Well another National Specialty has come and gone, and I can truthfully say that I am still in recovery mode. This show weekend is going to be one that sticks with me in my mind for a long time to come.

The weekend started on Thursday night when my friends bitch decided to finally go into labour. We knew that she was due within days of the National and could realistically go a few days before, or even during. She picked Thursday night of course when all the last minute details that needed to be done regarding the welcome bags, donations for the sales table, picking up my dog, and getting packed to go needed to be completed.

I rushed down to her place and we waited patiently for her to get down to business. By 2am it was becoming very clear that she was a girl that was having a lot of trouble. Things were not progressing as they should have and some decisions needed to be made and soon. By 2:30am we had called her Vet and put an emergency c-section into plan. Cavaliers are for the most part very good and productive whelpers. Sometimes like other breeds they need some help in the form of a c-section.

For us, in this case, it definitely was the right call as the tissue in the uterine horns was starting to become necrotic(dying) and the puppies were all trying to come out at once essentially making everyone very stuck! Given too much longer we very easily could have lost her entire litter. Fortunately her c-section resulted in four very healthy whole colour puppies. Two ruby boys, and two black and tan girls. They all came out very strong, and raring to go.

Home all of two minutes from the Vet. Everyone nursing strong and Mom recovering well.

All lined up at the milk bar

By this point is is 7:00am and I am to be at the National Specialty by 11am to help setup and hand out the Welcome Swag bags that I posted about a few days ago. I had also planned on entering Molly in the fun conformation seminar and match they had scheduled for the afternoon. By the time I got home it was after 8:00am and I had the worlds biggest headache, compounded by the fact that I hadn’t slept, and of course hardly any of my welcome bags were packed, my stuff wasn’t packed, Molly wasn’t bathed, and her stuff wasn’t packed. YIKES.. not a great way to start a busy weekend.

I took some ibuprofen, jumped in the shower, and then proceeded to pack up 45 of the 70 bags that needed to be packed for the show. After packing all those bags and having a headache that would.not go away I decided that I had better lay down for a bit. It was about 10am and there was absolutely no way I was going to have my little car packed, the welcome bags done, my own stuff packed and have Molly ready to be entered into a fun match. I was in no shape to drive even if I had a chance at getting there on time. I laid down for a few hours and even though my body was completely over tired and exhausted I of course after the stressful night of events couldn’t fall asleep right away. I finally managed to get a few hours sleep, got my car packed to the roof, got Molly’s stuff packed and made my way to Woodstock ON, arriving around 5pm. Well after I should have been there. So the Welcome Bags were late to the show. For the most part people were very understanding as to why. After all they are almost all breeders themselves!

There was still much work to be done on Friday night in regards to getting ready for the next day. After having some wonderful help to fill the remainder of the Welcome Bags, handing out the yearbooks, and having the AGM. I stuck around to help setup for the next days events. We put prizes together, moved chairs and tables around, cleaned up the mats and did any thing that needed to be done. By 10pm I was finally heading up to my room to bath and get Molly ready to be shown. At 12:30am Joan (my roomie for the weekend) and I were walking over to Tim Hortons to eat my first meal since Thursday night.

Saturday morning of course came bright and early (although a bit later than planned). I had wanted to set an alarm the night before as I had Molly entered in puppy sweepstakes which started at 8am. Joan said don’t worry my alarms (the dogs) would have us up by 6am and no later! I guess even the dogs were tired as they decided to have a sleep in and slept until 6:50! So once again the morning started later than I intended. I did manage to get Molly down to sweeps and had a great time in her class by myself. She was paying attention and showing well so I was happy regardless. 🙂

Molly’s class finally rolled around in the afternoon and I was exhausted but looking forward to it. We only had one other girl in her class 15-18 months but I was hoping for the same type of performance she gave to me in Sweeps. The CKCSCC National Specialty this year was judged by Mark Sedgwick of Pascavale Cavaliers in the UK. I was very proud when he judged us as first in our class. Molly showed just beautifully and had a lot of fun int he ring.

