A Beginner’s Experience in Dog Showing

I owned, and had been passionate about, Samoyeds for almost 40 years. But until 2006, I had never ventured into the dog show ring.  Through a leap of faith and commitment to the unknown, I had promised Sarah’s owners that I would attempt the show ring experience. 

I volunteered as a “helper” at my first show. That was probably the smartest dog-related thing I’d ever done.  As I watched people arrive a day early to the Timonium (Maryland) Fairgrounds’ "Cow Palace" with crates, carts, chairs, boxes, blankets, tables, dryers, power tools, and construction cones, I asked, “Where are your dogs?” “Ah!,” they replied, “they are resting in the motor coach.” Motor Coach? 

I was more than a little intimidated, but at the same time, there seemed a true camaraderie, sincere respect, sportsmanship, and a willingness to haul and lift all that heavy, fingernail-breaking stuff.  As I watched and learned that weekend, it was clear that, while there were some admittedly “white-fur-obsessed” folks in the dog show world, even the "ones on the edge" loved their dogs as I loved mine. So I set my goal to have Sarah entered into that specific show the following year. 

Anyone who knew me well must have thought that, at age 46, I’d somehow lost the last of the brain cells I had possessed at age 45. After all, to be a successful competitor you have to good at advance planning, time management, priority and goal setting, research, logistics, organization,  and possess an ability to focus on winning.  NONE of those skills were ones I possessed. Not one!  I didn’t own a single piece of equipment; didn’t know how to enter a show; didn’t have a truck or SUV; had taken only a handful of handling classes; and I didn't’t know how to groom a Sammy for showing. I didn’t even own a pair of "sensible" rubber-soled shoes!  

What I did have, however, was a love and faith in my dogs, a stubborn commitment to having fun, a thick skin, a great desire to learn, and a stubborn commitment to achieving the goals that I had set for myself.

A few months after our first show, Sarah blew her coat and looked like a little, hungry, arctic fox.  So…I decided to enter Flurry while Sarah rested.

Flurry's first show was the benched show in Harrisburg, PA. It was so big, so noisy and so crowded, that it freaked out both of us from the time we pulled into the parking lot.  If knew then what I know now, I would have called the experience a disaster, except that day I learned things that would improve the showing experience for me and the SnowAngels from a stressful one, to a winning one.  By the second day, thanks to wonderful advice from Carol Montgomery and Marge Goodenough, Flurry was calming down. It was because of Flurry's uneasiness that Carol introduced me to flower essences. They are an absolutely invaluable tool for ensuring your dog's mental, emotional, and spiritual health. If you don’t know about them, click here...you owe it to yourself and your dog, to learn about them.  

The other invaluable suggestion was one made to me by Heather Shannon: she asked if I had ever considered hiring a professional handler for Flurry. 
That ultimately led me to professional handlers, Barbara Waldkirch, and Cathy Schott, who both graciously handled Sarah and Flurry when it really counted.  

Flurry never really grew to like the show setting, but the judges really liked Flurry, and she always pulled herself together when it was time head into the ring. So we kept showing Flurry and Sarah in different classes throughout 2007. What had started out as a goal to show just Sarah, resulted, in less than one year, in  two champion girls!