First show!

A puppy's first show can be tramatic, to either you, or the puppy!

Kyra was a dork her first show, she was happy, enjoying herself, the first judge we ever showed to did not have a sense of humour and snarked at me that I needed to train this puppy(she was 6 months and a few days old LOL). He's on my never again list LOL

Rinka was so bad, Pat ripped her leash out of my hand when I left the ring, only to hand her back and say she would NEVER show her ever. . as a peer said, you could see the Devil dancing in her eye. She was attacked at a show a few months alter by three weimeraners on 6 ft leash, and was never the same again ::SIGH::

Then there was Races, who behaved beautifully at his first show, the 2002 BCOA National Futurity, until the harpist at the corner of the down and back would pluck a cord, then he whirled to figure out where the noise came. LOL

His nephew Gibbs thought at his Debute that the world was there just to see HIM!!! He is sooo much like his father, what did I truly expect? He'll be a veteran before he sees the ring again LOL if a dog could gate with his eyeballs behind his shoulders, he did in the ring, to stare adoringly at his handler. . LOL

OTOH, we have Gossip, who walked into the show ring at just over 6 months, handled by a stranger, and behaved like she'd been doing it forever, same with her sister.

You truly have no idea how they'll behave, til you get them there, as how they behave in handling class doesn't always translate to the show ring.

So I entered this show with some trepidation despite Bella having behaved herself at her 1(LOL) handling class, fresh memories of Ziva & Gibbs being total idiots their first time in the ring vivid in my mind as I waited with Ms Bella, who was 6 months and 13 days old at her debute.

I don't usually enter babies in local shows, but this one had a puppy group, so I figured what the heck.

We arrived early. This show is a huge metal pole barn type setups, which can be rather scary to dogs, even adults, Eros HATES this show venue with a passion. Thankfully, we were very late in the day on the last day, so a lot of the dogs had cleared out, no barking corridors coming into the building. Also meant we didn't have to wait along all day for group, groups started at 2:45, we were in the breed ring at 3, so it was perfect. As it was, hounsd weren't in til 5, can you imagine how long the day would be if we'd been in at 8?

We walked around the building, allowing her to see the strange dogs, from the French Bulldog to the Great Danes, walked thru the vendor booths, where she made a lot of friends, including a nice vendor who gave her a bag of liver. We then headed back to the ring, which couldn't've been situated better, last ring in the row, down near the emptying grooming area. And we waited, yes, I tempted the gods on being there so early with her getting bored, but Bella laid down and went to sleep, not even bothered by Steed when he tried to be a hormonal dork with a baby.

I am so thankful we entered a small show, as well as were surrounded by wonderful Borzoi people. . there were four girls, each in their own class, so WB was a decent sized for a regular show around here, and nobody raced up on Bella's butt, nobody did anything to scare her, unlike a well known breeder who had ran stomping up on Ziva's butt at Trenton. They were all WONDERFUL!! And I was so thankful for it, and they were all very complimentary of my silly sweet puppy.

Then was the long wait for group, but Bella handled it well, fell asleep in my lap when I sat on the floor. Judges kept having conflicts with the regular group, but we finally got in, and it was almost as big of a group as the regular group, whippet, and saluki, and PVBC, beagles, basenji and more. .. we were behind a Foxhound and in front of the Saluki, and they were wonderful with her too. .

She was the youngest in the group by over 2 months, and looked it, but she took it all with style, handling like a dream. We didn't get a piece of the pie, but all I'd wanted for the day was for her to have fun, and to behave herself, and she did both. . .

All in all, it was a very successful day for my little blond bombshell. Lots of compliments, from a handler to my peers, so I was very pleased. . she promplty came home and beat up her sisters LOL

She'll be back out next month, I managed to hurt my knee on the concrete, so am goign to take it easy. But there's another puppy group coming up, and she will be there :)