Question:
I thought I would start this thread so Amanda and Marla can share their experiences about the show. The breeder I bought Griffin from is also going to be there. I am sure they are all having a blast!
Can't wait to hear all the details.


Answer:
Well I went to the show as well and was only 45 mins away, so I thought I'd share my pics with y'all! I met Marla too and boy was she just an absolute sweetie!! I had an absolute BLAST!! I learned a ton about showing and quality, despite the 3 hours of sleep I got last night. I met a lot of well known breeders and a lot of nice people!
I took a ton of pictures and thought I'd share!
Here are all the chins in their show cages:

This is Jan Ryerson, grooming one of her chins. No worries, they aren't hurt by this because it's at the base of the tail.

This is the judging table during the classifying portion. Dave Woods of Whitewoods Ranch was the judge, with Marla of PA Chinchillas observing.

This is Dave Woods and Marla judging some chins

And these are the trophies that were given out:


Answer:
Here are some chinnie pics
One of the very pretty standards

A mosaic wanting out of the cage

Another mosaic

A very pretty pink white
A very dark tan

An absolutely stunning sapphire

And finally a violet that screamed "TAKE ME HOME." Fortunately for my bank account, I left my checkbook behind.


Answer:
Kindra of http://www.spoiledchins.net took home Reserve Champion Female for her beige girl. (That's not her in the background, I have no idea who it is - Sorry!)

She took a total of 5 chins, all of which placed in the first place category. (I'll explain the ratings later)
This was the Grand Show Champion (winner for the entire show) bred by the Ryersons


This is Randy of JAGS chinchillas getting one of his trophies (He got 2 or 3, I can't remember. Randy if you don't want this posted, let me know!)


Answer:
And finally, my pride and joy got to be in the show.
I took her, just kind of hoping to have one of the more experienced breeders take a look at her and go over her strong vs. weak points but Kindra talked me into showing her. I wish I had been able to take Praline instead because there was just an overwhelming number of standards for her to compete with. I'm thrilled she was placed at all next to what she was up against!
Here she is before the show.


And after:

Judges comments were that she wasn't in prime and the chin she was up against had longer fur. She wasn't in prime b/c I didn't have any CLUE what I was doing for grooming, I'm sure. But I'm pretty thrilled regardless!!


Answer:
Here's how they are rated from low to high (Marla, please correct me if I'm wrong)
Fifth Place
Fourth Place
Third Place
Second Place
First Place - Regular, B, and A being highest.
How it works is they divide them into classes of chins. Males are in class 1 and 3. Class 1 is males under 7 mos. Class 2 is males over 7 mos. Females are in 2 and 4 and work the same way. Class 2 is under 7 mos, 4 is over 7 mos. of age.
Then there are Phases of colors. Standards for instance had (I think) Light, Medium, and Extra Dark. Audi was in the Medium color phase and graded a 1B.
Then they take the winners of each Phase and put them against each other to get the Color Class Champ. Then they take each color champ and put them against each other to get Grand Show Champion Male and Female, then put those two against each other to get Grand Show. They also have Reserve Grand Show Champ and it works similarly but is basically a second place to the grand show champ. There were backups also but I don't know exactly how to explain that.
The judge will usually go over why he grades and his comments on Audi are listed above.


Answer:
Congrats Steph!! Audi looks so pretty. I'm glad you had a good time.


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wow sounds like you had a great day!!!
I wish I could have attended..


Answer:
Those pictures are great!
I see a lot of familiar faces from the Ohio show - the Ryersons, Randy, and a couple others. Thanks for sharing! It sounds like it was another successful show!


Answer:
Holy cow, Steph, that was an awesome explanation of the day Thanks!