Today was supposed to be the second day of MyDog. Or rather, it still is, but not for us. Yesterday didn’t go all that well, resulting in a Linda with a bad back and lots of added stress. And given that I’ve got a paper on Roman curse tablets due soon, I felt I didn’t need another day like that. Of course, it usually goes better the second day, since Ringo tends to be a little more mellow, but I decided against it anyway. Still kicking myself, of course, and thinking about “what ifs”.

Yesterday actually started off okay, since I had had the smart idea of using the less busy entrance and giving Ringo a little walk outside the arena first. So, he was pretty manageable once inside, not really pulling towards dogs much at all. But once we got settled in around the ring, it was really, really crowded (today would have been better in that regard too, since we would have been in a bigger ring with more space around it), and he got really riled up and just wouldn’t calm down. If he wasn’t barking at us for attention, he barked at other dogs, either to get them to play or out of his usual leash fear/aggression. In some cases, he did settle down about particular dogs so that he could be praised for it (and I rather regret not walking him around more down in the exhibit area, to get more of a chance to reward him), but he never really landed fully. We did have his cage along, and he’d occasionally go in, but after a few minutes he’d bark and want to be let out.

And then we got into the ring, and he and a few other dogs took a dislike to each other. I don’t know who started, I know he growled at one that passed nearby, but then the dog in front of us kept turning around to snarl in his face, so I think they were all to blame. But it got kind of stressful (though no one actually touched anyone else), and for a while I even thought the judge had sent us out because he was really a) disorganized and b) quiet when he tried to split the group into two for running the dogs. By then I had a complete dry mouth and arms and legs that felt so weak I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do the individual evaluation at all. As a result, the individual running was not good. Ringo was a bit tried and I was too exhausted to do a good job. The teeth showing went well since I got to do it myself (the judge said he was tried of wrestling boxers), and then Ringo posed ... okayish while I tried to catch my breath and calm down.

Of course, after all that work, we got a 2. Not a huge surprise at a Kennel Club show, he’s just not that kind of boxer, but I am a bit annoyed anyway. The written critique was actually quite good, save for a note about him being a bit hotheaded in the ring. This means that the judge either wrote a critique that doesn’t really seem to reflect a 2 in terms of his conformation, or the judge gave him the 2 because of his temper. But for temper, if the judge feels it is an issue, it should be a 0 and then a code “A” for fearful or aggressive behaviour. If its not judged to be that much of an issue, then my understanding is that it shouldn’t be reflected in the score at all, unless its highly atypical for the breed. But, I’ve had other 2’s that I am pretty sure came because he was too unruly/bouncy/etc, when he really should have had a KEP (Kan ej prisbelönas = Cannot be judged) instead. So, because judges are reluctant to give what they see as the more serious 0 + A or KEP, you get 2’s that aren’t really 2’s instead. In this case, I guess the judge didn’t feel like handing out a bunch of 0 + A, so he handed out a few 2’s instead.

Of course, the reason for the 2 could also be that the judge isn’t very good at writing a critique that sounds well matched to the score he gives out. I know he’s judged a lot of boxer, but he spent a lot of time measuring the younger boxers and consulting a sheet which appeared to have the boxer standard on it. So it may be that we got a bit of a cookie cutter review with some typical catch-phrases thrown in. But, that’s how it is. Its all subjective, and that has to be accepted. Still, doesn’t mean one can’t sigh a bit about it. ;) Anyway, here’s the critique:

Masculine, excellent nose, a bit too much cheek, good eyes and ears. Short neck, strong back, straight croup, good forechest, good length of chest. Good legs and feet. Moves okay, somewhat hotheaded in the ring towards his competitors.

Don’t know when we will be showing again (possibly not until the local boxer show in May, but that may be too long a wait again), but this spring we really need to make an attempt at getting him ready for a working dog competition, probably tracking. We also want to do the physical & mental evaluation that should be done before age 4. And we’ll probably be booking some private lessons with a trainer to see if we can do anything about his leash aggression.

Last Sunday was the Swedish Championships for Boxers, which we attended with Ringo, for the third year in a row. Fortunately, it was close to where we live this time around, just an hour away instead of four, so the fact that the show didn’t turn out so well didn’t sting quite as much as it could have.

