Whew what a weekend! This weekend was the Denver Cluster show, which is apparently the 3rd largest AKC conformation show! To top it all off, there was a Vizsla Specialty this weekend to draw even more entries. Many people traveled from out of state, and we were so happy when we were joined by some of our Vizsla family from two different sides of the country.
Mary came out from San Diego with Karma’s Aunt Kona, and Karmie and Kona are two peas in a pod! Check out their picture above – Kona is on the left and Karma is on the right…freaking adorable! And our Cruiser Mama Jill came out from Minnesota to watch and help handle some of her puppies here in Colorado.
On Friday, Marc tried his luck handling Karma. Marc is getting better and better, and was able to earn 4th, with 1st – 3rd going to pro-handlers. There were seven girls in the open class and we were more than pleased with Marc’s handling. So with Karma out of the money, we all cheered on Karma’s littermate, Zeke, who made the cut in Best of Breed. The dog that took Breed on Friday actually went Best of Opposite at Westminster last weekend, so Zeke was in good company!
Karma and Marc improved each day, earning a 3rd on Saturday and a 2nd on Sunday. On the last day of the show, we had a strategy switch with Karma. The preferred size for a female Vizsla is 21 – 23 inches. True to her perfect nature, Karma is exactly 22 inches. However, most of the class girls showing this weekend all had an inch or two on her making her *appear* too tiny. Having Marc (over 6’ tall) handle doesn’t make her look any bigger. Our friend Steffie is head-over-heels in L-O-V-E with our Karma and has made it known that she really wanted to handle our girl. So we gave Steffie the lead and let her take in her favorite wiggle-butt girlie. They looked AMAZING together, and we had at least five people say they hadn’t seen a cuter pair in the ring ever! Karma wiggled, waggled, free stacked and generally loved all over Steffie for a FIRST PLACE in the Open class! We were thrilled to see her win this competitive class and appreciated all the hugs that came our way. But, alas, when she went in for Winners, our perfect-sized Karma was the littlest one in the ring, this time by what looked like a few inches. The judge was leaning towards taller dogs all day, so when we saw the WB line-up, we knew she didn’t stand a chance, but it was great to watch her and Steffie go-round again. Check out how cute they are left!
Okay, off our Karmie soap-box — the best part of the weekend was the camaraderie around the ring and the dinner table. Thank you to all our friends who made this weekend too much fun!
