i used to take pet portraits for people. Got pretty good at making unusual noises to get the dog's expression. With horses, an umbrella slowly opening works wonders! But dogs, like kids, get bored quickly. In my experience if you don't get "that" shot in the first minute or so, you won't. But some are real hams and love the camera! Basenjis generally are very photogenic. 🙂
Our First Dog Show/Caravanning Experience!
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Just a warning… LOTS of pictures coming :p
Me and Maya (and the rest of the family) had our first experience of caravanning at a dog show! It was really great, very relaxing to not have the stress of getting up at some ungodly hour and get me, dog and show kit in the car and drive several hours to the show. We got up, took the dog in for its class, came back out and sat at the caravan til the next class. Except on Maya's day when it was chaos as we had 3 dogs all due in the ring at pretty much the same time and only two of us handling them :rolleyes: But it all worked out well!
We had some good results in the show! Saffie the lab was in on Saturday and got second place in her very good class. Labs have huge entries so its always a real thrill to get a place
And Saffie hasn't been shown since Crufts 2009 so she did really well. She didnt stand herself perfectly and was a bit fidgetty which may have lost her the class but that doesnt matter 
Vinnie the pug didnt do anything in the ring, even though he looked fab and went beautifully and we had the most lovely comments about him outside the ring! Jeanie the pug won her very strong Puppy class. It was the biggest pug class of the day against some very nice dogs (and well known handlers 
) so that was a very good result. She was in the ring the same time I was in with Maya so i didnt see her, but im told she went really well. And little Maya of course, cant leave her out. She won her class and showed really well, better than she has done for the last few shows, she was really settled and didnt fidget at all while i was asking her to stand! I think it might have been down to the less stressful caravan experience It was lovely seeing all the basenji folk again and those who i hadnt met before! Sorry we couldnt hang around longer but it was just madness!!
Anyway, here's lots of pictures of the weekend. None of Maya in the ring sadly as didnt have a photographer on hand!lol But lots of her enjoying the caravan!!
From outside.. Excuse the chaos, we'd not finished getting set up!
Helping to get the beds sorted:
Lilah and Chloe:
Half of the family:
And outside sunbathing:
Maya was fascinated by this hairy dog, it went past 3 or 4 times in about half an hour and she watched it til it was out of sight each time!
Stretchy sunbathing basenji:
We bought them all some ice cream as a treat!
Saffie on the way into the show:
And in the ring:
Saffie (left) next to the class winner:
Maya sitting on the crates watching the show (the tents and stuff were directly behind the caravan!
Chloe looking out of the caravan:
Exhausted Saffie:
Beau and Poppy in the crate:
Pretty baby:
Vinnie:
Vin in the ring:
On the table… Not a great angle, blame my mum lol
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Here's some more I just uploaded! Maya and Poppy and Ruby the parrot!
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Jess..it looks like y'all had a swell time. Weather couldn't have been better I see.. You never know about caravanning and european summers..;):).
Congrats on the results, very nice..
By the way, the picture of Maya looking out over the show area..wow, stunning, she is beautiful.
You look to have one of the happiest, most mellow pet families I have ever seen. -
Great pics. That is quite the menagerie - where's UNA?!
Didn't realize you took Ruby to the shows with you :D:D. Also, didn't realize you had chocolate labs as well as black - very pretty. Congrats on the great results! -
Great pics, you have really huge animal-family :D.
And congrats to your success!In the middle Europe Labs have also huge entries on shows. I remember one show in Germany where Labs were in ring next to us, I think there were almost 60 Labs. There were 10-12 Basenjis and it was funny to compare judging of Labs and Basenjis classes-while B judge was looking at one Basenji, judge of Labs already finnished one class (including approximately 8 dogs) :D.
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Over here we usually get about 250 labradors entered at championship shows, this show had a lower entry, probably because it was up in Scotland which is a very long way if you live south like I do. We have never been before as its not one i'd drive to just for one dog
But i was told it was a lovely one to camp at so it was worth going with all the dogs! Irena - Ruby doesnt go to the normal shows with me lol! But she has such a specific diet and it has to be made fresh for each meal (its not like just sticking a big bowl of seed in the cage as Ruby's food goes off after about an hour and would make her sick) so i cant really leave her and didnt want to dump her on someone who doesnt know what they're doing with birds
She loves it though, lots of fresh air and things to see! And yeah, we have 2 chocs, my mum likes them I love the blacks though myself Thanks for the nice commentss though, they are a lovely chilled family of dogs and they all get on so well so its lovely to take them all out for things like this.
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Over here we usually get about 250 labradors entered at championship shows, this show had a lower entry, probably because it was up in Scotland which is a very long way if you live south like I do. We have never been before as its not one i'd drive to just for one dog
But i was told it was a lovely one to camp at so it was worth going with all the dogs! Haha and I thought here are huge entries of Labs :D:D. I've just look at catalogue of entries from World Show in Bratislava last year and there were 287 Labs, so it is normal number in UK :D.
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Yeah, that would be normal over here. One judge is able to judge 250 dogs so usually we have two judges in labs for when it goes to about 300 entries. Crufts has HUGE entries with labs, its chaos, there is no space to stand your dog or anything, i found showing Maya at Crufts so much less stressful!
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God knows how you fit all those animals (and bird) into your caravan (camper, here), but bless you for doing it! I'm sure the more relaxed atmosphere pleased the dogs very much. Looks like you had a good time - Maya, as always, takes a beautiful picture! Congrats.
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Looks like you had a great time Jess, it must make it more relaxing than driving down on the day.
I love all the pics of your menagerie -
Jess, here I sit with my morning coffee and what a nice way to start the day, looking at your little (haha) family that you travel with in your caravan to shows. It must take you a bit of a while to pack everyone and everything into the caravan, but what a perfectly lovely time to have with your animals. I can see how all of your critters would think this was a cool adventure, as everyone looks quite mellow as they enjoy the sunshine. Congratulations on your show achievements.
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Im glad you all enjoyed the pictures!
Thankfully not all the dogs slept in the caravan :eek: The puglets and the two boy labbies slept in the awning otherwise we'd have all been SOOOO hot
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Lovely pictures, Jess. Caravanning is always fun in my opinion. Not os good when the weathers bad though!
Congratulations on your wins, particularly the lab with such strong competition.
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I didn't realize how many dogs you have, it is fun to see them all together so calm and relaxed. Congratulations on your show results, and on your lovely weekend.
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We had some rain on sunday morning and thankfully nothing leaked which is good to know, but yes, it wouldnt be as fun in the rain! Im sure the dogs would still love it though!!
Most of the dogs are my mums, I just have one of the labs, Maya of course and 2 puggies
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Wonderful pictures. It looks like a very relaxing way to travel to shows
