We're back!

This could be a long post, so bear with me! I'll start from the very beginning. Bess, Violet, and I left the house Wed. morning to head up to the dog shows in Surrey, BC. On the way we picked up Hunter the ridgeback, and a little while later, Sydney the great dane. Georgia, Bess and Violet's breeder, was showing Hunter at the dog show and Sydney was boarding at her house. It was a GREAT drive up! Hardly any traffic to speak of. Just smooth sailing. We got to Georgia's, and I unloaded Sydney and let the other dogs out to run around and potty and do their thing. Once everything was loaded up, we were on our way with Jack, Georgia's husband, hauling the trailer that we were going to stay in while up there.

I was a little nervous about how the border crossing was going to go since I had a dog in my truck that wasn't mine. This was going to be my first time going into Canada since I was very young. And I was hauling dogs, which made things more complicated. As of June 1 of this year, you also had to have a passport in order to get back into the US. I had all of my things in order including proof of rabies for the dogs. Thankfully there also wasn't much of a wait getting through the border crossing and we sailed on through it.

The show was being held at an RV park in Surrey. Plenty of room for RV's (and it's REALLY convenient if you're travelling for dog shows to be able to stay on the grounds for so many different reasons!) and areas to walk the dogs. It was actually a really cute little RV park. There was a swimming pool, put-put golf course, and a little duck pond (for the residents). The weather was even shaping up to be quite nice! So we got the dogs unloaded initially into crates while the trailer and x-pens were getting set up. Then it was some nice relaxing time after that!

Staying with me in the trailer I had Bess, Violet, Hunter, and Georgia's puppy Kitty, who's a month or two older than Violet. The puppies did really well through the night and it was actually Hunter that was whining and wanting out in the morning. Getting all four dogs pottied, walked, fed, and settled down in the morning was quite the endeavor the first morning. It was just me and I had to figure out a schedule. Once I got into a routine, it was MUCH easier. When everyone was settled down, then I got to use the facilities, make myself human again, and eat some breakfast. The puppies had to be walked again shortly after breakfast so that they could pee and poo outside of the x-pens. Something that Kitty was VERY stubborn about doing with me. One of the days I had to clean out her x-pen three times!!! After everything was ready it was show time!


Bess and I got totally dumped on Thur. We ended up with fourth out of four in our class. A little disappointing considering I had heard from other sources that Canadian judges were better about ignoring the natural ears (and yes, this really is a factor if you're going to show a dog that traditionally has cropped ears). These sources were wrong and also not the most reliale sources as it turns out.

Fri. we did a little bit better and got a second placing in our class. The weather was also starting to warm up a wee bit. That night we had dinner over at one of the exhibitor's houses. That was a ton of fun and FABULOUS food! Seriously!!

Sat. was a VERY long day. We had the great dane specialty for the first half of the day, a special lunch at the specialty, the all breed show in the afternoon, and then a big dinner and auction in the evening. Like I said, it was a VERY long day and the weather was getting much warmer. Thankfully we got the ring that had the most shade around it!! I gotta tell you, the Western Great Dane Club of British Columbia throws a FABULOUS specialty! It was so much fun! They had gift bags for all who were entered. They had HUGE ribbons. And lots of fun non-regular classes. And Bess and I managed to get a Reserve Winners Bitch!! Please believe that we waited around to get a picture of that. It should be here in a little while.

Here's the Brace class:




And the crazy Team class (yes, that's FOUR danes!):

After the specialty we were able to take a bit of a lunch break and then it was off to the all breed ring that we were showing at for the afternoon. We ended up with 2nd in our class there, but the judge had a very difficult time choosing between us. When we got our ribbon she commented on what great shape and condition Bess was in and said that I had done a great job with that. That made me really happy! Not quite as happy as if we had gone Winners Bitch and gotten some points, but second to that.;O)
After getting things in order after the final show of the day and taking care of all of the dogs, it was off to the dinner and auction. I really have no idea what it is with me, but I go to these smaller club auctions and I just want to bid on everything! It's ridiculous! I did keep myself in check some what, and didn't bid on EVERYTHING, but I did manage to get the doggies some good toys and things!:O) While we were at the dinner and auction, a wonderful thunder and lightening storm rolled in with lots of rain! I LOVE thunder and lightening storms!! Unfortunately, we had left everyone's beds out in their respective x-pens when we left the trailer (the dogs were all in crates inside the various vehicles so that they could stay cool and we could keep an eye on all of them), and they got drenched. It didn't stop raining all night, so we also didn't get much of a chance to actually dry them out. The rain was refreshing, but it led to a very muggy, hot day on Sun.


Bess wearing her new Canadian collar:

Danes weren't in the ring until 1:00pm on Sun. Right when it was especially gross. Just hot and sticky. We again got 2nd in our class. After that, we had all of the dogs inside the air conditioned trailer and started packing everything up. Very sadly, I had to leave Violet with Georgia. Adam wasn't quite ready to deal with all that's involved with having a puppy in the house when she wasn't actually ours (do you see how I could turn this to my advantage if I work him over?LOL). I loaded Bess and Hunter up and we headed to the border crossing. We were in line for a little over an hour. While it had been heating up at the fair grounds, there was a lovely wind while we were in line that kept everything at a pleasant temperature. Then we hauled our way home!

I dropped Hunter off with his mom, and ended up getting to my house right around 9:30pm. It was a fabulous weekend and I really enjoyed the show and the company!! Now I'm stuck in Hillsboro with triple digit temperatures today, tomorrow, and at least through Wednesday. I'm pretty much going to be miserable. And I'm going to have to figure out what to do with the dogs. I think we're going to be finding some kiddy water toys to play with in the backyard. What better time to go on a Slip N Slide with a great dane than when it's too nasty hot to do anything else?:O)