Doin' It Ransom Style!!!

Ransom decided that last weekend's Dubuque, IA dog show was a fine time for a coming out party. And boy did he ever do it with style!!!

He was Winner's Dog, Best of Winners and Best of Breed for 1 more championship point under judge Carl Gene Liepmann on Saturday. We were very proud of the little man, as he is now truly figuring out the show thing, and realizes that he gets the "good cookies" at the shows. This day, the mystery "good cookies" were beef and chicken fajita meat.

He was so into the bait that by the time we got to the group ring, he was positively humming with anticipation. As the "short dogs" in the Herding Group, the Corgis are last in line, and he loves being the last of the last in line. When it became time for him to show to the judge, he just had to do it "Ransom style".

His bunny butt was just wiggling all over the place when the judge walked up to examine him on the table. She said, "My, we have the wiggles today!" She sweet talked him into holding still for exactly 7.5 seconds (not really), so she could examine him, before allowing him to get one more wiggle in.

Then it was off the table, straighten any mussed fur (there wasn't any), hike up the collar and off we went. The arena absolutely exploded with cheers and applause, as he went for his down and back. He was flying right along and just ate up the cheers. We get back to the judge, he turns so his whole judging side is facing the judge, plants his feet better than I could ever do it, and just stands there, rock solid....not moving a muscle. There was this VERY audible "OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH and AAAAAAHHHHHHH" that came from the crowd as the judge walked a 360 degree circle around him. This specific moment in time is, in the dog showing world, called a "Kodak Moment" because the dog is letter perfect. It only happens once in maybe 100 shows for a dog but you really know when it happens. Well, this was Ransom's Kodak Moment.

The judge told us to go ahead and move back to our position in line, and right after I spun him around to go back to our spot, he turns his head to the judge, bats his eyes, and gives her this HUGE grin that said, "You GOTTA love me!!" and off we went to another thunderous applause. Onlookers swear the judge melted at that look.

Now we are stacked and ready for the judge to do her final look around. Again, Ransom is feeling it and is letter perfect, and not moving. Then the judge is walking past us and looking, looking, looking. Ransom looks over at her, acknowledges her presence, and then looks back at the cookie. Then she turns and walks away towards the front of the line. I slip Ransom a little treat, quickly pull my hand back and count my fingers. Yep...all there.

Now the judge is pulling what we call her "laundry list" or some people call it the "short list". She goes all the way down the line pulling out what will eventually become her top 6, of which 4 will get a placement. She points at us!!! WHOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!

We quickly move to the end of the shorter line but have to wait behind the Sheltie for everyone else to clear the ring!!! I start to sweat at this point, as some judges won't wait and keep going, which never bodes well for the dogs in the back of the line. But, this judge just stands there, and waits patiently for the ring to clear and then for us to get in place on the mat and get stacked up. Then she sends everyone around one at a time. We go trucking right along, and as he goes past the judge, yep, you guessed it, he looks right at the judge and SMILES!!!! That little snot!!! In the same motion, he turns his head back and keeps right on going.

We get back to our place in the back of the line, again the judge waiting on us to get set, and then she starts picking....Old English Sheepdog....what's this??? She's coming right at us, and POINTS!!!!! Oh my Dog!!!!! She puts us in the 2nd slot, and then points to the Briard and the Sheltie. Then she points 1-2-3-4!!! The place erupts again!!! You could have bowled me over with a feather!!

We then go to get our picture taken and her comment to me was, "He's an onery little snit, isn't he?!" I replied, "Yes he is....every day, but we love it." She chuckled and said, "So do I".

Thank you Mrs. Edna K. (Katie) Gammill for putting up our 12 month old puppy for a truly wonderful win!!

Sunday rolls around and Ransom is a total slug first thing in the morning. We think he's tired from all of the excitement of yesterday. He finally wakes up right as he walks into the ring, as he remembers the fajita smell from yesterday and immediately tries to eat my fingers instead of the bait. Yep, they're still all there...but just barely. He's still a little flat as we go around the ring, but still manage to hold on to win Winner's Dog, Best of Winners, and Best of Breed under Mrs. Gammill, for one more point.

We put him in his kennel to rest and by the time I had his lead put away, he was on his back and unconscious....snoring....LOUDLY. Great....this'll be fun later.

We roust him up about 45 minutes before group starts to see just how tired he really is. Yep...pretty darned tired and he still has to survive the group ring. Cindy makes a hasty run to the local Irish tea shop for some honey straws. We need sugar....well, HE needs sugar!! While Sherilyn is grooming him, Alec is sitting nearby keeping Ransom company, eating some of his mom's homemade snickerdoodles. He waves it in front of Ransom's nose and he about flies off the table. HEY!! New bait!!! So, our mystery cookie for this day is Snickerdoodles. I break up two cookies, and hold a small piece of chicken breast in my pocket for emergency reserve. We're ready to go!

For the most of group, it's a repeat of the day before. He's wiggly on the table, thunderous applause, and a big smile for the judge after a SECOND Kodak Moment, that again, elicited many oooohhhhs and aaaaahhhhhs. We make the cut again!!!! But, unfortunately, we didn't get pointed at for the big ribbons, but that's ok!!! He was in the top 6 for the second time in as many days.

What a weekend!!! Holy smokes!!

Oh, and as far as the rest of the crew goes, Ransom's partner in crime, Bear, won Winner's Dog and Best of Winners on Saturday for two more points, and little sister Cristal finished second in her class behind littermate Merlot (aka LS) at the fun match.