A
br
s one long time
early on in m
eeder said t
o me

“
y lif
by Michele Wrath
e in dog
but ther

T
her
e ar
s,
SunnyOaks Dalmatians
e many dogs deserving of a championship,
e ar
e few dogs worthy of being a special”.
Do we try to finish the youngster with
all majors, from the puppy class,
exclusively from Bred-By, only at Specialties
or any way we can? Is the dog that lives with the
co-owner crate trained well enough to travel to the
National Specialty so that when the Show Chairman At home,
makes the announcements for the day it won’t be whelping boxes are
your room number called out with the offending pulled out of the attic, rooms
barker. are cleared out and the puppy room
is set up. Websites are updated, blogs are started, and
And then there’s the promising youngster – you
puppy reservations are taken. The dog lists are active
know the one. It was the puppy everyone noticed
again with the results of the first shows, recent litter
in the litter box. The one that finished easily, with
announcements, and the endless stream of gossip that
multiple specialty wins and all those majors and
is so much a part of the dog show world.
perhaps a BOB and group placement from the class-
es – does this one have what it takes to go beyond
You can feel the energy in the air. After all, this will
an exciting championship record to the test of the
indeed be the BEST year in Dogs!
specials ring? And there is a difference.
As one long time breeder said to me early on in my
life in dogs, “There are many dogs deserving of a
championship, but there are few dogs worthy of
being a special”. Hard words to swallow, but true
none the less. You think long and hard, and decide
to test the water. You’ll know soon enough whether
this one has the right combination of quality, pres-
ence, timing and just plain luck to win.
Happy New Year!
The decisions are all now in place. The new show
year begins. Entries are made, hotel rooms are
reserved and travel plans are finalized. Across the
country grooming tables get pulled out, vans get
packed, and alarm clocks are set for the start of the
show season.
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