Nationals with an Altitude

The Vizsla Club of America National Non-field Events have finally come and gone.  What a week of fun and festivities!  Nationals were held in our very own Denver this year, and we are so grateful that the Rocky Mountain Vizsla Club hosted these events locally.  It was SO nice to be able to come and go all week without having to take off a whole week of work.  The show site was a quick 10-15 minute drive from our house, and we took full advantage of the proximity!  But let’s start at the beginning of our wonderful week —

Saturday and Sunday was the FRAAD Agility Trial in Castle Rock.  This was Karma’s first weekend competing and we found out Karma doesn’t want to weave!  In novice you get three attempts and all three times in both Standard and Jumpers with Weaves on Saturday, she balked at the weave poles.  Such a bummer.  It’s obviously something different Jenny is doing with her body language that is throwing Karm off, but we couldn’t figure it out.  Our competition trainer, Alan Tay, told Jenny to stop attempting the weaves as not being able to correct in the ring was just reinforcing bad behavior.  So Sunday and Monday no attempts at the weave poles were made and Karmie was a rockstar.  Monday was actually the Vizsla Club of America National Agility Trial and the reason we entered any agility this weekend.

The Agility trial was a family affair.  Carol (who owned Karma’s Great-Grandma Necka), Jamie (who owns Karma’s Grandma Geli), and Rhonda (who owns Karma’s Uncle Redford) all made the trip to run their dogs.  It was so cool watching them.  Carol is the agility master.  She can basically just stand in the middle of the ring and direct her dogs Turk & Caicos with just the slightest change in her body language.  Jamie is also very good, but has dogs at two different levels.  Tokaji (Karma’s Aunt) and Battue (Karma’s Uncle) are running at the Excellent level so those runs were pretty flawless.  Then Jamie ran Chance (Karma’s cousin) at the Novice level which was a little more fun to watch.  Chance definitely made Jamie work for it, but when all was said and done, Chancey Pants earned a QQ and two 1st place ribbons in her class!  Redford and Rhonda did really good as well and picked up Q’s on both Sunday and Monday!

With agility behind us, we looked forward to Wednesday when Karma and Indy would both show.  Karma was entered in the Open class with 16 other girls!  It was the largest entry out of the girls, so we had zero expectations.  Boy were we surprised!!  Our good friend, Steffie Cheng, who refers to Karma as “her” dog, showed Karma for us in the Open Class.  This was a very tough entry with beautiful V after beautiful V.  After the first round of examinations, down & backs, and go-rounds, Breeder/Judge Linda Kelly came back and pulled out about 6 girls for another down and back.  We were beyond thrilled that Karma was one of those chosen.  Jenny even turned to a friend and said, “Well, I’m happy.  I’m just glad she got a second look.”  And then to our surprise, Mrs. Kelly pulled out Karma for 2nd place!!!  Steffie worked Karma the ENTIRE time and we thought it was her best showing ever, but still, getting a 2nd place in such a competitive class was mind blowing!  We can’t thank Steffie or Judge Kelly enough for making this such a memorable Nationals for us.

Wednesday evening was the All-Star Review.  To enter the ASR, you must be a Champion and then either a Field Champion, Amateur Field Champion, Master Hunter, or NAVHDA Prize I dog.  Since Indy is both a Champion and Master Hunter, he is eligible to enter, and the ASR happens to be Marc’s favorite part about Nationals.  So, after taking Steffie out for a celebratory dinner in her and Karmie’s honor, Marc suited up and we headed back to the show.  Indy and Marc exhibited beautifully — even if Indy acts like a Golden Retriever and seldom takes his eyes of his Daddy.  It was very evident that they are best friends when you watch them in the ring together.  And out of the 22 dogs entered, Marc was the ONLY male handler!  We think this wins him the award as the most handsome handler 🙂

Thursday was an early day as Indy was entered in the Hunting Dog class which was before Best of Breed.  Indy was handled by our friend Kelli Kujawa who loves to show our boy.  They looked great in the ring together, but finished just out of the money in 5th place.  Incidentally, the boy that won the Hunting Dog class went on to receive an Award of Merit, so we think we were in good company.  After that, Best of Breed started, and it was pretty exciting to see Karmie’s brothers Newt & Gauge make the 1st cut.  Watching Nationals is a crazy experience — how a judge can narrow down to the winners after 8 rounds of specials is truly amazing.  We had too much fun.

