Well, I don't know how to say this and be nice. Some judges you just don't show to, and there are those that do whatever they want, whenever they want, and really keep you guessing, and then others are the reason the majority of us keep coming back to the shows: You know they will always put up a good, sound dog, whether it's yours or not you can't really complain. Those are the ones you seek out. We had a judge change today so, since it wasn't a major anyway, we put in for a refund for Pearl and didn't show her. I spent some time cross referencing the new judge with our competition. Every time that the other specials dog has been shown to this judge in the last two years, she has given him the breed and sometimes a group placement. We debated on whether or not to leave Roché in and it was the wrong decision. This judge went over the other dog's rear three times, and even reset it twice, on the table. At this point, Dave is thinking that maybe he still has a shot at the breed because at least for today, this dog's rear is in question. Watching the dog move, still thinking, we have a shot. When the dog is moved it, is at a run. In the group ring the handler is at the front of the line and moving so fast that they are 20 feet ahead of everyone else and widening the gap. The dog might move 'his best' at a run, but the following quote from the standard does not call for that type of movement: "Because correct gait is essential to breed type, the Havanese should be presented at natural speed on a loose lead." But I guess 'natural' is a relative term.
Roché showed as well as, or better than, he did for his Bests In Show, his coat looked and felt great. He was not the tornado of yesterday. The result, unfortunately, was as we had expected: they went Best of Breed, Roché went Select. But, a win is a win, so Congratulations to today's winner. I guess we know that if we ever encounter this combination again, we pull our dog. No use wasting the time. 