2012 AKC Points Schedule and Division Changes

If you're showing a class dog, the appearance of the annual AKC Points Schedule is as much a sign of springtime as the crocuses and peepers. Each May, the Points Schedule dictates how many dogs and bitches are needed to make a major in every breed in different regions of the country.

For example, we here in Maine are in Division 1. Starting in mid-May (and just in time for our regional Bearded Collie club's supported entries the following weekend), it will take 4 class dogs and 5 class bitches to form a 3-point major. Last year, we needed the same number of dogs, but 6 bitches were required for those elusive majors.

This is a big deal for those of us with breeds uncommon enough that often it's an event to see another dog of your breed at a show in Maine. When Dinah was a puppy in the classes, the only other Beardie we ever saw at most Maine shows was Traveler. We couldn't do anything for each other points-wise, but at least we were able to get in a lot of handling practice. Show entries were cheaper than handling classes back in those days.

A friend of mine is a judge who can judge the Miscellaneous class. I asked her, "So just how many Miscellaneous breeds do you ever get to judge at a given show?" She replied, "Oh, maybe 3 to 6, unless I'm judging at a place where there's a big concentration of a breed." It must be difficult when your breed is so rare that you have to bring all your own competition.

On the other hand, it's no picnic for the owners of very popular breeds. The 2012 point schedule for Labs calls for 17 dogs and 19 bitches to make up 3 points. If only 16 class dogs show up, you're just as sunk as we Beardie people would be with 3 class dogs. That can't be easy to take.

But There's More News!

AKC is realigning the divisions to try and smooth out some imbalances in breed populations in some regions. For example, New York state has long been part of Division 1, but they have way more Beardies there than we do in Maine. This has meant that we've had to follow the New York point schedule for our own shows, despite the fact that we hardly have enough Beardies showing in the state to make an entry, let alone a major. For this coming year, New York has been moved to Division 2 to keep company with the more Beardie-populous states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. This helps us here in New England field a more realistic number of dogs for our region. If you have to leave the region to hunt for majors, New York is a heckuva lot closer than Delaware.

Best in Show Daily has an excellent graphic with before-and-after maps so you can see just how the divisions shake out.

This also means that our out-of-state friends can easily help us build majors in New England. If you were thinking of joining us at the Supported Entries in May or at our Regional in June, please keep this in mind!

Specialty Hangover Edition

There's a reason why people save up most or all of their vacation time for the National Specialty. Sure, it's basically just another dog show — but what a dog show! How often do you get to see hundreds of dogs of your breed in one place, ranging from puppies to seniors, in all colors and coat lengths, from champions to rescued companions? You get to catch up with old friends, see grown-up dogs you met when they were just puppies, check out a future parent of your next puppy, see the big guns and brass hats up close, meet all your buds from Facebook, and get your hands on some very, very nice specimens of your beloved breed.

I try to get to the BCCA National most years, even if I don't bring a dog to show. It's just so great to reconnect with my friends, meet all the dogs, and enjoy what the show locale has to offer. Some friends of mine and I have a long-standing tradition (started at the 1997 Beardie National) of picking a gourmet restaurant in the area and spending one evening at a nice, civilized, off-campus dinner. Amid the excitement and near-constant activity at the show, this one dinner is an island of peace and conviviality over great food and fine wine. I still regret missing the 2010 National, but I'd just started a new job two weeks before the show and was still up to my eyebrows in mandatory new-hire training.

This year, my local regional club played host to the National. Hosting the show is actually a multi-year effort — we've been at it since our bid was accepted at the 2009 National. Here's where we held it...

That's The Colony Hotel in Kennebunkport, a lovely old resort hotel with a tradition of dog-friendliness. The staff couldn't have been nicer or easier to work with! They seemed as pleased as we were to see Beardies everywhere, from the private beach to the veranda overlooking the pool. Once the rain stopped, people and Beardies appeared all over the place, enjoying the view and the amenities.

The rain damn near killed us. It rained on the herding trials. It rained on the drive to and from the herding instinct tests, though the skies managed to hold off just long enough to do the tests themselves. Badger Blue Burfitt earned his instinct certificate, which makes him Breaksea Revolution, HIC.

(This photo actually comes from last year's English Shepherd Gathering. I don't know if there are any candids from this year's HICs.)

It rained on the obedience and rally trials. Dinah was having none of that sitting-in-the-puddles crap, so we blew our Beginner Novice debut rather badly. I ended up pulling her from Rally Excellent. She can do both in her sleep, but not on that day.

I was too busy toting barges, lifting bales, buying supplies, and so on to see as much of the Specialty as I would have liked. I missed the Welcome Party, all of the meals I'd bought tickets for, and a good part of the showing. At least working at the fundraising/logowear booth gave me a good view of the judging when I wasn't running around.

Dinah got a big honkin' rosette with all her titles on it for the Parade of Titleholders... but alas, she (and I) didn't get back to the ring in time to take part. It was the only time all week that she got any love of any kind while in the ring... but she looked lovely during Friday's best-of-breed judging. Kathy said that her head wasn't in the game, though — maybe it was a holdover from Tuesday's puddle-based trauma in that same ring.

All the rain and rushing about aside, though, it was a good week — and I'm both sad and relieved that it's over. I hope to go dogless to next year's National, hang out, see my friends, and see more of the actual show than I did this year. The National doesn't rotate back to the East until 2014, when it will take place in Gettysburg, PA. Dinah could show in Veterans by then (she'll be 8) — and we're already psyched for it!

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who played a part in the success of the 2011 Beardie National -- to the committee chairs, the conscripted help, the exhibitors, the event secretaries and judges, the shoppers at the logowear and fundraising tables, and anyone who volunteered to help out with anything. It takes a very large village to put on a Specialty, and we're all grateful.

Springtime Rituals

I've always envied my friends in California. The weather generally stays nice enough there so they can go to shows and trials all year round. Here, entering any event in the winter is always conditional. You enter a dog event with full knowledge that if the weather that weekend is sufficiently bad, you'll end up eating the entry. That, along with hibernating from Thanksgiving until St. Paddy's Day or so, marks the "off season" for dog showing here in the Frickin' Arctic.

Since today is the Vernal Equinox, it's time to start thinking about the year ahead. It's time to dust off the equipment, take inventory of what needs repair/replacement/cleaning, invest in some fresh batteries, and organize it all so that an event's worth of necessities can be tossed into the car without too much scrambling. It's time to start reading the premium lists for the springtime events and to think about what to enter when.

Another way I mark the start of the dog-event year is to clear off the bulletin board in the sunroom. Back when I was still actively trialing with Seamus, I'd hang the ribbons and rosettes he'd earned from it in a given year onto the board. At the beginning of the next season, I'd remove them, pack them away, and hang the new year's booty. This has now become an unofficial ritual to mark the new dog-show season. (So what can you do with all the old ones? I had Dinah's BPISS rosette from the '06 BCCC National framed. There are also quite a few people who will take your collected ribbons and stitch them into a quilt, wall hanging, chair back, or what-have-you. This site shows a bunch of photos of finished examples. Maybe someday I'll do something similar with mine, but storing all the ribbons in Rubbermaid boxes in the downstairs closet is still much easier than trying to figure out where to hang a quilt.)

2010 was relatively slim for us in terms of spoils -- we only entered three conformation shows, five AKC rally trials, one UKC rally trial, and a bunch of APDT rally trials -- but we did bring home enough bling to cover the bulletin board. Each one marks some pretty nice memories: the weekend we finished Dinah's Canadian CH, BOS for the second year in a row at our Regional Specialty, her AKC RN and RA and APDT RL1 titles, Badger's 4th in Veterans at the BCCC National... Still, they make a pretty nice collage...

Now that the bulletin board is bare again, it's time to start thinking about the year ahead... and train, train, train! Dinah's litter sister Buffy is now competing in APDT Rally in the UK and is on the verge of earning her RL1 title, too.

As Seen in Dog Fancy

A few weeks ago, a very nice person named Nicole contacted me through the blog. It seems she was writing a small article about the AKC Grand Champion title and was looking for thoughts from the fancy about the new title and its appeal. The article will appear in the July issue of Dog Fancy, in case you're interested.

