Farrah the ISSR Shiloh Shepherd: Farrah's First Show! Best in Show Reserve!

Today we attended the International All Breed Canine Association (IABCA) dog show in Hutchinson, Minnesota. This was out first dog show and also the first time Farrah met another Shiloh Shepherd since she joined our family.

Today certainly exceeded my expectations! First of all there was a huge snow storm, so everything was delayed. Farrah met Bruno (Virginia's gorgeous pup out of Emma/Yo-Na litter of Dec/09) and they fell in love instantly! Bruno had all of the right moves to attract the sensitive Farrah to his side. Silently they rubbed noses and looked longingly into each others eyes. The two of them certainly made a huge impression at the show! It was also great to meet Virginia. She's the first person off the Shiloh Forum that I've met 'in person' and such a great resource of information and a very nice person! We would have been lost if she wasn't there today to mentor us along!

Show #1. Despite waiting 2hrs before going into the ring for the first time, Farrah digs deep and wins best of breed. We then go to Best Of Group (herding) and we finish 2nd.

Show #2. Farrah wins Best of Breed and goes to Best of Group. It all happened so fast as Virginia had gone to take Bruno for a bathroom break, and Elizabeth was talking to some people about the pigeon show going on next door. Next thing I know I'm called into Best of Group and we WIN without either Elizabeth and Virginia seeing it all happen! It was very exciting nonetheless. Things happen fast when they're moving along.

Finally Best of Show. We've been here for 8 hrs already and Farrah is noticeably tired. Up until now we've been the front dog in all of the group competitions, but this time we're put at the rear. Poor Farrah had to hold her stack for all of the other 6 dogs to go through. She was starting to sit down and I could tell she was done for the day. But she hung in there for a few more minutes and it was enough to impress the 2 judges, and we won Best In Show Reserve (2nd place!).

I can tell we're doing better each time we go in the ring. There are over 160 dogs here and the 2 Shilohs here are certainly drawing attention. We've given away a lot of the Shiloh tri-folds as people keep coming over to our setup and asking about the breed.

tomorrow is another day. Here are some photos from today: