28th February.
Of Course, technically chesapeakes are a 'wash and wear breed'. The coat requiring no major work or preparation before going into the show ring. One of the great beauties of owning this breed is that you can , and I have done it, work or compete with your dog in a working test on the Saturday and enter the showring on the Sunday.
That being said, I think it is a courtesy to any person who is going to have their hands on your dog in the coming months that your dog is at least clean....even sheep, cattle and goats are shampooed before being shown!!
We are now ten days out from Crufts and this is about the length of time away from a competition I like to shampoo my dogs. It allows the coat time to regain its texture as any shampoo will soften the coat. Mossy will continue to swim in the sea over the next week so the salt water will help regain the coat texture.
This evening we attended ring craft at Cloghran. It's a completely different environment from the classes we've been attending for the last few weeks. Cloghran is the National Show Center for the Irish Kennel Club so it's a huge building with lots of echoing and banging . A brilliant place to desensitise your dog to noise as its large enough to take your dog and work him on his own.
29th February
At last, after more than six weeks I collected Mossy's passport from the vets this afternoon.
1st March
The old saying 'March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb', certainly didn't hold true today. It has been one of those perfect Spring days. A pleasant 14 celcius with the added bonus of sunshine. I cut my lawns for the first time this year, the chickens started laying again after a long, long holiday and the frogs are busy making out in the pond.
I took Bertie down to Kells on his own today...my training partner has deserted me to suss out a training group in the South:). I am planning to compete on Saturday at the Mock Trial so I didn't want to do anything too intense and besides, in true chessie fashion Bertie has developed a 'kink' in his training... spinning when sent for a cold blind!!. I may have to revisit training on memory blinds for a while in the hope of correcting this. A pleasant walk to the Finns , interspersed with some blinds, did the job nicely. My aim for Saturday is to use the day as a training day. Personally, I feel he needs to settle more in a line out which should come as the Summer progresses and he's sitting in line more often.
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I bath mine the night before or on the morning of the show, but that is because they are normally covered in chalk from play fighting. It also bulks out the big fellas coat a bit and increases teh curl. I don't use a dog shampoo though as that would reduce coarseness... We're all different and is that what is so great aobut Chessies? :-)
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