Public Service Announcement

The next session of Penny Cary's conformation handling classes starts in April at Finish Forward Dogs in Saco. Class spots are filling up fast, so contact Finish Forward soon if you want to get in on the fun.

First Shout-Outs of the Year

Congratulations (slightly belated) to our long-time Dog Show Newbie friends Barb Rimoshytus and Rio the Papillon! Rio earned his AKC championship at the Worcester County KC show on 12/4. His handler Courtney Pray finished him, and she sports a great grin in the win photo. If you're a friend of Barb's on Facebook, you can see him with Courtney and with judge Ruth Zimmerman. The win was a little bittersweet for Barb, who couldn't be at the show, and who wishes she could have been holding the lead that day... but the deed is done. Rio is now officially CH Brookfield's Slam Dunk, and he might also have some Rally title initials after his name. Rio and his Golden roomie Tazzy have both been doing rally this past year.

Another old friend picked up some alphabet soup at this year's Springfield Thanksgiving shows. Deb and Richard's Moxie was already a Canadian champion, but now you can call her Am/Can CH Cameron's Kiss Me Quick. Moxie's long march to the CH was even longer than ours. Even with the slightly reduced number of dogs it takes to make a major in our region nowadays, it still took forever to find majors, and for those majors to hold. I'll have to ask Debbie how many points Moxie finished with. Dinah has something like 24 or 25, and Rowdy Blue had close to 30 by the time he caught his big break.

Fiona needs only two more singles, and her brother Brae finished this past fall at the age of only 17 months -- that's a month younger than his sire Traveler was when he finished. CH Bramley's Green Mountain Boy CGC and handler Brian Kirk made a great pair. Brae took his last points with another handler whose name escapes me, but whom Brae's owners also like very much. Good work, kids!

Okay, I admit that I feel just slightly nostalgic for those days in the classes and all of the socializing that went along with them -- but the whole ordeal of hunting majors feels somewhat like having kids. You have to forget about the pain before you're prepared to have another. We have no room here for a puppy anyway, much less a litter. Maybe someday it would be nice to start again, but in the meantime, it will be fun to cheer for Cash/Casey, Bonnie, and all the new kids. Good luck this year!

It's (Almost) All About Dinah

It's getting to be the time of year where we pack up the show stuff and prepare to hibernate for the winter. Dinah hasn't actually seen the inside of a show ring since the Canadian Specialty in August (though I still wish we could have gone to the Carolinas Regional). We do have two more APDT rally trials coming up on the first weekend of December, and then we'll really put 2010 to bed.

All the same, we brought home a decent small collection of memories this year...

• BOS at the New England Regional (for the second year in a row)
• BOS at the Supported Entry the next day
• 10 AKC Grand Champion points
• BOS at the Fredericton KC show to finish her Canadian CH
• Best in Show in the MB-F Virtual Dog Show
• AKC Rally Novice and Advanced titles
• APDT Rally Level 1 title with an Award of Excellence (AOE) and 1 leg toward Level 2
• 7 legs (so far) toward the APDT Rally Level 1 Championship (RL1X) title
• 1 leg in UKC Rally Level 1 (URO1)

Although I say we're hibernating for the winter, we're really just not going out to compete. When the weather permits, we spend our time at home on the weekends, practicing. Dinah's back in agility class with Jim Gregg, who's a master at deconstructing handling and helping you build a successful process. We've been going to Wednesday-evening rally classes since school started, and will resume when the next semester resumes in January.

Oddly enough, working in rally and agility seem to complement each other — all the more so since Jim is so good at spotting inconsistencies in handling that (especially in my case) seem to be handicapping our progress. Sometimes neglecting the simplest things can make a huge difference. Jim noticed that I wasn't taking the time to catch Dinah's eye in the ring because my ring nerves had me all flustered. Keeping that in mind, I tried to keep eye contact in both agility and in rally, and Dinah did much better. She's always stellar in practice; at trials, not so much.

I'll have to remember to keep Jim's advice in mind next time we go to a trial. I've had the worst time doing APDT Level 2, although we managed to complete the AKC RA. Dinah knocked the jump bar on our first Excellent run, but that has to do with bad agility handling (mine). She was looking at me, and not at the obstacle.

The year hasn't been completely about Dinah, though. Badger Blue managed to take a 4th in his Veterans class at the BCCC National.

Dinah's image has been places, too. Two photos of her — one as a puppy, one as an adult — appeared for the Bearded Collie at the AKC's Meet the Breeds event in NYC last month.

Next month, Dinah and Badger get to be supermodels for a day! They'll be modeling couch covers for the FetchDog catalog. We'll all head to the shoot at a house somewhere in West Falmouth, and a local dog trainer we know will help coax the two stars of the show up onto the furniture, to recline in appealing poses. Somewhere, some lucky copywriter will get to struggle with the temptation to talk about all the dog hair that won't get on the furniture, and we'll end up with some lovely professional photos of the Breakseas. I'm looking forward to it!

Seamus already knows how best to model a couch!

We have to spend every Thanksgiving on the road, so we won't be home to watch the National Dog Show on TV. Have a great Thanksgiving, all, and enjoy the show for us!

We Are Virtually Proud

InfoDog Virtual Dog Show
9/27 - 10/1/2010
Best In Show

Yes, you read that right. Dinah just received her first Best in Show as an adult, and her first in the States. (She was Best Puppy in Show at the Canadian National back in 2006 and had an AKC Puppy Group 2 as a puppy.) Okay, so maybe it isn't a real show, since it didn't involve grooming, gaiting, sweating, driving, or an expensive hotel stay. All the same, it's a Best in Show, and we'll take it.

If you're not familiar with the Infodog Virtual Dog Show, it's an online simulated all-breed show sponsored by show superintendents MB-F, Inc. It's free to enter; all you need are a few nice photographs. There is also a "fun" section where you can enter candid photos of your dog in various categories. Yes, you may enter both sections.

In the dog show section, you may enter with just one show-side photo of your dog, or you may upload front, back, and right side photos and even a video of your dog gaiting. (We have an assortment of very nice stills, but no video.) In a way, this forces you to select from among the piles of posed and candid shots you own to find the ones that would look good to a judge who cannot actually touch your dog or watch the gaiting around the ring. The breed, group, and Best in Show judges' bios are posted as the show opens for entries.

Judging proceeds the same way as it does for any other all-breed show: first the class dogs, then the class bitches, then Best of Breed. Infodog even has little "animations" of the dogs' photos going around the ring to "applause." When your dog wins, you receive an emailed certificate showing the photo, the win, and a rosette. Judges are allowed to post evaluations of the dog they've judged, and some do take advantage of that. I'll never forget the evaluation we received the first year we entered (2008): "This appears to be a quality dog with a correct coat, however there is so much that a judge cannot do in this sort of competition. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that this dog has or will win big." Well, we've done okay since then.

This year Dinah, being a special, started off in BOB. Okay, so there wasn't a lot of competition in breed this year, since there were only three Beardies -- but still, she won and advanced to Group.

Last year, she didn't place in Group, though she's had a Group 3 and a Group 4 in the past. There were some very nice competitors out there. This year, though, was different...

The same lovely blue merle Aussie and some other group competitors from the last were there again this year, though there weren't any Collies. It might be just a virtual Group First, but it was Dinah's first! I was too busy to read email this morning, so I missed the email with the Group 1 inside. Dinah went on to BIS without me.

At lunchtime, I received this in email:

It took me a minute to react (as it usually does) -- and then it hit me. Judging was over. There were no additional rounds to advance to. Dinah had not only won Best of Breed and defeated the other dogs in the Herding Group, but she had also defeated the other group winners! Sure, this is how every all-breed dog show works, and people whose dogs are multiple BIS winners are probably used to this... but all the same, it's our first BIS, however virtual. Maybe a real one is in the cards for someday... most likely, not.

Anyone can enter the Infodog Virtual Dog Show. Get your photos together and come join in the fun for the next round!

