Faith at the Dog Show

Faith "Jamond Wings of Glory at Rendition"

I showed Faith today at the dog show.   It was a very small show and I had moved her up to the open class.   We practiced in the parking lot and she did fabulous.   Standing ringside she was a little angel.   In our class, she was okay, a bit feisty towards the end, but okay.    Then, we went back in the ring for winners.    My little angel gets that look when she wants to rumble.   Somewhere during our short two minute allotment from the AKC, Faith went on vacation.  She was leaping and frolicking and basically a wild child.   Against my better judgement, I popped the lead and said, "No FAITH!  KNOCK IT OFF!"   Knowing this dog, I should have known what would come next.   "A Challenge!", her little eyes beamed at me.  The games were on.   Dawn "0", Faith "1".

So, I came home and laid down on the bed for a minute, Faith right next to me.   She was so close she was actually breathing my air.   Somewhere in the hazy years passed memory banks of my mind I drifted off to when Jewel was a young dog in the classes.   I kept more of a journal of my dog show experiences then.   Many of the entries said, "Bad Jewel".  "Jewel was a bad dog."  "Bad BAD BAD Jewel."    I smiled and thought of my dog show entry today.  

DOG SHOW JOURNAL:   January 26, 2013 --
Showed Faith today.  Faith was a Bad Dog!   Bad Bad Faith.

I love my dog.  I love her spirit.   We had a good day.

Faith's first show picture

Faith is six months old in this photo - almost 7 months. It was her second day out as a show pup. She went WB, BOW and Best of Breed. She is quite a handful at times and I was very proud of her for keeping "four on the floor"!

Baby Faith goes Best in Breed

Yesterday, Saturday 3/12/11, was Faith's second show and her first outside show. I totally expected her to be wild and playful since she is only 6 months old. To her, outside means playtime.

She was the only puppy at the show for the Irish Setter breed. There were three adult dogs and two adult females in addition to the Champion dog and Faith at the Irish Setter ring.

Faith was such a good girl. She stacked for the judge, didn't move a paw and resisted any temptation of running in the ring. She won her first point (our youngest dog to get a point to date!) and then went on to win over all the boys going Best of Winners and then to our surprise, Best of Breed. She is the youngest dog we've ever had to win Best of Breed, with competition, at such a young age.

We did take her in the group ring for two reasons. One, we felt it was respectful to the judge who gave her the win, and secondly, it was a great opportunity to practice in the ring for the pup. As a six month old pup we truly didn't expect her to win anything. She was as a real trooper in the group ring and didn't put one paw out of place (other than jumping on the other handlers if they only gave their dogs a treat! But she's six months old - what else could we expect with food involved!!)