Unfortunately, Jenny had to get down to Colorado Springs for a prior commitment Thursday night, so we had to skip the Awards Banquet.  But much to our surprise, we won a few awards!  Jenny won 2nd place in the Versatile Vizsla and Holiday Hound categories of the photo contest, and Marc went BEST IN SHOW for the popular vote!  So, it turns out, not only was Marc the most handsome handler at the All-Star Review, but he was a Best in Show winner too — he had a great Nationals 🙂

Today was an independent specialty hosted by the Rocky Mountain Vizsla Club so we showed up at the Hotel bright and early for another full dog show day.  First up was Indy in Veteran Sweepstakes with Kelli.  This was a very competitive class that included a dog that was ranked in the Top 20 last year.  We were so excited when Kelli and Indy were pulled out for 4th place in the class by Judge Bruce McClean.  Indy showed way better today than yesterday, and it was nice to see him get rewarded for his efforts.

After Indy’s showing, we turned our attention to Karma who was handled today by Auntie Eva!  Eva showed Karma’s Mom Holly to her championship and also put a Best of Opposite in Sweeps on Karmie when she was a puppy.  The Open class was another very large entry, and Karma didn’t catch the judge’s eye today.  We are still so excited from her 2nd place in Open win on Wednesday, that losing out today wasn’t even that bad.  Karma had a great time with Eva and they did a great job wiggling around the ring together.  After the girls finished showing, it was off to lunch with a group of friends.

After lunch, we noticed that they made the ring twice as big for the Non-Regular classes and Best of Breed.  It was time for Indy and Kelli to go back in for the Veteran Class in the nice big ring.  Kelli worked Indy around that huge ring and they showed absolutely beautifully.  The judge pulled out three Veterans to take another lap around, and our Indy was one of them!  It was pretty exciting and then to further take our breath away, Judge Eva Berg put Indy up for Best Veteran Dog!  This meant Indy would go in with the last group for Best of Breed!  Kelli was so excited she about jumped out of her skin 🙂  So after two groups of beautiful Champion boys, Indy was back in the ring with the third group.  After sitting on pins and needles through the examinations of the group, Judge Berg started pulling out her favorites and….Indy made the cut!  When it was time for the second cut, Indy and Kelli were not kept for the final round, but it was still a perfect day!  Who would have thought both of our dogs would earn such nice placements this week in such a huge Vizsla entry?  To have both of our kiddos walk with ribbons made this a Nationals we will never forget!

To wrap up our week, we headed to dinner Friday night to celebrate a certain someone’s 40th birthday.  We won’t name names, but we send her the happiest of wishes in the coming year 🙂

And thank you to everyone who made this an unforgettable Nationals:

Our dear friends & handlers – Steffie, Kelli, and Eva —  you are so amazing and so talented.  Thank you for loving Karm & Indo as if they are your own!

Our new agility friends – Carol, Jamie, Rhonda, Tammy, Donna, Kristin, Dale, Katherine — we had SO much fun chatting, setting up the ring, and hanging out with all of you.  We look forward to many more years of fun runs with you all!

To the host club – The Rocky Mountain Vizsla Club – you guys worked your buns off!  Kudos to you all for a well run event and beautiful ribbons & trophies!  And we can’t thank you enough for hosting a Nationals in Denver, it was so nice to not have to be on the road for a week!

To all of our friends new and old that shared a piece of this week…it was fun!! Lunches, dinners, ringside — it was great getting to spend this week with you.  Any takers for Ohio in April?