And the poor dogs. They are (as a group) very ill behaved. But it's no wonder really. From what we see at these events, the dogs are all bunched together in crates and/or x-pens all day (and night) long and are only taken out when it's time to go inside and be put up on all these grooming tables where they are picked and plucked and blown over and over. How fun can this be for the dogs?
The more I thought about this the more I was confused and befuddled. This has got to be the most expensive competition as well. And people are really put into little groups. They talk really great about each other within their little group but they rake all the other people and dogs over the coals. And when you're in this atmosphere it is so easy to be sucked into that mindset. I mean, we know nothing about structure and all the other things the judges are supposedly looking for. Yet when Boogie is out there we start that negative talking about all the dogs he is competing against...or the handlers that are out there. This is not good! I like agility or earthdog where we all root for each other. That's so much nicer.
Anyway, morning came and it was time to get Boogie all "purty" for his time in the ring. I got all dressed up too just in case our handler didn't show up. I didn't want to take any chance of missing our turn, so like always, I had us ringside about 20 minutes before our showing time. Mike hates this as we then have to try to keep Boogie calm all that time. And that is a huge job as all he does is pull as hard as he can to try and get the next little morsel of garbage he can find on the floor.
Now I'm getting super nervous as there is only three or four minutes until our turn and our handler is nowhere to be found. But I guess he's experienced in all this show stuff as he came rushing over just a minute later. He had time to work with Boogie a little. Joe (the handler) was trying to get Boogie to move his foot a certain way and Boogie didn't really understand - he just wanted the treat so he started jumping up and barking. Great....not really.
About that same time I see the lady handler from yesterday walk up. I just know that when she sees that there is a different handler than that incompetent lady that she was up against yesterday, she is saying "oh shoot" - or something similar to that. Tee hee.
So the two puppies with their professional handlers go into the ring.
We immediately start saying how our dog looks so much better than that other dog. Oh gosh, I feel so terrible...after all, all dogs are cute. But back to the competition! It's Boogie's turn on the table...and somehow our handler knew just how the judge wanted Boogie placed. Wow, this guy is good!
So the judge examines the two dogs and watches them do all their running around. Then the moment of truth comes and I'm holding my breath big time. The judge points to Boogie!! Yahoo....we beat that lady!! I mean we beat that other dog. Yahoo. That means Boogie was the best boy border terrier. Of course, we think he is the best boy border in the world...except for maybe his daddy who is extremely studly.
These are Boogie's very first points ever. He got one point! Can you believe all this stress, worry and money for just one point. But suddenly it doesn't seem quite so bad. Hey maybe this show stuff isn't so bad after all. Big grin.
Now we have to wait around as he has to go back in the ring to compete for Best of Breed. He'll compete against the best female and the best Champion. Can you imagine little puppy Boogie going up against those dogs? Scary.
So Boogie goes back in, does all his running, standing, (and barking for treats in the ring - on no!), and running some more.
Then the judge points to the winner....IT"S BOOGIE!! Wow, Boogie won Best of Breed. How cool is that! I have no idea if more points are involved or not but what this really means is that now Boogie must stay around to compete for both Best Puppy and for Best Terrier. All of a sudden this is much more fun!
Our handler had to run off to show another dog but he told us to hang out for a bit as we needed to get a photo taken with the judge. So while we were hanging around outside by the vendors, these people came up to us and started giving us huge congratulations. At first I didn't recognize them but then realized (when they told us) that we had met these people briefly in Palm Springs as their son competed with their puppy against me and Boogie in the Puppy Sweepstakes.
It turns out it is their dog that the lady is showing that competes against Boogie! But they were very nice to us. They said they get mad when someone beats their dog but they think we are very nice so they are happy for us that Boogie won. How nice is that. We talked for 15 or 20 minutes - such nice people. Anyway, two days before each show they give their dogs to the handler who keeps them at her house. She grooms them and works with them to get ready for the show. Then the people are not allowed to watch - they are not allowed to be anywhere in the building. Can you imagine that? But the funniest thing to me was that the lady says she just loves conformation! Huh?! Now I'm really confused. She doesn't handle her dogs herself, she has to be without her dogs for two days prior to each show and she doesn't even get to watch her dog in the ring. So how can you love this? I must be missing something here big time.
Anyway, they went on to tell us how huge our win was. I guess the champion dog that we beat is handled by a very famous handler that goes to Westminster each year. They said we are going to be the talk of the show - at least in the terrier circle. We are so clueless. But I must say we are having a much better time today for some reason! Tee hee.
After resting for a couple hours it's time to head over to the ring for Boogie to go up against the rest of the puppy winners. While we are waiting we notice our judge from this morning in the picture taking area. So we rush in there quickly to get Boogie's picture taken. As we go up to get our picture taken the handler thanks the judge for choosing Boogie as the Best of Breed. The judge replied: "Oh that was an easy one." (Meaning that Boogie was way better than the other dogs.) Snap. Then it's time to go!
Around and around go about 10 or 12 puppies. Boogie looks great to us...meaning that he stood nice and still on the table and trotted around just perfectly. Oh yea, and he barked a couple times. Oops. The judge did his pointing thing again and this time Boogie got 4th. I guess that's good as all the other dogs had to leave the ring except the top four dogs. Boogie got this huge rosette ribbon. It's way bigger than he is and in fact, I think it's bigger than all the NATCH ribbons the girls have won.
Now we had about 30 minutes before time to go in the ring again to compete against all the terrier winners. Oh my goodness, there were 20 dogs in the ring all at one time. Here are a few of them...Boogie is in there somewhere.
None of these dogs had been in the puppy winners ring so I know that Boogie was the only puppy out there. Way to go little man! After quite some time it is finally Boogie's turn to get on the table. (The guy sleeping in the background is the judge Boogie had yesterday.)
When the judge gets done watching the previous dog run, she comes to look Boogie over.
Off the table and down the runway he goes. Can you believe all the people watching? It's like this on three sides of the ring.
Finally, all the dogs go around together.
Then the judge does the pointing thing again. There must be some mistake - she forgot to point to Boogie! But that's okay - we had a great day. Plus I'm not sure what good all this other stuff really is anyway. You don't get any points for winning any of this stuff - you just have to pay the handler more and more. I have no idea how much we owe now - and I'm really afraid to find out. But I'm pretty sure Mike and I are going to have to go on a forced diet very soon as we're not going to have money to eat.
Well, gotta get to sleep early as all the dogs here start barking non-stop about 4:00am or 5:00am. We figure the people throw them outside and go to Denny's or a motel.
I'm not sure how, but this is conformation stuff is much more tiring than agility.
Debbie
1/19/08
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