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Homecoming: A word that now evokes only enjoyable memories. From
the moment of arrival to the final day of cleanup - a fantastically
wonderful, jam-packed seven days.
On Tuesday Olga Wallace and I arrived with Libby and Dalemuns
in tow. We had built a great case of trepidation and excitement. How
will they respond to us, we wonder. Will we fit in? Will our dogs
fit in? Will, will will? What if, what if, what if? Phones and
computers can only give people so much information about each other.
We and our dogs were greeted with open arms by the Segee’s, Ursel’s,
and Barber’s! Greetings and hugs all around were exchanged. All
immediately made us feel like a big part of the extended Shiloh
family. The fears we were feeling about the coming week completely
vanished. For the rest of the evening we were all busy helping to
ready the building and the grounds for the start of Homecoming. (And
of course we just had to decorate Artus also!) A lot of fun and
laughs were shared by all throughout the night.
Wednesday
started with donuts and coffee for the early birds, courtesy of Marc
and Lyn Segee. Now it’s time for the CGC’s (canine good citizen
test). Oh, oh! Here we go again! Will they pass or flunk? Nerves
started jangling again even though Lisa Barber did her best to
reassure all five handlers that they could handle this test. What an
incredible job she did assessing each dogs ability to react to
strange people walking by and the various other tests. All went
calmly and smoothly for the individual tests, except when I so
graciously fell flat on my back. At this point Dalemuns had to take
advantage of me and stand over me grinning. So with him standing on
my hair grinning and Lisa laughing so hard she couldn’t help -
well, you get the picture. We had to take a mini break for everyone
to get serious again. After our laugh break it was time for us to
leave our dogs in the ring for three minutes with a stranger. This
is the hardest part of the test. Except for John Ursel’s dog Teton,
these were pups who were under nine months old. High separation
anxiety time! Off we marched with our fingers crossed to the
building to hide. The three minutes passed so slowly. When the
signal came to return there was this collective sigh of relief. We
still did not know if they passed or failed, but we did know that
the kind strangers holding on to our dogs did a great job! Lisa told
us that all our dogs passed with flying colors. Thank you to all who
helped make this CGC test a success for the five handlers and dogs!
Lunch time has arrived and as we find out through all the
meals of this day, Mark and Lynn once again outdo themselves.
Burgers, hot dogs, salads and brownies! Can see that this vacation
is not a place to think about losing weight!
With no one signed up for Temperament testing, Tina and Lisa
extended a warm invitation to all for a visit to Zion kennels. What
a truly amazing sight! All those Shiloh’s in one place! Those of
us who were there had never been exposed to so many Shilohs
previously. They greeted us with wagging tails, woofs and many, many
hand kisses! We were finally able to put names and faces to dogs we
had only heard about. Much better than pictures in magazines and on
the web sights. Of course what is a kennel without a litter of
puppies? Jerod and Colten (two young boys) were absolutely
enthralled and ready to take one or more of the puppies home. Of
course, so was I. The litter of four were three boys and a girl,
three smooth and one plush. I no longer remember what color the
smoothes were to become, but I remember what the plush is to be, as
I fell head over heals in love with the little darling. And, yes we
now have our second Shiloh (remember, one is never enough!), a gray
sable plush male out of Ace and Ursa. Tina and Lisa had to forcibly
push us to our vehicles to return to HC and the dinner that once
again Marc and Lyn were putting together for everyone. They kept us
happily full and content the first day of HC. Many thanks go out to
them for their barbecuing etc expertise!
Evening brought us to
a handling seminar run by Tina. Wow, some of the tricks the judges
use to see the movement of our dogs would astound even experienced
show handlers. Tina would explain the procedures and then make us do
it, over and over again! By the time we finished that night it was
second nature to run that huge ring and do side by sides - down and
back. It was also time to catch our collective breath!
The rest of the night was for getting to know the new arrivals
and each other just a bit better. This was to be a big part of the
whole week - exploring the common bonds of Shiloh ownership and the
friends that common bond helps bring about.
Thursday: Morning comes early as we all stayed up too late
talking. But, this is part of the fun of HC - talking. The ladies
from the Dairy Bar put on wonderful spreads of food for the next
four days. Well worth the money for the meal tickets!
Another fantastic handling class for all was held by Lisa
Barber. If you dared miss Tina’s then this was one you needed to
attend. If you have never attended HC, the handling classes run by
Tina and Lisa are an invaluable learning tool. Showing at HC is
different than the general ring and they both pass their years of
experience to you in a very short amount of time. By the end of the
classes you can look forward to showing with confidence. Even the
kids were learning to show and what they learned at these classes
they used to their advantage during the next four days. More
people and especially more Shilohs arrive by the minute! So many
Shilohs of different ages, sizes, colors and coat types. A little
piece of heaven being surrounded by all the dogs, owners and future
owners. New owners were introduced to their new puppies. Chary Pack
handed Boquilla over to Adrienne Evans and her family. Barb Cullen
passed two of her puppies to two new owners, Karma went to Joan and
Jennifer Fair and Avro went to Jackie Rombeek. These new owners
seemed to be walking on cloud nine , love was definitely in the air!
Each new owner was brave enough to take their little one into the
show ring and all took home ribbons and trophies.
No fights, just a few minor tiffs. What a wonderful testament
to the owners and to the breed that calm reigned during the whole
week! There are very few dog shows that I have attended where there
hasn’t been at least one out of control animal or handler.
Time for the first show. What a grand sight! What a fantastic
bunch of trophies that waited to be picked up by the winners! The
puppies, the youngsters, the veterans, the junior handlers, the
experienced and inexperienced handlers did a marvelous job. Everyone
appeared to enjoy themselves. For all the shows a big
congratulations to the winners and a big congratulations to those
who placed further down the line. You all were winners in our
hearts! You all did a tremendous job showing your dogs to those who
were on the outside looking in and you impressed everyone there!
