Billy's Show

Billy and I did well at his first show in Topsfield, MA. Dianne and I had to get up at 3:30 a.m. to prepare Billy and leave in time to get him to his ring by 11:15 a.m. Being in the first puppy class, we had no time to spare. He blew out nicely and we did a little bit of clipping to straighten out some stray hairs and ran to the ring.


He was nervous and started drooling so I walked him up and down in front of the ring until we were called to try to calm him.































We were the only ones in his class so there we were, two novices, standing in front of the judge and both of us going 'gulp'. The judge turned out to be a very nice woman who was helpful and made it easy for us.





Because he won his first class, he had to go in against the other winners! LOL No, we didn't take any ribbons in that one.














Billy stacked like a pro each time he was asked to. He gaited beside me just like he is supposed to but he didn't keep his head up high or his tail up until his second time in the ring because he was unsure of himself.














He was a very good boy about having his teeth checked and his body touched by the judge.


































He did take the blue ribbon but it still was a good sign because the judge does not have to award it or any ribbon to the only dog showing if they do not feel that the dog is representative of the breed.

We received encouraging words from the judge after his class and from a 60-year veteran of handling and we plan to continue showing Billy. Our next show is Friday coming up in New York. It is very good practice for Billy and will help him to become used to all of the noise and confusion going on.