I had my misgivings as I set off with a friend and her sheltie on the 450 mile round trip to Epic's first Championship show (West of England Ladies Kennel Society) last friday. He is on the lower levels for size, still acceptable by the standard but as many shelties seem to be on the larger end of the scale, I was concerned he would look out of place. He's still very imature for his age. Tris I've noticed seem to mature much more slowly than sables and his is a slow maturing line too. (I will be posting pics shortly although not of the show). It was a pretty grotty day with persistant and heavy rain so we were indoors, however unlike many shows where 'indoors' means a cold and muddy tent flapping in the wind, this was fortunatly a spacious building and reasonably warm too.
Epic has developed an unfortunate apprehension of anyone going over his back end on the table, which wasn't helped by limited ringcraft opputunities when he was under 6 months so I didn't know how he would behave. His first two open shows were not really sucessful as he was very unsettled but I have been working at it and he is slowly getting steadier. It's weird as he used to be very excited about being on the table and nothing untoward has happened.
Anyhow, he was in a class of 12 so that took the pressure off and he was far more relaxed on the table than before. I was delighted how he moved and stood too. He was very much the baby of the class (9-12 months) and wasn't placed but I was very encouraged by his behaviour both in the ring and in general during the day. He took most things in his stride and made friends with some of the other sheltie puppies.
He's got a couple more Championship shows booked while he is still in the puppy classes but after that I think I'll take him out of the ring for a bit and concentrate on obedience and agility. Hopefully that will give him more confidence and when he has matured I will bring him out again. If anyone has any useful tips for getting him steadier on the table they would be appreciated too
Epic has developed an unfortunate apprehension of anyone going over his back end on the table, which wasn't helped by limited ringcraft opputunities when he was under 6 months so I didn't know how he would behave. His first two open shows were not really sucessful as he was very unsettled but I have been working at it and he is slowly getting steadier. It's weird as he used to be very excited about being on the table and nothing untoward has happened.
Anyhow, he was in a class of 12 so that took the pressure off and he was far more relaxed on the table than before. I was delighted how he moved and stood too. He was very much the baby of the class (9-12 months) and wasn't placed but I was very encouraged by his behaviour both in the ring and in general during the day. He took most things in his stride and made friends with some of the other sheltie puppies.
He's got a couple more Championship shows booked while he is still in the puppy classes but after that I think I'll take him out of the ring for a bit and concentrate on obedience and agility. Hopefully that will give him more confidence and when he has matured I will bring him out again. If anyone has any useful tips for getting him steadier on the table they would be appreciated too
