It was a pleasure to judge at the Whippet Club’s limit show today, aided and abetted by my wonderful steward Rob Dunning, who managed to effortlessly and faultlessly guide everyone round despite having to juggle between four different rounds for the four classes. I couldn’t have had better company, thank you Rob.
Introductory:
1st Clara and Echo. Lovely play exercise from this team and super motivated heelwork. Echo lost most points for taking a very, very long way round in the recall but showed a beautiful present and finish when she finally docked. A clear stay clinched the win.
2nd Linda and Khyndra. What a wonderful display of whippety enjoyment with a great play exercise to start, followed by consistently attentive heelwork. Khyndra performed the fastest recall of the day (It may well have been the fastest recall I have ever seen) but lost marks for failing to do the present. The broken stay must have been disappointing. I really hope you do more obedience with her, she’s great.
3rd Sue and Millie. Great promise with this motivated team, just find out what is required in competition and you will do much better in the future.
4th Jim and Mac. A slow start but Mac moved up a gear in the second half of the heelwork to show he could look really good if he tried. Clear stays.
5th Valerie and Mima. A tight lead on the heelwork lost this team a lot of marks which is a shame as she kept a good position.
Pre-Beginner:
1st Julie and Dora. A great team with marks lost unnecessarily for a tight lead. An almost perfect recall, but I just had to dock you a quarter of a mark for moving your feet! Don’t make a habit of it as it might cost you a place when you move up the classes.
2nd Elaine and Zoe. You stepped out well with Zoe and she responded with some very smart heelwork, but you must try to avoid touching/handling her when working.
Beginner:
1st Ann and Cesc. Cesc wasn’t sure whether he should have been on the left or right so kept ducking behind to check. He was focussed and tried hard to get it right. His retrieve started well but he picked the dumbbell up badly and it slipped out of his mouth. Nothing a bit of practice won’t fix though.
2nd Julie and Dora. The best heelwork of the day from Dora, absolutely lovely. Alas, retrieve and stays took their toll.
Novice:
1st Lynn and Leia. Just a few faults that were caused by Leia’s over enthusiasm, including a dropped dumbbell. A pleasure to watch.
2nd Debbie and Whisper. Whisper had the best left turns of the day in HOL but lost steam in the HF. A super recall, but another one with a slippery dumbbell that didn’t quite make it all the way to the handler!
3rd Jess and Lorcan. Lorcan showed some lovely attention and looked very smart in the heelwork but an unnecessarily tight lead racked up the marks.
4th Jess and Luther. Retrieves were tricky for lots of dogs today but Luther managed to prove it can be done, and done well.
5th Ann and Cesc. Cesc ran out of steam by the time he worked his novice so decided to run out of the ring for a wee instead. He redeemed himself with clear stays.
Alex Johnson