Specialty show and Rally

Yesterday and today the PVIWC held a Specialty show. What that means is that it was an AKC sanctioned show that was only one breed. In this case Irish Wolfhounds.

Let me tell you, IW and their people know how to have a good time! The show was held at the beautiful Turf Valley resort, on the golf course. Despite cold weather and rain, everyone at the show seemed to be having a good time.


Especially the hounds! Several times during the show, we would hear one or two hounds start to howl and in about a minute a good number of the rest would join in. The whole resort would be treated to a chorus of howling. It was hilarious! The first time it happened, I thought a siren set them off, but then I realized all that noise was just coming from them.

Finn and I had our first Rally, we went in Novice A which is for people and dogs just getting started in showing. In Rally there are two parts to scoring. There are ribbons for placing, but in order for the score earned to count it has to be a qualifying score. The pair must earn at least 70 points out of 100 to qualify. Finn and I received a score of 86 and third place, so we earned our first qualifying score! Of course we made mistakes, or rather I did. I rushed Finn through a sit, and went off course on one obstacle, but in all I was very pleased with how we did.
(for details on Rally, see the AKC site)

Today we just watched the show. Dress for Rally is casual, but for the breed classes I was interested to see more formal clothes. I greatly admired the women running their hounds (in the soggy grass) in dress suits and shoes!



I was especially impressed with the camaraderie between the competitors and the good nature of the hounds.

You have to admit the weather was probably quite authentic, LOL!