Today was the second lesson of Ringo’s obedience course. This is stage two of basic obedience and after my dad had him for all of stage one (which he did this spring), I had said I’d do at least some of stage two. Last week, I had too much work to go along, but today I decided I could take the time out. It proved to be an ... interesting experience.

Today it was time for another much too early morning. And this time we only had to drive about 30 minutes away, so imagine how early we’ll need to get up for the next one (that’s the Swedish Boxer Championships, so its worth the extra effort) that is closer to 4 hours away. Anyway, today was a smaller affair. An official show for working dogs, with 10 boxers signed up. One of them being our little ... handful (that sounds nicer than hellion, I think).

A few pictures from the show last Sunday have been added to the Ringo 2007 gallery. Next time, I think we’ll see if we can’t get a bit of filming done as well (and hopefully he won’t act like a rabid little monster just then).

On Saturday, we set on our annual summer trip to our house in the area of Sundsvall. This year, however, we didn’t do the whole 700+ km drive in one go. Instead, we did about half on Saturday, then stayed the night at a tiny camping place in the middle of nowhere. On Sunday morning, we got up way too early to get ready ... for a boxer show. Somehow, we had decided it would be a good idea to go to a dog show along the way. So, at around 8 am on Sunday morning, we arrived at a cosy little dog club, also in the middle of nowhere, to join a pretty large gathering of (mostly) happy, tail-wagging boxers and their owners.

Today the whole family went to Slottskogen, a park in Gothenburg with assorted animals such as seals, a myriad of birds (including a few peacocks), several varieties of goats and various deer types. This is something we’ve done with all of our previous dogs, as its usually an excellent way of getting them used to lots of people as well as introducing them to all sorts of animals.

Ringo, alas, turned out to be much more interested in children. Baby strollers are a particular favourite. We kept trying to get him to notice the various animals, but only a few of them got him to look for any length of time. Of course, it used to be much easier years ago when you were allowed to feed the animals. They then congregated near the fences and we have a few shots of our first dog standing with his paws on the fence and sniffing something with very large horns that was standing up against the other side of the fence. These days, when the animals know they’re not getting anything from the visitors, they see no reason at all to come up close. Much better for their health, no doubt, but I did like getting up close and personal with them when I was younger.

The only ones who came up at all close were some goats and one of the peacocks, and Ringo did seem at least somewhat interested in them. But the highlight of the walk for him was probably meeting another boxer. He can be such a speciest little dog.

So, today we had another show. A big, national all-breed show about an hour away from where we live. Despite the size of the show, however, with some 1200 dogs both Saturday and Sunday, there were only 5 boxers entered. We knew this in advance, and we also knew that boxers were going first in their ring and Ringo was going first of the boxers. So, it could be either a very short day or a fairly long one. As it turned out, it ended up being a long one, but not for the right reasons. Which, in this too darned hot weather (I am burned to a crisp in places, despite putting on lots of sunlotion and trying to stay in the shade) wasn’t all that welcome.

The things you do when you’re into dogs (and horses, too). Like getting up at 6 am on a Sunday morning to head off to a dog show. Of course, not just any dog show, but Ringo’s first official dog show. He turned 9 months 6 days ago, making him eligible for the Junior class (for dogs 9 to 15 months old) at the official all-boxer show for the boxer club in the area where we live.

Since it is May 1st today, I didn’t have a riding lesson (we’re all good old socialists here, after all), but what I did have was a dog show. After the last one, I was persuaded to handle the dog at the next one, so I’ve tried to practice a little on and off over the last month. Of course, he’s just recently had a bit of a stomach upset, so it was touch and go if we could make it. But the last 2-3 days he’s been his usual crazy self, so we decided to give it a try.

Dog show time, that is. We only got back some hours ago from taking our dog to his first ever dog show. Which he found immensely entertaining since there were so many people and so many dogs to say hello to. We did not find it quite so entertaining to try to control him. Boxers are ... lively, and this one is extra energetic. At 7 months, he easily drives us all crazy on a regular basis.

I am not sure how the judge managed to get a good look at him, since he was either acting like a whirling dervish or lying down on his back (yes, in the show ring ;P), but somehow he did and he ended up placing him first of the boxer puppies. Of course, there was only one other entry, but the critique he got was pretty good. So, no doubt we’ll try a show or two more in the future. And I really need to get moving on making a dog blog, or at least on giving Ringo a little page of his own.