It may not seem like much to some but this was my first legitimate win in the ring against competition. Zo hated to show and always placed last. Mylee we only managed to do two shows when she was a puppy before she was unable to be shown anymore. So I was thrilled to pieces. With that win it meant that Molly had to go back into the ring four more times that day. I showed her in Winners Bitch, Best Canadian Bred, Best Black and Tan, and was very flattered when the owner of her father asked us to participate in the Stud dog class. She didn’t take any of those major classes however all of them were wonderful experiences for both of us and she showed beautifully in all of them.

We received so many kind words and compliments. Some people will find it very silly but I decided to get a win photo done of us to remind me of the wonderful day we had and my first legitimate class win. That and I like to support the show photographers who work hard and make very little. It didn’t scan very well, and she is a bit posted on her front but I think it is a beautiful picture regardless. The photographer would have liked to have captured her sweet little face but as us aspiring photographers know it is very hard to properly photograph a black and tan cavalier. The ones with her facing the camera just weren’t turning out the way I wanted so we ended up going with this profile shot instead. I cut myself out of course!

Molly’s Show Photo

So the final results for the CKCSCC National ended up being the following; thank you to Elin Becker for the results. I didn’t even manage to record them in my catalog. I was too busy watching the welcome bags and yearbooks.

Judge Pat Harris, Fianna – Puppy Sweepstakes
Best in Sweeps:Rose Arbor Hoochie Koochie, Glenn & Linda McKinnon (Sheryane Adonis X Rose Arbors Angle Eyes)
Best Opposite to Best in Sweeps: Cempa’ s President’s Choice, Marianne Creary (Timsar Mister Moonlighter x CAN CH Brinklow Amberjill at Cempa)

Cavalier King Charles Club of Canada National Specialty in Woodstock Ontario; Results
Judge Mark Sedgwick, Pascavale Cavaliers
WD, BOW:Avalcier Princeton, E&R Venier; Mr.& Mrs. Li (Pascavale Jamie x Avalcier Electra)
RWD:Miletree Northern Star, Bruce & Shirley Henry (Aranel Cosmic x Miletree Bedtime Wish)
Veteran Dog:CAN CH Grantilley Requisition, Jean Tremblay (Grantilley Maldoon x Grantilley Cathedral
Belle)
WB, BOS:Grantilley Here Comes Annie, Lana Adair (Grantilley Take That x Grantilley Spring Affair)
RWB:Rose Arbor Hoochie Koochie (see Best in Sweeps)
BOB:CAN CH Milkeyn Sheer Inspiration, C. Ann Eckersley & Susan O’Connor (Cinderlace Cromwell x Milkeyn Sheer Gem)

Thank you to the Cavalier Fanciers of Southern Ontario, and all the volunteers for making the weekend a success. The CFSO hosted a regional specialty on Sunday. By this point I had just had it and was completely overtired and exhausted. The smart thing would have been to pull out and go home. Molly and I of course stuck around until the end to help clean up. I know all the other volunteers were feeling just as exhausted as I was so that wouldn’t have been fair to anyone for us to bail early.

Molly showed horribly and was a bit of a menace in the ring. I know she was feeding off me, and was tired herself! It had already been one heck of a weekend. The show the day before was only her second time in the ring. I do have results of the CFSO somewhere. When I find them I will post them!

I was so busy I really didn’t have much of a chance to take any pictures at all! If anyone has some great ones to share with me I’d love to see them. Here is some of the very few I did get. All taken on Sunday I believe.

The Cavalier sales table

Silent Auction Table where I managed to get outbid on everything I bid on! I was waiting to head in the ring at the same time it was closing.

Controlled chaos in the hall outside the main ring room

Showtime!

Thank you to one of our sponsors, Royal Canin for supporting our show.

I may show Molly one more time before the snow flies but other than that I think we are done for this year. She has some growing up and maturing to do. We have lots of time to work towards her Canadian Championship when she has matured and filled out a bit. Maybe by next summer we will aim for the rings once again. I hope you enjoyed my whirlwind recap. I’m getting tired again just thinking about the weekend!