• @tanza Thank you yet again! Sometimes half the challenge is just knowing what to expect. Although, sometimes half the fun is finding out as you go. Saturday ring time is 2:00, so I'm thinking I'll most likely show up about 12:00 to 1:00 at ring 2. Can't wait to meet you. Finally! πŸ‘Š 😁 πŸ‘


  • @jengosmonkey - Don't get there too early, hour before ring time should be enough time... and be sure to take a crate so that Logan has a place to rest.... you don't want to have him on lead for hours before your ring time...you should be able to find shade hopefully by the ring area. Don't know if Jeff is planning to bring the pop-up since he now has the RV, but he is not bringing that this weekend. If we does, for sure you can share with us. See you there...


  • @jengosmonkey Best of luck to you and Logan... deep breathe, let the jitters slip away, and just get in the zone with your pup! Can't wait to hear all about it!


  • So we showed for the first time together. Logan was awesome. I could see it coming back to him. He's such my good good boy. I love him so much.

    First... Thank you so much to @tanza. Pat it was amazing meeting you in person. Truly one of the best experiences in my Basenji life. I mean that more than you know. I reached out to you when Jengo had his first seizure and you called me back! Your coaching and encouragement this weekend was invaluable to me. Meeting you, laying eyes on you, hugging you in real life, conversing with you, you putting up with my endless questions about tail trimming, points, classes and so much more... THANK YOU!

    If anyone would have asked me if I'd be SHOWING a Basenji a year a ago. I'd a been... what?

    I SO appreciate your guidance, the leed loan, and your honest critique during the show. You know I'm going to lean on you even more now... you are my new close by Basenji Mom! Thank you so much, Pat. You're part of MY pack now. I hope I can be part of yours.

    So how did we do... Good and bad.

    I watched the Pharaoh Hounds show. IMO, women are much better handlers than men. At least this man. They made it seem like a ballet compared to my Frankenstein approach. I get that it's about the dog, but it's hard to ignore the human.

    That and putting the dog up on the table backwards on Saturday... yeah, that didn't help. IDIOT! Still, got Best Of Opposite. I did and continue to do so many things wrong. Logan deserves better. Still... we're a team. I'll go back to handling class in 2 days and work on slowing me down, stacking better, walking in straighter lines and learning more about ring adequate. I'm a crappy dancer. This is gonna take me some time.

    So where does this leave us? I LOVE Basenjis! I love MY basenjis. I love the breed. I love promoting and I love supporting the breed. I love seeing any Basenji win. Handling is hard. It's a skill. I need to get better.


  • @jengosmonkey
    Congratulations πŸŽ‰ to you and Logan! It sounds like you had a great time! 🐾❀️


  • @jengosmonkey - It was great to meet you also... and you did excellent.... glad that you enjoyed it! Also you did put a point on Logan towards his Grand Championship and I know that is your goal. And I would be proud to be part of your pack! See you soon next month in Vallejo.


  • @jengosmonkey - Baptism of fire, was it ? Well, you obviously did something right and above all, you enjoyed it and so did Logan. He will be patient with you and the GCh will happen !


  • @zande said in Logan Has a Trainee...:

    @jengosmonkey - Baptism of fire, was it ? Well, you obviously did something right and above all, you enjoyed it and so did Logan. He will be patient with you and the GCh will happen !

    Very much Baptism by fire. I've ridden motorcycles at 160 mph. Love the adrenalin. Does it make me nervous. A little but not too much. It's just thrilling.

    Showing a dog in a ring... Now that makes me nervous. Strange I know. I was able to enter the ring 5 times, so it felt good to get that under my belt. I appreciate your encouragement as well, Sally. 😁 πŸ‘


  • @jengosmonkey it's not strange to feel nervous. You are doing your best for your breeder and her line, and in fact for your dog. That's lot of responsibility.
    I think you are right though that in the main women are better handlers, but if a man is good, he is really good. But it also depends on the breed.
    Try to watch other breeds and go to shows even if you are not showing Logan so you get more the feel of it, see other people make mistakes.


