A Good Trip to Flagstaff!

We had a great (although very quick) trip to Flagstaff, AZ for the Swedish Vallhund Club of America National Specialty.

Because Jazz finished in Bloomington, IL a few weeks ago, I opted to move him up to BOB and not keep him in the classes for the specialty. I was torn about it, because at 11 months, I felt it wasn't exactly fair to ask him to compete with the specials. But I moved him up, and it turned out pretty well!

The results for Team Hurrikane were pretty good!

Hawk won BEST OF BREED, and BEST STUD DOG (thanks to son Jazz and daughter Fancy).

Jazz won SELECT DOG and he also won BEST PUPPY IN SWEEPS (under judge Earl Karas).

Our judge was breed specialist judge Mr. Christopher Millard from the UK. After the judging was over, and I was thanking Mr. Millard for the thousandth time, he said he had a hard time choosing between the two boys for Best of Breed. I told him they were father and son, and he said that was good, and made him feel better about his judging consistency!

I hope to have some pictures soon, and I hope above all hopes that Hawk *might* have taken his first good show photo ever for this big win. sigh.....

Darby was, um, let's see, how did Mr. Millard put it? "Totally devoid of coat" is how he put it, and he was absolutely right. Poor Darbs, not even an illusion of hair was possible, no fringe on her pants, no neck fur. The nice thing is that the judge said not to worry about it, he was so happy to see the dogs, and he understood about bitches being out of coat. She got an Excellent rating, just as the two boys did. He was very complimentary in his critique (will be able to post judge comments once they are transcribed), and explained to the judges ed gallery that the coat should not be penalized, but that the dog just doesn't have that same sparkle and polish without hair!

Missing from the photos is the big rosette for Best Stud Dog. I have no idea where that went, because it's not in my stack of rosettes, and it is not in the van anywhere. I'm hoping if I left it in the photo area or meeting room that someone picked it up for me.

And a special thanks to Jennifer Roberson for helping show Jazz, and showing him to Select Dog!