End of the Season, But Not

Now that Dinah's a special, we can pretty much pick and choose which shows we feel like entering instead of frantically scouring premium lists for every show on the Eastern Seaboard, in search of one more stinkin' major or a few more crummy points. Quite honestly, I don't miss that part -- but I do miss showing later into the year. Much as I complain about showing into late November or early December, I miss hanging out with my buddies on weekends at the Big E or on some other road trip. Mind you, I don't miss these trips enough to consider campaigning Dinah as far as the GRCH, but I still feel just the teeniest bit wistful when everyone else gets to pack up and go.

Since our last appearance in conformation, though, Dinah and I have been fairly busy training and showing in rally trials in a few different venues. She completed the APDT Level 1 title in July with an Award of Excellence, and her AKC Rally Novice at the very end of August. This makes her Am/Can CH Breaksea November Storm HIC CGC RL1 (AOE) RN.

Not that we plan to stop there. We're entered in another AKC trial and hope to make progress toward the Rally Advanced title (she has one leg already). We have more APDT trials to enter between now and the end of the year, plus we're attempting our very first UKC rally trial in October. My ambition is to work enough to cross over into regular obedience as well. Our rally instructor has a Novice class right after ours, and I might do the occasional drop-in just to see if we're even ready to start just yet. Holding still is not one of the Princess's favorite things to do.

Are we coming back to the conformation ring? You bet your Bean boots we are, but probably not until spring. It gives us something to look forward to during the dark and icy days of wintertime. Until then, you can see us in class with our compadres or playing in the local trials. If you're going to the conformation shows, good luck and have fun!

O Canada: the Road Trip Movie

Bearded Collie Club of Canada National Specialty
8/11 and 12, 2010
Badger: 4th, Veteran Males 7-9

Judge: David Hyde. Photo by Garth Gourlay.

In a way, Val and I needed to go to Fredericton to prove to ourselves that not all car trips turn into plots for horror movies. Our trip to Minnesota was so Edvard-Munch-The-Scream horrible that we still have PTSD flashbacks from it, and I never did finish my blog post about it from last year. (I might still do that someday, but it would probably end up within the chronology of this blog and pass, unnoticed, into the Collection of Things Best Not Mentioned. Either that, or someone like Rob Zombie will pick up the option for it and turn it into this generation’s version of The Exorcist Meets Sybil. Yes, it was that horrible. Worse, even.) Anyway, we were overdue for one of our own road trips -- so off to the Maritimes we went. We baked in the heat, we got wet in the rain, and we encountered giant spuds on the roadside... but we did have a pretty good time.

When Dinah picked up her last point in Fredericton, I said, “Pack your bags – we’re heading to Belleville!” We’d entered the National two days before, simply because entries closed before we could make it to the Maritimes. If we hadn’t had such a nice trip to Fredericton and back, we might not have gone at all. The very idea of long car rides still makes us both cringe.

So there we were: the two of us plus Kathy with Dinah, Fiona, and Badger -- all packed into a rented Ford Econoline van, eager to prove to ourselves that not all trips have to be Trips From H-E-Double Hockey Sticks. The construction on the way there, plus the traffic through Montreal, made the drive up a Trip From Heck, but we survived. If not for the fact that most of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Quebec appeared to be under construction, we might have made the trip in 9 hours instead of 10 1/2.

The Ramada in Belleville was lovely, with a nice big flat area perfect for showing -- and right by the water for scenic show pictures. We arrived late enough in the week so that we missed having time to explore the hiking trails, but that was unavoidable. Next time, for sure!

Here's a view from Val's and my 4th-floor balcony:

Badger and Fiona, the class dogs, showed on Wednesday, with the boys showing first. Badger was first up on the table:

He's essentially retired from showing, but he still loves to show off occasionally. I brought him along mostly so Kathy would have enough dogs to show, but he cleaned up nicely and looked great in the ring.

Badger ended up taking 4th place in Veteran Males 7-9, which was a pleasant surprise. There were 6 dogs entered and 5 showed up, so he wasn't last in the class. Not bad for a retired guy. He still gets his spot in BCCC history now.

All the weather forecasts the previous week had promised us lovely, 60-degree days and 40-degree nights with a chance of rain on Friday and maybe Thursday. None of us -- especially the hairy members of the entourage -- are huge fans of very hot weather, but Kathy probably dislikes it the worst of all of us. She's the one who has to dress up and run around in the bright sunshine -- while wearing a suit and pantyhose. Can't blame her there. Anyway, the weather forecast lied. By the time we made it to Ontario, it was just plain baking hot. We ended up having to soak chamois cloths to put over each dog before showtime. Luckily, we had electricity available so we could plug in our big fan, and we ran the batteries in the crate fans until they begged for mercy. Dinah relaxed on her waterbed, but Badger just didn't care for his. He stood it for the car rides, but asked to be placed in a crate without the bed -- and then dug up the fleece bed so he slept just on the plastic pan on the bottom. Silly old bluey.

Next, it was Fiona's turn to shine in the baking hot sun.

The Open Bitch class was massively competitive, and Fee acquitted herself very well. There wasn't a bad-looking girlie in the lot. I'd moved Dinah up since she finished in Fredericton; otherwise she'd have been in this class, too.

The judge had pulled out his first picks in the ring in Open Bitch, and then he looked back and looked Fiona over again. He pulled her out to join his other picks, then moved her up to third place. For a moment, we thought he would move her up more, but he seemed content with his choices as they were. Third place at a National is still nothing to sneeze at, and it gave people a good look at Fee.

Thus encouraged, we celebrated with a room-service picnic and high hopes for Best of Breed. If David had liked the B-Man, then he would love Dinah, right? Dinah had been Best Puppy at that specialty in 2006 and Winners Bitch in 2008. With a winning streak like that, she should come home with something very nice from out of the Specials class, right? Even if she didn't take Best of Breed or Best Opposite, even an Award of Merit would have been cause for a victory banquet at Big Daddy's BBQ, home of the all-you-can-eat lobster dinner.

Of course, the big game that everyone plays at dog shows is, "What does the judge like?". Some like good movers. Some like nice heads. Some don't show any pattern to their choices. Everyone scrutinizes the judge's picks and tries to determine the pattern (if any).

It rained in the early morning hours before the show, which to us was an encouraging sign. Dinah loves to show in wet weather; as Kathy says, "She's a mudder." It remained cloudy at showtime, which was a vast relief to everybody sporting sunburns from the previous days of showing.

There were so many entries in Best of Breed that the judge brought everyone in, then allowed the bitches to leave the ring so he could judge all the dog entries first. He would make his cuts, then dismiss the dogs and do the same for the bitches.

By the time dog judging was complete, the atmosphere had started heating up again. I was disappointed that Dinah wouldn't get to show in the rain. Sure, she gets horribly messy, but she plows through the muck and water with such joy that you'd think she actually loved to show. She doesn't really -- she likes it okay, but she doesn't love it. Still, add water and she's a happy camper.

Finally, the bitches were called in. Because Dinah had moved up from Open just the day before, she was placed last in line. She had plenty of time to get bored and fidgety back there, and she made Kathy work to keep her focused. All the same, she looked lovely.

She moved nicely, when it finally came her turn.

We were surprised and disappointed when she didn't even make the cut, but she simply wasn't David's cup of tea -- nor did she feel particularly motivated to make him change his mind about that. David appeared to prefer bigger, longer dogs. Dinah is long enough, but he liked them really long. Badger and Fiona are both longer than The Lovely One. She's also a little girl, and he didn't put up any little Beardies in any of the classes. Anyway, we sadly left the ring and started packing up. Dinah's winning streak at the National was no more. No AOM. No all-you-can-eat lobster.

The top honors eventually went to two deserving dogs: Arwen (whom Dinah has beaten every other time they've been in the same ring) took Best of Breed, and Darcy (Diva's littermate and a very nice boy) took Best of Opposite. All of the specials were nice -- not a bad one anywhere, or an undeserving one -- but it was still a bummer about Dinah's winning streak. Not even Kathy's lucky suit and my lucky earrings helped. (I'm not really a believer in lucky charms, but I do believe in how you act and feel when you have them. It does make a difference when you feel lucky.)

