It is about an hour from show time.
I saw Rita, and she has an unusual dress. It sort of reminds me of a disco ball. She looks fantastic, as she always does, and the dress has all little mirrors on it, and as I remember the AKC told us judges to not detract from the animals. No one will be looking at the dogs, with Rita in there.
I talked to Gloria and Yolanda, and we discussed why we do this, and how upset people get. Yolanda reminded me, we chose to do this for free. That's a good point. I remember talking to John DeHope one night, he often called me late at night. He said it was too easy now to finish a dog, and I told him the quality was up even if the entries were down. Then he said they are giving out too many Selects, and I told him that if we were improving the breed each litter, some day all the entries should be Select. Then he said that we were giving out the points too easily, and I said it was still hard to get the majors and everything in the ring could finish.
John then said, "The problem with you, Evan, is you just want everyone to have a good time."
I started laughing and said, "Why else would you do this, if not to have fun?"
Some times you need to take a deep breath, and remember why we do this.
I don't know when we will begin, but I will start with a new attitude.
I met Greg, Rita's main squeeze, and he seems like a great guy. He will sit with me on the cage here. Candy is here and is going to spot for me to type.
I talked to Gail, and it is ten minutes to SHOW TIME!
Yesterday I blew it, (be quite Paula) as I couldn't find the Canadian National Anthem, but I was trying to use Gail's phone. Today I am going to make her help me. Lamar came by and we have to talk.
They are ready to go. All the dogs have to check in, then all the bitches, then the dogs will go out, and the bitches will be judged first. All the dogs are in there, and have to be marked in. It fills the ring.
100 entered in Specials, and I can feel the tension. This is what a National is about.
Now Rita pulls her first seven and the groups are being indicated and the rest sent out. I won't bore you with the little stuff, but Summer is in the fifth or sixth group, and they are out of the ring, and Rita is ready to begin.
