In a message dated 10/1/2006 2:33:11 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, Rbuffdogs@xxxxxxx writes: I saw OC members with dogs on site but not entered. I saw other people that enter majors on site, WITH dogs, but NOT entered. Something came up yesterday that reminded me of a situation that happened to me that could be the answer to folks w/ lots and lots of dogs outside of the ring, being socialized, being worked by handlers, being evaluated and NOT entered....... When I first ventured from the performance ring to the breed ring, I went to a very BIG Guardian, plunked down very BIG money and waited for a puppy. He had serious health (epilepsy) and structural issues and didn't work out. It took close to 2 years to receive his replacement, who was dead with a serious health issue before her second b-day (hemolytic anemia). No names. But I preface what I am about to say because I want you to understand that in the meantime, all I could so was watch from the ringside, heart aching because of the health issues with still nothing to show. It wasn't a lot of fun. Someone took pity on me and sold me a promising youngster. Now, I was just dying to show. Didn't care who the judge was, didn't care how many older stars my handler was on, didn't care about the politics, didn't care how far away I had to go, stay overnight, etc., etc. I went to every match I could find and training class 2x a week. He was shown 7 times as a puppy at specialties and won EVERY PUPPY CLASS and picked up some nice BPs and BOPs along the way. (John De Hope called and said he's a baby, only show 1x a weekend...don't do too much!!!) Oh, and I advertised, the Review, the Quarterly, the backs of catalogs, I entered his Futurity...all of it. Then at our club meeting, we had a (big name, but no names here) speaker. Politely she asked how I was doing and, so happy that I finally had something to show, (remember, to put it in context, I had been waiting years), I was just gushing. "Well", she said, "WE don't show them until they are ready", "Why would WE want to make points for others?", "WHY, IF you have a nice dog, would you drag him around?", "WHY would you get him beat by his own immaturity and allow a lesser dog to have bragging rights???" Well, it was like all of the air was let out of a balloon. So, that was the way it was done. I went home and looked at his pictures, the advertisements, and yup, he looked young. Even though I had been enjoying the heck out of it, I saw now that I had indeed been getting him beat. I was showing him before he was "ready". I felt very foolish. Guess how many puppies I have campaigned since? None. In fact, I think I've only entered 1 Specialty match since too. Now, it's "Are they ready?", "Who's the judge", "What older dog if any in the same sex is my handler on?", "If I'm showing a bitch and my handler has a nice dog, will this judge be inclined to spread it around...or not?", yada, yada, yada. I learned. You don't have to tell me twice. Our fall specialties are rolling around and I guarantee you, there will be 4-5x as many dogs outside the ring as inside. Handlers will work dogs after, youngsters will be evaluated. Why not show them? Because like me, their people probably realize they aren't ready or maybe it isn't a good situation. Sad:( I really enjoyed those puppy classes. But it's OK in the long run. While I have a youngster growing up, I'll play with performance. Kathy member GSDCA, DVGSDC three generations of Dual Titled TC'd Champions live here! visit _Pine Hill German Shepherd Dogs_ (http://www.geocities.com/pinehillgsds/) ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2006. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - URL temporarily deleted due to AOL issues ============================================================================