Our trip home took us over the same bridges that we crossed to head home from Gananoque, and we took a shortcut through the farm country in upstate New York that was charming, but not exactly short in terms of time. At least we weren't stuck in miles of orange barrels with kamikaze traffic trying to run us off the road. It took us a good 11 hours to get back, but we made it safely (if a bit punchy toward the end -- we giggled from central MA all the way back to Maine), unpacked in as orderly a fashion as we could manage, and got lucky Kathy on the road for home so she could attend a wedding the next day. She survived it, and we all survived the road trip. Even if we didn't bring home any really big honors, simply surviving the trip without it devolving into insanity was almost enough of a reward. Maybe we can travel again without flashbacks after all.

O Canada! Part Cinq

Fredericton Kennel Club, 7/24
WB/BOS, 1 point
7/25 RWB

Announcing... Am/Can CH Breaksea November Storm, HIC CGC RL1!

Yes, it finally happened. We finally got that last stinkin' CKC point to finish Dinah in Canada. Now we can show our faces around the BCCC National without having to enter her as a class bitch for the third time.

A lot of Dinah's family members have CH titles from multiple countries -- her sister Buffy (Breaksea November Mist), for example, has been burning up all the countries of continental Europe and picking up championships in each one. Badger's brother Moby (Breaksea Norwegian Wood) has at least all of Scandinavia covered. Dylan (Breaksea Gone West) was the first Am/Can Ch in the family, and Dinah is the second one, as well as the first bitch to earn both.

There aren't huge numbers of Beardies showing around the Maritimes, so sometimes you just have to bring all your breed's entries with you if you hope to earn CKC points without depending on Group 3s -- so that's just what we did. Val and I were overdue for a road trip, anyway. We decided to pack up Trav, Fiona, and Dinah and meet Ashley at the Fredericton shows to try our luck there. Our friend Penny, a local handler who has had a lot of success showing in eastern Canada over the years, offered to handle Dinah to her last point.

The only thing that we can never predict about a show is the mood that the Princess will be in on any given show day. When she's in a good mood and wants to show well, she's hard to beat. When she's Not In The Mood, no amount of cajoling, bribery, or Great Bait can get her to focus on the task at hand. Kathy and I have Talked to the Paw more times than we care to admit.

Val and I made good time on the drive (aside from the summer construction delays), crossed at St. Stephen with absolutely no traffic ahead of us (a first!) and headed for Fredericton. The road between St. Stephen and Fredericton is pretty much a swathe through the woods, and is the kind of drive where you rejoice when another vehicle comes toward you in the opposite lane because it gives you something else to look at. "Wow," Val said. "When a Canadian says that this show is in the middle of nowhere, you'd better believe it!"

One of the joys of driving with a GPS is that it very rarely gets you truly lost. You might not always take the most efficient route to get someplace, but you'll generally get there. We ignored the GPS's entreaties to cross at Houlton rather than at Calais, and for miles afterward, it kept trying to get us to drive back to Houlton to cross.

Our biggest navigational challenge happened in Fredericton, where the Princess Margaret Bridge, which we were supposed to use to cross the St. John River, turned out to be closed for construction. The GPS, in deep denial of that fact, kept trying at every turn to route us that way, until we both told it to shut up and turned it off. We procured directions at a gas station, crossed the river, and headed to the campground to set up.

The drive along the river was lovely, punctuated every so often by a local landmark, such as a giant potato wearing a top hat or a huge carved wooden figure of Sherlock Holmes.

We arrived at the show site, found Penny and the Doberdogs, and set up at ringside just behind them. After the EZ-Up was staked and the chairs and flooring unloaded, we set off to find out hotel, ignoring the GPS's entreaties to take the closed bridge. It finally complied and showed us a route that involved streets that we actually could take to get there.

Once esconced in the hotel, we ordered take-out, exercised the dogs, and readied ourselves for an early wake-up call. Trav was so happy to be out of the car that he practically threw himself at me with his usual "Arrrrr, arrrrr." (Trav and I have deep conversations. He likes to do his pirate impression for me. We talk about his favorite letter of the alphabet and other subjects of great philosophical import.)

When the alarm went off far too early on Saturday morning, we all bundled back into the rental van and headed across the bridge that wasn't closed to the show site on the other side. The GPS was not amused. We passed the Giant Spud again, and pulled into the show site.

Val, aware of my "skills" as a show groomer, neatened up the Princess's feet and got her finish grooming done, then worked on Fiona. Ashley arrived and started prepping Trav.

CKC shows run somewhat like UKC shows do -- all breeds in a group using the same ring, and breeds showing more or less in alphabetical order. Groups sometimes follow the individual breeds, and sometimes take place after all breed judging is over in all the rings. If you're used to AKC shows, where the show secretaries have to juggle rings, breeds, judges, and groups and try to fit them together into a puzzle, then you'll come to appreciate the beauty and simplicity of the CKC/UKC scheme. It does take a short time to get used to the fact that all shows run pretty much the same way -- but then you have one less thing to have to keep in mind.

Penny had four breeds to show, and three of them conflicted that day. We worked out a game plan whereby she would show the Aussie, bring her out, take Dinah in, hand Dinah back to me, and sprint into the Doberman ring next door to show her own dog. If the Aussie took her breed and Dinah took hers, I would be showing Dinah in Group. We all gathered under the roof in the waiting area and assumed our stations. I felt a little bit like a running back waiting for the kickoff.

Penny took third with Jules the Aussie, then offered Dinah various kinds of bait from $15-a-pound roast beef to chunks of liver. I offered up Dinah's old favorite Great Bait and added it to the show menu. The ring steward called for Bearded Collies, and they were off, with Val and Fee behind them.

Dinah seemed in a pretty good mood, and she decided to work for Penny instead of making her Talk to the Paw. I was still worried that she'd decide that the day was getting too hot to show, and take a summer vacation right in the middle of judging. She didn't show with great enthusiasm, but she held it together well enough to take the Open class and get that last point. Fee took Reserve. Dinah ended up going Best Opposite to Trav, who took the breed. (Sadly, Trav didn't get much love in the group -- though the judge looked at him for a VERY long time before calling four other dogs out.)

Outside the ring, we did as much hugging and dancing as we could do without disrupting the rest of the show's proceedings. Penny had had to send her Dobe into the ring with her husband because of the ring conflict, but she suspected that the breed judging wouldn't have gone her way anyway.

One of Penny's friends took this nice photo of The Lovely One in the ring. Thanks, Mark!

When Dinah finished her AKC CH, I'd packed a bottle of champagne just in case we needed it. Because Val doesn't drink and my days of drinking whole bottles of the stuff myself are long behind me (Day, actually. I did that once in college and definitely regretted it the next morning), the only bubbly I could rustle up for Dinah's CKC championship was a can of Red Bull. Anything chilled and bubbly served the purpose. I was just so relieved to have finished Dinah that I would have toasted her success with lukewarm soapy water.

The afternoon grew hot, so we packed up the pups and headed back to Fredericton proper, ignoring protests from the GPS. We stopped at the Giant Spud for a photo shoot, and the dogs drew adoring fans...

After a little celebration dinner (which couldn't include the guest of honor), we passed the rest of the evening sending emails and messages to everyone eager for news, watched the Food Network (porn channel for Weight Watchers), and hung out with the pups. Trav and I had several conversations on the subject of Arrrrr.

The next morning, we drove through a monsoon to the show site. The EZ-Up kept everything relatively dry, but it was so new that I hadn't even sealed the seams yet. We had a few drips here and there, but they didn't compare with the drenching we sustained getting between the car and the tent, trying to keep the dogs relatively dry.

Because Dinah had won the day before and finished, Val and I agreed that I wouldn't move her up. Instead, Dinah would stay in the classes, and I would show her. That way, we shared the points with Fee.

Just before we were supposed to go into the ring, we peeled off our soaked raingear. I looked like a contestant in a wet T-shirt contest, so I had to put my coat back on. The judge, who sported a strange headgear midway between an Arab headdress and a fisherman's sou'wester, removed his hat just as the wind started to pick up, and ended up wearing the same hairstyle that Michael Keaton wore in "Beetlejuice."

Fee took the point and went Best Opposite to her dad, who showed beautifully and looked wonderful -- and who still left the group ring empty-handed. Fee now has 4 CKC points -- only 6 more to go.

