Best in Show

Have you seen that movie? Its one of the BEST.

You know how it makes fun of dog show people in all of their craziness?

Yeah, you remember?

Well, on Sunday I tried my hand at being one of those crazies.

And luckily, I failed.

As I have mentioned before, Matt's mom Jan shows Brussles Griffons. She has 2 males that are showing right now, and because she wanted to enter both of them into the Sammamish Kennel Club dog show, she needed another handler. I was ecstatic to volunteer.

On Sunday we loaded up the suv with all the gear, and headed into Marymoor park to groom and ready Murphy and Beckett. Then we received our numbers and waited for our names to be called. The arm band made me feel pretty official.

I was prepared to watch Jan and then repeat her steps at my turn in the ring. I missed out on about 1/2 of her routine when the lady calling out the numbers started asking me a bunch of questions. So, when it was my turn to walk Murphy through the ring, I was unprepared. My hope was that the judge would give me a little more instruction since he knew it was my first time, but he didn't have a heart.

So I did my best. My parents stood on the side lines with Sam and watched me make a fool out of myself. When he said "walk him again" I thought he meant around the circle again. When I returned to the judges side he said "Dont ever do that again. Now walk him to the fence and then back to me."
Sorry dude. Im not one of your kind.

When it came time for results, the judge awarded Beckett and Jan with "Best in Breed" and told me he "wanted to see Murphys tail up. Excitement to show is something we look for in a dog." Murph just wasnt happy to be with me. As a matter of fact he kept turning around in the ring to look for Jan and Beckett.Oh well. He did recieve a point and a ribbon because the judge recognized what a good looking Brussles he is. So we didnt FAIL, we just didn't win.All in all I had fun. It was the best people watching I have done in a long time, and I did love seeing all the pretty show dogs.

But, I don't think Im nutty enough to do it again. Plus, any activity that requires you to wear panty hose is not my cup of tea.