As some of you may or may not know, Keith and I recently purchased a 24 foot motor home. We sold our little pull behind travel trailer a few months ago, needing to upgrade to something just a big larger. I’ve been hunting for something small, but not too small in the driving RV department for years, but finding something I like for the right price takes time. About a month ago I noticed an ad for an RV that looked to good to be true. Dubious, we drove the hour out to the camper and were happily surprised. Sure, it was 15 years old but it had low miles, the engine and transmission seemed sound, the walls looked good, the roof was old but not leaking, and it drove like a dream. After negotiating with the owner, we ended up purchasing this little gem for only $1000 more than we sold our little pull behind travel trailer! Currently I have replaced all the lighting with LED (very important for dry dog show camping), replaced all the switches that were metal and rusting, serviced the generator, installed a knife for the battery (keeps the battery from draining when the camper is not in use), replaced the old warn uncomfortable mattress with a nice mattress I had in the attic, topped with a memory foam. We sleep as well out in the RV as we do in our own bed. We took it on a short trip to the lake over Labor Day and everything worked like a dream.
My new to me RV.
It has a perfect 2 foot deep rack for my exercise pens, shade tents, crates, and other dog gear needed for shows
This past weekend was my first time driving the new RV on my own. Kenzie and I packed up Jazz, River, Billie, and Lina and headed to Hickory, North Carolina last Thursday. We made it a two day trip and arrived at the United Poodle Breeds Association specialty show around 10AM on Friday. It was just under 8 hours driving in the rain, with frequent wind gust through the smokey mountains. The motor home handled beautifully. I never felt panicked, though I will admit to being tense during the worst of the rain. Our generator kept everything running smooth at the show site, which had no power or hookups. We camped in the parking lot of the event center with about 10 other dedicated dog show travelers. The dogs were all comfortable and seemed to enjoy the trip in spite of the persistent rain.
The show itself was a wonderful experience. This was my second time to attend this show. Gloria Ogdahl of Tintlet Poodles pretty much makes this event happen. If it were not for Gloria, the show would not go on. She is a whirlwind of organization and productivity, as well as delegation. Kudos to Gloria for putting on an amazing event.
Jazz was entered in rally level 2 and she was also entered as my daughters junior showmanship dog. As always, Jazz entered the building with a smile on her face and in her heart, ready to do whatever she was asked. I showed her three times in rally 2 and she qualified each time to gain her new title. She is now UKC CH RO2 Tintlet Rhapsody in Blue RA, CD, CA, CGC. The last time Jazz had shown in UKC rally was 2 years ago at this exact same show! She placed 1st two times and 2nd on her last leg. As far as Junior Showmanship, she was a little wild, but Kenzie was able to keep a decent hand on her and get her around the ring. Jazz knew she was being shown by a 7 year old and was having some fun with it!
Lina, our token Mini Poodle, made her show debut! I entered her in both conformation and rally level 1. I haven’t trained Lina for conformation and I probably should not have entered her, because she mentally wasn’t ready and it is very confusing to go from “Walk around, stand look pretty, do not sit, people are going to touch you all over and stare at you like they are going to eat you” to “walk right next to me, sit every time I stop, do everything I say to include stay, down, come, finish, etc”. I tend to figure it is a sink or swim sort of event and what they heck I am there anyway. Lina was able to qualify twice in Rally 1 and would have qualified 3 times but I missed up!! Her silly mom messed up a sign. I was running from Rally 2 with Jazz, to Conformation with Lina, back to Rally with Lina that I was having a hard time remembering the signs and several times I had to do the course without walking it first. I realized what I did when I made it to the sign that said “Halt, Down your dog”. I had already done that once and it clicked the first sign I did was actually the “Halt, down, Sit” and I missed the sit. Bad handler!! Anyway, Lina loved showing Rally and even though she was a bit distracted she completed each event like a little champ. She had a 97 and a 94 out of a possible 100. As far as conformation, she never once sat in the ring and that to me was a huge win. She was uncomfortable with the first show, so she was awarded reserve (second best female). The next show she did much better, realized she wasn’t going to be eaten and took Best Female and Best of Winners. I was really proud of her. The next day was another show. She was nervous again at the first show, so she again got second best female. Both the judges said she simply needs to gain some confidence and she will do well. Still, it was a good experience for her and if another UKC show happens near us, we might give her another try at the conformation game.
My daughter had a great time showing Jazz in Jr Showmanship. They were so cute. I have a short video you can watch here.
We returned home after the last show on Saturday, to break it into a two day drive. Kenzie and I thought about staying for the shows on Sunday, but the 4 class Poodles and the one Champion were not going to stay for Sunday. Lina would not have had any competition in conformation. I didn’t like the idea of driving 8 hours in the camper in one day, so we packed up the Poodles and headed home.
This was my first dog show event with my daughter and she did amazing. Her favorite part was the Raffle table, where she looked at every item 10 times before the drawing was finally held. She won the stuffed pink poodle she was wanting, so her world was happy. I think she had a great time, all the Poodle people were very understanding of her young self flitting this way and that around the event. Hopefully she will want to attend more in the future.
~Becky