Continued from [Performance 1]  - 

So I began my adventure into the show ring, by first finding a trainer to help me learn how to show my dogs and also how to teach my dogs to show.  I found the most wonderful teachers ever.  They own Stilvalley Service Dogs in Allyn, Washington.  A mother daughter team that is unbeatable.  Danielle has been training dogs and people of all kinds since she was a child.  Her daughter, Alexis, has also been training dogs and people since she was seven years old.  These two wonderful women helped me in more ways than I could count.  And here is just a little proof of that skill they have.

Our very first show, on September 23, 2006.  My first attempt to show my dog, Taro.  And his first attempt to strut his stuff for the judges.  We are in Shelton, Washington and this show was put on by the Gig Harbor Kennel Club.  I tried so hard not to be nervous.  Everyone has their own way of dealing with nerves, mine was to get confused about an hour before we were to go into the ring.  My confusion consisted of looking at my watch again (for the fortieth time) and starting to panic because we should be at the ring right now!  Silly me, we were not due there for another hour yet.  But this is typical of something that my nervousness would do to my pea-brain.

So now it is time for our breed to go into the ring.  I am such an amatuer, I had to keep asking my trainers when to go in and then am I done or go back.  I think they got a few good giggles from me.  My dog was still a pup, so he was entered in the puppy group for males.  I was the only one entered, so he got a blue ribbon.  I was not excited about this because I did know that he would get one even if he was a miserable dog.  The only one in the group will win the ribbon, but no points towards their championship.  But we did get to go back in the ring, with all the grown males.  HE WON!!!!!  So unbelievable!  My boy beat the other males!  Now I am ecstatic!  Our first real ribbon, with points too.  So now we go back into the ring to compete against the female winner and runner up male.  We got BEST OF WINNERS!  Hooray, we won again!  Not the Best of Breed, which would have been perfect.  We would have then stayed to go against all other winners of each different breed of the Toy Group, hoping to win and then win Best of Show.  But, he did get more points for this win.  And I could not have been happier, or more surprised.  The judge was wonderful.  He really studied my dog’s conformation and was not concerned at all with how new we both were.

Keep checking back to see how Taro and my other dogs are doing in the ring.  I will post the achievements as soon as I can after the shows.

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