Charlotte Norridge (co owner of Swagger)

 

I first met Charlotte and her parents Jon and Gina at the 2006 West Mercia Championship Show.  Serena Parker (Serenaker) introduced us and asked me to give them details of the ring-craft sessions I attended as they lived fairly close to me. They had bought a puppy from Serena and Charlotte wanted to learn how to show him.

The following week at ring-craft I met Harry (Serenaker Spellcaster) and Harry met my beagle, Rowan who was also a puppy new to ring-craft. (Rowan and Harry are “just good friends”!)

After a few weeks, Charlotte became a little discouraged trying to learn how to show a puppy that was just as inexperienced as she was.  One evening watching her struggle struck a chord with me, I realised she was having the same experience that I had had with Pip.  As luck would have it, Pippin was in the car.  I fetched her and put her show-lead on, then I explained to Charlotte how to free show Pip and within minutes the smile was back on her face.  The rest as they say is history. A couple of months later, Charlotte competed in junior handling for the first time with Pippin at the Cheltenham and District Canine Society’s Open Show and was placed 5^th out of 18.  The same day, Pippin won best of breed for me and Harry won best puppy and puppy group 4 for Charlotte and Jon.  Over the course of 2007 Charlotte, mostly handling Harry and sometimes Pippin went from strength to strength.  She qualified Harry for Crufts^© no fewer than 8 times, but that vital place in the junior handling final just eluded her.  Then at the start of 2008, she and Harry qualified for Crufts^® Junior Handling and the Stakes classes.  Then at Crufts^® they were placed 3^rd in the breed - Graduate Dog, and 1^st in the junior handling. What a wonderful way to end their first year in the ring.

Swagger had been out of the ring for nearly a year with a tail injury which was slow to heal.  I started to take him back to ring-craft, where Charlotte handled him a few times.  Whilst I was recovering from knee replacement surgery, Charlotte and Swagger got in some training time and they began to form a strong bond.  Soon they were doing well, winning the junior handling at the Beagle Club Open Show in March 2008.  In order to allow Charlotte to show Swagger in Young Kennel Club classes, I have given her a share in Swagger’s ownership.  I look forward to watching the partnership develop.  Come back soon to see how they get on.

Stop Press: 28^th July 2008 - Leeds (Championship Dog Show) Charlotte and Swagger qualify for Richmond 2009, then on 4^th August 2008 at Paignton, they do the double and qualify again for Richmond 2009 and Crufts^® 2009 on the same day.  Way to go!!