Portuguese Water Dog Club of America National Specialty
Warwick, Rhode Island
September 15 - 19, 2008
Warwick, Rhode Island
September 15 - 19, 2008
What a fun week I had in Rhode Island at our 17th Annual Specialty this year! After a two day drive from Wisconsin, Barb Crowther and I arrived safe and sound and ready to jump into the events planned throughout the week. We brought our two boys with us, Pirate and Mister. They are father and son and what a time we had with them that whole week! Click on the thumbnail images below to open up each slideshow.
On Monday, September 15, Pirate was in Veteran Sweepstakes and Mister was entered in Puppy Sweepstakes. Pirate performed like a champion! He took second place in an entry of past National Specialty Best of Breed winners. Mister did not place, but he looked wonderful and behaved better than we could have hoped for.
On Tuesday, September 16, I had Pirate entered in Open Agility Standard and Jumpers. Barb was taking Mister into the Rally ring for a try at his first Novice Rally leg. Pirate jumped like a puppy, belying his actual age of seven. He was not able to qualify, but I had a great time running him that day!
Mister's trip into the Rally ring for the first time was so much fun! He had only two weeks of training before competing and had never worked in an outside ring. Not to mention the fact that after walking the course, Barb realized that she had not taught him three of the obstacles on the course! After a deep breath and a few pushes from me, they entered the ring and our wacky puppy turned into a real working dog. Mister qualified with a score of 93 and a ninth place finish out of 26 dogs!
Wednesday, September 17, we had Mister entered in 12-18 month puppy dogs and Pirate was in the Regular Veterans class. Mister's class was a very strong class of 16 dogs. He performed like a star and placed second! This day was off to a great start. Pirate was competing against a group of ten beautiful, strong veteran dogs. I had so much fun being in the ring with him again. He was focused and never stopped working the whole time. I was thrilled when we were placed fourth! Way to go, Pirate!
Thursday, September 18, Pirate and Mister competed in Brace. We were surprised to find out that we would be competing against 8 other teams. We had practiced and competed twice before, but I still had a real problem with the two of them on one lead. They are best of friends and love to play together. The lead and the competition did nothing to squash that enthusiasm, so I had my work cut out for me. What fun they had and in the end, I was very proud that these two boys earned a third place finish!
Friday, September 19, was Best of Breed competition. As neither Barb or I had dogs entered, this was our day to take it easy, give the dogs a break and enjoy the sight of over one hundred beautiful Portuguese Water Dogs all strutting their stuff in the ring. What a fun day we had. And what an unforgettable week!
We will be at Rend Lake, Illinois in September, 2009, for the Portuguese Water Dog Club of America's next Specialty!