The Portuguese Water Dog National Specialty was held from September 28, 2012 through October 5, 2012 in beautiful Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. And what a great Specialty it was for the Afortunado dogs who made the trip! I traveled down with Barb Crowther again. This time we needed two vehicles to accomodate all the dogs, luggage and gear that we were going to need through the week. It was a good thing it was only a few hours away!
We had a great Specialty this year that was capped off with our Mister receiving an Award of Merit on Friday at the Best of Breed competition under breeder Judge Steve Dostie. Thank you Judge Dostie for the recognition and the kind words about our beautiful working boy!
We had a great Specialty this year that was capped off with our Mister receiving an Award of Merit on Friday at the Best of Breed competition under breeder Judge Steve Dostie. Thank you Judge Dostie for the recognition and the kind words about our beautiful working boy!
Mister also qualified for a Gold Register of Merit which is given to Portuguese Water Dogs who show outstanding working ability and versitility. To qualify for a Register of Merit at the Gold level, Mister had to achieve at least six titles in at least four areas of competition, two of which must be advanced titles, and have received two Water Titles. With his pass at the Working Water Dog level this past summer, Mister was able to hang another medal around his neck! His official title is now: BISS INT/BrGCH CH Afortunado Expect the Unexpected, VCD1 RE OAJ NJP THD WWD AOM GROM CGC TDI. This is an especially wonderful award as Mister has always been owner handled at every event he has competed in. Congratulations Mister!
Mister had several puppies at the Nationals this year competing in Conformation, Agility and/or Rally Obedience.
Afortunado's Mistress of the Deep Blue Sea NF, "Azul" was very busy with two full days of Agility and Conformation classes in the Best Bred By Exhibitor and Breeders Class. When I entered the ring with Azul on the first day of Agility, I really wasn't sure how well we would do. She had only had a few classes and we are still working on our partnering skills. I shouldn't have worried. She was awesome! She ran our Jumpers with Weaves course quickly and cleanly and imagine my surprise and delight when I was awarded a First Place ribbon!! Next day was a Fourth Place finish in Jumpers with Weaves. I had entered her in the Novice FAST class both days and, although it is a fairly new class for me too, I was thrilled to qualify both days and recieve a new title ribbon in recognition of her first title. Novice FAST. I am looking forward to many more Agility titles with this clever girl. Azul was entered in the Bred by Exhibitor class which, traditionally, is a very tough class. This year was certainly no exception. Beautiful young girls shown impeccably by their breeders. Azul had so much fun and I could not have been prouder of her. When it came time for placements, I was handed a big Third Place rosette. What an honor! By the end of the week, I came home with a huge assortment of ribbons! Well done, Azul!
Afortunado's Mistress of the Deep Blue Sea NF, "Azul" was very busy with two full days of Agility and Conformation classes in the Best Bred By Exhibitor and Breeders Class. When I entered the ring with Azul on the first day of Agility, I really wasn't sure how well we would do. She had only had a few classes and we are still working on our partnering skills. I shouldn't have worried. She was awesome! She ran our Jumpers with Weaves course quickly and cleanly and imagine my surprise and delight when I was awarded a First Place ribbon!! Next day was a Fourth Place finish in Jumpers with Weaves. I had entered her in the Novice FAST class both days and, although it is a fairly new class for me too, I was thrilled to qualify both days and recieve a new title ribbon in recognition of her first title. Novice FAST. I am looking forward to many more Agility titles with this clever girl. Azul was entered in the Bred by Exhibitor class which, traditionally, is a very tough class. This year was certainly no exception. Beautiful young girls shown impeccably by their breeders. Azul had so much fun and I could not have been prouder of her. When it came time for placements, I was handed a big Third Place rosette. What an honor! By the end of the week, I came home with a huge assortment of ribbons! Well done, Azul!
Mister's daughter, Obra Prima Afortunado Eva, "Eva", made her National Specialty debut in fine style. Eva is Art and Mary Noel's first Portuguese Water Dog and their first show dog. Art has been handling and training Eva for the Conformation ring. Mary grooms Eva and is certainly Art's biggest fan. They were entered in the Amateur Owner Handler class. As this is a relatively new class, we weren't sure how many entries there would be. There were 11 entries and all the handlers did a marvelous job. How exciting to be able to hoot and holler with delight when Art and Eva earned a second place rosette! Well done!
