Eeva's next show was National Working and Pastoral Breeds so we were back at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern. There was a very good entry of 42 Finnish Lapphunds with a Breed Specialist Judge, Irene Green (Iolair).

This was Eeva's first show in the Junior class and she is still 14 months old so I was especially thrilled when she took first place at only her 2nd Championship show.
 
Eeva's Breeder, Gail, had come along to lend her support and it was really nice to share the day and celebrations with her. Eeva is the third one from her litter to qualify for Crufts joining her sisters Slyvi and Teija. Congratulations to Gail and John!

Eeva enjoyed her day and took everything in her stride (as always)

Rupert & I finally made it back into the Obedience ring after a 2 year break. I was feeling a bit light sensitive following a migraine but it was overcast and a friend gave me a lift so we made it!

We were drawn 7th in Beginners so not much time to dwell on our return. Our heelwork wasn't as tight as usual but he was still really happy in his work and he did a super retrieve and lovely recall. Very nice after such a long absence.

As I came out I realised I had an audience – two Toller people had seen us working and come over to watch. Our own little mini Toller meet! It was really nice to catch up with Beryl and her new dog Holly and meet Betty and Tallis. I hadn't realised there were getting to be so many Tollers in Obedience now – how great is that!

Both his sets were marked clear and we lost 4 3/4 on each of the heelwork sections so a loss of 9 1/2 - under the magic 10 for a Certificate of Merit (although unfortunately this show wasn’t awarding them).

All too soon it was time for stays - I remember walking into the ring thinking "when did we last train stays?". I needn't have had even a moment's concern. Roo was solid even when a Cavalier broke and wandered past him. (I did feel sorry for the Cavvie as he had ended up quite in-between 2 much larger dogs and he just got worried).

There were a few more to work so I wandered down to PetNeeds as I needed some cones and a jump set for our Rally classes and luckily I popped back to my ring on the way back to the car. They were just getting ready for the presentation and we’d come 4th! I ran back to the car, grabbed Roo and we made it back just in time.

I was so pleased with Rupert as I was still under the weather (even with all the cloud cover I had to wear sunglasses) and he held it together for me.

I found out later that he had the only clear retrieve and recall of the day - that's my boy!

Rupert's first Champ Show this year was WELKS, no Limit class so he was in Open Dog and he was VHC (4th) behind his nephew and 2 brothers. WELKS was the same weekend as NPS so I got to see my sister and Angie in their Picton class on the Saturday morning. Unfortunately the bright sun on Gundog day and even during the early morning Picton class gave me a migraine so I had to withdraw Eeva from her last ever Puppy class, it was so disappointing. I also had to miss out on a Obedience competition at Coseley on the Sunday.

The weather was awful, blustery, cold and wet so the trial had been moved inside, this meant that there were some space constraints but I think they did an excellent job with the space available.

It was very different working a course under competition, firstly there is the Judge and Scribe in the ring with you, then there is the navigation - the signs seem to come upon you much quicker in competition.

We had two goes at the course which was useful - I think everyone was more relaxed on their 2nd go. However, I actually managed to lose more points on my 2nd go - I cut in quite close on the Spiral and Rupert clipped a cone so my fault. We lost 12 points on our first attempt and 19 on our second. We lost a big "5" on both attempts through handler error so plenty to work on there, funnily in the Spiral both times. I was very pleased with him as he was really ready to work and very attentive.

I was thrilled at the end of the day when we were joint 1st in Practice Trial! We had gone with Gail (Eeva's Breeder and another of the Midlands - UK Rally team) and Jenni (Eeva's Mum). They also had a good day, Gail really nailed those Spirals! They were joint 3rd so plenty of celebrations in the car on the way home.

Valentine's day this year was celebrated with a trip to Gloucester & District's Open Show which is held in the Severn Hall at the 3 Counties Showground. Luckily we had a bottle of Champagne in the fridge as we had a wonderful day so a double celebration that night

Rupert was first in the ring as he was in the AVNSC Gundog Open class under judge Sue Harris (Barleyarch), he showed nicely and came away with a 3rd from a strong class so that was a good start to the day.

There weren't any Lapphund classes either but as there wasn't an AVNSC Pastoral Puppy class Eeva was entered in AV Pastoral Puppy under Pastoral Group judge Mr R Bathurst (Auldyn). She was very settled in the ring and moved beautifully and the judge gave her first place which meant we were going forward to the Pastoral Puppy Group. We didn't have very long to wait just the Pastoral Group judging and then we were back in the ring. Eeva took Puppy Group 3 - clever girl! We were so proud of her.

Both Eeva and Rupert were entered in Stakes classes but we had done so well we thought we would end on a high and take them for a run on the way home instead. Rupert & Eeva thought that was an excellent idea!