WDS @ Salzburg, day 2

The second day then..

The day kept us busy at least..! We took a taxi near the mess centre, but because the huge traffic jam we jumped out of the car about 400 meters before the hall. It was a nice, sunny day with many plus-degrees celcius, nothing like here in Finland at the moment - at the highest point maybe 15 degrees. Now it's warmer here at home thank god :p

I started my day by helping out with bearded collies. Nina Brusin had came with 8 dogs so she needed help indeed. I helped to groom some of the dogs for the ring. Nina's dogs got some success, EXC/1 in the Veteran class for example (: I would help out later in the final rings with couples and breeder's group.

Ninja ♥

Ninja's turn was next. Ninja was entered to the Open Class, but she finished her Finnish Champion-title some weeks ago. Unfortunately they didn't allow us to change the class to Champion. So she competed in open class with 8 other bitches. The judge for kleinspitz other colors was Mr. Erwin Deutchser from Germany. In my opinion (this again I should just keep my big mouth shut but..) he was a bit lost when judging. He checked the dogs' expression a thousand times and didn't seem to know what he was after. When it was the champion bitches turn, it seemed like Mr. Peter Machetanz came to help him..

Ninja EXC/2 in Open class!

Anyway, can't blame on our results! Ninja got EXC and finally placed as 2nd in open class! A nice result in my opinion :) She did show herself very well this day also, so I was happy. I was just in such hurry, I had 5 minutes time to go and do my individual judging at the other end of the hall in junior handling when I was still in the ring with Ninja..

It's not always about standing..

As you can guess, I ran really fast (seems to be my habit to run everywhere..) to the pharaoh ring at the other end. I wasn't even sure if I would get a jh-dog from there, because Maria had said to me, that I can get "Teah" (the one I competed last year in WDS with) if she's not BOB. When I came there, "Teah" hadn't even been in the ring! I asked if they had some other dog, and thankfully, they had. Elena Popova had a nice male, Antefa's Tutankhamun aka. "Trean". I ran with the poor dog to the other side, I could say it was almost 1 kilometer or something :D I was sweating like a pig when I arrived to the jh-ring.

"Trean" free-stacked

I saw that they'd already started the group judging and I thought, shit, that was it. Thankfully, they were nice and let me do my individual judging even if I was late. So I did it together with "Trean" and he did work very nicely! The judge asked for a triangle and up-and-down. I free-stacked "Trean" after the triangle and he stood okay, the hindleg wasn't perfectly situated, but I thought "hey, it's free-stacking, it's not supposed to be perfect". At that moment the judge pointed with her finger at the hindleg and wanted me to fix it to the right position. I was a bit surprised and thought my chances went out of the window there.

Stacking "Trean" in front of the judge

After the individual judging it was time for group judging. It went great, I thought! The judge didn't ask for anything special, just running like crazy around the dog, of course, as she was an Austrian judge :p After this we were told to be back a 1 o'clock.

© Kristina Korpar

I went out with "Trean" and when I came back at 12.45 Natascha (the ring secretariat) shouted "Hilde, you're qualified!". I was like what?? I didn't understand and probably looked really lost.. :D After some seconds I understood that I was in the top-6 and a smile appeared on my face! Yeey!! I made it! Thank you so much Elena Popova for lending lovely "Trean" for me!

In the main ring
© Adriatic Blue kennel

The finals were in the afternoon and we waited.. In the finals I didn't make it to the top-3, probably because I didn't care about the "golden rule" at all times, because I wanted to do it my way! I learned, that it's not a good idea :p BUT even if I didn't make it, my friend Sanni did!! WOHOO awesome! She competed with a lovely silky terrier! My other friend, Nea who was with us, competed today with an australian shepherd.

Later it was time for couples competition, I showed beardie Memorylane Show Me The Party "Diesel". Diesel had one of those days - he was full of energy and almost drag me into the ring! Fortunately he calmed down and showed himself nicely at the end.. We didn't unfortunately succeed in the couples competition.

Couples competition

It wasn't the end! There was the breeder's competition! Must say, by the way, that the pre-judging organizations were horrible! The aisle where it was meant to walk into the pre-judging ring was so crowded and it was horrible to even stand there. Very badly organized..

Anyway, we got our lovely beardies across the crowded aisle. We had with Nina and Jeena three dogs, "Diesel", "Rekku" and "Liinu". The Danish judge picked us to his shortlist! We were very happy! We didn't get more than that, but from a huge group of breeders, it was great! Thank you Nina for letting me help out with your beardies!

Our beautiful breeder's group, kennel Memorylane

This was a great day and it ended with a lovely junior handling-dinner which the junior handlers of Austria had organized! It was really fun and it's always lovely to spend time with friends from all over the world! Thank you ♥

The last day was the best.. Writing more soon! Tomorrow off to a group show here in Helsinki and after that  to Joensuu INT show! See ya!

♥ Hilde ♥