Here Comes da' Judge

I was invited to judge Saluki sweepstakes at a supported entry for the Galveston Bay Saluki Club On November 9, 2008, and my friend Michelle Haag from Salt Lake City was invited to judge the regular classes, and Nell Wilmoth our friend from Conroe, TX invited both of us spend the night at her house before the show. It was a quick weekend trip as I flew out at 6:00 am Saturday, and returned back to Portland at 11:10 pm on Sunday. The flight down was uneventful with a 1.5 hour pit stop in Denver. Nell was there waiting for me when I arrived in Houston and Michelle arrived about 15 minutes later. The car ride back to Nell’s hours was non-stop chatter about everything under the sun and it was lots of fun. Once at Nell’s house we all went out in the yard to visit the Salukis. Nell is one of Rhett’s #1 fans and as such has a household full of Rhett kids, so I felt right at home and one the kids was Gloria who was from Michelle. It was a home away from home for both of us. The rest of the day was spent catching up on anything and everything and Nell’s husband Dennis joined in for a wonderful visit.

Sunday morning we headed off to the dog show. Michelle & I were sequestered in the judges room until it was time. There was an entry of 17 puppies and 3 veterans. The first class walked in the ring and we got down to business. The judging needed to be completed in 50 minutes so there was no time to waste. I have a specific pattern that I use for all of the classes, as I like to watch the Salukis move. Every puppy whether naughty or nice had their moment in the spotlight. The 50 minutes passed and I found that I was running a bit late, but only 10 minutes, so I was pleased that I made it through that many dogs in an hour. The entry of Salukis was excellent and the final result in the puppy sweepstakes was a brother/sister team winning it all. The veterans sweepstakes had three wonderful old dogs. The winner was owned by Caroline Coile who happened to own, Baha, was was the sire of our very first little of Salukis. It was fun to sit and watch the regular classes that Michelle judged as we have similar ideas on what a Saluki should look like but they are not identical ideas. Michelle’s end result was similar to mine with a few variations. It was great to watch all of the dogs entered as I haven’t been to Texas in a few years. On the way back to the airport Michelle & I took Nell out to lunch. It was a great discussion of who did what and why and then justifying why we ending up with the dogs we ended up with. The flight home was LONG but Bill met me at the airport and the girls were waiting at home. There’s nothing like visiting friends, but there is nothing like returning back home.