Today is the first day of a five day dog show in Scottsdale. Border Terriers were the first dogs to show right at 8:00am so we had to be there bright and early. In fact, we actually had to get there at least an hour earlier as we were hoping to find Alison in hopes that she could do something to fix Boogie's coat a little bit.
We left the house at 6:15am with no expectations but high hopes...even though we know Boogie doesn't look like any other border terrier that is out there. When we arrived at the site we got out of the car and were getting all our stuff together when suddenly Mike noticed that our bike was gone.
We've had a bicycle carrier on the back of our car for years and have had the bike with us on the car for over three years since we've lived on the road. There was even a lock on the carrier that we thought made it so no one could steal the bike...but apparently not. We knew the bike hadn't fallen off as the plate that goes over the bike stem was still on there. Obviously someone had removed the bike and taken the time to put the plate back on the carrier before fleeing. Huge bummer - it was a great bike and we had just put on a brand new seat and new tires. No time to worry about that now though - we got a show to do!
We got here so early that nothing was really open yet. After quite some time we finally found where Alison was supposed to be but she hadn't arrived yet. By the time she got here she was really in a rush to get everything all set up. But she was really nice and took a quite 60 seconds to try and clean Boogie up a little bit. She is great - in just those few seconds she made him look MUCH better.
I scooped Boogie up and ran over to the ring. I got there with about one minute to spare. After checking in and getting my number I did my best to brush Boogie and get him looking all pretty. By then it was time to head into the ring for the Border Terrier Puppy Sweepstakes. In Sweepstakes the owner must handle the dog...that's me. All the little boys went into the ring and around we went. The 6-9 month old puppies went in first and a winner was chosen. Then the 9-12 month old puppies went in - that's us. We went around and Boogie was a fairly good boy. He was a little worried on the table hunching down a little when the judge tried to examine him. Then we went down and back. After the other puppy did the same, the judge had us go around together. As we were coming back, the judge pointed to us! Boogie won!
The same procedure took place with the little girl puppies and two winners were chosen. Then the two girl winners and the two boy winners went back into the ring. We again went around and around. The judge then did the pointing thing - and he pointed to Boogie first! Wow, Boogie won the Puppy Sweepstakes! He got a couple nice ribbons and $13. Way to go little Boogie. The professional photographer took a picture of us but we won't get it for quite some time. But I'll be sure to post it when we get it.
As it turns out, that means he had to come back at 2:30pm to compete against the winners of the winners of all the other breeds. But now it was time for the regular competition - which is what we really come for. Alison was really nice and handled Boogie for us. He was a good boy but was a little concerned on the table. (We went over later and just treated him a lot for being on a table - he thought that was fun!) Anyway, Boogie won his class! Yay! That meant he got to go back into the ring later with four other dogs to try and win the points. Alison had won with another dog in a different class so she was taking that dog back in the ring. She found someone she knew that grabbed Boogie real quickly and took him into the ring for us. Unfortunately Boogie didn't win. But at least if we didn't win our friend's dog did. Needless to say, she was super happy.
We did a tiny bit of shopping at the many vendors that are at this show before rushing back home to feed and exercise the big dogs before we had to be back in Scottsdale for Boogie's afternoon showing.
I'd guess there are 50 - 60 vendors here that sell quite a variety of stuff.
There were a good 20 - 25 puppies in the Group Sweepstakes. It was sunny and in the 80's and the dogs were really hot. I'd say we were in the ring a good 35 - 40 minutes. Boogie was impossible! He wanted to sniff here, there, everywhere. He wanted to visit the other puppies, pee on everything he could find, put his little paws up on a nearby table to see if there were any treats for him, and visit the people sitting in chairs around the ring watching. Finally it was our turn on the table. He was a little timid when the judge came to look at him but not too bad. The judge looked him over fairly good on the table but then hardly looked at him at all when we did our little trotting around. We didn't make the cut. A very cute Bull Terrier ended up winning.
Phew. Done for the day. We headed down to the agility area of the show to pick up Skatt'r - Billie's new little 11 week old Border Terrier who we are taking care of. Boogie was 11 weeks old when we got him and he was about eight pounds - Skatt'r is barely over five pounds. He is such a good little puppy! And happy! He loves to play with toys. When he plays it's like watching a little kitten play. Just too cute.
Wazzu was very good with the puppy. Skatt'r loves Wazzu and wants to be just like her when he grows up. HA! Believe me, they will not be alike at all. Skatt'r is happy go lucky and Wazzu is very serious and careful.
We had a great afternoon and evening playing with the puppy. What a character. But I guess between the long day at the show, playing with the puppy, and trying to do some laundry, it was just too much for my crazy body. ARGG!!
Debbie
2/28/08
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