Three shows have been and gone without a summary of the results going into our News so time to play catch up!
The team attended York Canine Association's Open Show on the weekend before Crufts, 6th March, and had a fairly good day. We were especially pleased with Meg's second place in a strong AV Veteran class under judge David Shields, and with the two puppies Madge and Beattie who won two first prizes each - including Beattie's rather nice cash prize in the AV Members' Puppy Stakes! York C.A. was also the debut outing for local first-time Beardie owners the Rochfords with "Barney" (Talraz Starter's Orders) and it goes without saying that the whole family learned a lot in a short few hours, and went home shattered with much to think about, and a promising new "show team" in the shape of Barney and young Tom, who shows great potential as a dog handler!
Saturday 20th March saw Beattie and Diva at West Torrington & District Open Show with Roxy and Cawley, for a day of seconds and thirds apart from Beattie's first place in AV Pastoral Puppy, but the trip was brightened by an excellent happy gallop for all four Beardies on the wide open grassy spaces behind the show halls at the Newark & Notts showground, before we set off on our journey home.
Our most recent show outing was this weekend: a most enjoyable jaunt up to Scotland for the Scottish Breeds Ch Show with breed specialist judge Mrs Althea Richardson (Caramac) and an overnight stop in a most welcoming dog-friendly B & B establishment.
Senior dog Cawley
As senior dog Cawley had to set a good example to his young companions Roxy and Beattie, but happily all three behaved beautifully and were no bother at all so we were well pleased. The icing on the cake was that they all came home with prize cards. Cawley newly moved up from Yearling and still looking quite immature nevertheless gained a good fourth in the Graduate class, and despite being the babies of their large and high-quality class both girls were in the line-up too, with Roxy placed second (to the lovely brown bitch which eventually went RBPIS) and Beattie not far behind with a fourth place. We were also delighted to meet up again with Roxy's brother Tully (Talraz Trailblazer) and owner Lyn, and to see them win a Crufts-qualifying second in the Puppy Dog class, and a very encouraging third prize in the AV Puppy Stakes under highly-respected all-rounder Mr Albert Wight. With a little more practice in ringcraft these two could be a most successful team and we look forward to news of their progress!
