Rita's Still a Winner in Last Dog Show of Her Career

As you read in my last post, May 8th was special for Rita and I.  We were at the Trenton Kennel Club Dog Show.  Rita watched all the other dogs at her setup as she got groomed and pampered.  It wasn't her time until the afternoon.  She was competing against approximately 50 other Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. 

The judge has picked her a few times before.  Kevin, her handler, was in another ring showing a dog and was running late.  I had to take Rita to the ring and hope that Kevin would make it.  The dogs were just about ready to go in the ring when I saw Kevin running to the ring.  He made it, thank goodness! 

As I watched the judging and held my breath, it was finally Rita's turn.  The people who were standing near me thought she showed well.  Now it was time for the judge to pick the breed winner (the only one to get the breed points) as well as the Best of Opposite winner.  The Best of Opposite is decided by the sex of the breed winner. If the breed winner is a male, then a female is the Best of Opposite and vice versa.  The first thing the judge did was make a cut down to eight dogs.  Rita was one of them. 

Then the  judge made her decision.  She was putting them in the order of the winners.  A dog was pulled out front first, then Rita.  She was getting Best of Opposite to the dog.  Second place!!!  Not what we wanted, but we will take it since there were 50 dogs there.  Second isn't bad.  Remember, my dog show saying:  anything can happen on any given day.