Going into it, we were prepared for a less than stellar result, as the judge was one that had given Ringo just a 2 for quality at a previous show. But that was when he was a junior, and he did not show well at all, so we had thought that might have accounted for some of the evaluation. But, no. He showed very well this time, giving the judge a good chance to look him over, and all that resulted in was another 2 and a longer description of all his faults according to the judge:

Three years old, medium size. A bit flat in skull, not fullfilled enough under eyes, too much developed jaws, the ears are not well carried. Short neck, not dry enough. Needs more angular in front, a bit loose in elbows, chest is not deep enough, could have better topline. A bit feminine. Correct croup and tailset. Good mover. Needs better expression.

Some of those things were clearly due to the judge preferring quite massive male boxers. His winner was very muscular and deep-chested—too much so for my taste, really. Though taken with the previous show, I can’t help but worry a little bit that his head is coming out a little worse with age. But oh well, its just a show, and if we could get him into the working dogs class I think he’d be quite competitive all considered. That’s no small feat, though, with his habit of getting stressed by everything.

And speaking of stress… It was incredibly windy at the show (but despite lots of foreboding dark clouds, we only got 5-10 minutes of light rain), and it blew all sense out of Ringo. He was wild and loud (a poor fellow standing behind us got barked at several times, I suspect for having a beard…), taking only short little naps. I really thought he’d be out of control in the ring, but he was excellent. Now, we if could only work on his escalating issues with other dogs, to improve those as much as his attention to me has improved…

After two weeks of vacationing, with plenty of walks and visits to the beach, it was time to finish off our time up at my mother’s family home near Sundsvall (on the Baltic coast, pretty much right in the middle of Sweden length-wise) with a visit to this region’s boxer special. We had taken our vacation later than usual to be able to attend this show for once, since its generally one of the smaller breed-specific shows. We were also quite interested in seeing what the judge, a well-known Swedish boxer judge, would have to say about Ringo.

Yesterday’s show was a minor disaster. I was very nervous in advance (not helped along by all sorts of bad omens ;P), because last time we had had this judge Ringo had been such a monster towards me that she had been concerned she had to report him for aggression. Still, she really liked his type, and I wanted to see what she’d think now that he appears to have grown out of the few faults she pointed out last time. Given how nicely he behaved last weekend, I thought we stood a good chance of a fine performance.

Hah.

We have now been at home for a few hours (watching harness racing on and off) after getting up at 6 am in order to be comfortably early at the boxer show arranged by the regional boxer club. During the summer, each region within the country-wide boxer club arranges their own show for just boxers, and these are generally the most prestigious shows for boxer owners. So far, throughout the last two years, we’ve had mixed results, with the best being a victory in his group when he was a junior and a reserve (fifth, basically) placement in the young dog group at the Swedish boxer championships last year. No CKs (championship quality) at boxer shows so far, though, and I would certainly love to get one this year. But, it does take finding a judge that likes Ringo’s type, as I’d say he’s pretty good, but not stellar enough to wow just any judge regardless of their preferences.

I knew the judge for today probably preferred a somewhat different boxer judging by the dogs he had liked at previous shows in Sweden (there’s a database on-line where its possible to check the results for any official Swedish show), so my hopes were for good behaviour from Ringo and a red ribbon (for quality 1) in the individual evaluation. And that is pretty much what I got. In fact, Ringo surprised me by being both very well behaved and alert, which is something we don’t always manage to get at the same time. He bounced up once when the judge held up a pen to check alertness, and did one little jump when we started running, but otherwise he had his feet on the ground all the time and stood quite well too. I felt pretty confident that we’d get our red ribbon, and we did. However, when the time came for the comparative evaluation, we were the second pair to be sent out of the ring. The critique, however, sounds pretty good from what I have been able to make out of it (its in German, and hand-written):

Medium-sized, red-golden brindle. Good head and a suitable nose. Brown eyes, somewhat small incisors. Very good neck. Deep chest. The angulation is good in the front and very good in the back. Free movements.

