The Accidental Show Dog - In The Beginning

How do you accidentally end up in the dog show ring?

How do you go from chosing one 

of these cute puppies as a pet...

...to learning how to get him fluffed up
ready to go in the show ring?

We wanted to get a puppy and had chosen a Bearded Collie as the breed (how we got to this is a whole other story!), but anyway, this is where we were at and had even found a breeder in the same state. The kids had picked Snoopy from the pictures we'd received as he was the one with blue eyes.

Shortly before collecting him, we discovered he could be show quality. The kids had set their heart on this particular dog and the breeder said we didn't have to show him if we didn't want to, so off we went on the 2 hour drive to collect him.....

Once we got there, we found out that because he was a pure bred, we needed to complete Kennel club papers to say if he was going to be a show dog or a pet.  If we chose pet, we couldn't change our mind. After much discussion, we all decided to choose show dog and keep our options open. We were complete novices in the show world, so we didn't expect this would actually happen.

It took all my effort just to 

keep him occupied and 

out of mischief!

I say I was a novice, although when I was about 10, my nana would take us to dog shows that she helped organise each New Years Day. My siblings and I would borrow a dog to show in the children's class, I think this may have led to my love of dogs. I know that I was never any good though, as I never won anything and I certainly had no idea what to do really, but it was fun!

We agreed that we'd see how Snoopy's initial house training and obedience training went before deciding if we would try to show him. If we decided to look at showing further I would see if there were any show classes near to where we lived.....I didn't give it any more thought until I was talking to Jean, his Breeder, a few months later and it came up again......I'd been more focused on trying to get Snoopy to sleep through the night and continuing my efforts to ensure the house was puppy proof, no easy task! :)

If you want to "hear" what Snoopy has to say, please visit his site at www.SnoopysDogBlog.com