From Hell

Ever have a story to tell and you're not quite sure where to begin? Some say it's best to begin at the beginning so I will.



After the show on Friday we were exhausted and just wanted some sleep. During the evening the guy in the room next door was making a bunch of noise, crashing around, talking to himself and obviously drunk. A short time later his buddies arrived to pick him up and I had dubious thoughts about his arrival back to the motel. Sure enough at 3:30am he stumbled in, made some incredible crashing noises, hummed on & off and talked to himself for about 20 minutes and then mercifully passed out. My sleep, however, had been disturbed and I knew I'd lost at least an hour which means I might as well as have stayed up all night. To top it off we also had to be at the show by 8:30am for the Puli judging. Saturday did not make a good start.



The Ridgebacks were judged at about 12:30 and then a couple hours later the Puli (Holmes, who is in my opinion an excellent Puli) was in a herding group specialty. So already it's been a long day for the dogs and it wasn't anywhere near over. When we first arrived in Nova Scotia and took Leeloo to her first show she won 2 Hound Puppy groups but was the only entry so it was by default - however her 'wins' qualified her to enter the special top puppy awards to be held at this dog show on the Saturday night. I likely would not have entered her if not for her Best Puppy in Show win but thought, what the hell, it could be fun. Famous Last Words.



Saturday morning I was looking for some information about the process and procedure for the awards event that night. I found a person of knowledge who gave me brief over view (after interrupting my question to take someone else's who'd come up behind me - someone she knew well I assume - what's a rude interruption for a buddy?). The over view included the phrases 'belly dancer', 'parade', 'participaction'(yes that is correct), and my personal favorite 'I'm still working on the exact procedure' and thus ended the interview with a shrug and pleasant smile. It's safe to say I had a bad feeling.



Throughout the day I kept checking to see if any more information had come out. Still nothing. So there we are, done judging for the day, it's about 3:30pm and Best in Show has just been completed. Now what? We did find a schedule of sorts tacked to a pillar and had a read through. Okay, Leeloo was in with a few other hounds in ring 3 of the second rotation. Fair enough.



What should have happened was this; as soon as Holmes was done in the Herding Specialty we go for dinner and then return. Sadly, we erroneously assumed that things would move along and we'd be able to grab dinner right after the awards. See, when you are used to a certain standard of organization in an event you come to expect it to be universal but that was not the case. When that is not the case your fuse is considerably shortened, and coupled with lack of food, lack of sleep and concern for the young show dogs who have been waiting all day for what is starting to look like a disaster ... you can get a bit tetchy.



During the day I had covered the expen to block out as much noise as possible so that the dogs could sleep and relax since I knew it would be a long day for them. I let them out for walks and pee time throughout the day and they were holding up quite well, but there is only so much you can expect from baby show dogs. I could tell the day was wearing on them even before 5pm.



So there we were, waiting. And waiting. So I headed up to see what was going on. I was told, and this is where my frustration level peaked, that the judges had left and once they returned we'd get started. Why did my frustration level peak you might ask? Because I found out that the three all breed judges at these awards were the same three judges who had ALL awarded Leeloo last of three. WTF? If I had known this the odds of me entering would have been less than zero.



I also found out that the other judges were all local people, a couple handlers, and well known and loved long time breeders. So ... everyone entered was buddies with the people judging? In what universe is that fair and unbiased judgement? And just who is that crazy chick showing the Ridgeback with 'excessive white'? At that time I also picked up my armband number and show catalogue which was strangely laid out and didn't offer any explanation as to how the dogs are judged, what the process was, what the procedure was or ... anything.



But I am getting ahead of myself. We waited, and waited and waited and an hour later than was promised some inappropriately loud music started playing while a woman did no less than 4 belly dance routines in the dog show ring. I'll let that image set a while.



Hmmmhmmmhhmmmmm ...



So after that weirdness they started to introduce all the judges who hated my dog. And they didn't just introduce the judges, they read their life stories, like ... paragraphs of it. All. Nine. Judges. I think it easily took 25 minutes. So then we had the parade of whatevers and finally entered the ring one group at a time. As we exited the ring we got our 'participaction' ribbons (for those people who do not know what Participaction is - it's a decades old well known Canadian TV segment about getting active - I'm sure she meant participation but let's face it, I am currently not of a mind to let that silly error slip by) and then the real torture began.