The winner of Ringo’s class (the open class, which is where all males over 2 years go unless they go into the working dog group or the champion group) was a dog from the same litter that we had actually considered a dog from before settling on Ringo. They’ve had an informal rivalry ever since facing off at the first ever show for both of them when they were puppies (Ringo won that time), though we’ve ended up showing Ringo rather more. Kingston, as he is called,  is a bit taller and lighter than Ringo, and I had suspected that he would do well for this judge as a litter mate of his had done well for him. So, he won, with a CK, and then he ended up missing out on best male very narrowly, placing second in that class after a lengthy deliberation by the judge.

We’ll have to tell Ringo he now has some catching up to do, to see if it might spur him to be a little extra pretty for the other boxer shows this year. ;) We’re hoping for at least two, possibly three more, though it really is no fun to get up at 3 or 4 am, so we’ll see. Either way, he was a very good dog today, and that sort of progress matters the most.

The time had come today for the first show of the summer season. Not of the year, though, since we had the two indoor shows in January. But that was a good while ago, so of course I was nervous that Ringo would act up. Unfortunately, he did not disappoint. ;P

It has been a while since the last Ringo update, mostly because I only manage to get myself to post after shows and there haven’t been any of those since September. We have, however, been training weekly up at the local working dog club, and some improvements have occurred. Though, some things have gotten worse, too, like Ringo’s attitude about other male dogs. Its definitely turning into a little bit of an issue, and I had my hands full at the MyDog show in Gothenburg on Monday and Tuesday of this week.

On the first day, Ringo was a little hellion. Not as bad as last year on the first day, but bad enough that the rather strict British judge gave us a 2 even though he also gave him a pretty good critique. Properly speaking, I don’t think it was quite proper to have him get a 2, since it seemed to be based rather heavily on the judge feeling he wasn’t handled well. However, it is pretty common to get a 2 for that even though the rules technically don’t leave room for it.

The critique was: Very well made square brindle. Well balanced in outline. Good mover. Head is typie, just a touch over done. Handler must learn to show and move him better for the judge.

On the second day, Ringo behaved a lot better overall, and especially in the ring. He posed nicely in the first lineup, ran well with the rest, ran well on his own and posed fairly well on his own too. We got a 1, and then we ended up placed 4th. Dogs 1 through 3 got CKs, and I think the judge may have considered Ringo for one as he gave him a close look before deciding the placements. Then again, he seemed pretty set on 1 through 3.

The critique this time was: Correct size. Typical head. Correct topline, deep chest, correct front angulation. Good coat. Good movement.

There won’t be any more shows for a while again, I expect (not until the outdoor ones start, most likely), but we are looking at signing up for a class to prepare for working dog competitions. Its not going to be easy to start with him at this age, but maybe we can manage to compete in a year or so and perhaps have his working dog merits by next summer. For now, though, he just needs more training to be less hyper-active.

Yesterday we were at a show at a working dog club not too far away from here, for Ringos début in the open class since he is now past 2 years of age. Boxers were, for once, not the first breed to be judged in their ring, so we only had to get up at 7 am to be there at 9 am. Quite a difference from getting up at 3 am for the last show.

Ringo started the morning by being very lively. He clearly knows that early mornings with the whole family getting ready means a dog show. Didn’t help my nerves, of course, that he decided to be pretty feisty. The judge for the show would be one that previously had given him a 2 for quality, in large parts because he really misbehaved. So, I was not expecting more than a 1 today and that only if he managed to behave.

After a few days of resting my arms and hands, I am finally up to writing a report about our trip to this years Swedish Boxer Championships. Ok, maybe that’s a little bit of an exagerration, but I did get quite worn out by handling Ringo for a whole day around a lot of people and a lot of dogs.

It began with a very early start (we left at about 3.30 ... am), and while we didn’t stay for the whole thing we were still away until about 5 pm. By which time I was quite knackered. The weather was rather cold and windy for most of the day, and Ringo was not as well-behaved as he has been for most shows this year. Outside of the ring, he was pretty stress-free (but he was very excited to meet his brother again, and his brother’s ‘girlfriend’, aka the breeder’s gorgeous new puppy girl from Italy), but inside he was a bit of a handful. Not as bad as he has been in the past, but enough to up my heart rate quite a bit.

