On the public holiday on Monday, May 8, 2023, Mates and I headed to a club show in Mladá Boleslav. The last time I attended a show was five years ago, and it was Mates’ first time ever.

So, it was a quite terrifying combination: I was as nervous as a dog, and Mates, who has lived a content life as a country boy and has literally grown up like a tree in the forest, had probably never seen so many people and dogs in one place before. Poor baby he was extremely overwhelmed. When we went into the ring for the first time to try, it seemed like he wouldn’t even run and would just sniff around. When we entered for the second and third time, he improved a bit and got more comfortable. However, it was still 100 light-years away from how he performs at home. I completely forgot how challenging it is to show a large dog male, as they are interested in a million things around them, and it’s really hard to convince them to focus on you. Dealing with girls is definitely not as complicated.

But let’s be honest, you can’t expect miracles on the first try.

The judge, Mrs. Božena Ovesná, was very forgiving in assessing Mates on his show debut. In the intermediate class, Mates received an excellent 1 CAC award and eventually even BOS. For us, it was definitely a better result than I expected considering how he presented himself there. Or rather, how he didn’t presented himself.

The biggest plus of the whole event was that my friend Vendy came to see us. I was able to spend some time with her after a few years. She took some beautiful photos of Mates and me, for which we are very grateful <3

I must say that the dog is truly beautiful, and according to the judge, he has no faults. She said it’s pitty that he didn’t want to run today.

The show brought back some nostalgia, but I definitely don’t plan on going back to the times when we attended shows twice a month or even more often 🙂