Freighter had a great weekend.  Saturday was his first time in the show ring.  We had taken him to a few Conformation Classes to get him used to how a show works.  We were showing at 8am so we got to the show nice and early to give him a chance to get used to the giant space.  When it was time to go into the ring, I held my breath, but he did great.  He was cooperative, moved beautifully and let the Judge go over him.  He got his ribbon from his class, but did not advance further.  That was OK.  He did a good job in his first show.  His brother Woody took Reserve Winner’s Dog which was wonderful, and Winner’s Dog was a very nice dog too.

Sunday we showed at 8am again, but there were some Pointers showing before us so we did not have to be there as early.  Of course we still got there well ahead of the start of the show.  On Saturday Freighter was the only dog in his class, but on Sunday there was another young dog entered in his class.  The other dog was co-owned by Storm’s breeder.

Bred By Exhibitor Class-Freighter Is In The Front
Bred By Exhibitor Class-Freighter Is In The Front

First the Judge had the handlers move the dogs around the ring.

Around The Ring
Around The Ring Freighter
Keep Going
Keep Going

Then the handlers set the dogs up so that the Judge could go over them.

Stand For Inspection Freighter
Stand For Inspection Freighter

The Judge asked the handler to move the dog away from her and then toward her, (referred to as “down and back”).  The Judge is looking at how the dog moves in the rear as it goes away and the front as it come toward her.  I hope someday to get pictures of this, but I did not want to be a distraction to Freighter as he was moving because he would have spotted me for sure.

Down
Down
And Back
And Back

Then the Judge had the handler move Freighter around the ring again.

Around Again
Around Again
Freighter Is Just Getting Going
Freighter Is Just Getting Going

And Freighter received first place in his class (a blue ribbon).  🙂

But he was not done.  He had to go back into the ring to compete against the dog from the Open Class.

Open Dog And Bred By Exhibitor Dog (Freighter)
Open Dog And Bred By Exhibitor Dog (Freighter)

Another trip around the ring.

Keep Going Freighter
Keep Going Freighter
Around Again
Around Again

Freighter was named Winner’s Dog and received his first purple ribbon and 1 point towards his Championship.  (He needs 15 points.  The number of points a dog earns is based on the number of dogs defeated.)  The dogs that were entered on Sunday were all fairly young and inexperienced dogs, with Freighter being the youngest.  The class dog that won on Saturday was a very nice mature dog, but he was absent on Sunday.  This meant the Judge was picking between three younger dogs.

But Freighter was not finished yet.  He still had to go back in the ring to compete in the Best of Breed portion of the competition.

This is a picture of the dogs who are already Champions and were competing for Best of Breed, (referred to as “Specials”).  The first two in front are dogs, followed by two bitches.  Freighter’s mom Smokey is the third from the front.

Specials
Specials

This is Freighter waiting for his turn.

Waiting
Waiting

He made yet another trip around the ring.

One More Time
One More Time

Then he stood pretty for the Judge.

Nice Job Freighter
Nice Job Freighter

The Judge needed to pick the Best of Winners from Winner’s Dog and Winner’s Bitch.  Best of Winners went to Winner’s Bitch.  Congrats to her and her owner (who is Storm’s breeder  :)).

Freighter was very proud of his first ribbons!

Ribbon Picture
Ribbon Picture

Congrats to Freighter’s breeder Cindy for doing such a great job with him and to Freighter for being a good boy.  We accomplished what we wanted for the weekend.  We wanted Freighter to have a good positive experience in the ring.  There was a last-minute Judge change for Saturday, so I did not know the Judge.  I hoped she would be good to a young dog and she was.  I would not hesitate to take a young dog to either of the Judges that we showed under this past weekend.  Freighter is still immature looking, so we probably won’t have him in the ring again until next year when hopefully he will remember the fun he had this past weekend.  Thanks a million to Cindy for showing him for us.

One more bonus from the weekend.  Freighter had his first eye cerf and he had a cardiac exam.  He passed both.  Hooray!  Now we just wait until he is two to check his hips and elbows.

Tomorrow more show pictures.

37 thoughts on “Freighter Gets His First Purple Ribbon”

  4. HUGE CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Was that the show in Michigan that was last week? If so…you should have let me know and I would have come to watch you!

      1. that is the show I featured on Dakota’s blog last week!!!!!!!!!! Ugh!!! Wish you had told me! I didn’t go and would have gone if I had known you were there! Do you know that I live about FIFTEEN MINUTES AWAY???????? I could have brought Dakota to meet you and Freighter!!! Do you live in Michigan?

        1. Yes we live in Michigan about 45 or so minutes away from that show. Too bad, maybe next year. I guess I did not see your post about that show. It is a very nice show, but expensive to attend, (parking, entry). The shopping was wonderful (too wonderful, maybe…lol). We may do it again next year depending on where Freighter is at the time. No Cobo for us this year. Freighter is going back to the trainer.

          I would have loved to have met you and Dakota!

  5. Yay Freighter!!! Congratulations on your first point! that is so awesome, first show=first points!!! I am so excited for you! He really looks so confident in the ring!!

    Great pictures you took too!

    1. Second Show technically. 🙂 He lucked out though because all three dogs were youngun’s and were in the same boat as far as show experience.

  8. Well done Freighter , you are a star in the making. Paws up to you and glad your health check went well. Onwards and upwards. Have a terrific Tuesday.
    Best wishes Molly

  9. Hooray for Freighter, that is excellent for his first show weekend! He looks stunning and looks like has really good movement! He and you should be proud of that purple ribbon and the 1 point! Way to go!

  10. I just LOVE showing Freighter. Such an easy mover and what a face, he has expressions plus. Thanks for letting me show him
    Cin

  11. Well I had already seen this on facebook, but couldn’t wait to read all about it. Way to go Freighter!!

    “The number of points a dog earns is based on the number of dogs defeated.” So if there had been five dogs in his class he would have gotten four points? I’m assuming too that the points carry over and do not expire. 🙂

    Always one in the bunch, no?

  12. Way to go Freighter!!!!!! I was looking forward to see how you did. Well done.
    Blessings,
    Goose

  13. That is fascinating! What a great glimpse into the ring!
    Well done! 🙂

  15. CONGRATULATIONS Freighter! What a great showing for his first time AND such a young dog! This was such an interesting post. One question: when a dog is eliminated at any point, can the owner or handler find out why so they know what to work on?

  16. Congrats to all…that’s a lot of hard work!! great post.
    I’d like to know the answer to raising daisy’s question about finding out what you need to work on.

  19. Wooo hoo! Purple ribbon that sounds very regal,keep it up Freighter! You still got lots of time to make it to the top, your still a younging, so we are so happy you stil somehow managed to get a purple ribbon, must mean your pretty special! Good luck guys.

  26. Freighter good job getting your ribbons and getting you first point. You did a great job in the ring standing for inspection and patiently waiting your turn. The Conformation Drop in classes are great for letting a young dog understand what is going to happen 😉

  27. Pingback: Showing Off | 2 Brown Dawgs Blog

Comments are closed.