Today we had our first show in a couple of months. Since we haven’t had much chance to train Ringo with a lot of dogs around him during the summer, I was expecting him to be rather charged up. He also started the morning off by being a little hellion already at home, so I was expecting a very bad day in the ring. It wasn’t even very warm, which might have helped to tire him out. ;P

When we got to the show (this one was quite close by, at least), he was his usual whirling dervish self for the first 30 minutes. But then he mostly came back down on the ground. Still, I was quite nervous when it was time to get into the ring. Unfortunately, we weren’t alone either. ;) Still, Ringo surprised me by not pulling too much at all as we ran the first lap, even though he was behind the other dog. He then waited mostly patiently while the other dog was evaluated.

Once it was time for our individual evaluation, he was lively (as usual) when the judge (a very nice fellow) checked his teeth, his head and made sure he still had two testicles. But then he actually didn’t act up on the individual run either. Well, he made one move to do so, but I managed to curb it. The judge looked him over some more, and then wanted us to run again. That’s unusual, so I figured there was something he wasn’t quite happy with, even though I thought Ringo had done pretty well (and I had tried to keep in mind some of the tips from the handlar class we did in spring).

We did get our 1 for quality, but when we were called back in with the other dog, he decided pretty quickly on that one after asking us to run to more laps. He preferred his muzzle (said Ringo’s was a little too short and also too narrow) and preferred his gaits (he thought Ringo’s were a little unsteady, even though he had good propulsion). The other dog was a rather English boxer, and that type is preferred by many judges here. His slightly longer muzzle is, as far as I can tell, typical of that type. So, not much to be done about that. The gaits ... well, we’ll need to try to work on getting him to concentrate more, so he runs mroe steadily.

Though I doubt we can work any miracles until next weekend, when we probably will be heading off to the Swedish boxer championships. Provided we don’t back out of doing the 4-hour-drive each way. ;P

Medium-sized, powerfully built. Good proportions. Masculine head, good eyes and ears. Somewhat short muzzle that is somewhat narrow. Adequate withers, firm back, big-boned. Fairly well-balanced, ground-covering strides, good propulsion. Good temper, eager to work.

After a few weeks of no shows, we had another one today. This was the same show that last year went very poorly, as the raspy speaker system spooked Ringo. He ended up with a 2 then, so I was definitely hoping to do better than that today. Of course, the last show (the boxer special last month) also resulted in a 2, though we have since heard that the judge there was so tough and so keen on handing out 2s that more blue ribbons had to be prepared. Still, he’s a little too round right now, since the heat has meant we can’t exercise him as much as we usually do, and his muscle tone is not as good as it was a month ago. With this in mind, I tried to keep my expectations realistic.

We sure had a busy weekend. First a kennelclub show on Saturday and then the boxerspecial on Sunday. The common denominator for both was hot weather and a very well-behaved Ringo.

Its been slow on the show front since January, though I have actually had plenty of other things (like our weekly trips up to the local club to train the little monster) I could have posted about. I’ve just been very lazy. That’ll have to change now. Today was the first of three shows in May, with the other two coming up the 10th and the 11th. We’ll have to hope for a better result there. ;) Today’s judge did not much care for Ringo, and we did not go on from the individual evaluation. This was the evaluation:

Male under development. Needs stronger sex characteristics in his head, somewhat small teeth, dark eyes, head needs to be somewhat larger for the body. Powerful neck, adequate length. Needs to come up a little on his legs, open forearm angles. Good muscle tone, somewhat thin coat today, good guard hairs, beautiful stripes. Needs steadier movements. Accessible and lively temperament.

Result: UKL-2

Some of these things sound quite strange to us, since they contradict things previously said, so we’re chalking it up mostly to the judge. ;) His coat is, however, not great at the moment, so that may affect the other two shows too.

What was great today, however, was his behaviour. Well, great for him, anyway. It seems like weekly training at the club has gotten him to be a little more responsive to me when around a lot of dogs and a lot of people. I have also learned a couple of good tricks for dealing with him when he goes into overdrive, such as just pulling the leash down and standing on it, and I finally remembered to take my time when he did act up rather than hurrying up because I worry so much about being an inconvenience. So, instead of pressing ahead with a dog hanging from my arm and growling at me, I stopped him, waited until he gave in (basically, he had to cool off a bit so I could communicate with him again, since he just ends up totally blocked when he gets too excited), and gave him some treats. I also picked up some useful tips about showing him at a show training this last Tuesday, and I think it helped a lot with keeping him posed fairly nicely in front of the judge.