With the first show over Lisa Barber presented a Temperament
and Training seminar. This was to be a very lively demonstration
with much audience interaction. She brought two of her dogs to show
the differences in the training techniques of different
temperaments. At the end of the seminar Lisa, Tina and Artus put on
a brief Schutzhund demonstration. All who attended gained many
valuable insights to the Shiloh breed.
Dinner time and more good food! How many calories can a body
pack away in such a short amount of time?
On to the next seminar with Dee, Brooks and Spooner the Wonder
Dog Vickers. Search and Rescue was to be presented this time. Dee
and Brooks gave us a taste of what SAR is about. How fascinating and
how scary! The people who volunteer to do SAR are a very brave bunch
of people. The places they need to sometimes search for live or
deceased people can lead both dog and handler into grave situations.
Definitely not for the faint of heart! Brooks and Spooner gave us a
taste of what a dog and handler must do to find a person. Watching
them turn into a mentally meshed team was very impressive
considering how young Spooner is. We all wish them a well and safe
future being a SAR team!
Friday morning brings us to food, food and more great food!
(Is there a theme here?) Rain, rain and more rain. Also Shilohs,
Shilohs and more Shilohs arriving! This is becoming a Shiloh fest!
What fun! Unfortunately, the rain caused the Friday Show to be
postponed to Sunday afternoon. But, the rain did not dampen anyone’s
enthusiasm for the changes. Many people attended a video show of
Schutzhund training. Others went sight seeing and others just got to
know each other better! After lunch the litter of pups from
Zion was brought for their Litter Evaluations and Temperament Tests.
Lisa Barber and Dee Vickers put each of the little ones through
their paces. Everyone attempted to stay quiet while this took place.
Not easy to do while watching puppies just being puppies. After Lisa
and Dee would finish with a puppy Brooks Vickers would take it to
check the pups possible drive for being a future SAR dog. Then the
pup was handed to an audience member. Surprising that people were
able to resist taking home the one last puppy that was available! It
was a very full afternoon for these puppies, but they handled it
like little troopers.
When dinner was over it was time for the four hour
Relationship Co-efficient Seminar. Wow is all I can say! Four hours
was not enough time to fully comprehend and cover all the
information that Tina Barber presented to the group. Another full
day or so might have given us a greater understanding of this
breeding tool. We did all come away with some basics on how to read
the RC report and how to look at not just the parents of our dogs,
but to look at the siblings, the shadow dog, the generations going
as far back as possible. Still not as easy as it sounds because you
also need to know how each of those ancestors and siblings feed into
the make-up of the two dogs you want to breed. One point that came
across very clearly with this new breeding tool is how close to the
genetic edge the Shiloh Shepherd™ has come. With Artus and these new
tools our breed can rebuild to the ultimate dog that Tina has been
developing.
The day of the National Specialty finally has arrived. The
best attended day of the week! I will not discuss the winners here
but the attitudes of the people whether showing or just watching.
Everyone was helping everyone else out. If a show lead or collar was
needed it was supplied. If a handler was needed, someone would
volunteer. If you needed someone to hold your dog or brush your dog,
a helping hand was available. Cheering and clapping was constant as
each dog took their run around the ring. It was this type of
camaraderie that made the great memories of Homecoming. Watching the
young kids take dogs bigger than themselves into the ring and
hearing everyone heartily cheer them all the way around. Seeing Lyn
Segee’s dog Duncan joyfully jumping all over her before entering
the ring and hearing Judge Eadie laughingly comment “when the
loving’s over, we can begin”. All these sights and sounds made
it apparent that there were no losers during this week, only people
who cared about each other and this breed! This is what a great
coming home should be about. Next year we can continue the
tradition!
Saturday finished with Pam McCloskey supplying a
giant cake and many bottles of Champaign to honor her Shelby being
named Grand Victrix of the year. What a wonderful way to end a day
of shows and fun!
The last official day of Homecoming has arrived. With
breakfast we were serenaded by two people playing guitars and
singing hymns. A great way to start the day!
Our longest and most grueling day of showing was about to
begin. Turns out that Judge Nick Gravanic firmly believed in
movement. He also took time to help handlers learn to present their
dogs a bit better and to explain each of his placement decisions.
Everyone appreciated his efforts and the length of time he spent on
each group. Everyone also sweated quite a bit by the time they ran
the huge ring a few times. Judge Gravanic took time after the show
to discuss an individual’s dog with the owner as to what needed to
be done to whip them into better showing shape.
Unfortunately
all good things must end. People were packing up and leaving. Life
at home was calling. The end was upon us. The last show (the
Friday make-up) was held, very bittersweet.
Special thanks go out to all five Judges, Judge Tina Barber,
Judge Lisa Barber, Judge D. Eadie, Judge R. Frey and Judge N.
Gravanic. They did a tremendous job!
To all who took the time to orchestrate a seminar, Tina
Barber, Lisa Barber, Dee and Brookes Vickers, many kudos to you all.
Much time and work went into your successful presentations and we
all learned from them!
To the Dairy Bar Ladies who supplied the fantastic food for
four days goes our thanks for full and contented stomachs!
Huge special thanks go to the Tina and Lisa Barber, Lyn and
Marc Segee and Jim, Karen, John and Bobby Ursel for being the
driving force behind this year’s Homecoming! From ordering the
ribbons and trophies, arranging the seminars and judges, setting up
and knocking down, they worked hard and smiled the whole time!
For all those who came early and stayed an extra day to help
out - thanks go out to you!
Many thanks also go to all who made this Homecoming a success
just by being there. For without the fellowship and new friendships
we all made what would Homecoming really be?
See you all next year maybe? |