Willowbay's Ride the Wild Wave, "Guppy", another Mister daughter from breeder Sue Kessler of Willowbay Portuguese Water Dogs was entered in the 15-18 Month Bitch class. Sue, as usual, did a wonderful job showing this young girl. Guppy and Sue were rewarded with a Fourth Place rosette. Congratulations Sue and Guppy!
Barb Crowther brought her two Veteran boys with her to this year's Specailty as it was so close to home. Both were entered in Veteran Sweepstakes and Regular Veteran conformation classes. Barb showed both boys and had the time of her life.
Her "Bandit", CH Abeja Manoel Pardal Rivero, CD RA NAP NJP THD CGC TDI, did a wonderful job in the 7-9 year Veterans classes. He was in the ring with some top winning dogs, but that didn't seem to upset this boy who always loved to show outside where he could float around the ring and show off his wonderful movement. Both times he was awarded with a Fourth place rosette. Yeah, Bandit!
CH Afortunado Aidan Curren, RE AXP OJP THD CGC TDI, "Aidan" was entered in the 9-11 year classes. This boy was always a natural star in the show ring. When Aidan was stacked and ready for the judge to go over him, Judge Jack Girton turned around, taking one look at Aidan, and commented, "Now THAT'S a Show Dog!" Awesome. Aidan and Barb were thrilled to walk out of the ring both days with First Place rosettes!
Well done, Aidan and Bandit!
Her "Bandit", CH Abeja Manoel Pardal Rivero, CD RA NAP NJP THD CGC TDI, did a wonderful job in the 7-9 year Veterans classes. He was in the ring with some top winning dogs, but that didn't seem to upset this boy who always loved to show outside where he could float around the ring and show off his wonderful movement. Both times he was awarded with a Fourth place rosette. Yeah, Bandit!
CH Afortunado Aidan Curren, RE AXP OJP THD CGC TDI, "Aidan" was entered in the 9-11 year classes. This boy was always a natural star in the show ring. When Aidan was stacked and ready for the judge to go over him, Judge Jack Girton turned around, taking one look at Aidan, and commented, "Now THAT'S a Show Dog!" Awesome. Aidan and Barb were thrilled to walk out of the ring both days with First Place rosettes!
Well done, Aidan and Bandit!
The last Conformation class we competed in was the Breeders Class. What fun we had with all our dogs in the ring at the same time! As breeder, I was able to select the dogs that I wanted in the ring to represent my breeding program. As I had ages ranging from over ten to eighteen months old to choose from, I decided to bring in a sampling of my breed program over the years. I wanted to have Barb's Aidan in the ring to represent the older boys and also Mister, which was difficult because Barb handles both of them. We were extremely lucky to have a wonderful young man to take over handling duties of Aidan. This was Elijah's first Specialty and he did an absolutely remarkable job handling both the pressures of the show ring at that level and the demands of Aidan. Amy Ewald was also there with two of her dogs and so we needed someone to step in and show her girl, "Emma", Absolutely Afortunado Miss M. We were again blessed to have a terrific Junior Handler who said she would be happy to show Emma. Thank you so much to Bailey Whetmore for helping us out. Actually, it worked out so well, Emma had trouble taking her eyes off of Bailey! These two Junior Handlers definitely stole the show! Thank you also to Amy Ewald and Zeppelin, Art Noel and Eva, and Barb Crowther and Mister for preparing your dogs and taking the time in an already busy schedule to showcase your dogs as only owner handlers can! We came away without a ribbon, but I still smile everytime I think of all those remarkable dogs in that ring representing me and my journey in this breed over the past 16 years.
What a memorable week we had in Lake Geneva! We got re-acquainted with old friends, met some new friends, watched some gorgeous dogs at ringside, laughed and enjoyed ourselves at the dinners, and raced back and forth between venues on our rented golf cart with four dogs usually in tow enjoying the ride in the wind and sun. Can't wait to do it all again!