So the following week after the working Boxer Nationals I was in Winnebago Illinois for the USA Box Sieger Conformation Show and the East Wisconsin Boxer Klub Conformation Show and ZTP test. When I had gotten to Illinois, I woke up on Friday with a zinging pain down my right leg. It hurt to move it and even get out of bed. Walking was ok but I couldn’t run (which is an issue because you have to jog around the ring with your dog to show their gait). I ended up hiring a handler to handle Tia and Capone on Saturday and on Sunday Minna handled Tia for me. It only got worse as the days went on so I was thinking it might be my Sciatic nerve. But anywho back to the show weekend.
I was showing Capone and Tia in Open Brindle Class. I am still learning about conformation. Again, I will say I’m not a huge fan of conformation. Yes, I think it’s important but not as important as working (schutzhund, obedience, agility, etc.) But that is just my personal opinion on it.
So Saturday was the Sieger Conformation show. Tia got 4th place out of 9 dogs which is great. I was super proud of her. Capone got 2nd place in his class. Very good day for both of them. Saturday night was the judges dinner at a very nice restaurant.
Sunday was the East Wisconsin Boxer Klub Conformation show and ZTP. I ended up pulling Capone from the conformation show due to some stupid drama about his weight. Nothing official just some people thought he was too skinny…mind you the judge didn’t think so because he gave him a V-excellent rating and explained to the crowd that he was of working weight. I later talked to the judge alone and asked about Capone’s weight being an issue since I had heard people were talking about me. Bottom line could he stand to gain 2 or 3 pounds yes but the judge told me that if he saw a huge issue with his weight he would have marked him “unable to judge” and not “V-excellent”. But Sunday, he was still entered for his ZTP, breed suitability test.
Tia did great! She won her class Open Brindle Female with 8 other bitches competing. It was the largest class of the show. So proud of her.
Photography was by the amazingly talented Allison Bilinski. The last photo is me with Tia’s breeder Minna Nousiainen Becher.
Capone earned his ZTP title. This is the breed suitability test for the boxer. They have measure him, look at his conformation, gait. He has to heel while not being afraid of gunshots (something we had not trained on, but he did well showing no fear just curiosity), he also has to perform two long bites on a helper, walk though a crowd of people. I was super nervous about this whole thing because you only get 2 chances to pass a ZTP. If he fails twice, he can never retake it nor can his offspring. Plus even if you fail it the one time breeders are still skeptical about breeding to that particular dog. However he did great and passed his test. I was super proud of my boy. Here are some pictures from it:
So after trials and ZTP we all went to dinner and I went to bed. It was a super long and tiring journey for me both the Washington trip and Illinois shows, taking care of two dogs by myself, and living out of a suitcase. I was ready to come home. So that Monday I headed back home. I arrived back to Kentucky around 5:30PM and was never so happy to see my own bed, LOL.
Overall was great experience and I loved seeing my boxer peeps. I’ve actually been home two weeks now and I’m just now finishing up this post. Things have been super crazy and busy since I’ve been home. So I apologize for missing my “Weekly Training Notes” posts but they will be back soon. Happy Training!!
Ellasha
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