Show 3

Show 3 – the results are in. Luckily this show was nearby (Monroe), so we didn’t have to travel far and didn’t have to buy lunch at their ultra expensive food stands. I mean really, since when is a hot dog and chips supposed to cost $8.00? Anyway, it was a pretty typical show for us. Sienna was the only girl in her class, now she is in 9-12 months, so of course, two days in a row we got the blue ribbon for being the only dog in the ring. But again, when we went up against the older girls, we didn’t stand a chance.

This time though, I’m not sure it was a “puppy” thing. I think it was a “color” thing. . When I told the breeder that I wanted a “deadgrass*” female she tried to discourage me by saying that even though judges shouldn’t be partial to one color or the other, they often will pick the darker brown dogs as winners. And boy was that apparent this weekend. Both judges, both days loved the dark brown chessies. Sienna is considered a “light brown” but when you compare her to the brown or dark brown chessies, she’s pretty light.

On Saturday we felt pretty much invisible to the judge. We walked into the ring, I started to stack her and she told me to go around the ring. Then we stopped and I started to stack her again and the judge was right there, I really didn’t feel like I had adequate time to stack her up right. The judge quickly went over Sienna and then told us to do our down and back. As soon as we came back, she gave us our blue ribbon and out of the ring we went. I thought Sienna did pretty well this time but when we went back in to go up against the other females, she was less focused and even kind of jumpy. Anyway, the judge gave the ribbons to the other girls in the ring and we walked out empty handed.

Sunday judge was much better. We entered the ring and we went around and then I stopped to get her stacked up. He gave her a pretty good once over, really checking her teeth, coat and body. She did great in the ring this day and I really hoped that we would have a chance. That and something new happened; there was a younger girl this time. She showed in the 6-9 month, so when all the bitches went back in the ring, we were not at the end of the line! We still didn’t win, but I felt like we had a fair handshake this time since the judge was much more attentive to all the dogs.

So for those of you who don’t know how a dog show works, I will try to explain it in the way that I understand it. Now, I am no expert and am still trying to learn how all of this works but here is my explanation. (Experts, please feel free to correct me)

First of all you are judged by age and by sex. Boys go first, they are called dogs. If there are any 6-9month pups they are up first, followed by 9-12 month, 12-18 month, then open dogs (dogs a year or older). Then the winners of all of those groups go up against each other to win Best Dog. Then, it’s the girls turn, they are called bitches. When the winners of the girls go up against each other, the winner is called Best Bitch. Ok, now the Best Dog and Best Bitch go up against dogs that already have Championship titles and that is where you win Best of Winners. I believe this is also where you get Best of Breed. I am not entirely sure of all of this because we have only won our age group (not to hard when there isn’t any competition) and then gone up against the other bitch winners where we have yet to win. Someday…………………..

I believe the Best of Breed then goes to Best in Group, then the winner of that goes to Best in Show. So as you can see, it takes a lot of work to get that far. On top of those titles they are others based on breeders and such……one thing at a time!

*Chesapeakes come in various shades of colors. Deadgrass is a light color like a Golden retriever, Sedge is a reddish color and then there is the brown color. Of course all these colors can vary as well, Sienna is considered “light brown” but it seems to be close enough to “deadgrass” that dogs that are darker seem to be preferred.