Glutton For Punishment

Probably not the best way to kick off a bank holiday, by getting up early and driving to Shrewsbury. Yep, dog show. L even comes with me and hits the sights of Shrewsbury, which were apparently pretty sightly.

Despite not liking the film, L is reading ‘Beastly’ the book. Glutton for punishment. I’ve said this before, but she has a serious reading problem. Reading a book to see if it’s as bad or better than the film is a bit obsessive. No?

Well, I thought I got all the preparation right for Doggo’s first course. I even got an Alsatian to run in front of us, which winds the old boy up a treat. Somehow we missed the weaves (my fault) and had a pole (his fault). Then on his second and only other run, he had the long jump down. So nothing for him today.

MD has a cracking first run, that is until we come to the last section where I can either hang back and push him from behind (verbally not actually push him) on to the final straight and risk him veering off right or get ahead, make sure he doesn’t veer right but risk him taking a short cut to me and missing out a jump. I do the former. He does the former and veers to the right. The judge does that throat slitting movement with one hand across his neck. Elimination.

His second course is a toughie. We do ok but not clear. His third is easy, we nail it. Clear. Disappointing only 10th but a rosette is a rosette. We go straight on to his fourth and last run. It’s hot and he looks tired. He demolishes the courses. Never mind, we have our clear and we have our rosette.

We get home, dump the boys and slip out for a few Abbots.

(Friday 22nd April)