Suzanne Clothier is Runing My LIfe

I was at a dog show this weekend and I must have cussed Suzanne at least 50 times!  Damn that woman for opening my eyes and taking away my blissful ignorance.  Maybe blissful ignorance is not the right term maybe it was more like I could be unaware and get away with it.  But now thanks to Suzanne's elemental questions, I can't!  I constantly ask Phalen "How is this for you" and once I ask, I have to honor him and his answer. "Oh bother", as Pooh would say!

Dog shows should be about you and your dog.  A special time with just the two of you doing what hopefully you both love.  Somehow it never works out that way.  The dogs end up stuffed in a crate all day, surrounded by noises, other dogs, people and enough stimulus to send even the most well balanced person or dog into fits.  It was obvious this weekend that Phalen was not enjoying himself.  He is an active dog that is not used to extended crating and not playing ball several times a day for extended periods.  Every time I asked Phalen;"How is this for you Buddy?" the answer was the same "This blows Mom!".  Each time I tried to honor what he told me, took him out, played ball, walked him and tried to assure him that I would fix it in the future.  I felt the social pressure of one dog not competing being the difference between a major or not weighed heavily on me.

We have one Championship left to get.  Just his AWSA championship and he is just one major away from finishing it.  When it is done, I don't think we will be showing very often.  It's not active enough for Phalen or I anymore.  We are on to other things like tracking, rally, agility, obedience (although Phalen would vote for no obedience, it's not "fun" enough) and conformation is clearly going to take a back seat.  If I ever had a doubt, the fact that the first show on Saturday Phalen "tracked" his way through the ring removed any lingering doubt.  The look on his breeder's face when we came out of the ring was priceless.

We have a few big shows coming up and I need to decide how I want to handle it.  No doubt, I will alternately cuss and thank Suzanne for opening my eyes, and helping me to honor my dog.