Guest Post by Diane_in_MN
NATIONAL SPECIALTY (Part 1)
In mid-October, my husband and I packed ourselves, two dogs, and a whole lot of stuff into two vehicles and headed for the Great Dane Club of America (GDCA) National Specialty Show at the Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
A “specialty show” is a single-breed dog show, and a national specialty is a single-breed dog show on steroids with a convention attached. A National might last from a couple of days to a week or more, depending on the size of the national breed club, the number of events, meetings, and social functions included, and the size of the entry. GDCA is a big club and there are a lot of Great Danes competing in a lot of different events, so the GDCA National runs for a full week and generally draws an entry of five or six hundred dogs.
As you might guess, it’s not always easy to find a hotel that has the necessary facilities and is also willing to have that many Great Danes on its premises for a week. The folks who have to find a site usually have to make some compromises between the ideal and the possible. The major compromise at the Choo Choo, a city hotel in downtown Chattanooga, had to do with the amount of grass available for “exercising” dogs: there’s not much there. We knew this, so we opted not to stay on site. My husband found a dog-friendly bed and breakfast located on fifteen acres, and we stayed there. We had two rooms—we had to be able to separate the dogs when they got crazy*, and I didn’t want to do that by crating them—and a kitchen, and were the only people there for most of the week. It was perfect.
Competition events were to start on Monday, but my husband had to attend a meeting on Sunday so we arrived early. This was fine with me, because it gave me a chance to visit the vendors on their slow day.** I have several jackets on which portraits of various dogs have been painted, and one can never have too many of these.
The artist who paints them is a Dane breeder who always has a booth at the National, and I brought her a great little black suede jacket to embellish and several photos of Teddy to choose from. Then, fun over for the day, I hiked over to the hotel’s main lobby—the Choo Choo is a big complex with multiple buildings—to track down several boxes of ribbons. I was the ribbon chairperson for this National, and it turned out to be a lot more work than just choosing and ordering the rosettes. On this first go-round, the rosettes for the companion events (rally, obedience, agility) and the Futurity had to be separated out and handed over to the appropriate event chairpersons, who were somewhere on site but had to be located. The remaining rosettes had to be moved to a secure room in the conformation show building. This took more time than you would think—more time than I would have thought, anyway—and it was obvious that I was not going to be at loose ends for the next few days.
Monday morning opened the National with a rally trial. (Rally is a variation of obedience competition in which basic exercises are performed alone or in combination on a course laid out by the judge. Signs on the course tell the handler what to do.) Teddy and I were in the novice class, looking for the first of the three qualifying scores (“legs”) he’d need for his Rally Novice title. It was Teddy’s first trial, and we got to the ring early so he’d have a chance to get used to the building. He seemed very comfortable with it, and when we went out into the hallway to review a few exercises, he was spot-on. This was very promising. Then we went into the ring, and that was the last of being spot-on. I won’t say he had a complete brain blowout, but without going into tedious detail, he cost us thirteen points on one exercise alone. Was he staring at the ceiling lights? Was he freaked out by the judge, following us with a scary clipboard in her hands? Who knows? But we did qualify, YAY, which was a good way to start the week.
After the rally trial, it was time once more to attack the ribbon boxes. I met with the parade chairperson, and we spent two hours sorting and proofreading parade rosettes, which are personalized and must be printed at the last minute, after entries close. When we were done, I got to take the dogs back to the B&B and get dinner. She got to press the creases out of the ribbons. I could have had it worse.
On Tuesday, Teddy showed in the Futurity. The Futurity is a breeder’s showcase: a litter is nominated at time of breeding, then again after the puppies are whelped; finally, individual puppies from the litter are entered into the event. Classes start at three months old and go to eighteen months. Teddy’s litter was bred in 2008 but nominated for this year’s National, so he was in the fifteen-to-eighteen month class. He worked nicely for his handler, but didn’t place. But we got to bask in a little reflected glory, because the puppy that won is his half-brother. After the Futurity, we had to get home, feed dogs (and ourselves) and get back to the show site, because Tasha was entered in the Parade of Titleholders.
Parades are a fun event designed to let people show off their dogs. In exchange for the entry fee, you get a personalized rosette and a minute of time to display your dog in the ring. Some years ago, they started asking people to bring musical accompaniment, and now some of the dogs go out in costume. My husband, who does not show dogs and who does not run, took Tasha into the parade ring. He opted not to practice any sort of routine with his music (Temptations, “My Girl”), and when his number was called, they went in and just set off around the (fairly large) ring. Tasha kept to a reasonable trot and he pretty well kept up with her—he doesn’t jog, either—and they made their circuit and got Tasha’s ribbon. The parade chairperson had wanted something a little different for rosettes, so we put them on neck ribbons. Tasha modeled hers for the camera after we got home:
So far, so good: we were halfway though the week, Teddy had his first Rally Novice leg, and Tasha and my husband had their moment to shine in the parades. Coming up: conformation judging, with Teddy going back into the ring. Stay tuned . . .
______________________
* They get crazy after several days of being in a van, in a room, or on leash at all times. Two Great Danes going nutso in a hotel room is something you want to avoid.
** There are usually vendors at dog shows, selling anything from leashes and baked liver to dog-themed gold jewelry. Nationals tend to attract jewelers, artists, and people who customize clothing, as well as folks who sell crate pads, dog beds, and so forth. It’s easy to spend a lot of money at a National.
comments
Please join the discussion at Robin McKinley's Web Forum.