Chattanooga Dog Shows

The Chattanooga dog shows were this past weekend and I was so excited to be showing my baby boy in his first show. A dog cannot be shown "formally" to compete for points until they are 6 months old. Some of the shows have "fun matches" that you can show puppies as young as 3 months so they can begin getting aquainted with the show ring, the surroundings and everything else that goes with being in a dog show. Pappy turned 6 months old on Aug. 25, 2008.
My excitement about getting to show him and getting out of Bristol for the weekend was slowly fading as Friday wore on. Like always, when we are trying to get out of here for a show, something usually comes up, this past weekend was no exception.
I had 2 dogs scheduled to groom Friday morning before getting the motorhome loaded with our food, clothes, make-up, drinks, dog food and of course the dogs. I also had to bathe the Bullies (thankfully, my wonderful son bathed Feather for me!) and the Crested before leaving. Time was slipping by and I had to go to the electric company to get things started on the new house, then over to the realtor's office to get the house inspection paperwork started as well. I hate clock watching, the more time that goes by, the worse my nerves get! We finally got on the road somewhere close to 11 pm (I swear it felt like it was past midnight!)
The drive was uneventful, UNTIL we got to Chattanooga! We got within a mile of the show grounds and the motorhome just up and died! Here we sat, in a parking lot of a big flea market at 4:00 in the morning and that big monster refuses to start! So, we made sure the generator was up and running and just went to sleep until morning when the auto parts stores would be open. Pappy's ring time was 9:30 am and to even think of getting to the ring on time was out of the question, there was no way! So, I just gave in to the thought that he would not be shown on Sat. I was so disappointed, but I kept saying "tomorrow is another day and it just has to get better"
My wonderful husband finally got us up and running and by 10:30 we were parked on the show grounds setting up the ex-pens and settling in. The Cresteds went on at 1:05, but by then I was so disgusted, I didn't bother to get ready to show her. She would have felt my tension and aggravation through the lead and wouldn't have shown well anyway.
Sun, Bull Terrier ring time was 10:10. I got both the dogs "made up" and all of us were ready to go in plenty of time, or so I thought. We headed to the show building at 10:05, there were 7 dogs ahead of us, 3 Staffordshire Bull Terriers and 4 Alaskan Malamutes, so that would have given us time to get our arm bands and get settled down a bit before going into the ring. As we were coming through the doors, I looked across to our ring and saw a Bull Terrier going around!! How was that possible! Judges aren't allowed to start before the posted time! Pappy was the only male entered, so that Bullie had to be a bitch, which meant Pappy missed his class AGAIN! I got to the ring just as the steward was calling Darla in for her class! Thank goodness, Darla was the one I had on the end of the lead, and was able to go right in. I didn't have her squeaky, I wasn't ready at all, but I had to go, the judge was waiting. She took Reserve Winners Bitch, which means 2nd place and showed pretty well for me considering how the morning went. I was proud of her.
When things finally settled down, Pappy got to see his breeder, Vicki and his mama China and his litter sister, Callie-Claire, but I was not a happy camper. He had a real chance at the points both days, if he had gone Best of Winners. So, Pappy's first show will be the Nationals in Orlando next month. It was good to see my Bullie friends and meet Michelle, a neat lady that Pappy's daddy, Jon Coffey owns. The Bullies were all beautiful and I did get to watch the whites show. Lori S.' white girl, Tessa took Best of Variety and went on to a Terrier Group 3 later in the day! Congrats to Lori and the Pooles for that win! I found out later, only 1 Staffie Bull showed up and none of the Malamutes showed up, so between that and the fact that our clock was about 10 minutes off from the motorhome not having power when it died THAT is how we missed the ring time! Thinking of it still irritates me, but......
I'll sign off of this post for now and fill you in on the trip back home tomorrow.
Blessings to you all