Every three years the LCA National Specialty is located at the West Coast - this time the Northern California Leonberger Club took over the organization and it was a great show.
 
 
Yoshka's big achivement at this specialty was to FINALLY earn his first Open leg.  He did it in style!  By putting on one of his best perfomances ever, he scored 194 points out of 200 (a couple of the points deducted were because of handler error ;-) and took High in Trial at the same time.  I am so happy that he showed the others what I knew all along: He indeed is a great working dog!
 
It was quite a feeling to finally win a High in Trial - something that I was not sure we would ever actually do.
     
The next day Yoshka also did well in the confirmation ring, placing 4th in the Champion Class with an Excellent rating.  A truly versitile Leonberger!
   
Judge: Guido Perosino, Italy

Judges Comments:

 

[5.5 years old]
Overall Impression: Middle-sized, balanced body dog.  Compact body, but good bone.
Coat Huge, beautiful coat with a warm color and nice shades of black.  Good mane but mainly huge feathers and pantaloons.  This is the ideal we should have.
Head Nice expression, but slightly feminine and narrow for a male.
Eyes Nice dark eyes.
Bite Excellent pigmentation of gums.  All teeth are there, but bite is not ideal becasue of misaligned lower incisor (but still acceptable).
Chest Excellent chest and breast
Shoulder / Neck Strong, slightly short neck. Excellent withers
Top Line Nice and straight. Croup is slighly too sloped.
Tail Well set and carried while standing.
Movement Tail is slightly happy.  Hocks are well parallel, but slightly close.  Front is slightly crossing.  Very easy mover.  Step could be a bit longer.  In general movement should be a bit more masculine and strong with more drive.
Temperament Excellent
Overall Rating Excellent