RAE-Leg 5 (Half Way There!)

Our obedience club hosted its annual trial on Sunday. Originally I wasn't going to enter, as Denali shows poorly in heat, but at the last minute we decided to support the Club and take a chance. Naturally our lovely 70-degree days gave way to a sudden heat spike into the 90's on Sunday, so I wasn't sure about the mid-morning Advanced class showing! Denali turns into a slow lemur in a dog suit when it gets warm.

The location was Cal State University, Hayward. It is an established campus with a lot of huge shade trees. Since we were the first dog scheduled in the EX-B ring at 8:00AM we got a prime camping spot under a giant fir tree. I also got a tip from another corgi owner about the Kool Collar, which I highly endorse! I got the last "small" at Petco on Saturday and it seemed to work well for Denali when temps hit the 80's.

Denali did really well, scoring 95 in Excellent-B and 97 in Advanced-B. We took fourth place in Advanced (tie for 3rd and 4th separated by three seconds) and were just out of the ribbons with a 5th place spot in Excellent.  But it was Denali's best outdoor showing yet in terms of her ability to hold up when it got warm and keep up her energy and enthusiasm in the ring. I was delighted with her performance! This is leg five, half-way to the RAE title.

This was a new judge, Theresa Temple, from Oregon. She was REALLY nice and took a moment to pose for pictures with several of us. Since I had my camera, I figured, why not!

As usual, people were curious about Denali. There are so few Cardigan Welsh Corgis in our area, and due to her fluffy coat, many think she's a border collie mix. As we were walking into the ring for awards one of the other qualifiers leaned over to the woman next to her and said "fluffy corgi," by way of explanation. I turned and saw them both looking intently at Denali. 

Several others approached us as we waited for awards, asking about Denali and if they could pet her. She always seems to know that people find her adorable and hams it up with her best smile.  As we were leaving the show we walked past a woman holding a Golden Retriever. She looked at Denali, her face filled with a smile as she exclaimed, "Oh...cute!"

Cute and talented...and doesn't she know it! Good work Denali!