So, despite a lack of red ribbons, I am pleased with the day, and I hope it made a positive impression on Ringo.

I am, once again, exhausted after taking Ringo to another show. This time, however, my efforts did pay off better than yesterday. He got his first prize for quality, though he only placed fourth (aka last) of the dogs that were awarded the red ribbon for quality. This probably had something to do with his behaviour (which was better than yesterday but still not good) but also with the fact that the judge apparently prefers lots of white markings on boxers, and Ringo is a ‘plain’ rather than ‘flashy’ boxer with hardly any white at all.

I started off by doing lots and lots of practice runs in the ring. This did seem to have some effect, because during the initial run with all the dogs in his class, he didn’t act up. He then waited pretty patiently (I did work a lot with him, though, asking him to sit, lie down, crawl, etc) as the dogs ahead of him received their individual evaluations. Then it kind of went pearshaped when the very nice judge said an enthusiastic hello. If we had been allowed to run before she checked his teeth, I think we would have done much better, but as usual I was too shy to ask for this. As it was now,  he got really charged up and picked a fight with me when we were doing our run alone. Elio had to step in and correct him with some water. ;P He remained very excited, though, and I was convinced for a while that she’d send us off because he wouldn’t stand still after running either.

Fortunately, she’s a boxer owner, and she told me to calm him down first by just asking him to sit or lie down. Once I heard from her that she was okay with me taking a bit of extra time, I relaxed so much and was able to get him to stand decently. I thanked her profusely for her understanding, and I was so thrilled that I ended up with a red ribbon. I did get my hopes up as I saw she was taking her time to write her critique, but I didn’t dare to believe it until the ribbon was handed to me. Whew. Ringo then behaved nicely for the rest of his time in the ring, even stood quite well as she did her final comparisons, and the fourth place felt very good to me.

It was further improved as one of the major and most skilled breeders and showers came up to us to talk about our problems with Ringo. He gave us soem very good advice, and said that we need to get much better at seeing when Ringo is about to get all wound up, because once he gets there its too late. He gets totally blocked and just won’t listen to anything. So learning to break off the behaviour when he starts thinking about it is what we need to do. Harry also noted that since he is ‘plain’ but has a very good head, we should aim mainly for speciality shows (arranged by the Boxer club or, I would guess, the working dog club, since we have done well at such shows too) since those judges aren’t as focused on the flashy white markings and are more likely to appreciate his breed characteristics. Given this, getting a first prize for quality here felt even better.

So, I am glad we went. We also managed to acquire a replacement for a favourite toy that was torn apart a while ago, a duck that quacks. Ringo is now a very happy boy.

Dog show time again. Actually, Ringo has been to another show these past few months, but my parents had him then (they were visiting my brother in Stockholm) so there wasn’t much to report other than the fact that he behaved very, very badly. I will, however, belatedly be adding the critique from that show. You see, it goes nicely with the critique from today, which was also pretty terrible on account of him behaving very, very badly. Basically, the judges kind of rule him out right off because they don’t get a good look at him. And I have no issue with that. I just don’t know what to do about the fact that he gets so incredibly wound up. Today, I didn’t have any sleeves for him to bite. So, he did what he did with my dad last time and attacked my feet. He’s very resourceful. ;P He almost had me thinking he’d do fine, as he posed nicely at first. But then, when we were due to run together with the other dogs, he turned into mini-Cujo.

Oh well. ;P We did have some fun to lighten up things, though. While taking him out to the fairly nicely arranged doggy toilet (an area with sawdust and little tree stumps for the discerning male dog ;P), he ended up doing that whole back-leg kick and scratch after peeing. He did it so vigorously that he almost sent a poor chihuahua flying and probably shocked it for life when the sawdust came flying. He also got sawdust all over, I think, a little yorkie that looked like he had been groomed and readied for the show. Oops. ;P

Head is good for his age. Well-proportioned. Chest is adequate for his age, the topline could be somewhat better. Adequate angles. Very sloppy movements, needs to be better behaved.

Oh, I almost forgot. ;P We have another show tomorrow, heh. We’ll see if I want to look like an idiot two days in a row or not. But I am trying to tell myself that this is all just social training for him right now. ;P