|
Today was a very exciting and rewarding day for us! We had a successful, albeit very long, show day. This weekend’s shows are Orso’s last shows in the 6-9 month puppy class since he turns 9 months on the 17th. Orso cleaned house and took (1) First Prize in his age class, (2) Winners in the winners class, (3) Best of Winners, (4) Best of Breed Puppy AND most importantly, (5) Best of Breed to bring home a 3-point major! WOW! What does this all mean for Orso? A few things! Get comfy because this is going to be a lengthy post! A little background… In order to earn the title of Champion with the AKC, Orso needs to accumulate 15 points. Of these 15 points, he needs to earn at least 2 “majors” of 3 points of more. Majors are incredibly difficult to earn – especially for an 8 month old puppy on his 3rd show weekend! Why are they difficult to earn, you ask? Let me explain… There are a lot of factors that go into winning a major. For starters, there need to be enough dogs and/or bitches of Orso’s same breed showing in order to qualify the win as a major. In Orso’s case, there were enough Corsi in the ring to qualify his Best of Breed win as a major. What makes Orso’s win so particularly special is his age and the accomplished Champions he was up against. He is only 8 months old and was in the ring with 3 “specials” who he beat. Specials are dogs or bitches who are already AKC Champions and are working toward earning their Grand Champion title with the AKC. My boy beat 3 champions – 2 champion dogs, including his dad, and 1 champion bitch. Very special win for Orso indeed! After he took Best of Breed and Best of Breed Puppy, Orso moved on to the next level of competition, which is Best of Group and Best of Puppy Group, another exciting part of our day. Only the Best of Breed winners advance to compete in the Group competitions. Each AKC-recognized breed falls into one of seven group classifications. The seven groups are Sporting, Hound, Working, Terrier, Toy, Non-Sporting and Herding. The Cane Corso breed falls into the Working Group. The day was a long one because the group classes don’t go until close to the end of the day and we had finished with our breed class early in the morning. No big deal… Orso got a chance to play some tug with us in a big grassy area outside and relax in his giant crate throughout the day while we waited for him to show again. Meanwhile, in Miami, Nichelle – our dog sitter extraordinaire – passed by the house to check on Mouse & Luna, who were patiently hanging out in the family room waiting for our return! Thanks, Nichelle! Special thanks also goes to Pawsch – our dog food supplier – who hooked us up at the dog show with some cool new stuff for Orso to help make the wait more enjoyable! Thanks, Pawsch! Once the afternoon rolled around, it was Orso’s turn to go back in the ring. He was supposed to go in for Best of Puppy Working Group AND Best of Working Group, but a scheduling conflict forced us to have to choose between the two; this was not something we were happy about but it is what it is. Recognizing that an opportunity to show in the Best of Working Group class is far more prestigious and has a potential for points, we chose to go in to the Best of Working Group competition. We were so proud of our boy! He did so awesome in there! He actually made the first cut from which the judge selected the winners and that truly is a huge deal! To not get eliminated in the first round of working group selections is amazing! Way to go, Orso! Some other cool stuff to mention. Orso got “interviewed” by The Town Crier, which is a local newspaper in Palm Beach County. They even took his photo for the newspaper. As soon as we get the digital edition, we will post it to the blog. Another cool thing that happened was that an aspiring photographer named Lee photographed us with Orso at the end of the day for a project he is doing for his photography degree. He is sending us the photos, so we will post those too! Throughout the day, I got tons of questions about the Cane Corso breed, which we loved because it gave us a chance to educate people about this wonderful breed. More importantly, it gave Orso a chance to get lots of love and attention from many, many new people, which is something that is so crucial to the development of a socialized and well-adjusted dog. We are blessed that Orso gets to meet new people on a regular basis, helping us to shape his personality into the friendly and approachable Corso he has become! To see today’s show results, click here or go to http://www.infodog.com/RESULTS/2011120201/201112020133500.HTM. Below are some of our favorite shots of the day. We were having some technical difficulties with one of our cameras, so the shots aren’t as crisp and properly exposed as we’d like, but that’s OK! Enjoy!           
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
YVONNE
|
RSS Feed