Just some more pics of stacking practice with Griffin.  I can’t seem to get a good photo of him stacking, but it’s not easy trying to stack him and take the photo myself.

When I look back at older photos though he does look much better than he did when we first started out.  He’s maturing quite nicely and I’m pretty happy with him.  He is 17 months old now.

We have a show this weekend but I don’t expect much from this show, I believe there are quite a few going to it.  But it’s all practice and it’s all fun and that’s the main thing.  He has certainly improved quite a bit over the last few months and stacks much better and gaits quite well now too.  This will be his last show in ‘Junior’ age group, he will move up to ‘Intermediate’ next month.

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In Shock With Griffins Best of Breed Win

After two months away from the show ring Griffin had his first show back on Saturday the 7th January.  I was a little nervous going into this show because I had done no training with him whatsoever during those two months.  But I tried to think along the lines that it really doesn’t matter if he doesn’t do any good because it’s his first show back.

When I arrived at the show and looked at the catalogue I saw that there were 5 Ridgebacks, 2 dogs and 3 bitches and the other dog was one that always beat Griffin, so I knew we wouldn’t do very well.

I think that because I went into the ring resigned to the fact that we would lose and not worrying about it too much being our first show back for the year, I was more relaxed and not worrying so much.

You can imagine my surprise when I was running around the ring following behind the other Ridgeback and the judge pointed to me and gave Griffin Challenge dog.  I was in complete shock, I really didn’t expect that at all.

Then came the next surprise when we went back into the ring to run off against the Challenge bitch and once again I ran around that ring expecting the bitch to get the Best of Breed and not at all expecting the judge to once again point to me.

So our first show back and Griffin got Best of Breed, giving him another 10 points toward his championship title.

This is the first time that Griffin has ever beaten another dog.  He has beaten bitches before but never another dog, so I am absolutely ecstatic that he won – so very proud of my boy!

We went back on Sunday and I think I was a little more nervous on the Sunday, feeling that there was more pressure now that he’d had a good win.  Griffin was terrible on Sunday too, he kept jumping up on me before we went into the ring and wouldn’t behave.  He wouldn’t stack well and when the judge came over to him he leaned right back, so needless to say he didn’t win on Sunday, but that’s ok, I am so happy with his win on Saturday that I will be happy for a while.

I remind myself that most dogs will have more losses than wins and to really enjoy those wins when they come.

It’s been a while since I updated this site so here it is.

Griffin and I are both slowly improving with our showing.  We are both starting to gain some confidence and not be as nervous in the ring.  We are still a little nervous but we are getting much better.

Griffin has gained points toward his title with a few Best of Breeds and one Challenge Dog result. He is now on 50 points so he is exactly half way to achieving his Australian Champion Title.

In October we had a weekend away at Port Pirie.  Griffin didn’t do all that well for the first two shows but at the last show for the weekend he got Best of Breed and then went on to get Runner Up Best in Group and Best Junior In Group.  That is his best result ever and I was incredibly happy with that result.  I know I went into the ring that day feeling quite relaxed and it certainly rubbed off on him as he showed really well.

Here are a couple more photos, these photos were taken a couple of weeks ago at a show at SACA (South Australian Canine Association).

Well we started off with a terrible day on Saturday, which was a double show.  The first show there were two other Ridgebacks and Griffin came last.  Mind you, when we came out the ring a lady came and told me to check is right foot because he was favoring it and he actually had a big three corner jack stuck in his pad which would have been a bit painful for him.

The afternoon show wasn’t much better and he was up against two dogs and one bitch and once again pretty much came last.  Looking at some photos of him gaiting around the ring, he really is terrible when gaiting.  He holds his head down and his ears back because he is nervous and not happy out there.  He just doesn’t have any confidence out there at all.  I don’t know if that’s something I can work on with him or not but I will try.

Sunday was a little better.  Griffin actually got Best of Breed and so got his first points toward his championship title.  However, no other Ridgebacks turned up   But we’ll take the win anyway!

At least he is good enough to be given the BOB and not be excused so that counts for something.  We went in for the ‘in hound group’ judging and although he didn’t win (and I didn’t expect he would) he did quite well.  He stood fairly well and my friend Kathryn said he gaited quite well.  The judged asked some dogs to do a triangle but she didn’t ask for all of them to do it, only the one’s she was considering.  Griffin was asked to do the triangle so at least he was good enough to be in her consideration group, so I’m pretty happy with that.

Griffin's Best of Breed Certificate

Kathryn and her Great Dane did really well too with Bawden getting a Best of Breed over a titled dog, so he also got his first points towards his title.

Overall, I guess it was a good weekend.  We have four shows over three days this weekend, so will be an exhausting weekend.  I will need to get some practice in with Griffin before then.