Question for competitors in the dog fancy

How did you get your start in the world of competitive dogs?

Mine began after I read an article about Empty Nest Syndrome. I'd never heard of such a thing, much less worried about it until I read the article. After reading it, I realized our youngest was about to graduate from high school and that day would be here before I knew it.

We'd always had pet dogs but at the time we were down to one senior chihauha we'd raised by hand from the age of two weeks. Her mom, (a neighbors dog) had run out of milk and my husband had brought her home in his shirt pocket. I'd always wanted a "show dog", but involvement in raising our 3 daughters had been my top priority until then.

I made up my mind then and there that before the empty nest syndrome could catch up with me, I was going to have a show dog and a hobby to keep me busy after the girls left home. Little did I know what I was getting into!

Choosing the breed was pretty simple since we were a family who enjoyed being out of doors. I wanted a show dog with short hair and hubby wanted a bird dog; so we researched the German Shorthaired Pointer. Research wasn't done online in 1974. It was all done in person, hours of phone calls, meeting breeders and competitors and attending club meetings, shows and field trials.

Before we'd even finished the championships on the first two we were hooked!
The versatility of the breed was amazing and before we knew it our lives and those of our kids and grandkids revolved around dog related activities.

Obedience classes, dog shows, training sessions, field trials and club meetings took the place of former activities such as Girl Scout leader, PTA meetings, room mother etc. Scooping poop, bathing dogs, whelping schedules, and pouring over pedigrees replaced; changing diapers, bedtime baths, writing notes to the teachers and signing report cards.

33 years later I can look back and say I wouldn't have traded the experience for anything!

When I was born, my parents were already into Cavaliers. At the time, with so few, the people that did breed Cavaliers were a tight knit group. We had a few other breeds ( singles) but the love of my parents life was the Cavalier. We spent weekends at dogs shows etc, with all of us walking and talking dogs all the time.. lol.
When I was 7, with my interest in showing dogs, my parents got me a minature poodle. She was smart as a whip, and quickly started her in obedience classes. When I started competing with her, I was surprised just how good she was in the ring- with constant scores in the high 190's.. By college time, I was already branching out into different types of competition, tracking, sch., and search and rescue with my first doberman. Then I got my first shepherd- and although I would also have the occasional other breed- I stayed with shepherds for the 20+ years. I got one borzoi half way through this, Buddy, and loved the breed in the calmness and gentleness. When he passed away- grief stricken but still I knew I wanted another Borzoi ( Hottie). The Borzois were not the breed to compete as the shepherds, but their elegance and nature in the home more than made up for this. I started judging, first as a 'draftee" in Herding, then Terriers.
Hottie had some problems as a youngster- with having broken his growth plate at the breeders at about 3-4 months. When I got him he was still healing. However he got well, and at 2 years old I started in lure coursing- a competition sport I had not tried before. ( It actually takes very little training- as its mostly instinct in the dog).
When we moved up on this mountain with 18 acreas and large great room, I was still waiting on my puppy, when I found Femka who needed alot of work, and an experienced owner. About a year later- Zubin came and it was back into the Breed ring in showing. 6 months after that Galinacame- originally for training for a show dog to build confidence- then stayed as a Member of our family. I doubt I will ever be without a Borzoi- probably end up a little white haired lady with her dog at her side..

Is this just for showing?

If not.. i 'got into' dogs when i was about 18 years old... a 14 week old Clover (Rottie x ACD) needed some training so we went and signed up at the local obedience club. We went through all the classes tried trialing got bored so started Flyball instead... that obsession is still present today ;)... hence the Border Collies.

I'm just now getting into competitions with my dogs and it is very, very, very addicting! I probably search online every day to see if any new shows within driving distance have been announced. :o Nova and I have our first rally show this weekend - I can't wait to see how we do! I know she's ready, I just hope I don't screw up! It would definetly be my fault if we faulted somewhere (and I'm sure we will, since it's our first time in a real show ring).

