Tails of the Travelin' Trio: Over Before It Started

(Ventura, CA) The place this event is being held at is called Ventura Country Fairgrounds. But the main building is an off track betting place. Kind of an odd combination if you ask me.

Our day started very early as someone put their dogs outside at 5am and they were still barking nonstop when we got up at 7am.

But we were in a good mood nonetheless as we knew we had a great chance at getting a point today. There were only two boy dogs - so all we had to do was beat one other dog to get a point! I figured with a 50/50 chance we should be able to pick up a point or two this weekend.

I have a great dog, a fancy new outfit, and Boogie was moving very nicely in our practices so I'm really excited about our chances.

I had lent my doggy comb to our handler in Palm Springs but had forgotten to ask for it back. So I had to run out to one of the vendors right when they opened at 8:00am to get a new comb since we were to go in the ring at 8:50am. Shoot, I've been to two shows and have had to buy two combs. Lets hope this trend stops soon.

We got all ready and went into the building about 8:30 so that Boogie could get used to the surroundings and atmosphere. He didn't look around a bit - he just went into his cleaning the grounds mode. What a silly boy.

Okay, it's our turn! They call my number and I enter the ring. Just as I get inside the ring the judge says to me: "Go around the ring please." So I take off all full of confidence when the judge suddenly yells at me to come back - he says I'm supposed to go around together with the person behind me. Seems to me he should have yelled at her to get going.

So I go back, check to make sure she's ready, and off we go - again. Boogie is moving along perfectly. He is doing a super pretty little gait just slightly ahead of me. What a good boy! We're going great.

Then we arrive at the table. The judge is standing to the right of the table and tells me to put Boogie on the table. So I put the leash around my neck, pick Boogie up and start to set him up on the table. The judge tells me: "No, set him up facing this way." Oh gads, so I turn Boogie around and I go to the other side of the table like I was taught. Again the judge says, "No, get on the other side." What! Now my mind is racing a million miles an hour. I've been told Boogie is to always be on my left. So this guy is asking me to set Boogie up backward! Oh this is wrong! I don't know how to do it backward. But okay, if that's what the judge wants then that's what I'll do. As I move to the other side the judge walks over to me very exasperated and at the same time my competitor is coming toward me from the other side and they are both telling me where I'm supposed to be. I'm am so flustered now that I couldn't have told you my name is you'd asked.

It turns out the judge wanted me to set Boogie up on the table the short way - I've only ever seen dogs set up the long way. So it never entered my mind that the judge would want that. He did say to me - I guess I confused you by moving. You think! Well by now, the judge was really tired of all the time we were wasting. So even though I now had Boogie the correct direction on the table, I only had about two seconds to get Boogie standing correctly. I can't stand him that fast on my best day let alone when I'm so flustered that I don't know up from down.

I didn't get him standing correctly - I'm still trying to move his little feet when suddenly the judge is looking at Boogie's teeth. Yikes. So I move my hands to hold him correctly when the judge tells me to move aside. WHAT! How can I do that? I need to hold by little boy the way I was taught. So here I am standing in front of Boogie facing him while the judge is in front of me feeling Boogie's ribs and lifting his front legs off the ground. Done. The judge didn't check him any further. At the last show the judges spent 20-30 seconds checking Boogie all over - this guy didn't spend seven seconds with him and never went further back than the rib cage. But on the bright side, Boogie was a good boy and did stand very still for the ancient old guy.

Then I'm supposed to walk Boogie around again - Boogie was the perfect little boy. We then wait for the other dog to get checked...quickly. Then we were supposed to go around together again. We hadn't gotten all the way down the first side of the ring when the judge pointed to the other dog for 1st place. Which means we got 2nd - which means we're done for the day.

I just am not cut out for this sport. I'm too sensitive, too soft, too unskilled, too unpolitical, too thin-skinned...well, you get the idea. So I leave the ring crying because I messed up so bad. Here we spend all this time and money on this showing stuff and I let Boogie down.

Come to find out, the person handling the other dog is one of the top professional handlers in the country and this is her home turf. According to other sources in the know, the dog she showed wouldn't hold a chance against Boogie if he didn't have a great handler. I was also told that I had absolutely no chance against this handler - no matter how good I was or how good Boogie was.

We'd spent so much money driving all the way here, so much money for my new outfit (that I'll never wear anywhere else as the pants are too short!), and we spent all that money on the entry, parking, and electricity when I thought this was a really good chance for us to get a point - only to find out I have no chance in the world. I found myself thinking really mean thoughts (and that's so not me which was making me feel even worse). You're probably wondering what I was thinking that was so bad. I was thinking I should go up to the owner of that dog and ask them how much these points were worth to them. Heck, if we don't show up each of the next two days then they have no opportunity to win points! So how much would they like to pay me just to show up so they can get their precious points! That's probably considered blackmail - can I go to jail for that? Guess I'd better not try it. Worst of all I'd just be stooping down to the level of all this "dog show" stuff. I just can't do it. So we'll just be nice and show up and let that dog get all the points. Oh agility is so much better.

After getting back into my comfortable clothes and giving Boogie a big hug for being such a good boy, I decided to go watch the judge that we will be showing under tomorrow so that I'll know how he likes things done. I sure don't want any more humiliation like I went through today.

But first I went back into the building I showed in just to see what was going on. And what do you know, there was that same lady handler showing another terrier. I made the picture blurry to protect the innocent...actually it was dark in the building and I didn't want to use a flash.

We showed against this same handler in Palm Springs. The day I showed Boogie we lost to her. One of the days Alison showed against her we won.

Here's the judge we showed under today. I'm told he's 93. I think if I had to be part of conformation shows much, I wouldn't want to live to 93!

Now on to check out tomorrow's judge who is in another building today.

It's really cold outside and when I entered the building there was a guy walking in my direction. He stopped suddenly as he had found a really warm spot to stand where there was this overhead heater. Well I'm all into heat so I stopped beside him to take in some heat. We started talking about the weather and made other small talk as well. He looked all dressed up so at one point I asked him what kind of dog he shows. He told me that he is a professional handler and handles all breeds of dogs. Ding ding ding ding - bells were going off in my head. So I started asking him very general questions at first. Eventually I asked about prices and told him of my showing experience this morning. I also told him the name of the handler that beat us. Then I asked him if he could beat that lady. I could tell he was doing his very best to keep from laughing. He told me he thought he could beat her but that it all depends on the dog they each have. (Like I believe that anymore!)

To make a very very long story only very long (tee hee), I went back and told Mike of my meeting and later in the day we all met together. The handler worked with Boogie a little bit, we talked to our breeder (a number of times), and we decided to hire the guy. This has got to be the most expensive "sport" there is. Why are people so into this....I just don't get it.

Anyway, it turns out this guy is originally from Sammamish - just a few miles from where we used to live. How weird is that! Small world. We'll see if we fare any better tomorrow. I sure hope so as I can come in last - and I don't charge a thing!

To try and calm down a little bit I decided to take Wazzu on a nice little walk along the beach. Just across the street from the fairgrounds is the ocean.