At the Western Washington Cluster in Puyallup in July, Raven with Torie on the lead completed his AKC Championship. Torie and Cherie are co-owners of Raven (Cherie is Raven’s breeder). Raven is Torie’s first conformation show dog and Torie quickly learned the ring procedures and techniques!!!! Congratulations to Raven, Torie, and Cherie, so proud of you.
Not to be outdone by Chandler, the Big Burrito also got his first point. Both of the boys did really well in the ring after they got over their nerves and excitement. It will be interesting to see which boy becomes the front runner. Do I see an inhouse rivalry developing?
Emoji was Winners both days as well as Best Opposite to add to her championship points. Ch Kevlar added points to her Grand Champion title and Oliver was Best of Breed on Sunday.
A nice weekend for team Absolutely.
Oliver and I recently traveled to the Bichon Frise Club of America’s National Specialty near Orlando, FL. Karen and Sue were not able to attend. As you can see from the blogposts…puppies. But our friend Dina Taylor traveled with me. It’s amazing the gear that is required for one little white show dog. Dina helped me out with all of that and more, all the while maintaining an online presence with her employer Amazon. Dinas help was invaluable.
So Oliver won the Grand Champion Dog class in the Bred By Exhibitor Special Attraction judged by breeder judge Mayno Blanding. He also made the “cut” in the main event. Oliver received so much positive attendion from fellow breeders, exhibitors and other judges that we really felt like big winners.
Since we only see the vast majority of these people once a year, you never know how your young dogs will be received. Let’s just say that Oliver has many, many fans.
Here is our win photo. All other photos are by Dina, even the cool artisitic one in the hallway.
In other news: I have been elected to serve on the Board of Directors for our National Club. This is truly an honor.
Another HUGE honor is that I have been voted by the membership to judge the Bred By Exhibitor Special Attraction competition at Nationals, 2021 in Chicago. That is going to be really fun and a highlight in my bichon career.
I am really excited!!!
I meant to take lots of pictures of our dogs at the show. Alas, I forgot. However, Nor-Cal Buldogger captured this photo of Wilson.
After 3 days of shows where Oliver went Select Dog each day, he has now earned his Grand Champion title. He also placed in Group each day in the Owner Handled ring.
This year our club held back to back Specialties in hopes of increasing the number of entries. Well, we think it worked. Entries were slightly higher but we did have a couple of exhibitors with high ranking dogs from Texas and the East Coast that I don’t think would have attended if we had the normal single show. On the other hand, the draw could have been our Australian Judges John & Wendy Hutchison. They are long time Bichon breeders and exhibitors and have a wealth of knowledge about the breed. This was their first judging assignment in the USA and we were very fortunate to have them judge our event. For whichever reason we felt the back to back was a success and we expect an even larger entry next year.
Now for the important stuff: US!
Sassy, Violet and Emoji showed very, very well each time they were in the ring. Ya can’t help but be proud of those little girls. Emoji won the sweepstakes competition in the 2nd show however no points were awarded to our girls this time out. Not to worry. Their time will come.
Our boys were a different matter. Oliver and Simon both showed beautifully. Best of Breed for the first show judged by Wendy Hutchison went to GCH Cher Ami Center of Attention. A Multiple Best in Show winning dog and Simon was awarded Select Dog. The little guy Oliver was given an Award of Merit. So proud of him. He is really coming along.
Show #2 Best of Breed was given to Simon, GCHG Absolute Affinity Agape Bullet Proof. Judge John Hutchison made us work for the win as he compared Simon to the other dogs in the ring. It was dead quiet around the ring. When the judge had finally made his decision and pointed to Simon for the win a real cheer went up in the crowd! I believe everyone in attendance hugged and congratulated us, even some people that I don’t know. Not only did Simon win the Specialty, but we could confidently say that he now had enough points to give him his Grand Champion Gold title. One of just a handful of Bichons to obtain the gold title and the ONLY one who did so with an Amature Owner/Handler on the lead. Oh and once again Oliver was given an Award of Merit.
After basking in the glory of the Best in Specialty Show win and the GChGold, we went back to our set up and were surprised by a wonderful little GOLD celebration by Absolutely team members Tasheena Housman and Dina Taylor. They are both so thoughtful. I tried to hide it but it kinda choked me up a bit. So we made a little toast to good dogs, good friends and good times. Simon is a bit tousled in the photo but hey, he had worked hard and deserved to let his hair down a bit.
Emoji – Best In Sweepstakes
Oliver – Award of Merit
Simon – Best in Specialty Show and Grand Champion GOLD!
Our little After Party.
Just the best photo of Karen and Sue taken at our awards dinner. By Carol Fellbaum.
From left to right: Simon, Kevlar, Cash, Oliver, Violet, Emoji 🙂
Well it was quite a weekend at Lynden. Four days but worth the effort. Simon won Best of Breed each day giving him 20 more points toward his GCH GOLD. Oliver and Kevlar both obtained their American Championships. Cash added to his Grand Champion points and was awarded a Group 2 Owner Handler. Liberty finished her Grand Championship. Violet and Sassy both snagged snagged 4 point majors and Emoji grabbed a Reserve Winners. On Saturday every award that was given went to Absolutely dogs! That’s a dream of a day. Oh, and Oliver (in the ring as a Special for the first time on Sunday) won Select Dog and a Group 2 in the Owner Handler ring.
It was such a memorable Nationals for us this year. So many of our extended Bichon family traveled to Tucson to watch the show. I do think we had the biggest crowd there. It was great. We certainly felt the love.
At just under 18 months of age, Oliver was the Grand Sweepstakes Winner this year. OMG! This is the first Sweeps win for Absolutely Bichons. Many will recall last year at Nationals at the tender age of 5 1/2 months Oliver won Best Baby Puppy. So the promise he showed early on continues as he matures. Our judge for Sweeps was Karen Graeber of Whitebred Bichons in New Jersey. Ms. Graeber is a long time successful breeder and a win under such a knowledgeable judge is all the more special.
Not to be overshadowed by the whipper snapper Oliver, our boy Simon also traveled to Tucson. At the age of 8 1/2 Simon was the oldest bichon entered by far. Simon proved he still has everything it takes to be successful in the ring. Simon showed beautifully and came away with the 1st Award of Merit. So proud of this guy. He has really put us on the map. Simon is about to make history. Watch for a post in July.
Liberty-CH Absolutely Snowbird Free Reign CD BN NA NAJ RN TKA CGC, received a Versatile Bichon award, competed for the first time in rally intermediate recieved a 99 out of 100, then a second in obedience.
Kevlar- Absolutely Snowbird Heart of Strength BN RN TKA CGC, won her class in breed! Competed in Rally for the first time, with a PERFECT score, and third for her first time in obedience.
Liberty and Kevlar are owned, trained, groomed and shown by the incomparable Tasheena Housman. She just amazes us and was definitely noticed at Nationals! Thank you Tasheena, for representing us so very well.
Karen’s girl, Absolutely Affinity Smiley Face 🙂 (Emoji) placed in her class also! Emoji is completely inexperienced and was a tough handle for Karen, but she pulled it together enough to finish in the ribbons. Every ribbon at Nationals is a prized possession.