We stopped to visit Ann, showered and changed, and got to cuddle a litter of 4-week-old Trav/Sadie puppies, full siblings of Fiona's. I made sure to share a little "Arrrr" with the pick boy, who looks just like a miniature Trav. I told the little brown girl that brownies are special, and swapped conversations and puppy breath with everyone else.

Eventually, we brought the new champion home, and I had the pleasure of requesting a move-up to Specials Only for the BCCC Specialty. I hope we get to go, but even if we don't, this little special is still pretty special.

-- Post From My iSomething

Location:Sheffield, New Brunswick, Canada

The Best-Laid Plans

2nd Annual NE Regional Specialty, Wrentham, MA, 6/5/10
BOS
Supported Entry, Framingham District KC Show, 6/6/10
BOS
10 GRCH points

Sometimes, in spite of all the careful planning, negotiating, communicating, and coordination involved in putting on a show, the best-laid plans can... actually work out.

I don’t mind sharing that I had been dreading the Regional Specialty this year. I’d been appointed show chair at a meeting where I wasn’t even present, and from then on I never quite felt that I had the details under control. When you’re coordinating two events at two shows two states away and trying to coordinate between two regional clubs and two all-breed clubs, things can get a little hairy – even by Bearded Collie standards of hairiness. They get hairier still when you’re a Show Chair Newbie.

The signs weren’t looking so good. Beardies ended up being scheduled at 3 PM on Saturday and 2 PM on Sunday – so much for the idea of showing in the morning and then enjoying a leisurely lunch afterward. Our club treasurer ended up having back surgery. A week or so before the show, the sub shop where we’d bought last year’s sandwiches was struck by lightning. A day or so before the show, the weather forecast changed from sunny and high 70s to a tornado watch. The night before the show, the skies opened, accompanied by thunderboomers. You never want to ask the question “What else could go wrong?” – but the temptation to do so anyway is hard to resist.

At least my own anxieties never made it into the premium list. Beardie folks entered the show, some from as far away as Toronto, Charlotte... and even Oregon! Our Sweeps judge was our friend Ann Lord from New Brunswick. We ended up fielding a small but respectable number of entries for sweeps and veteran sweeps, and enough class entries in the regular show to offer a 5-point major in dogs and 4 points in bitches. Trophies? Check. Food? Check. Raffle? Check. Hospitality tent? Check. Tables and chairs? Check. Judge’s gift for Ann? Check. Checks? Check.

On show day, the intrepid show crew appeared, set up the tables and spread out the buffet, the raffle items, the grooming tables, the crates, and all of the other paraphernalia associated with dog shows. Since our part of the entertainment didn’t start until 3 PM, we were able to assemble the party at our leisure, greet our friends as they arrived, groom our dogs, and even do a little shopping. We held a raffle, and Ann managed to win a bunch of the items – so she definitely didn’t leave the show empty-handed.

Sweeps judge Ann Lord goes over a puppy boy shown by Amy Alspaugh Penuel.

Dog shows are social occasions for the Beardies, too. Our dogs got to greet their friends, meet new acquaintances, and mark their territory. Dinah was particularly thrilled to have so many good-looking guys around to flirt with – not only her sweetheart Traveler and his son Brae, but she also took a particular liking to Fuzzy from PA.

Shameless plug: GreenDoggieBags.com outfitted us with a very generous supply of their eco-conscious doggie bags as well as several samples of their green trash bags. The trash bags came in mighty handy both for regular old trash and for bottle and can recycling. I had expected people to remark more on the doggie bags, but folks seemed even more interested in the green trash bags – so it was helpful to have samples of both products. I’m glad to report that we sustained no doggie-bag emergencies, but it was comforting to know that we had the tools at the ready if they were ever needed. We will also have plenty left over for the club’s annual Bounce and BBQ in July. Thanks, GreenDoggieBags.com!

Our Green Doggie Bags display

One thing we can certainly say about our group is that we can certainly feed people! Folks kept arriving with more goodies – veggie platters, fruit kabobs, brownies. We had plenty to eat, and still didn’t have to snarf it all down so we could rush off to groom. The early-morning clouds had burned off, leaving us with that old familiar New England heat and humidity. It felt good to take our time – almost as though we’d planned it that way. There were a couple of distant rumbles from thunder, but they remained idle threats.

Eventually, our ring time arrived. Kathy had about 400 Beardies to show between Sweeps and regular classes, and Dinah (as the special) went in last. I wasn’t sure how badly Dinah would want to show on a hot, sticky day 8 months after her last show, but she was so happy to have both Her Trav and his handsome brother Roy out there with her that she acquitted herself well and went Best Opposite to Roy. Roy went on to Group 2.

The most unfortunate thing about the schedule was that we ended up with the busiest judge of the show. They were holding up the group ring for her while she judged us, so we had no time for pictures or chitchat before she had to go. We were all so hot and sticky by that time that no one was feeling very photogenic anyway – and by the time the poor judge would be available, it would be past our bedtimes. I hope they gave her anything she wanted for dinner that night, including drinks from the top shelf of the bar or the best wine in the cellar.

After Saturday’s showing had concluded, we dragged ourselves back to the hotel and rinsed all the half an inch of sweat and stickiness from our skins. I blasted the AC in my hotel room, and Dinah hopped up onto the bed nearest the unit with a sigh. I have never been so happy to be standing under a running shower in my life! Val and I had Girls’ Night out with Lesley and Sue later that evening, while Pat volunteered to doggy-sit everyone (even Dinah, who knows how to whoop it up with Trav an a hotel room). We had a great time and the waiter was perceptive enough to keep the cold drinks a-coming, but I think I ended up staring at my dinner more than actually mustering up the energy to eat it.

On Sunday, we dragged our sorry carcasses back to the show for another frickin’ afternoon show time. Pat had the Sunday paper. Kathy and Kenny brought chicken salad for lunch (thanks, guys!). We brought out the leftover goodies from the day before and set up a nice little brunch.

The humidity hovered between 100% and 99% for much of the day. It sprinkled fitfully from time to time until the clouds burned off and the sun returned.

“I don’t know how Dinah’s going to do today,” Kathy said. We both knew that Herself likes to put all her effort into one day at the show, and then slack off for all of the other days. Since she showed well on Saturday, we both expected her to just give us the paw on Sunday and do as she pleased.

The other thing that Herself like to do is surprise us, and that she did – by deciding to show beautifully, even at the ragged end of a long, hot couple of days of showing. She arguably worked harder for the second BOS than she did for the first one! She did have some pretty formidable competition in the person of Trav’s daughter Fiona, though. Fee had just gone BOB over her dear dad a couple of weeks before, and was looking good in the ring. Fee ended up going BOW on Sunday, thus scooping up the crossover points from the boys’ 5-point major. Fee’s uncle Roy went on to Group 1 that day.

We all enjoyed watching the judge, who exercised infinite patience with the puppies. “What a nice judge,” someone remarked. “He even says ‘please’ to people in the ring.” Again, since he was the group judge, he had to get to the ring with little time for pictures.

Remember the tornado watch that was forecast for the region? As showing in our ring wound down, we could see that the clouds were growing denser and uglier, and the wind was beginning to pick up. We wasted very little time getting out of Dodge – tents came down, chairs and tables were folded, dogs hopped up into crates in the vehicles – and we cleared out of there before we got blown all the way to Oz. It seemed like an anticlimactic way to spend the time after a reasonably successful show weekend, but we all just wanted to outrun the storm.

Thanks to everyone who entered, brought food and drink, offered goodies for the raffle and bought tickets, and visited during the event. It was great to see everyone – including some new folks we’d only met through email. Thanks too to the show chairs for both host clubs, who made sure that everything Just Worked.

Because we’re hosting the National in Maine next year, it’s a bit too soon to tell whether we will also be holding a Regional in 2011. Kathy and I are trying to work out our schedule for the rest of this dog-show year, and we hope to get to at least one more Regional (Garden State) and the BCCC National. Carolinas is looking mighty tempting, too – and we know they’ll show us a good time. Anyway, we’re glad that our Regional is over, and hope people had a good time.

