Legion's First Dog Show!! March 13, 2010 Dixon May Fairgrounds

When we bought Legion from our breeder, he was purchased as a "companion" dog. Which means no showing, no breeding rights, and we have to get him fixed. Well, as our breeder saw him develop, he actually encouraged us to get him into the show ring. After deliberating about it with Josh, weighing the cost and commitment, and finding a great trainer, we decided to take the plunge. We put Legion into conformation classes but had to pull him out a couple of times due to his recurring pano but we've been fortunate lately and he's been able to stay in consistently. Consistenly enough that I felt comfortable to actually enter him into a show. GULP!! The show was a "fun match" in Dixon so I figured it'd be good for our debut so off we went.

The first round was at 10:15-ish and was just Legion because he was the only dog there to represent his breed. Because of that, we took first place and best of breed. Woo hoo!! On to the second round. Which was about 3.5 hours later... Even though he doesn't look it, Legion is still a pup and still sleeps very much like a pup: a lot. So during the break he didn't sleep at all which made for a very cranky and uncooperative giant in the show ring. For this show, we were placed in the Working group - Dobermans, Akitas, Giant Schnauzers, Boxers, Great Pyrenees, Rottweiler, Great Dane, Samoyed, etc., so we had some nice competition in the second round. If I were thinking about it, I probably would have expected his meltdown but since I wasn't, I wasn't prepared for it when he literally flopped over on his back just as the judge was making her way down the line. If we had a chance to move on, it just flew right out the window. I'll admit, I was super frustrated with him and I didn't want him to talk to me for a bit after that ;) but I got over it and he got his promised cheeseburger as his reward.

We're continuing with the conformation classes and hopefully he'll do much better at his next show in April. Hopefully.

Here are some pics:

Practicing before we get into the ring.Josh, giving Legion a little pep talk.
Almost up!
Here we go in the ring!!
Show teeth! One of the things that the judges check is the dog's bite. So we have to make sure that the dog will cooperate and show their teeth to the judge. In some breeds, like Legion's, the judge will make the handler show the bite. Where in others, the judge will do it themselves. I'm proud to say that I did his bite the first round and the second round, the judge did it herself. And Legion didn't take her hand off...
Legion, showing us that he's done and wants to go home.

But we're not listening...
Round Two!
Waiting in line to be judged.
Woohoo! What's goin on back there? Hey, lady, are you gonna buy me dinner afterwards?
In line, with all of the other Working group pups in the 9-12 month range.
Josh tells me that he thinks the Giant Schnauzer won but I was too irritated at that point to even realize which dogs were going up. I'm also a little bit glad that we didn't win because it would've meant more time out in the biting wind.