Great Falls Fall Dog Show Cluster 2018

GREAT FALLS MONTANA 

FALL ROUNDUP

DOG SHOWS

2018

For the first day, Saturday, I chose a Lularoe Maurine in grey and fuschia. The color offset the color of my dog very well, while the cut and fit hid my perma-belly.

Here I am getting ready to load up the car for the journey to Great Falls. Our old girl Tinker decided to join us, along with Sully who is, of course, curious about what daddy is doing with his phone!

"Hello, Sully!"
Any treats mummy?

Naturally I had to wear my "good-luck-dog-show" earrings. I purchased these in Greeley last month as a treat for doing so well in the ring with Sullivan. They were made by an artisan who makes one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry. They are silver with pearls and Lapis.

Everywhere I went, I heard that I "look like my mother". Whether someone was talking to me or telling someone else-- competitors all over the show arena were saying I look like my mother....

Because apparently I look like my mother-
--who also showed dogs. My mother convinced me to come to the first dog show I ever attended in 1978. It was an obedience trial held by the Great Falls Dog Training Club (GFDTC) at the Family Living Building at the Great Falls Fair Grounds. I was AWED by the amount of well-behaved and lovely dogs attending this dog show. 

At that time, competitors were expected to dress in fine clothes, even if they were competing in obedience. There were only THREE obedience titles to be earned--Companion Dog (CD), Companion Dog Excellent (CDX), and Utility Dog (UD). Each title required dog and handler to perform different exercises of differing degrees of difficulty in order to earn a leg towards a title. Three legs and a person could earn a title on their dog. The lowest qualifying score was 170 out of 200 possible points.

I watched dogs and handlers perform in the ring, obeying the judges' commands when given. It was as if I was watching a complicated dance--walk forward, slow, fast, about turn, halt. Dog/handler teams given points based on how close or far away the dog was while healing; how straight the dog sat when sitting beside the owner; how attentively the dog healed when walking around two people in a figure eight.

My mother was in the beginning class, Companion Dog, with her West Highland White Terrier, Shandy. My mother went through her paces in the ring, then left to help out at the show, since she was a club member. At the end of the show, awards were handed out for various reasons--High-In-Trial, Highest Scoring Local Dog, Highest Scoring Hound, Highest Scoring Herding Dog, etc. Owners and their dogs proudly came forward to collect their trophy for whatever their particular "specialty" was.

My mother bustled around the building, helping tear down rings and take down the luncheon area.

HIGH-IN-TRIAL: With a score of 199, number 25--dog/handler team steps forward to retrieve their ribbon and trophy. <applause, applause>

HIGHEST SCORING HERDING DOG: With a score of 189 1/2, number 49--dog/handler team steps forward to retrieve their ribbon and trophy. <applause, applause>

HIGHEST SCORING TOY DOG: With a score of 197, number 28--dog/handler team steps forward to retrieve their ribbon and trophy. <applause, applause, woot>

HIGHEST SCORING TERRIER: With a score of 177 1/2, team number 39--NOBODY steps forward to retrieve said ribbon and trophy. TEAM NUMBER 39!! NO ONE COMES  FORWARD.

TEAM NUMBER 39!! 

(39, 39...who is number 39...highest scoring terrier! Who was number 39 with a terrier?!)

People bustle around trying to find team number 39.

My mother scurried around the building; trying to set things right and tear things down at the show's end.

"Mummy, I think you've won something" I say in my rich, British accent. "Come and see!"

Mom comes to the ring and graciously, almost ashamedly, accepts her award for highest scoring terrier. 

"Oh! I didn't know that was me! I didn't expect to win anything!" She laughed.

My mother received a small, wooden trophy with a gold colored eagle on top. The wee plaque told what the plaque was for, and what year it was won. I had NEVER seen anything so marvelous in my life! 

Not only did my mother get to play and have fun with her dogs, but she got some awesome LOOT for her efforts! I got to carry the trophy all the way home that evening. It glistened as it caught the sun in the window of the Dodge Dart. I clutched that trophy as I turned it one way and the other, admiring the weight, color, and shine of the object. I was SO PROUD to have been trusted with carrying my mother's precious trophy from our first dog show.

I have been addicted to dogs and dog shows ever since. I have shown in obedience and conformation. I have shown poodles, Westies, German Short Haired Pointers, basenjis, and dachshunds of various varieties. I have earned titles on many of my dogs. I keep attending dog shows every year. Each year I am reminded of my first dog show with my mother (how she drug me to the show against my wishes and how I was hooked from then on). 

Everyone at these shows knew my mother. Everyone commented on how much I resembled my mother. I now attend dog shows, sans mother, and hear how much I resemble my mother. Apparently we look alike.