The next day was Sunday and we're up at 6 a.m. (as you can see from the above pic, the dogs were still asleep) because we have an 8 a.m. ring time. No time to worry! Christina Tanon and her dad were there with Bruno--what a handsome, handsome boy, with beautiful coloring and structure! This was show three, which you need to compete in to qualify for the Rare Breed Best of Show specialty competition, so Kyrie was entered in this one too! When the three of them went in for Best of Breed Leo got first, Bruno second, and Kyrie third. After we came out of the ring Blair and Charm showed up--ohh, Charm is soooo pretty! I sure hope Blair starts showing her! They got to watch us in the ring for show number four. Leo again came out first over Bruno, but the judge took Christina aside to tell her how wonderful Bruno was! He just needed a little more time to mature, he is going to be a stunning dog.
Here's Leo relaxing between shows:
So there we were with two more herding group competitions coming up, and Rare Breed Best in Show too. We went in for show three's Herding Group and pulled a third--a bronze medal for Leo!! YAY! This did loads for my confidence. Maybe I wasn't screwing up as badly as I thought! And Leo was running a lot better now. The practice was paying off! Then we went into the ring for show number four herding group. The judges made us run more than usual. Then one judge--the one who had complimented Christi on Bruno--asked me to run Leo again, and to give him his head completely. I was like Oh great, here comes the kangaroo! But Leo didn't bounce--he ran great!
WE WON FIRST IN HERDING GROUP FOR SHOW FOUR! We were headed for the Best in Show competition!!
After Leo took his Best in Group I went outside to walk him, and another Shiloh friend showed up! Dan Walker showed up outside the ring building on Sunday, accosted me with questions about Leo, and totally didn't tell me who he was! Well, finally he did, the big silly. Thanks Dan for your admiration of Leo and I hope some of those pictures you took turned out!!!!
So now we had to sit and wait...and wait...and wait...we were getting really tired, it had been a long weekend, and the dogs were crashed. Finally we came up for Rare Breed Best in Show. We got beat soundly by a wonderful Australian Cattle Dog and a beautiful Aussie. Oh well...we still have the overall BIS for show four...but wait--did they just call our number again??? What's going on?? A rather baffled me showed up at ringside...for the Best in Show for show three? OH--the two dogs who had beat Leo in show three's Herding Group had LEFT! We got to go in...I was all frazzled and totally not ready...and again they ran us more than usual. Finally the judge told me (constant refrain) "Run him around and give him his head this time". Oh boy...we did. Leo ran beautifully. WE GOT BEST IN SHOW!!!! "To the Shiloh with the REACH!" the judge announced with a big smile!! Oh boy oh boy Leo we did it!!!!!!!!!
After that I didn't care. In the BIS competition for show four we did our best and I think the Judges really wanted to give something to Leo but he was just too tired and wasn't extending--I heard them talking about it as we left the ring without another ribbon. I had noticed that he was running slower and the lead was loose. He was just so tired! And so was I...I begged Zak to get signatures for our win sheets and managed to muster enough energy to go get a show photo done with our huge ribbon.
And that was that...somehow we managed to drive home. Somehow I made it to work the next day. And boy were my legs killing me! But it was worth it. :) Here is a picture of "daddy" Zak, so proud of his Leo!!
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