Apollo's first show

[ruthcatrin]

Day one:

Holy crap I am never ever getting a conformation bred GSD! Yes I already knew that, but holy crap I am never getting a conformation bred GSD! The poor things can barely walk.

Formentino is a stunning color on a Cane Corso, even more so in person than in pictures or on TV. If I ever get a CC, it'll have to be that color....

I was, politely, informed by the breed judge that my handling skills suck and I need more practice. I knew that, but he was polite about it, so its ok.

EVERYBODY kept trying to call Apollo a Leonburger. Guys, one: they're not really built THAT much alike, and two: Leonburgers are WAY more sabled than Apollo. At least the lady who stopped next to me, while handling a Leonburger, stopped, did a double take, and announced "thats not a Leonburger!" Over all I think I prefer the baffled "what is he??" EVERYONE had to tell me he has an awesome face though, so I guess its a wash....

Everybody was really helpful. I stopped so many random handlers in the middle of isles asking for "where do I..." or "how do I...." and everyone was very helpfull and made sure that I really DID understand the answer, and in one case proceeded to add additional info a few minutes later.

Showing up for the breed ring at 9:30am, having that ring run late and not get to us till 10am, and then not getting the working group into the ring till after 3pm (3:30ish?) makes for a REALLY LONG AND STRESSFULL DAY.

Long enough, and stressfull enough, that when we somehow ended up with a Schnauzer behind us in the group ring, who then proceeded to run up on our butts in the first go around the ring (not entirely the handlers fault, it was a mess all around), who then snapped at Apollo's butt, that Apollo whipped around and snapped back. When he refused to return completely to my control after the Schnauzer was backed off I asked to be excused from the ring. I was too stressed, and he was feeding off of that, on top of being highly stressed himself, it wasn't worth it.

Tomorrow I need to find a different way to spend the time between breed and group. I attempted to return to the car, with the intent to read, and hopefully have Apollo nap. But he fussed, and I ended up taking him back into the building, alternating between walking around, sitting at the food court area, and walking around outside to keep both of us moving. NOT doing that again. Tomorrow we stay in the car as much as possible. I AM going to bring one of our long leashes tomorrow too, there were several areas that were mostly undisturbed by anyone, including parked cars, and I'm going to see if I can exercise him a bit too.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Oh ow. As if I needed proof of how tense I was......

My left leg is the bad one, multiple injuries to knee and ankle. Normally, its not to bad these days. Loosing 40lbs would help too, but I've worked on tthings to the point where spending the day on comcrete like this wouldn't be to horrid.....but not today. My left leg is one big cramp from ankle to hip. Owowowow. Sigh.

 

[voidecho]

Doesn't sound like much fun.

 

[ruthcatrin]

In some ways it wasn't bad. If we could have done the group ring within an hour or so of the breed ring I think we'd have been ok......it was the sitting around that killed it.

And in retrospect I'm glad I didn't crate him at the show. He'd have been REALLY miserable with all those people and other dogs going by and making noise.

We'll try giving him some run around time after the breed ring tomorrow and then stay in the car till the group ring. Set an alarm on my phone so I don't miss it. See how that works.

Sunday my hubby will be able to come down for the group ring at least so I'll have some support myself.

 

[Gunny]

Wow, sounds like quite the ordeal. I know absolutely nothing about showing dogs and am not really intersted in doing so, but that sounds like it would be stressful. Got any pics?

 

[ruthcatrin]

Not today. Possibly tomorrow, my inlaws are going to try to show up for the group ring and I told them to bring their camera. And if hubby makes Sunday we'll have pics of that, and maybe video.

 

[Cody]

Lol, yes that wait is killer.
Tomorrow will be another day and not as stressful as you will know the drill
BRING A BOOK!! Or at least a movie on your iPad

 

[ruthcatrin]

Lol, yes that wait is killer.
Tomorrow will be another day and not as stressful as you will know the drill
BRING A BOOK!! Or at least a movie on your iPad

Thats what I'm hoping. I'll know what to expect, he'll have already done it once......

I did bring a book, but ended up not being able to read cause Apollo kept trying to say hi to the toy breeds every time they walked by (he thinks they make awesome playmates, I suppose its better than trying to eat them)......the large majority of them weren't enthused by that idea.....

 

[Jadotha]

Well, it sounds not bad for a first show! It does get easier and more fun as you both gain experience.

 

[ruby55]

Well, it sounds not bad for a first show! It does get easier and more fun as you both gain experience.

Totally agree. And you will end up making friends, too. Some in your breed, others in different breeds. And when you have friends there, the day goes by faster. Especially if one of them has a hotel room or an RV. Don't give up; if you made to group he's doing wonderfully anyways. Congrats.