Buck and I have competed in a match before in Jr. showmanship and I got 2nd place. I never did enjoy conformation very much until that day. lol. It is so incredibly boring for me to watch unless if I'm watching my friends compete with their dogs, but it really is very fun to handle the dog yourself and I can understand how people get addicted to it. Buck and I have started handling classes and I might dabble in showing him in UKC conformation (he's not up to par for AKC and I'm sure I would get dissapointed in showing if I tried him in AKC, but UKC is much more forgiving).

I competed in Dock Dogs last fall with Buck and Luka and it is incredibly addicting. I can't wait for them to tour close to my area again. If the drop to the water weren't so far I would even enter Mandy, but she's very particular about not having a big drop to the water when she jumps in.

Buck and I also train for hunt tests, which is lots of fun as well. Nova likes to retrieve our frozen birds in our front yard but unfortunately she's gun shy so I don't compete with her. My ex-coworker shot off a gun right next to her after misunderstanding thinking that she'd already been introduced to guns, and she hadn't. Ever since then the sound has terrified her, which is a shame because I'm sure she'd have her JH and be working on her SH by now. She's a natural, even more so than Buck, who came from hunting lines (whereas Nova came from a backyard breeder). She loves her birds though, she thinks retrieving them is one of the greatest activities. Buck is still in the beggining stages of training and although he's getting better he much prefers rolling on the birds to bringing them back to us. lol.

I might try agility with Buck. I wanted to do it with Nova and I had her enrolled in classes as a puppy but then the vet x-rayed her hips and they "weren't pretty" and she advised against competitions with her, but said that I could run a course in my backyard with her as long as the jumps were low. I didn't really have the money to spend on equipment just for the backyard so I started her in obedience/rally but now that I have Buck, I'm considering it again. He has good hips and can jump like crazy and he is FAST. Luka would be great at it also but she's such a nutcase that I don't think I could hold her attention for that long. Who knows though, since it's a sport where the dog doesn't have much time to think anyways. lol

And I'm thinking of getting an ILP# for Luka in hopes to try her out in tracking. I think she would be great. Sometimes I swear she's half hound with that nose of hers.

Dog sports are really addicting and I have a feeling this is going to be an expensive hobby :eek:

You know, I just realized that I answered the question all wrong ....... I'm a little slow sometimes :o

I've always loved animals and I decided very young that I wanted to be a vet. I never changed my mind, that's what I wanted to be. So when I was old enough to get a job, I applied at a veterinary clinic. A lot of the people that I worked with competed in agility and obedience with their dogs. When I got Nova, they all encouraged me to join the obedience club they trained at so that she would be well behaved. I was already intrigued by agility because of how fun it looked, and obedience because of how well behaved their dogs were, that it was an easy decision to apply (the club has very limited access and you almost have to know someone to get into the classes ... luckily I knew quite a few people). Nova and I started out in basic manners class where I met an instructor who taught agility on her own time out on her property. I signed up for her classes. Then when the basic manners class was over, Nova and I moved up to manners and more. After we graduated that class, we moved to Novice classes which was focused towards competition obedience. It's all led from one thing to another and now I am totally obsessed, like I mentioned before ;)

(By the way, I decided against becoming a vet - it turned out not to be the job for me!)

I grew up with dogs that were just pets, but I always knew I would have something different. When I was a kid I thought I would be a dog breeder. As got older, I didn't ever think it would become true, even when I finally got my show/sporting dog.

I started agility with Visa when she wasn't even mine. She was my "practice dog." I got attached though, and afer I socialised her and got rid of her shyness, I wanted to try everything. We started herding right away. After a bad experience in the show ring, we've only entered one sanction match. In the mean time I showed her niece. We started obedience and rally-o classes, two sports I thought I'd never be interested in. Started training a little bit for musical freestyle. In a couple of years I'd like to give schutzhund a try, and as soon as flyball is avilalable, that too. We're heading back into the show ring this year -- we'll see if she's ready. A Belgian doesn't often forget when something bad happened to them. I will likely wait until the show in July where there will also be agility -- she will think she is there for agility and be happy.