and this weekend she confirmed that we were not wrong!

Sitting at ringside is impossible for me, as I tend to be a "pacer". I walk when I am nervous or stressed. It's especially hard to watch Argus in the ring with Jess, even though she is an excellent handler and does a great job with him. I put lots of mile on this cast over the weekend!

The weather was so nice this year and it was in the 50s in St. Louis on Saturday, and in the 40s in Milwaukee on Sunday. Sure makes traveling a lot easier than all the years we have come home from St. Louis in a blizzard - one year we came home to 2 feet of new snow and could not even get down the street in front of the house. This year we came home to lots of snow melt and it was 36 degrees when I took the dogs out at 6:00 AM. The birds are positively shouting their spring songs! The St. Louis Specialties and all breed show are one of my favorite dog show weekends, but we do not always get there. I generally enter and then pray that Ma Nature cooperates. She did a great job this year!

Argus won the Award Of Merit at the first show, Penny won a big Puppy Class, and both showed well, but the second show was MUCH better and both dogs were really on. Our judge was a Dal breeder who now shows a smaller breed and we had shown to her only once before and it was NOT a happy experience, when my previous Best In Show liver dog "Morris" did not go Best of Breed as we had "expected" he would. A good reminder not to take anything for granted!

This time was MUCH better. Puppy Penny went Winners Bitch in a lovely big entry for 5 points, just as Pauli had done last year. You always wonder if your class dog winning will cut your Special's chances as some judges like to "pass it around". Penny went back in with Argus's co-owner Mark, who did a great job with her, and Argus showed wonderfully well for Jess. Neither of them made any mistakes and put on a stellar performance. Several of the bitch Specials were group winners, and the overall competition for Best Of Breed was really good. The judge sorted through her Specials, eliminating the ones no longer under consideration and the group in the rings got smaller and smaller. Finally she pulled Argus out front, and pulled Penny in behind (the spot for Best Of Winners). I assumed that she pulled a bitch Special in behind Penny, but was not really paying attention to that. When the dust had settled and the winners were at their markers, we saw that Penny had not only gone BOW, she had also gone Best of Opposite Sex to her dad, beating out some lovely adult champion bitches. How exciting! What a thrill!

Dog shows were originally about evaluating breeding stock, and we are SO pleased that in addition to being a wonderful show dog, Argus is also an excellent sire. Good dog Argus! Good girl Penny! Good job, Jess! And thank you for making this such a wonderful trip. Argus went Best of Breed in a huge entry the following day, and we drove to Milwaukee for the Sunday show where he went Best Of Breed and placed in the Group. A most successful weekend.