Payson's First Show

Payson's first dog show was Angeles Canyon Dog Club on April 22 and April 23, 2006. On Saturday, I showed him. We went into the ring where everything seemed fine, even when I put him up onto the table for examination. When the judge approached, however, he became completely unhinged. No amount of cajoling or comforting would make him calm down, so we were excused from competition. This act to my feeling was one step short of biting a judge. On Sunday, my breeder, Kasey showed him for me. I had assumed that Saturday's problems were related to either me, or the fact that the judge was a man. When Kasey took him into the ring, he did fine. When he was placed upon the table, however, he had a repeat performance despite the fact that the judge was female. This judge took several minutes to allow Kasey to try to get him to calm down but to no avail. She awarded him a ribbon anyway (he was the only dog in the class) but excused him from competing in Best of Breed. On Saturday I was very deflated and dejected wondering what I had done wrong. To be quite honest, it was a bit of a lift to see him pull the same act with a different handler and a different judge. Not that I wanted it to happen, but at least I could know it wasn't me. Saturday I felt like there was nothing that could have been worse (aside from actually biting the judge). I have now come to realize that this is an animal, and animals are unpredictable, no matter how much you think you've trained. We have been attending conformation classes for months now, and the only indication I have had of a potential meltdown was that he was a little bit shy of the male instructor. He has since come to accept him, and I had mistakenly come to believe that he had overcome all hangups about "strangers." The reality is that all he did was make friends with this stranger. I have also since decided that there are many things that could have happened that could have been worse. I could have tripped over my dog and fallen in the ring. I could have gone in there with my skirt tucked into my pantyhose. Talk about mortifying. I could have left home and forgotten to actually pack the dog in the car. His collar could have broken allowing him to bolt and run for safety. He could have bitten a judge. That probably would have disqualified us from competition on a "forever" basis. This experience so far has been for learning, leading up to bigger and better things. Next weekend's show has 11 entries on Saturday and 9 on Sunday. That is much bigger than any I have seen so far. I have 5 days to get this animal to be NOT afraid of other people touching him. I have my challenges ahead of me, but hopefully he will be reasonable enough to overcome his phobia. I'll keep you all posted as he progresses (or backslides)!