That Time Again (Already)

Dinah on the stairs. Look at how light she's become!

The coming of spring usually heralds the return of the swallows to Capistrano and of the Red Sox to Fenway... but this year, it also brings a new dog show season (our second one ever). I was relieved to be spending the wintertime on hiatus from dog shows -- it means I've been able to spend my time working with Seamus in agility and rally. The vernal equinox isn 't even here yet, though, and I find myself paging through my Infodog emails every day, scanning for the local shows. Old habits die hard, and apparently new ones take a bit of doing to dislodge, too.

Anyway, with April only a few weeks away, it's time to start planning for the first shows of the season. I've already started making arrangements to show Dinah at the National Capital Bearded Collie Club Regional Specialty in April. Kathy is handling a Borzoi at a Borzoi Specialty that weekend, so I've asked Karen Bowens (a Beardie breeder/handler from Pennsylvania) to do us the honor for that show.

I've always enjoyed the NCBCC Regional, even though I've never shown a dog there before. It's always been a great time to catch up with a whole bunch of friends, including some whom I'm lucky to see once a year. A lot of those folks didn't make it to either of the National Specialties last year, so now's my chance to introduce the Lovely One to them. The judge is from the UK and gave Dinah's sire Danny a first at the Bournemouth shows last year... so I'm hoping she has a pleasant feeling of deja vu at the Regional and does well by Dinah.

Unless Kathy and I arrange to show her earlier in April, the Regional might be both the first and final chance to show Dinah in the 12-18-month class this year. Dinah will be 2 weeks shy of 18 months at that time, which means that she'll have to move up to Open by the time our own local show rolls around on May 5-6. My girl is a very nice specimen, but I'm not sure how much the judges will smile on her when she's out there competing with all of the adult bitches. Keep your fingers crossed for us.