"You know I love you, darlin', but I need to get through here and you're in the way". If only I could get my husband to speak to me the way he does to his dog. "You're so pretty today, yes you are!" Yes, it took me embarrassingly long to realize my husband was not actually talking to me, the person standing at the stove making both his coffee AND his eggs and bacon. Now, when I say 'his dog', what I mean is the puppy I got even though he thought we had enough dogs already, the puppy I drove eight hours to pick up at the airport in Fresno because that's where she was being delivered from Alaska. The puppy I knew very little about because, much like my other two current Canaan Dogs, she appeared on my radar a little more than a week before she was in my kitchen, flirting like crazy with my ever-tolerant husband.
Mark does like dogs, truly. He just doesn't like; spending money, dealing with crazy dog people, dealing with crazy dog show people, stepping over piles of poo and clumps of shed fur, having to arrange the furniture around crates and dog beds, having a car purchased specifically because it fits two crates and all our show gear, etc. But, he does like the dogs. So, in this spirit, he doesn't turn away dogs even when he doesn't agree to let them come live here in the first place (wink). In this case, he knew she was coming and while he wasn't thrilled, I think he was at least resigned that it could be worse. So when she arrived, in a rather uncommon color/coat pattern (a sandy reddish-gold with plenty of black sable overlay that looks exactly like a coyote) he was hesitant for all of about sixty seconds before she was in his arms, on his lap, tucked under his chin and getting all sorts of cute words poured into her ears. And she was equally smitten with him, following him around and basically picking him as her person. I was actually thrilled.
Which is all well and good, but then we had dog shows to go to. Shows that Mark doesn't go to, unless he's along for the drive and the camping and to do daytime activities while I show the dogs. Which is totally fair, I don't NEED him to go with me and I absolutely understand that this isn't his passion. At times it's not really mine, either, in as much as it can be inconvenient, difficult, expensive, too much traffic and cheap motels and energy-draining. But from my experience with the people I see at shows, it's not as bad as I've heard (grin) and I do enjoy seeing the dogs and the people and mostly I love doing things with my dogs. So, shortly after Sierra arrived, we headed off to a couple of local shows at which she just was a peach, hanging out with me and the other two, learning what shows look and sound like and taking it all in. She's confident and inquisitive, if nothing else, and really seemed to like the interesting things she got to see and learn.
Since then we've gone to several shows with Sierra along, either as a puppy getting exposure or as a competitor herself. In fact, we went to the Palm Springs Kennel Club show (a must-do for us every year, it's a two-hour drive, at the same venue as Coachella the music event, the weather is nice and the show is always gorgeous and well-attended) and Mark actually drove out after work Friday night (along with the neighbor and her daughter, who were helping me with the dogs that weekend) to show Sierra in the baby puppy 4-6 month class and to help me with showing Riley over the weekend.
As a new exhibitor (the Nationals in November had been his first time in the show ring and he did great! See details in the post about that adventure) Mark was really only there to help me but really lit up when he got to be the one showing his girl, and she did perfectly, giving him confidence even as she flirted with the judge and sweet-talked all the people who stopped by to see "the coyote on a leash". I even managed to get Mark to get himself a new dress shirt for the occasion (we'll move up to slacks at a later date because, baby steps). I know he doesn't think he's going to have a future at dog shows but he came home planning our next show that Sierra would be in, so that was a plus.
At the end of January I did a lovely show in Arizona, the Kachina Kennel Club show, and as it was right in Surprise, I got to stay with my beloved brother-in-law and his bride, my dear friend Lisa. As a side note, I am so lucky to have her and will thank Daryl every day for the wisdom of marrying her shortly after he met her and locking her into our family - she's a true gem. Anyway, so I rented a 4-Runner just to see if it was something I'd like to replace the Jetta with, because after our adventure getting to the Nationals, I knew it wasn't going to be able to make long trips anymore and, honestly, with three dogs was over the limit on size for three crates, etc. So, I took two of the dogs (Riley and Sierra, Mirage was due to come into heat so I wanted her to be safely at home with the guys) and had a really good time with both of them, including getting into the ring with Sierra as she'd just turned six months old two days before the show started. I enjoyed seeing the other exhibitors; Laura Alton and her pups, where she also did great things in the obedience ring, Jennie LaPrade and her beauties including dear Argos and his son Kuma and of course Jessie along for the ride and fun, Carrie Franz with her two girls including the black dog that doesn't look black (genetics are FUN!) and of course the lovely Cathey Dunn and her beauty, Asha. Fun weekend, good company, cute dogs, and of course points as we managed to make a major. And, of course, visit with Lisa and Daryl while I was there. And I also remembered how much I enjoy driving trips, although I did learn the 4-Runner is too large for me to climb into and out of easily.
Our next show ended up being the Silver Bay Kennel Club show in Del Mar, and I'd entered just Sierra because it was originally going to be me and her and I wanted to give her the one-on-one attention. Then, a bird totaled my car. Yes, really. And suddenly our only transportation was Mark's motorcycle and me getting rides from the kids or having them stop at the grocery and feed store on their way home from work, on my behalf. Bummer. And, truthfully, I did bruise my brain so maybe shouldn't have been driving anyway but I was also going to be manning a booth at Silver Bay's Breed Expo (the name they had to use because AKC keeps the rights to Meet The Breeds despite Silver Bay having that event with that name for years) and wanted to show off our beautiful little Canaan Dog puppy. As it happened, I was able to not only rent a vehicle for the weekend (a Nissan Armada; luxury and ease of driving but HUGE and just generally felt like a waste of space inside without adding much in the way of cargo area and the poor fuel economy was definitely a detraction) but Mark ended up with the weekend off so he came with us! That meant I could bring all three dogs for the Breed Expo booth AND get to show Sierra without having to worry about the booth being unattended. I thought it was lovely that he volunteered and the company was nice, too. And because we lived close enough to commute, we still got to sleep in our own bed and drive roads we were very familiar with.
At this point, Mark isn't actually willing to commit to being a dog show person (yet - wink) but he's already talking about getting back in the ring with Sierra once he's ready to walk again (he was on his way home from work on Friday, April 1st, and some guy in a pickup that "didn't see any motorcycle" turned left into him and threw him through the air into a concrete ditch, shattering both his right ankle and a tib-fib fracture, and his left femur so badly he needed reconstructive surgery on both legs AND eleven of the twelve ribs on his right side were broken, leading to a dangerous collapsed lung and pneumothorax, so he was life-flighted to the trauma unit where he spent nearly two weeks, and another few days after that at a rehab facility before he was able to come home and is just now within the last week or so allowed to get up and place SOME weight on his left leg using a walker and not overdoing it) and is thinking about making it a goal to show her at the Kennel Club of Riverside show the last weekend of October at the Lake Perris State Recreation Area, where we love to camp but if he's not up to living in a tent for three or four days, we'll stay at my sister's Riverside home instead. I am encouraged that he's thinking about being Sierra's show person, both because it means I can be in the ring with someone else at the same time AND because it means he'll be more willing to go with me to shows when he retires in a few years. I won't count on it but I'm for darn sure glad he's at least considering it because, after all, I would like to spend our golden years doing shared activities and I would like dog events and trips to be one of those things.
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