OK, I just have to brag on my boys. My Anatolian Shepherds are 10 months old and are working farm dogs. They are not used to being groomed and crated. But I was encouraged by some friends to take them to the UKC show in Hickory, NC. She told me she'd handle one of my dogs in the ring for me and mentor me, so decided to make the trip.
Friday I took the boys out of the pasture one at a time for bathing and nail trim. These dogs have gotten too big to bath in the tub so I had to do it with the hose. They hated the hose part but loved the shampooing part so much they flopped over on the ground and got so relaxed that I was able to trim all their nails with no issues or fighting at all!! I put both dogs into a nice lush green pasture with no access to the sheep barn because the last thing I needed was them rolling around in sheep poo after their baths!
Saturday morning I got up at 3:50 am. How nice....it's raining. My dogs don't sleep in houses unless it's raining really hard so I knew they would both be wet. At 4:45 am I went outside and loaded two 110 pound wet dogs into my truck. Eli hates riding in the truck and drools the entire time so he rode in the back with a seat cover on the seat and a towel against the door. He was tethered so he had to stay on that side of the truck. Isaac rode on the passenger seat, tethered to the door handle so he would not try to help me drive. He did rest his paws on my lap for half the trip.
We arrived at the show venue at 7:45 am. I left the dogs in the truck and went inside to register. Then I drug those heavy crates in, one at a time (need to get a crate cart before the next show) and got them set up. Then I unloaded Isaac and walked him into the venue and to his crate. Isaac is not crate trained and did not want to go in the crate so I backed him in which worked really well.
Then I went to get Eli. Eli has a typical Anatolian Shepherd temperament. He is wary of new places and new people. I really did not expect him to be so willing to go in the building, but he did. And he crated up just fine too. He actually seemed happy to be there! The dogs both settled into their crates, did not whine, bark or try to get out. They just handled this new thing with such ease.
The show started at 9:00 am. I watched many of the groups, trying to get a feel for how folks are handling their dogs and finally it was our turn to enter the ring. My friend Anna handled Isaac and I took Eli around. Both dogs were wonderful, but Eli was downright shocking at how great he did. He acted like he has been a show dog is whole life. He won first place for that class, Best Male and Best of Breed!! He placed the same in the second show, under a different judge. He won a total of 70 points out of the 100 needed to be a UKC Champion and he also will hold the title of the UKC's #1 rated Anatolian Shepherd. I know that rank won't hold up for long because it's only April and this ranking is cumulative for the whole year but he has it for now which is pretty cool.
The main thing is that the dogs had a very positive experience. I will be showing them again in May and possibly June. Then we will switch to AKC shows.
Eli's wins won't be official record until he is fully UKC registered, which will take a while. UKC has a pretty great rule for registering AKC Anatolians. If they are over 12 months and under 24 months, they require the parents be OFA certified. If he is over 24 months, then he must be OFA certified prior to registration. So we have some work to do before the record will be official but he will still get credit for all of his wins in the mean time.
Friday I took the boys out of the pasture one at a time for bathing and nail trim. These dogs have gotten too big to bath in the tub so I had to do it with the hose. They hated the hose part but loved the shampooing part so much they flopped over on the ground and got so relaxed that I was able to trim all their nails with no issues or fighting at all!! I put both dogs into a nice lush green pasture with no access to the sheep barn because the last thing I needed was them rolling around in sheep poo after their baths!
Saturday morning I got up at 3:50 am. How nice....it's raining. My dogs don't sleep in houses unless it's raining really hard so I knew they would both be wet. At 4:45 am I went outside and loaded two 110 pound wet dogs into my truck. Eli hates riding in the truck and drools the entire time so he rode in the back with a seat cover on the seat and a towel against the door. He was tethered so he had to stay on that side of the truck. Isaac rode on the passenger seat, tethered to the door handle so he would not try to help me drive. He did rest his paws on my lap for half the trip.
We arrived at the show venue at 7:45 am. I left the dogs in the truck and went inside to register. Then I drug those heavy crates in, one at a time (need to get a crate cart before the next show) and got them set up. Then I unloaded Isaac and walked him into the venue and to his crate. Isaac is not crate trained and did not want to go in the crate so I backed him in which worked really well.
Then I went to get Eli. Eli has a typical Anatolian Shepherd temperament. He is wary of new places and new people. I really did not expect him to be so willing to go in the building, but he did. And he crated up just fine too. He actually seemed happy to be there! The dogs both settled into their crates, did not whine, bark or try to get out. They just handled this new thing with such ease.
The show started at 9:00 am. I watched many of the groups, trying to get a feel for how folks are handling their dogs and finally it was our turn to enter the ring. My friend Anna handled Isaac and I took Eli around. Both dogs were wonderful, but Eli was downright shocking at how great he did. He acted like he has been a show dog is whole life. He won first place for that class, Best Male and Best of Breed!! He placed the same in the second show, under a different judge. He won a total of 70 points out of the 100 needed to be a UKC Champion and he also will hold the title of the UKC's #1 rated Anatolian Shepherd. I know that rank won't hold up for long because it's only April and this ranking is cumulative for the whole year but he has it for now which is pretty cool.
The main thing is that the dogs had a very positive experience. I will be showing them again in May and possibly June. Then we will switch to AKC shows.
Eli's wins won't be official record until he is fully UKC registered, which will take a while. UKC has a pretty great rule for registering AKC Anatolians. If they are over 12 months and under 24 months, they require the parents be OFA certified. If he is over 24 months, then he must be OFA certified prior to registration. So we have some work to do before the record will be official but he will still get credit for all of his wins in the mean time.
