End of the Year – Family Reunions

By Pilar Kuhn

The end of the show year is upon us. Before the National Championship migrated east again to Florida, the Holiday Classic cluster in Costa Mesa, California was a mere pre-cursor to the three all-breed shows before the big weekend. This year, it marked the end of our local show season on the west coast. Abundant hugs flew around as some people and dogs would not make the trip cross-country.

My husband Rod and I showed our own canine charges for the last time this year at Costa Mesa. While recently walking our pups around the neighborhood one evening, we reflected on the year we had. Our accomplishments included several new champions and grand champions, top 20 qualifiers, AKC/Eukanuba National Championship Honor Roll dogs, and a litter of puppies. And this is the first year we did not attend Eukanuba after several years of observing, exhibiting, participating in Meet the Breeds and, for us personally, appreciating the event where we met each other.

I’ve always loved the grandeur of the week of Eukanuba. The huge venues, the banners with gorgeous photography of dogs, vendors, and most importantly seeing friends and colleagues we may only see at Eukanuba have always highlighted our days. Michael Canalizo and his colleagues have worked tirelessly year after year to try to raise the bar on the event for everyone. During my “Ringside With Pilar” podcast interview with Michael, he spoke about how things have changed and I found myself scrolling through my mind remembering how the event has changed and improved. I remember when there were a few sheep present in Long Beach for herding instinct tests one year. The next year a new event – “dock diving” – was in that space. Agility and Obedience used to be out in a separate tent. The next year they were indoors with a huge floor plan filled with sod. This year, Michael and his team made sure every aspect of the National Championship activities had ample space.

I find it somewhat comical, too, when running into colleagues at Eukanuba even when we may live fairly close in proximity for most of the year. It truly becomes like a “family” reunion. Many of us involved with our dogs and competing throughout the year descend upon the same location on our best behavior making the entire week a fun time for all, win or lose.

We had many friends text, email, and call us with updates about results, who they had seen, news from around the rings and yet we sat on our sofa watching the groups via UStream instead of being there “live” in our finest outfits for the evening events. We could surf the social media channels for news, updates, pictures and general dog show “fun”. In particular, I loved The Canine Chronicle’s daily posts about “Two Questions” they would ask handlers and exhibitors about this year’s National Championship and the time off in between shows. It’s fascinating to see how we all plan on taking some time for our family, maybe some vacation time, but at the core of it all, we all appreciate having the four legged companions that spend each and every day with us whether at home or going from show to show.

To all of you that trekked to Orlando and can take some time off to “play” before flying home, enjoy your time. Orlando has so many places to enjoy and theme parks where one can embrace his or her inner child. Waking up the day after Eukanuba concluded truly felt like “vacation” for us, too. And to embrace this year’s AKC Eukanuba National Championship theme, spend the rest of this year celebrating dogs. They truly make our day to day existence with family, both immediate and extended, a richer, fuller life.

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Posted by admin on Dec 19 2012. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.