(The complete results and a bunch of action photos will appear on the BCCME website when I get some time to type them all in.)

Dispatches from the Confessional

Tuxedo Park Kennel Club, 9/4/09
Dinah: BOS
Badger: 1st in Open
Somerset Hills Kennel Club (Garden State Bearded Collie Clan Regional), 9/5/09
Badger: 2nd in Open



(Note to my Catholic readers: No offense intended, but sometimes you just have to riff on the accidentally funny when it presents itself.)

We always have good memories of the Garden State Regional. Dinah went WB there for the past two years, and this year was the first year she'd be back as a special. The Regional itself had been moved to a show on an earlier date for a couple of reasons: the biggest being that the Ramapo shows took place on the weekend immediately following the National, and people were too dragged out from the National to enter Garden State.

Thus it was with hope in our hearts that Kathy, her junior helper Joanne, Joanne's Portie Brita (World's Cutest Portie Ever), Dinah, Badger, and I converged on New Jersey. We were hoping that both Beardies would make a good showing, and we could keep up the tradition of winning at the Regional. Kathy was also showing Cali for our friend Lesley, and it would be nice to take home Winners Bitch three years in a row.

Our time in the hotel proved to be a special bonding experience for Dinah, the B-Man, Auntie Kathy, and me. Joanne mentioned that Brita usually didn't care for other dogs, but she appeared to really like the Beardies. Dinah was so happy to see Auntie Kathy that she danced and danced... she even danced on Auntie Kathy's head in the middle of the night. Badger stretched out diagonally across my bed, rolled over onto his back, and snored softly. I awoke a couple of times to find myself rolled into a little ball on the bed, with Badger expanding to fill the available space. Brita decided to join in the slumber party and helped Dinah take up all the remaining space on Kathy's bed.

When we reached the show site on Friday, we set up an "assembly line" for the Beardies. Badger went first, since he was the only boy in our little doggie group. I have no expectations for the B-Man; I'm not sure whether I should simply wait until his pigment comes back completely, or just go for it. After all, he is 7 years old already, and I am not going to struggle to finish him.

Much to my surprise, B-Man took first in his class, though the judge didn't give him Winners or Reserve. It did demonstrate to me that some judges would put up a handsome, great-moving dog with iffy pigmentation over a dog whose pigment might be better than his movement. It cheered me, even if he didn't get any points out of the deal.

Back on the grooming table, there was no rest to be had. Lesley got Cali all groomed for 12-18 Bitches, and Joanne prepped Dinah for Breed. It grew hotter and muggier the longer we stayed out there.

Cali ended up going Winners Bitch, and those last three points finished her Championship. It appeared to be a bittersweet experience for Lesley, who would have liked to have finished Cali at the Specialty -- but we take the opportunity to finish when we can.

Finally, Best of Breed came around. Joanne finished getting Dinah ready, and we performed a complicated dance: I held on to Badger, Kathy took Dinah in for Breed, and Cali went back in with Joanne. Dinah showed very nicely -- even in the heat -- and went Best Opposite. "He LOVED her!" Kathy exclaimed as she exited the ring.



Joanne had to stay late into the afternoon for Juniors, so I scooped up Dinah and Badger and decided to head back to the nice-air-conditioned hotel for a quick shower and a room-service lunch. It was just too hot to go anyplace where I'd have had to have left the dogs in the car -- so we returned to the hotel and hung out together. We had ourselves a nice, cool afternoon, shared my salad, and waited for Kathy, Joanne, and Brita to return.

Joanne reported that she had won her class in Juniors, but didn't get Best Junior. Brita strutted around with her pink squeaky toy and didn't seem to care. We all slept more soundly the second night, and Dinah kept her head-dancing to a minimum.

Saturday dawned frickin' hot and sticky and grew even hotter and stickier. Kathy had been running around in Friday's heat and bore up well, but Saturday's temperatures threatened to do her in. (She, like Dinah, is not a fan of the hot weather.) All of us had forgotten to pack the Gatorade, so I made some supply runs to the booth selling vitamin water with electrolytes, and threw in some salty potato chips for fun. We didn't even start showing until late in the afternoon. Joanne and Brit won their Juniors class and came back to wait with us.

Of course, when you're drinking considerable quantities of liquids, sooner or later, you'll have to "pay the rent" on those same liquids. Kathy departed, then returned and told me with a chuckle that someone had taped a sign over the porta-potty door reading "CONFESSIONAL." Thus, every time one of us needed a biology break, we'd depart with the announcement, "I have to go to confession now." "Again? You must have been very bad."

We kept ourselves amused until it FINALLY came time to show. Brenda Wantland appeared to have a very good time judging Sweeps, and we all enjoyed watching Sandy and Casey out there with the veterans. Kathy handled Cali in 12-16 sweeps (she hadn't been moved up after finishing the day before), and Sue handled Jezebel. They placed first and second in their class.



In the regular classes, B-Man took second in his class, but not Reserve. It was a bummer that he didn't do better on Specialty Day, but the handsome brownie that Karen Bowens showed definitely had the better day.



Cali took first and Reserve in the regular classes, and Jezebel took third. They held up well, for having to go run around twice in the heat.

While in the ring, one of the other handlers murmured to Kathy, "If he makes us run around one more time, I'm leaving the ring." Kathy replied, "If he makes us run around the ring one more time, I'll be leaving the ring in an ambulance!"

After more sweat and more confessions, the time finally came for Best of Breed judging. Dinah would have none of it. She wiggled. She sniffed. She looked everywhere but straight ahead. Kathy reported that she looked as though she needed to confess something, but she'd just gone to confession shortly before going into the ring. Apparently she hadn't felt completely absolved of her sins.



It was disappointing that Dinah hadn't felt like showing. Garden State is usually a great show for her, and she did very well there two years in a row. She must have put all of her energy behind the Friday show. She didn't do anything on Saturday, not unexpectedly -- but such a shame. When the Princess doesn't feel like showing, you can't get her to show with bait, bribes, steaks, cold hard cash, a bulldozer, or the entire first violin section of the Boston Symphony. She waited; she made her mind up; she was done. There's nothing else one can do about that.

We're Red Sox fans. Time to raise the battle cry: "Wait 'til next year!"

Another reason why our ring time was such a shame is that it grew too late to enjoy the wonderful buffet lunch that the Garden State club always prepares for members, exhibitors, and friends. By the time our part of the show was over, people were dismantling their setups and packing instead of hanging around and socializing. GSBCC is one of my favorite shows. I hope that next year, the Powers That Be will put us back in the morning so we can enjoy ourselves and enjoy everyone's company more.

A few people were interested in meeting and going over the B-Man, which was nice for both of us. They told me that they felt it was worth trying to finish him, and hoped his pigment came back soon to make that part easier. Some felt that his pink lips wouldn't deter an all-breed judge from giving him some respect, but until the blue fills back in around his eyes, he's going to scare them off. At least I had some reassurance that the effort wouldn't be entirely futile.

I can't believe how quickly this year is going by! In a couple of weeks, we'll be making the Long Trek to Minnesota for the National. Think good thoughts for us.

Nothin' Shakin' on Shakedown Cruise

Newtown and Great Barrington KC Shows
Springfield, MA
8/22 and 8/23/09
RWD (both days)



After the exercise in remedial humility that was our last trip to Canada, I drove home, swapped dogs, and headed out to Springfield for more. Sounds masochistic, doesn't it? It wasn't intended to be, but it makes one wonder sometimes.

This last pair of shows was intended as a get-acquainted trip for Badger. The B-Man hasn't seen the inside of a show ring since he left the Old Country, and he's never been subjected to the bedlam that is an AKC dog show at the Big E. To me, it was more important that he get to meet Auntie Kathy and get back into the rhythm of things before we start to expect great things from him. I also valued the bonding time we'd get to have together without interference from other dogs or humans. We hadn't spent much "alone time" together at all since we took the long drive home from Richmond.

(The B-man is Greg's favorite dog, and I practically had to pry Badge away from him to get him into the show ring in the first place. Those two get plenty of "alone time" together, mostly on top of Mt. Ossipee.)

