Munster Circuit - Never Again!

Well, I'm back - and it took the combined efforts of several people to persuade me to stay as I wanted to come home Monday night .
We had the Navan Group show on the Saturday, not strictly on the circuit but I had all 3 dogs entered and the weather was glorious. Taylor came 2nd out of 5, Polo did what Polo always does and Polly got 3rd in Open bitch, better than she normally does against that degree of competition Here is a pic of me with Taylor waiting for our second place card:-



Incidentally, he was the youngest there and the first male puppy.

He even managed to look reasonable while relaxing, waiting for our turn:-





Once we had finished, it was straight off to Clonmel for the show the next day (Sunday) where we had a disasterous day in miserable drizzle. Polly won Veteran (it was an FCI show) under the French judge but because she has some teeth missing she was not allowed to go forward for Best Veteran in Show, very disappointing as she has been placed in Veteran Stakes many times this year and the Clonmel show had Best Veteran on a Group basis so she might have had a good chance. Despite wanting to go home and forget the rest of the week, I plodded on, off to Killarney next, appalling lack of organisation, rude officials and another set of bum results. Rained all day but not hard.
Off next to Limerick, driving past Tralee where we were due on the Saturday. The show was on Thursday and the rain was torrential and the ground a sea of mud. I held someone's Bulldog while she took the other in the ring, and he decided to get friendly which left me with an unusual pattern of muddy paw prints all up my orange jacket. Very fetching. We had a change of judge which didn't help us at all, so Polo was 4th out of 4, Polly was thrown out. Taylor wasn't entered but I took him out of the van afterwards and he added greatly to his spots by galloping through the mud gleefully. I had to change my clothes three times but luckily we didn't get the thunder until after the classes, or Polo would have gone beserk.
By this time, as well as rubbish results, three people had decided to have a go at me/my dogs no-one else had spoken to me and I was hell bent on going home immediately. Some delightful people in Irish Water Spaniels, Ian and Cate, took me in hand and persuaded me to stick it out. They were on the same campsite and very kindly took me out for a pub meal that night and it was most enjoyable. The next day at Tralee, they magically appeared and took Polly and my trolley up to the ringside for me, such a help so I owe them!
Tralee - the sun shone for a change, Polo went very well and managed a third behind two multiple champions, Polly was thrown out (French judge again, teeth again!) and was thrown out for the fourth time running in Veteran Stakes but she went well so I was pleased with that.

I am now home (hurray!) the dogs have found the settee and are on their third dream, I have another show next Saturday but I seriously doubt whether I will do the circuit next year..... not an enjoyable week AT ALL!
On the upside - me and three dogs in the van worked very well, apart from my glasses snapping two on day 1 (didn't bring spare) and yesterday the ignition on the gas bit of the fridge stopped working and I left the lead that goes between the camera and the laptop behind so I couldn't upload the day's pics and make room for more....... but that's about normal!

Gill

Oh dear Gill sorry it wasn't an enjoyable week for you.As for the judge and the teeth carry on well for goodness sake shes a veteran!!!! must admit that is one of the things out of a few I don't care for under the FCI rules,counting
teeth

Oooo i got back this morning at 4 o'clock and i thought it was wonderful!!!!! yes it rained all the time but it wouldnt be ireland without the rain! lol
sarah xxxxx

I'm glad you had a good time, the weather was exceptionally bad even for here, during the week I think we had more rain than we have had all year!
How did you get on in the classes?

Gill

Hi Gill,
Bloody tooth fairies dont you love them(NOT)and to worry about that in a veteran bloody foolish.

What happened?

One person said I shouldn't bring a "pet bitch" to such an event, (Polly) another said it was not surprising Polly didn't get placed in Veteran Stakes as she only got good results earlier in the year as there were so few entries I pointed out that she got a second out of 17 in July and there were 21 this week no that different plus we had beaten a couple of dogs before that WERE placed this week then gave up trying to justify myself. Someone else told me that Polo was a lovely temperament and it was entirely my fault he was funny with other dogs until he settled. I then got a long lecture on how to handle him and what books to read, all of which I knew about and as Polo was standing a few feet away perfectly relaxed and surrounded by other males I felt this was a little unnecessary. Then someone else told me I should be holding the lead differently......then it was apparently all my fault that I was on my own all week as I should have rung everyone up to find out where they were staying and camp at the same sites. Doesn't explain why they ignored me at the shows though not even a good morning from most, it also turned out that most of them were trotting off for a cup of tea afterwards while I was packing away so when I got back to the ring they had vanished, presumed gone!
There's nothing like feeling as popular as a Christmas tree on 12th night to make the week drag........ however, I salute the folk from other breeds who I DID have cups of tea and chats with on the campsites, Irish Water Spaniels, Boxers (two lots) Bulldogs and Shar Pei's and Minature Dach's.
So it wasn't ALL bad!

Gill

wow spotsmad, I wouldn't want to be around those type of people to often...!...I'm glad that there were some other more 'decent' folk around that you had a good time with though...anyway, well done to you and your lovely dogs

Incidentally, it wasn't any of the Irish exhibitors...... kinda reminds me why I emigrated


Gill

Hi gill,



We ended up with 9 firsts, one 3rd, 4 res green stars and a third in the junior handling. So we got on quite well.

Im sorry that you didn’t enjoy it, I think we enjoyed it more because we were there with the owner of the puppies dad and her friend who was showing cairns so it meant that there were lots of people to help with the dog cages, grooming stuff ect. I can see how it wouldn’t be as enjoyable if you were there by yourself in the rain with all the equipment.

sarah xxxxx