Indy resting on William on the roadtrip home.
And now for the rest of the story…(if you didn’t read the first half, you can find it here.)
Yesterday (Saturday,) would be Halo’s debut as a special. We had secretly hoped this would happen and didn’t enter Karma in conformation in case Halo did move up — no need to have our girls competing against each other. But before conformation, we had a few agility runs to get to. Karma had T2B first today and it was quite comical. She was smoking through the course until she hit weave pole #4. Pole #4 apparently smelled AMAZING, because Karma hit a beautiful wrap-around point to indicate it. Jenny cracked up. Karma got a “no bird” cue and pulled back to the entry…luckily the second time through was uneventful. Karma picked up a T2B Q and 5 points today…off to a good start!
Next up was jumpers. Karma did a great job and managed to get a Q and 8 points. Again, we ran straight from the jumpers ring to the conformation building. Today we made it just in time to see everyone walk out of the breed ring. Dang. But Indy and Halo both did well…Indy and Tina Secord walked out with Select Dog for another point and Halo and Sarah Wintrone also picked up a Select win, but theirs was good for a Grand Champion 3 point major! Go Baby Hay!
Then it was back to agility where Karma had a great run, but missed her dog walk contact resulting in an NQ. Overall though, not a bad day… We stuck around to watch our friend Deb and her Vizsla Kinkee take Group 2 which was super exciting! Sarah had picked up a class Golden to show and ended up winning the Breed so she was showing in the sporting group too, AND she went Group 4! After the Sporting Group excitement we found an alternative dog park without any water hazards 🙂
The dogs were SO happy to get in a nice hour long run and then possibly more excited to head back to the hotel for their dinner. Again, as we gathered up our coats and purses, Karma, Indy, and William were already cuddled in bed, totally blissed out in their lavender diffused room. Halo, on the other hand, was so excited to go on another field trip. Luckily, dinner was uneventful with no more threats of tornados.
This morning we were thinking we would be waiting on Karma all day as the running order had the tall dogs going later. However, when we showed up we saw we had a judging change in conformation and a much later start time. Karma had just finished her third run of the day (and 3rd NQ — we had some tunnel-suck issues today) when the Vizslas were starting. We made it over just in time to see the specials head in the ring. Today’s judge was Judith Daniels. It was actually really cool to watch her work…very thoughtful. After her initial exams she stood back and looked at the whole line up. Then she pulled out Indy and the two other male specials and sent them around the ring. Then Halo and the other bitch special, around they went. Then Halo and the winners bitch. Then one of the male specials and the class dog. And then…AND THEN…she pointed out Halo for BREED!!! When she was ready for Best of Opposite, she went and found Indy!! Holy smokes!! Those wins gave Halo a 5 point Grand Champion major and Indy 2 more points — Indy now sits at 20 GCH points, just 5 shy of his title! It was pretty fabulous.
Halo did an awesome job in the group ring, even nailed her free stack. It was an awesome experience to get her around all the other breeds and handlers, and she really did look great. We can’t help but think Halo and Sarah are going to take us on quite a ride.
So here is the wrap-up:
Indy – SD, SD, BOS –> 4 GCH points
Karma – T2B, MX, T2B, MXJ, SB –> 2 T2B Q’s & 9 T2B points, 2 Master legs and 26 MACH points, MX title, and 3 point GCH major
Halo — WB, SB, BOB –> Major win/Champion Title, 8 GCH points/2 majors
Gotta say, the drive back to Denver flew by! We had such a great weekend, and not just because of the wins. It was great to see our friends Melissa, Deb, Sheila, Laura, and Jill and share a laugh or two with everyone.
Big thanks to Tina for handling Indy for us this weekend, if Jenny had to do it, she would have missed his ring time all but one day! And of course, big thanks to Sarah for doing such an awesome job showing Halo. Halo really deserved someone that loves to show as much as she does — Sarah definitely fits the bill, and we can’t wait to see what else this team accomplishes! We also wouldn’t be anywhere without two of Halo’s biggest cheerleaders, Colleen & Sarah. Thank you both for always being so excited for every little milestone. Finally, our sincere gratitude to Kathy Rust for picking out Halo for us…she has been saying Halo’s movement was gorgeous since she was 8 weeks old. Halo is Kathy’s 84th Kizmar Champion 🙂
Halo’s first Best of Breed win!