The drive west was a bit challenging. The remnants of the hurricane that we'd heard about while I was up in the Maritimes had decided to pass through western Massachusetts at the same time I did. There were times along the Mass Pike where traffic slowed to 20 mph with a long line of hazard lights blinking. The rain just pounded down and made it nearly impossible to see, but there wasn't enough room for everyone to pull over... so we crawled instead.

Once we made it to the hotel, I took Badge to the Petco in the strip mall next door for a sterilized bone. (I usually prefer to give him raw bones, but I wasn't going to be cleaning carnage out of his beard the night before a show, thankyouverymuch.) He attracted every toddler in the place, who absolutely had to come and pet the nice doggie. I resisted the urge to check their hands for grape jelly before they petted him.

Note to all fans of the movie "Best in Show": Petco has Busy Bees in their clearance bins! If you, or anyone you know, needs a Busy Bee, they're on sale at Petco now for only a couple of bucks! Don't settle for a crummy bear in a bee costume...! Don't let your dog FREAK OUT!!

We had a good time at the show. Badge was very rusty at the whole process and didn't pay much attention in the ring. It's hard to tell anything when there are only two dogs entered, but Badge was still getting used to everything and really didn't have a chance to shine. The Dog Who Eats Everything wouldn't even sniff the bait in the ring, though he practically swallowed my hand afterward. The other dog was there and paying attention, so he took the one available point each day. Good on him -- he worked for them. Badge's Sunday performance was better, but still not great. He'll improve with practice.

The exercise was worthwhile, and we actually had quite the enjoyable time. We set up with our friends Lesley and Sue, who had Fanny and Cali along. (Roy was there too, but he was sequestered with his handler.) Fanny ended up going BOS to Roy, and Cali went BOW -- she only needs three points to finish (I think). My favorite part of the weekend was the bull session at the Red Robin after the show -- we definitely should do that more often!

Badge got to meet Auntie Kathy, and get used to the show routine all over again. Springfield probably wasn't the best place for his initiation, but you go where the shows are. The guy is a trouper -- after a while, he was jumping up onto the grooming table as he used to do back in Wales. Before we know it, he'll be the B-Man I remember showing back in the UK -- floating above the ground, looking alert and powerful. He took at least one Best in Show over there under a Beardie breeder-judge, and maybe he can do it again. Kathy said she really liked him and thought he should do well. We shall see.

Badge is a terrific traveler, just as his niece Dinah is. He is possessed of the same unflappable Breaksea temperament, and he sleeps on the hotel room floor just as he does at home: on his back with his feet in the air and a smile on his face. I never see him on the drive; he just conks out in the crate. (Dinah sleeps on her back in the car, too. Occasionally I'll hear a thump as she turns over.)

The B-Man's show journey will be quite a bit different from Dinah's. With Dinah, she and and I started the trip with a six-month-old puppy who was a terrific show prospect, handicapped only by a complete stumblebum on the other end of the lead (me). Kathy brought out that potential in a way that I never could have. In spite of all of the broken majors and crappy luck, she finished her AKC CH just after her third birthday.

With the B-Man, we're starting from the beginning with an adult dog (whom we hope will get his love of showing back soon). That's a good news-bad news proposition. He won't be going through an adolescent gangly stage, and he's already in coat. You need far fewer dogs to make up a major than you do bitches, so he just might have an advantage there. The bad news is that class dogs his age are practically nonexistent. In spite of the fact that he spent his formative years in another country, people who don't know his story might wonder what could be wrong with a six-year-old dog who hasn't finished yet. Hey, we'll see how far we can get before he qualifies for Veterans.

Our next show will be a different kind of "shakedown cruise." Dinah and Badge are both entered in the Garden State Bearded Collie Clan's Regional Specialty (one of my favorites). I've never had to juggle two dogs at a show before, so this should be an experience. At the very least, it should make for entertaining Dog Show Newbie fodder.

O Canada! O Hubris!

New Brunswick Kennel Club
New Brunswick, Canada
Reserve Winners Bitch

The next time someone tells you that something is "as easy as shooting fish in a barrel," remember that sharks are fish, and that rubber bands don't really do a heck of a lot of damage.

It's my fault, really. Remember that tired-but-still-true saying about "Never assume...?" Well, I assumed. You can guess the rest.

We waltzed into a lovely local dog show in New Brunswick, Canada, and I simply assumed that we'd slay the available competition, pick up her very last CKC point, and waltz all the way home. It sounded so good in theory: we had two AKC champions (Trav and Dinah) and two 12-18 puppies (Chester and Fiona). The two adult dogs would simply beat the two kids in the ring and go home Am/Can Champions. Sounds good to you too?

Ah, we had it all planned. We'd take photos together, assemble a huge and fabulous ad for the Beardie Club brag rag, and have stories we could tell around campfires for years to come. We could even finish the two of them on the very same day! There was a liquor store just down the street. I could quickly nip out for a little champagne. Wouldn't it be loverly?

Then... reality decided to take things in another direction. Who invited reality to the party, anyway?

Val, Trav, and Fiona had gone to the shows three days ahead of us. Their plan was to show all six days of shows, finish Trav, and get some group placements. Dare we dream of Best in Show?

My plan was to bring Dinah three days later, pick up her last point on the first day, and see whether I couldn't leave her in the classes so Fiona could bring home a couple of points as well. How very gracious, n'est-ce pas?

Our kind and gracious hosts were Ann, Bob, and Ashley (Chester and Fiona's breeders). They did all the heavy lifting for us: they towed and drove the RV and camper to the site, set up the X-pens, brewed the morning coffee, and make what plans needed to be made. Ashley even arranged for a local junior handler to take Dinah in for me, and to bask in the glory of finishing a new Am/Can CH.

That, at least, was the plan, but plans do have a way of deviating from reality. I had forgotten to take into account some additional ass-umptions:

1. Dinah and Trav are very different in type. Judges who like Dinah's type tend to ignore Trav... and the reverse is also true. The other two dogs, being Trav's kids, were also of his type.


2. One of the judges had previously dumped Dinah for a puppy at one show last year, even before Dinah set paw in the ring. It's safe to say she's not a fan.


3. When Dinah doesn't feel like showing, no one and nothing can change her little Bearded mind. When condition are (to her) exactly right, she's unbeatable. When things in Dinah-land are not to her liking, you can't get her to show with liver, toys, or a bulldozer.


4. I may have been keeping this blog for a few years now, but in the ring, I'm still a Dog Show Newbie.

Trav acquitted himself very well in the ring, going Best of Breed all six days and picking up three Group 4s and a Group 3. He finished his Can. CH on the fourth day.

Things weren't as easy for Dinah, unfortunately. (They never are.) She didn't like the junior handler showing up 10 seconds before we were to step into the ring. She didn't like my grooming or my handling. She didn't like the bait. She didn't like the heat, or the slippery floor surface where the mats didn't cover it. In short, she didn't like anything about that week, and she was prepared to display that dislike in the show ring.

Remember the "fish in a barrel" part? We had figured that since Fiona plodded around the ring, head down, that all Dinah needed to do to beat her was to show up. Little did we figure that Fee would pick that week to decide that not only did she love showing, but that she couldn't wait to get into the ring! This was wonderful news -- but it could have happened at a better time for Dinah.

In the end, Fiona went Winners Bitch all three days. Dinah went Reserve all three days. No final point, no Can. CH, nothing. I was crushed. It had never once occurred to me that we wouldn't finish. There would be no pictures, no party, no nipping out for champagne. It's what I get for assuming.

We did have fun, aside from the showing part. The pups had a fun time hanging out together, and we had plenty of play time. Val and I tried to figure out how we could talk BCCME into acquiring an RV for the use of the Show Committee. Dinah loved sleeping in the camper, and managed to take up most of the bed by stretching diagonally across the middle and lying on her back. Our hosts were kind, helpful, and encouraging, and Ann and Ashley deserve a huge amount of thanks for patiently trying to guide me through my fumbling attempts to show Dinah on my own. (At least I know I can fit into my electric-blue linen suit again!) The Kennel Club's traditional corn and mussel boil was a hoot, even though the DJ played all of the biggest hit songs from the jukebox in Hell -- very loudly. I even won a Tim Horton's coffee card in the raffle!