We stood around and waited, actually we sat with Leeloo and listened to Archer yell his head off, to see what the ring procedure would be. So for each group there were three judges; one all breed, one permit and one breeder judge. Each judge would have a clipboard, go over the dogs, move the dogs and then mark down their scores. At the end the scores are tallied and the winner is determined. Yes, this will take some time.



However, it appeared that each set of judges was left to their own ring procedure and they took a few minutes deciding amongst themselves how to do it. Why wasn't ring procedure established the first 8 times this event has been held? And then explained to the judges? It was beyond frustrating to be sitting there watching this play out. So the first rotation was finally completed and the dogs all left the ring. Then there was a flurry of activity while the judges were rotated. Holy shit WHY? To add more time to an already torturous experience? After the new rotation began it occurred to us ... when do you find out the results? So I went to ask.



I was told that after ALL the judging was completed the dogs would be asked back into the ring and placement would be announced. At the end? How freakin' long is this going to take???? It's safe to say my opinion of this development was written all over my face when I was updated. It's also safe to say I was millimetres away from just leaving. Leeloo was exhausted, my mom had to hold Archer because he was freaking out and trying to get out of his expen waaaaaaay over on the side of the building, my mom and I were starving, and we were so sick of being there.



So we finally get into the ring, it took eons to complete the judging as 3 judges had to go over 8 dogs but we finally left the ring. I put Leeloo back in her pen and I decided we'd load the van while the balance of judging was completed so that when we were done we could just leave. So we packed the the van, left Archer and Leeloo in the expen to nap, and then went back to see how far along the judging was. We waited for a bit longer and then finally the last group of dogs was done.



But wait, what's this? They changed their minds at the last minute and decided to hold all the awards in one ring so spent a few minutes moving all the prizes set up there to another ring. More time wasted. Then they started calling the winners in at long last. I went to get Leeloo when I thought it was our turn but no such luck as we had to wait through three more groups.



We finally headed into the ring - there were several tired and annoyed glances from one exhibitor to another - brothers in arms one could say. Leeloo looked at me like -are you friggin' kidding me? Again? Thankfully I didn't forget to pack Forgone Conclusion. I said to the other Ridgeback exhibitor that I have never wished so much to not win something. The announcer read out a number that no one had. Then she flipped through papers and read out another number no one had. Then she flipped through again and reread out the first wrong number. Pause. Finally a number that made sense was announced and they lead up to first place. We left the ring empty handed - no surprise there - and without a backward glance gathered up the balance of our stuff and left.



We wanted to grab a quick bite to eat at the Smitty's we'd seen on the way to the show but ... it was closed at 9pm on a Saturday night. What fresh hell is this? So we made it a Wendy's night and headed back to the motel to eat, relax and pass out.



Leeloo was, in a word, completely comatose. Archer was not far behind. For my part I know how we could have handled the evening better; eaten, more restful sleep, and to be more prepared for what was coming. However, I was furious at the toll it took on the dogs. It was totally unfair to expect these young dogs to listen to the loud music, spend hours upon hours at a dog show and endure this disorganized mess. Sure, I know I entered her and didn't have to, but my expectations for a well run event were not completely delusional and I thought we'd be out of there before 7pm, no problem.



Now, the often repeated phrase after things like this is 'Why don't you do it yourself if you think you can do so much better?" Well, yes, I do think I can do it better and I have ALL kinds of suggestions how - most of them are in this blog entry. My mom has several of her own and she wasn't even entered. I can't think of a single thing about the evening I enjoyed. Really. Not one thing. It was an all round disaster. I am simply happy it's over and will never enter it again.



Saturday, October 31, 2009 now holds the top position in worst dog show experiences ever. I do want to send out a huge thank you to my mom who endured this fiasco at every moment right by my side without a single complaint about being there for Leeloo's entry. I am also so very proud of Leeloo for being such a good girl and Archer ... well, he was just a naughty little shit.