 

[ruthcatrin]

SqUEEEE! The formantino CC bitch is the same dog as who took Westminster! She really is as lovely in person as on TV.


Ruby, unfortunetly he is the only TM on site this entire weekend. Making group has more to do with that luck, or lack, than anything else. Everyone says he's lovely though, so if I colud just get him to stack like he does in practice we'd do better.

 

[Cody]

Where are you showing?

 

[ruthcatrin]

Syracuse ny

 

[mountainfila]

Best advice I can give is don't over handle him , let him be himself with a little coaxing from you and secondly make sure you have fun cause you send all your tension down that leash. Be happy no matter what, who cares about the ahole behind you just watch your space, if you have to tell the jerk to back off tell them sometimes they do it on purpose to rattle you specially if they think you have the better dog. Over handling will make you both stressed out and he will stop responding and start acting up.

---------- Post added at 12:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:14 PM ----------

And smile even if you get pissed off , don't let Apollo see anything but your happy face cause he loves his mama, good luck, I so miss showing, may have pop out to a show close to Cody next summer with the filas.

 

[mountainfila]

And smile even if you get pissed off , don't let Apollo see anything but your happy face cause he loves his mama, good luck, I so miss showing, may have pop out to a show close to Cody next summer with the filas.

 

[Rugers-Kris]

Sounds like it went pretty weLL for your first time, Ruth. I don't know that I could ever do it.....I am so anti people and crowd wary but I do look forward to hearing about your experiences. Good for you!!

 

[Duetsche_Doggen]

I agree sounds stressful to me Ruth. Sounds like some show people are no different than the "average owner" in the training department. How hard is it to control your dog??? Geez. Good luck though Ruth, interested in seeing pictures.

PS that poor GSD.....

 

[Rugers-Kris]

Mountainfila, How are the babies?

 

[BlackShadowCaneCorso]

Sorry that it was such a stressful first day! I can tell you the more often you get out there the easier it will get. Even if you don't plan to show much maybe entering him as Exhibition just to take him in and de-senstizied him to the whole atmosphere might help some next time too.

How did Josee do? She is a beautiful bitch! Was there a decent turn out there for corsi? You were the only one there for your breed weren't you?

 

[ruthcatrin]

We are the only TM all weekend and Josee took Best of Breed both yesterday and today. There were only two Corsi there today, I didn't notice yesterday, I still have yesterdays program here somewhere...... She didn't even make the short list for the group ring today though. I have a blurry cell phone shot of her lol. Her handler was very interested in Apollo, I guess he's headed to NJ to handle a TM sometime in the next few weeks. He's handled a few before, and was asking if Apollo was as destructive as the others, I told him no cause we let him have his own pieces of firewood to chew on, which he thought was a brilliant way to handle the problem.

The biggest issue I've had with desensitizing him has been that most of the really LOCAL shows, like this one, don't allow non-competitor dogs on site. I didn't think of Exhibition though.....we've been making runs of the local Obedience club on agility and beginner obedience nights in an attempt to replicate the noise and crowds, but its just not the same.

MountainFila, that was definetly part of the problem, my tension was feeding back on him making it worse. We did better today....except for the German Pinscher bitch who Apollo WANTED to investigate....he wasn't the only male highly interested in her either though, so I didn't feel quite so bad.

To be fair to the Schnauzer handler it really wasn't entirely her fault. We ended up in a great big clump of suddenly stopped dogs (which may have been partially my fault for not having a clue, but there were several in front of me too, those rings are NOT big enough for a large group of large dogs), and Apollo ran up the butt of the dog in front of us, and the Schnauzer ran up his butt. Wouldn't have even been an issue then except Apollo was definetly feeling the end of his rope. The Schnauzer handler actually tracked me down today to apologize too.

We did better today. The breed ring was interesting as the judge had hurt her back so she couldn't bend over. She was asking for the dogs to be stacked on a ramp. Now Apollo LOVES being on things, doesn't matter what it is, he wants to be on it. I had to forceably keep him off the picnic tables in the food court yesterday. Goofball WOULDNOT climb up onto the ramp for her. I finally got him up high enough for her to check his testicles and teeth, and she called it good. We spent the day mostly in the car, I brought the long lead and we went down beyond the parked cars to let him sniff and run a bit, and then we went back to car to nap till the group ring time. Worked much better, except I may now be deaf from him occasionally popping to his feet to tell off someone for walking to close to his car....

I did NOT see my inlaws in the crowd, so I may not have pictures of today sorry....