After a long, discouraged, empty-handed drive home, I had plenty of time to get philosophical about what had just happened. At the border, the US Customs guard asked whether I was bringing anything from Canada back into the USA. I sadly held up my empty coffee cup and said, "This is all I bought. I didn't even get one winners ribbon." He waved me through.

I'll have to make plans to bring Dinah up there again and try one more time to get that one last point, but I'll be leaving my assumptions on this side of the border.

So Long, Farewell...

...to the Irene Leduc Memorial Trophy, which has graced our living room for the past year. The Leduc Trophy came home with us after Dinah won WB at the BCCC National Specialty last year. Since we can't attend the show this year, UPS had to do the transport honors for us.

Just before I boxed it up for shipment, though, we had to have one more farewell photo...



I am weeping great salty tears at not being able to go to Quebec this year. As Canadian shows go, this one is practically right next door. Maybe next year we can go, and Dinah can enter Best of Breed...

Some Nice Virtual News

The Lovely One has done it again! She took BOB in the MB-F Virtual Dog Show held earlier this year, and she just took BOB again in the latest show. Group judging is later in the week. She didn't get any love from the group judge this last time around, but we're hoping for better in this outing. Dinah scored a virtual Group 3 last year with most of the same competitors -- both Collies and the Aussie are very nice dogs indeed.

Now, before you think, "Of course she went BOB -- she was the only special Beardie entered," I have to point out that her breed competition was no slouch, either. She's been in the ring with some stunning girls, such as my friend Maryann's Sparkle and my friend Beth's Celia. If this had been a real dog show, she would have had to work for the honor.

I like that MB-F is holding these virtual shows more often (plus you can't beat the price). It took us a long time to accumulate enough nice photos to enter, but now we look forward to it. I only just found gaiting photos that I thought were worthy of entry, so I'll have to put one of those in the next virtual show.

A Very Special(ty) Photo

Isn't she lovely? Our judge is Kimberly Meredith-Cavanna, and she and Kathy look pretty cool in the photo, considering that the sun was beating down on both of them and Dinah at the time.

Who's the BOS?

Northeast Regional Beardie Specialty, Ladies' Dog Club
5/31/09
Best of Opposite Sex




It's hard to believe that six months have gone by since Dinah's last show. The last time she saw the inside of a ring was on her very first day as a special, on the Sunday of the Thanksgiving shows in Springfield.

The show season began quite a bit earlier in the year for me. I served as trophy chair for my local kennel club's shows, and stewarded for Vacationland (where the show chair really knows how to take good care of the stewarding staff). Dinah came along to Vacationland to act as my able assistant in the CGC tests, but she didn't show. She was less than impressed; she felt that if she came to a show, she should be able to show, thankyouverymuch. No crappy spectator stuff for this girlie.

Of course, I had to enter Dinah in the first-ever Northeast Regional Specialty (or whatever the heck we call it) at the Ladies' Dog Club show. The Specialty was a joint effort between the Bearded Collie Club of Maine and the Minuteman Bearded Collie Club, and it would have been impolitic as hell to not show my support by putting my girlie in. Besides, Wrentham is only a few miles from my hometown, and I couldn't just show up to my dad's house with my hands empty of visiting Beardies, could I?

Plus, I've always had a soft spot in my shriveled little heart for Ladies. 19 (eeek!) years ago, my very first Bearded Collie puppy went to Ladies for his very first show, and came in 4th in his class. Woohoo -- a ribbon! It was as though the little guy had just won at Westminster! I was so tickled that my baby Beardie boy had his very first placement there that I've been a touch sentimental about that show ever since. The rest of Merlin's story is short and sad, but that day still comes back to me with fuzzy golden edges.

Back to Ladies 2009: The weather gods smiled on us. Kathy the show chair, Debbie the hospitality chair, and Val the trophy chair all outdid themselves in making sure we had enough food, fun, and fellowship to make the weekend memorable. We even drew 5-point majors in both dogs and bitches! (This answers my agonized question of the past couple of years as to what we need to do to get majors in this region... throw a party!)

The show even brought out friends I haven't seen in ages. Rosie's mom Cindy brought her veteran girl Abbey for Veteran Sweeps. Lesley and Sue brought Cali and Jezebel, who were both still very much puppies when we last hung out at Thanksgiving. Michele (with Brock and Tart) even came up from PA and attended the show with Joanne and Jack (who is a very handsome young man!). Our friend Kandis was the Sweeps judge. Best of all... we got to stage a reunion of the fabulous all-star team of Auntie Kathy and Dinah Moe!

The Lovely One was pleased as anything to be there with her favorite boy (Traveler) and his kids Chester and Fiona. She's had weekly play dates with the Bramley/Avalon bunch since Val and I signed up for Tuesday morning Weight Watchers classes -- Dinah and Charlie come along for the ride and get to romp with Val's Beardies after each meeting. For her, the show was Old Home Week.

The puppies and veterans acquitted themselves well in Sweeps. Chester and Fiona looked wonderful, and did very well considering that this was only their second or third show. Barbara's Spirit ended up as Winners Bitch and getting the 5-point major. Barbara handled her in Bred-By, but Kathy handled her in Winners and won! Barbara was so thrilled that Kathy now gets to finish Spirit's championship. (She's also going to handle Barbara's new puppy Denbigh when he's old enough to start showing.)

There are some photos on the Web at the BCCME Web site, though all of us who took pictures are still slowly combing through hundreds of shots for the best ones. Come see what we have thus far.

I must admit that I'm liking this Best of Breed thing. Sure, you have fewer opportunities to compete in a given show since you're not showing in the classes, and there are really only two things you can win in breed competition, but if the entry is sufficiently large, the pace is much more leisurely. You can spend more time getting ready, and you're not on until last. Best of all, you don't have to care if there are majors at the show. You just go. Sure, you might get skunked more often since you're only competing in the breed ring for BOB and BOS, but the whole show experience is a lot more fun. If you're lucky enough to win BOB, the wait for Groups is usually long -- and thus more leisurely than you might like sometimes.

Kathy and the other handlers I know have always said that if the judge speaks to you while going over your dog, then you're doomed. When I saw our judge flash a big smile at Kathy and Dinah and say something, I honestly didn't know what to think. We've shown to judges who have obviously hated Dinah's type before, but they've never grinned at Kathy while doing it.



After the individual evaluations and the last go-round, the judge pulled out Roy, Dinah, and Traveler for her BOB finalists. Dinah couldn't have been more pleased -- she got to stand out there with two of her favorite boys! She shows best when she's happy, and the judge gave her Best Opposite to Roy.

Kathy told me later that the judge had REALLY liked Dinah, and that Dinah had come close to beating Roy for the breed. Roy's a magnificent dog with a high-powered handler and a big financial backing, so it's no small honor to come in second to him. Kathy also enjoys making Cliff (Roy's handler) sweat for BOB. The judge had remarked to Kathy, while going over Dinah, "I really like what I'm feeling here!" She went on to praise Dinah's structure and substance, and mentioned that Dinah did come within a hairsbreadth of getting Best of Breed. As much as I wish we could be on the other side of the hairsbreadth sometimes, you just can't hate that. Going Best Opposite at a Specialty, however small, is still a pretty good-sized win.

Of course, it's never official until I've texted Alan and emailed Gill and Jana. Jana replied that Buffy appeared to be starting labor. She had a hard road and an eventual C-section, but Buffy is now the proud and loving mum to two baby brownies, a boy and a girl. (The proud papa is Leo, Bendale Special Times, the gorgeous brownie who won Breed at Crufts.) Dinah is now an aunt!

We didn't fare as well with Dorothy Collier on Sunday -- she pretty much ignored everyone except Roy, but she deserves some props for putting up Lesley's girl Cali (who took the major on Sunday and went BOS to Roy over the bitch specials). Dinah wasn't as cheery that day as she had been on Saturday, and kept pulling on the collar and gagging herself for some reason. When Dinah's not into showing, she's Not Into Showing, and it does no good to complain.

Still, if we had to pick one day for Dinah to shine, we'd have picked Saturday anyway. Can't hate that.