Millie, showing Jan 9, 10, 11th.

Kathleen · January 03, 2009, 07:46:18 PM

Miss Millie and I will be at the Puyallup shows coming up, in the 6-9 month puppy class. She is 8 months today, and I took these pictures today also. Still has some growing up to do, as you can see :thumb: Cross your fingers for us-she's coming along nicely in training classes and is starting to stop acting like her life sucks when she has to gait around the ring .

doxielady5569128 · January 03, 2009, 08:20:27 PM

Good Luck Millie! I think you're beautiful no matter what those judges say.

PattyInAK · January 03, 2009, 08:30:45 PM

Millie is SO beautiful. Best of luck in the shows!!! :apls:

Dee Dee and Hallie · January 03, 2009, 09:45:15 PM

Good luck Millie! We might be at the shows we'll look you up if we make it! Do you know times and ring number each day?

Kathleen · January 03, 2009, 09:49:29 PM

I do, actually. I just got my schedule yesterday which is what made me think of posting this :D

Friday the longhairs are showing at 12:45 in ring 8
It's an odd setup because at 12:45, they have scheduled in order:
dachshunds (smooth)
poodles (miniature)
dachshunds (wire)
dachshunds (LH)
poodles (standard)

Saturday it's 1:15 also in ring 8 (wire, then smooth, then LH)

Sunday it's 10:00 in ring 12, and this one is even weirder.
They have the smooth dachshunds at 8, along with greyhounds and both varieties of beagles, then elkhounds and ridgebacks then the wire and longhaired dachshunds at 10.

I've never seen a show break up the dachshund varieties like that before.

AnnieofNJ · January 04, 2009, 08:01:39 AM

Millie is just so beautiful and I'm sure she will do well in the ring. We are sending you some good luck rays.

Annie & the New Jersey Doxie Gang

Dee Dee and Hallie · January 04, 2009, 11:19:10 AM

That is really strange I've never seen them break up the varieties either. Maybe someone new in the office...

Thanks for the times i don't know if we'll be able to make it but if we do we'll look you up. Those are good times not too early and not too late! Good luck to you and Millie. Are you handling her yourself?

Kathleen · January 04, 2009, 12:03:04 PM

Absolutely! I got a show pup so I could train her and bring her into the ring myself (I'd been searching for one for over a year). I might test her with a handler some day to see if my handling is a bigger problem than I think though.

I'm making plenty of mistakes along the way, and she's on the shy side, which doesn't help, but we're getting there :thumb: We go to conformation classes every week and I'm seeing major improvement in the last month, so I'm thrilled and I'm having an absolute blast doing it. I'm in the ring with her a lot earlier than her siblings will be shown (her breeder kept her black/tan sister and a well known show breeder has her absolutely stunning brother) because I need the experience too.

I hope to see you there, but if not, I'll try to remember to post how each day went

Dee Dee and Hallie · January 04, 2009, 03:21:37 PM

Good for you. You will have a ball with her in the ring I"m sure. She's a beautiful pup! I learned on my Dane and then went to my longhaired doxie in the breed (and obedience!) ring so it was a totally different method, stacking a huge dog vs on the table. But it was a lot of fun although as much as I love the breed ring I like the obedience ring even more. Yes hope to see you there!

Merion · January 04, 2009, 07:12:36 PM

Good luck to Millie and you on the shows. Let us know how it goes.

Around here they seem to split up the coats with other dogs too. I would have to look in the old catalogs to see if they just started this or have been doing it all along.
Merion & the ZZ's

Kari · January 04, 2009, 07:13:38 PM

Good Luck!! She is such a cutie!!

Madderoos Mom · January 04, 2009, 08:49:11 PM

:thumb: We're all rootin' for Millie! You go, girl!

DeeanDave · January 04, 2009, 09:16:11 PM

Good Luck, Kathleen and Millie!!

cheryl186 · January 05, 2009, 04:31:46 AM

Yippieeee.......Kathleen, Millie is stunninng......please keep us posted on how everything goes....I am positive you will do well :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

Kathleen · January 09, 2009, 08:11:01 PM

Okay, day one results

Millie won her class (6-9 month females), which was not challenging since she was the only pup in it

She was last out of the three girls in the winners class (the judge said "We need more enthusiasm". I actually had to go ask one of the other exhibitors if she'd meant me or the dog

)

In any case, she was an absolute champ in her 6-9 month puppy class. I could not have been more proud. She stacked like a pro, gaited nicely, and was very interested in the judge and looked her in the eyes when we got to her after out down and back (hoping for food!). I had more trouble with her in the winners class, because something caught her attention on the ground and she really didn't want to get her nose off the mats

I'm still being very gentle with her-I don't want to tramatize her in the ring and ruin her, so I gave her light tugs to get her head up, but that was why the judge wasn't impressed with her enthusiasm. She wasn't paying attention is all. All in all, I'm very happy with the day, and we'll give it another shot tomorrow. There will be a standard red in her class for the next two days, so we won't be in there alone. This is the same girl that won the 6-9 month class at the Monroe show both days, so I won't be entirely surprised if we don't get out of our class Saturday and Sunday.

papbouv · January 09, 2009, 09:10:22 PM

You just have to make it fun thats about the only thing I learned showing Collies too many years ago to count try to be calm and light every emotion you have goes right down that show lead.When showing pups you have to know they will have their good days and bad days that even goes for adults.Try to have fun and be relaxed just do your best you will do fine so will your girl.Good Luck
PS: Do not put your address in the show catalog if you put your anyone's but yours.Hope they put a stop to that practice
one of my Collie pups was stolen on Monday after showing that weekend old mutt Dusty was still in the yard and the gate was locked.

Kathleen · January 09, 2009, 09:28:09 PM

Eeek. Well, they do still print addresses, but they got mine all wrong. Maybe I'll get a PO Box for next time. Thanks for the tip!

Kathleen · January 11, 2009, 02:09:28 PM

Well, I just finished my last day of showing this weekend. We had a good day Friday, a bad day Saturday (my fault), and a good day Sunday.

Saturday was a disaster. I was yacking outside the ring, and wasn't paying close attention to what the judge was asking the competitors to do (big mistake, rookie mistake!!!) and I made an error right off the bat when I walked in and was rattled from that point forward. I was shaky and even though Millie stood well on the table, she wasn't sure why I was so nervous, and so I made several other errors.

It was...interesting. It was nice to see that I wasn't going to die if I had a bad day in the ring though! :idiot:

Then Sunday went much smoother. I made a point of watching carefully for a few rounds on the wires, and then went ahead and chatted. Millie did well, but this judge was very into ribbing and Millie's quite short in that area. I was pleased with her though. She strutted her stuff a lot better today.

Delia and girls · January 12, 2009, 08:39:04 AM

You go, Millie! It sounds like she's a natural! As always, though, the humans hold them back!

I bet you're trainable, though! Kidding aside, I admire you for doing that. I will always have pet quality because I could never get in that ring!

Gretchen and Ilsa are field champions and have earthdog titles. Ilsa likes to hunt, but not like Gretchen. Gretchen has gone as far as she can in both hunting events (field champion and master earthdog) but she'd have gotten that far much sooner if we were faster learners!

Millie, showing Jan 9, 10, 11th.

Madderoos Mom