AKC Dog Show

Shadowbar's Slow Dance, CGN, RN,

gaining his Pre-Novice Title

Shadowbar's Shezallthat Best of Winners

Best of Breed

Shadowbar's Slow Hand Winner's Dog

handled by Mary Ellen Whyte,

owned by Jodi Moodie

Last week, Shar and I packed up four dogs and their show gear and headed to Calgary for the Alberta Kennel Club Dog Show. Shar had Ryder entered in Rally Advanced and Excellent B classes in an attempt to glean the coveted RAE Title.

I had Mo and Shaggy Muffin entered in Conformation, in the Canadian Bred Class and the Bred by Exhibitor Class. Swayze was entered in Obedience with the idea being that he would emerge from the weekend with his third title, the Pre-novice obedience title. Token was entered in Scent Hurdle racing for the first time ever.

We stayed at the Blackfoot Inn and actually were bumped up into a non-smoking room without the usual $30.00 cleaning fee added on to the regular cost of the room. What a bonus for us!

Friday was wonderful. Swayze and I passed our obedience exercises and Shaggy Muffin went Best of Breed! What a rush!

Deb joined us sick as a dog with a cough that resonated right up from her toes. Yecht!!!!

Shar and I sprayed our throats and prayed, especially me, because I leave for Cuba this week and don't want to be sick. To top it off, didn't Shaggy Muffin decide to come into season when she is not due until March??? Of course. What a pain.

Saturday was another good day. Again the obedience dogs did us proud and Shaggy Muffin went Best of Winners for two points.

Sunday was, once again, a great day with the obedience dogs passing yet again, and in conformation, Mo taking Winners Dog for a point. Shaggy was out of the ribbons. Conformation classes are so fickle. I must state here that losing 12 pounds has made a huge difference in my ability to run around the conformation ring. I had no trouble racing around and was not a bit out of breath. What an encouraging moment.

Token was just happy that she had survived the scent hurdle, and the dreaded whissssssstle! Darn thing. Whodoknown that Token would be so sound sensitive. She had to race two days and every heat because we only had four dogs. It was really hard on her and she did not enjoy one second of it.

I was happy to get her home to the motel where she rebounded immediately and became Token once more. We shall start over at home with NO whistle and just Token and her dumbell. We'll keep you up to date on that one.

We drove home on roads obscured in fog which was so heavy that we missed our turn-off and ended up at the junction of 22 & 3, whereupon we turned around and headed back up the road more carefully. It was hard to get up for school today.

The dogs will get a well-deserved lay-off for a week or so. I wonder what they will do.