Last weekend Freighter was entered in a dog show both Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday was a large entry.  Freighter was entered in the Open Dog Class.  The Open Dog Class can be tough for an amateur handler because if there are professional handlers, they will be entered in the Open Dog class.  Freighter has taken all but 1 of his points out of the Open Dog Class.  He is entirely amateur handled.  (More about that one point later.)

Regular readers know that hubby has been working long and hard on Freighter’s ring manners, especially when the judge examines his bite.  He used to be so wiggly the judge had to really work to see his bite.  He was a good boy both Saturday and Sunday and stood still while the judge went over him.

This venue is a tough place to get photos.  The rings are small and the area around the ring is tight.  I am almost too close to the dogs for the camera lenses that I own.

This is Freighter doing a down and back.  The judge is watching his movement coming and going.

That was that for Saturday.

Sunday was Easter so it was a smaller entry.  Shows don’t “plan” to hold their shows on a holiday such as Easter, but generally each show has a weekend on the calendar that is “theirs”.  Once you have your weekend it can be tough to change.  There are all kinds of AKC rules about when shows can be held that I won’t get into, but trust me that once a club has a weekend, they usually don’t change.  Easter is a holiday that moves around so every once in a while these April shows can fall on the holiday.

Freighter was the only Open Dog on Sunday.  There was another Open Dog entered, but that dog was absent.  Since Freighter was the only dog in his class, the Judge moved along quickly with her inspection.

Freighter received his First Place ribbon and moved on to compete for Winners Dog.

There were three dogs competing for Winners Dog and the Judge picked Freighter.  This Judge awarded Freighter his first point in 2013 although I doubt she remembers.  Freighter was just starting in the show ring and we wanted to make sure that he had some good experiences in the ring so his breeder showed him in the Bred By Exhibitor Class where he earned his first point.  This Judge liked Freighter in 2013 and I guess she still likes him.  🙂  If you want to read about that 2013 show, you can read this post.

Since Freighter won Winners Dog, he moved on to compete for Best Of Breed.

The first two in line are Bitch Specials.  Specials already have their Championship and are competing for Best of Breed or points toward their Grand Championship (Select).  There were no Special Dogs entered on Sunday.  Any in this group could be awarded Best Of Breed; however, it is unusual that a class dog or bitch would win over a Special.  It happens, but not often.

The second Special Bitch in this line was selected as Best Of Breed.  The first bitch was awarded Select Bitch and Best Of Breed Owner Handled, Freighter (Winners Dog) was awarded Best Of Opposite Sex, the last bitch (Winners Bitch) in line was awarded Best Of Winners.

Winners Bitch/Best Of Winners is a dog named Jessie.  She is a Storm daughter and this was her first weekend in the show ring.  She did great.  Much better than her mother when she was that age.  🙂  Jessie is a sweet pup and I will have a couple more pictures of her on Thursday.

Freighter is getting closer to finishing his Championship.  We are hoping to finish that up so we can concentrate on hunt testing.  There are two more shows at the end of the month.