Billy Back From Show

[spoospirit]

Well, Dianne and I bathed, blew dry, and trimmed Billy up last night and got to bed about midnight. Got back up at 3:30 a.m. for my own shower then bathed Billy again so Dianne and I could blow him out for the show before leaving home.

The show was in Topsfield, MA, 3 hours away and his ring time was 11:15 a.m. I just love GARMIN!! Got there with no problem but not much time for getting settled in.

Billy was so good on his ride down but he started drooling when we got him settled inside the arena. He just wasn't sure about all of this new stuff going on and the noise. No time to worry about it though. Had to get all his bands out and spray him up and do a few snips here and there to straighten him out.

Off to the ring we went and voila! we are the only ones in his class of 6-9 months! Oh, boy! I thought we were going to have a few dogs in front of us so I could watch them and feel a little more comfortable about Billy in the ring. The judge was supper nice and talked to me about just taking Billy around the ring and making it really fun for him and not to worry about anything else. We did really well for both of us being novices. Billy was still uncomfortable so he didn't keep his head up or his tail the first time in.

He won a blue by default! LOL I'm still proud of that because the judged didn't have to give us anything. The best thing is that I am so proud of him for facing his insecurities and doing what was asked of him.

Our second time in the ring with the older puppies, he was more confident and actually had his head and tail up. We didn't place but that didn't matter. We both learned a lot today. We hung out and walked around to let Billy get comfortable with that environment. By the time we left, he was greeting other dogs with his head up and tail wagging.

Dianne and I talked to the judge later in the day and to a woman who handled for 60 years. They both said that Billy has the potential to finish but he needs to gain his confidence. That we will be working on. We were actually complimented by the elderly handler on our grooming job!!

Billy will be in his second show next Friday in New York.









Dianne could have told me she was taking this one. Look how dumpy I look!! LOL But Billy looks great!




Thank you, Zefi, for all of your support!

[spoospirit]

Oh, and no, I didn't hold his head like that at the show!!  LOL  He was tired and had had enough for the day and the only way I could get the shot at home was to hold him under his jaw.

[Karen]

Congratulations on your first ribbon! Of course you realise that showing can be addictive (says one who did it for many many years although not with a poodle I must admit). It sounds like you are getting the priorities right  by making Billy comfortable with his new career & surroundings. Good luck with the next outing. 

[zefi]

Debbie, Billy looks wonderful!!! You did a fantastic job on the grooming!!! He looks totally different to the first picture you posted! Well done girl! I'm so proud of you both!

Now a question... why on earth would you bath a dog two times in a row for a show??? I dont get it. I know a lot of people do that over there, but I dont get it. I wash and scissor a dog the week before the show if I can, to get the trim right. If we are going through a period of showing regularly there's no need to do that as the trim is maintained. I clip F/F/T a few days before the show and on the day before the show I wash, dry well and scissor. The morning before the show, if its a local show and I have time mainly, I blow through the coat to fluff it up and brush it through with some bodifier to give it that lift and bounce. Most of the time, if the drive is over 1 hour I dont bother. The coat will be flattened by the time we get there anyway. We have no power at most of our shows so no blowdrying there. We learn to brush and fluff using a light spritz of bodifier, antistatic and brushes and combs. I fluff and brush, then I put up the topknot and lastly I scissor to perfection. Ok... maybe not total perfection, but you get the idea. LOL

I would think washing too often will soften the coat... At times, if I've had oil or conditioner in the coat, I've used dishwashing liquid to wash before a show to get all oil residue out of the coat. Most of the time I use the appropriate dog shampoo before the show though. With Pagan, who's got a very fine coat, I had to use things like Christensen's thick'n'thicker final rinse to give her more body. With Bonnard and Montana I never need to do that, but I use a spray of Crown Royal bodifier as I brush dry.

Even with a white, I never washed in the early hours of the morning before a show. I simply put booties on and kept them under wraps till the show.

[spoospirit]

Karen, thank you and Dianne and I have already figured out that showing is going to be addictive.  LOL  Hope the pocket book holds out!  LOL


Zefi,

Ha, ha!  Well, the double wash would be because we had not had time to do the bath and last trim before the night before.  What a hectic week.  I had been using leave-in conditioner on Billy and we needed to wash him the morning of to make sure every bit of it was out and we did use dish soap for that.  It was also our only time to blow him out good before a three hour ride.  At the show, I used a slicker on him to pull his coat back out and then used a hair pick to pick it up and fluff. 

We don't intend to be washing Billy twice in a row for this weeks show.  He has already been bathed and has leave-in-conditioner until Thursday when I will wash it all out good and touch him up.

I also do a last minute clean-up-trim before I work on his up-sweep.  It doesn't really accomplish much except to make me feel better somehow.  LOL!

We're excited for this Friday and hope he is more comfortable and shows good the first time around the ring.

[zefi]

The more you show, the more you'll get a routine that works for you. Best of luck!

[Neo]

SO much fun to read about you're show debut =)

he looks so pretty =)=)

hmm, a puppy in continental trim??? COOL!
hehe, that! we do not see over here 
(we actually dont see the continental trim a lot at all, I have it on my dwarf, and I think were almost the only one in that trim showing in Norway at the time, the Standards use it a bit more though.)


Best of luck next friday!! =)

[spoospirit]

Thank you, Neo.

I'm sorry.  That class was winners class not puppies.  No, we cannot show in continental under the age of 1 year but we have to show in it over that age. Can you tell I am really new to this?  LOL

What trim is most used in show in Norway?

[Neo]

Its called the Scandinavian puppy Lion,
I think that we should have the same rules as you do, when it comes to the trim,

I've seen some "fantastic" poodles in Scandinavian clip, and then they cut them in Continental, and they don`t get anything, and looks kinda awfull... so we hide a lot of faults with that clip :S

hmm, do puppy's show in the Winners class? you also have got different show rules than us!

[spoospirit]

Yes they do and I saw one win everything!