Morning. No more dog shows for me until after I get back from Scotland. I thought it would be nice to take a break, hold on to my money and focus on a few other things for the next two weeks. Josef however went ahead and entered one for the beginning of October and made arraignments for his other mother and a friend to take him. He will be staying with Cindy while I am gone, anyway. After Saturday it didn't take much on his part to convince her to take him. For those not on FaceBook he declined his eligibility for Owner Handler because he wanted to support his "cousin" Vandy's attempt to earn enough points to join him in the Top Ten ranking this year.
(The tabulations for Orlando end the 9th of October. Vandy was awarded Best of Opposite Sex to Josef's Best of Breed last year. This year Cindy and I have decided not to go but she would still like to say that the two of them were both in the top ten!)
So Cindy and Vandy did pick up Owner Handler Best of Breed points each day but on Saturday Josef picked up a Best of Breed and a Group placement in the regular Sporting Group. We call that running with the big dogs. That is the ring that is also full of professional handlers and more that a few beautiful dogs that have won Best in Shows, multiple group placements and the breed specialties. I always feel honored to show up and represent English Cockers and not be laughed out of the ring. The reality is Josef is a nice dog but not going to be a challenger to the top English Cockers running out there, but that is when the mantra, "On any given day." comes in. I told Cindy I think that dog shows are like gambling. You never know for sure what the out come is going to be ahead of time, but you keep showing up because it might be something fine!