  • @zande said in Logan Has a Trainee...:

    if a man is good, he is really good.

    A friend of mine had her English Setter shown to top dog in Canada back in the day. The handler was a gay man, fabulous with her dog and many others. What I loved was that the picture on the front page of Dogs In Canada was of handler and dog in a casual shot taken at the lake, instead of the usual show pose....just a couple of pals hanging out.


  • As @Tanza mentioned in her new show thread, Logan and I went to our second show together this past weekend. Highlights of the weekend included seeing Pat again and getting to meet more veteran breeders. This show was in Vallejo, CA and is called Woofstock! I'm really liking the theme shows. This show seems to be somewhat famous out west here. A lot of people dressed up including yours truly. Logan and I didn't get anything on Thursday or Friday. Saturday was entirely my fault. If there was anything that could be screwed up by a human in the ring... I screwed them up. I'm betting I may have invented a few new one's too. The good news is that we pulled ourselves together on Sunday and earned a Select Dog award ribbon, which turned out to be a 5 point Major! I swear it felt like a forth quarter hail Mary. Logan did really well. So far, and by a long shot, this was definitely my favorite win with him so far. We really worked hard for this one. I also think that he and I may have finally connected as a team on Sunday. For your enjoyment...

    Woofstock.jpg


  • Like a timewarp! Great costume! I'm glad you and Logan are bonding over this. πŸ™‚


  • @jengosmonkey Oh I do wish I could be at your shows - The photo of the hair tells a multitude of stories and so many tiny things you could correct and do Logan even more justice than you are at the moment !

    Don't try to hold him with your hand under his chest. Get the show lead/collar in the right place (high up under the cheek bones) and hold it in your teeth or around your neck, then grasp the front legs and stack them perpendicular and parallel. Once the front is good, you turn your attention to the back end. Fingers between the back legs, lift ever so slightly, a quick flick of the wrist and down and lo and behold, the back is also good. Hocks perpendicular under the shelf. The dog looks square as called for in the Standard. At need, a quick tap under the tum straightens the topline and there you have it !

    But I am sure you know what you need to get right and as long as you and Logan are enjoying yourselves that is honestly all that matters !

    Conutined good luck -


  • @zande said in Logan Has a Trainee...:

    @jengosmonkey Oh I do wish I could be at your shows - The photo of the hair tells a multitude of stories and so many tiny things you could correct and do Logan even more justice than you are at the moment !

    Don't try to hold him with your hand under his chest. Get the show lead/collar in the right place (high up under the cheek bones) and hold it in your teeth or around your neck, then grasp the front legs and stack them perpendicular and parallel. Once the front is good, you turn your attention to the back end. Fingers between the back legs, lift ever so slightly, a quick flick of the wrist and down and lo and behold, the back is also good. Hocks perpendicular under the shelf. The dog looks square as called for in the Standard. At need, a quick tap under the tum straightens the topline and there you have it !

    But I am sure you know what you need to get right and as long as you and Logan are enjoying yourselves that is honestly all that matters !

    Conutined good luck -

    @Zande I wish you could be at our shows, or that I could be at yours too! Meeting @tanza here, then getting to know her in person has been a fun part of my Basenji journey. Maybe someday!

    Your feedback is great! Thanks a bunch. This past weekend was fun, stressful, and a learning experience all rolled in to an unanticipated path I'd not expected to be on.

    The picture was from Saturday. The day I royally messed up in the ring. I remember walking out of the ring at the end of an absolutely pathetic display of ring craft... Stella was there waiting. I think she could see how crushed I was. She just said "Come here." and gave me a big ol' hug, which really meant a lot. I really felt like I'd let her down. She said "We'll talk about it later", which was fine by me. I just wanted to forget about it. Of course I couldn't. I kept going over how badly I'd done. I mean... I messed up EVERYTHING! I felt completely overwhelmed in the ring that day.

    Sunday I just decided to change up how I'd approached the entire weekend. What I'd been doing and how I'd been doing it wasn't working... at all. I ditched the jacket, which kept getting in my way Thursday and Friday, kept Logan out of the crate much longer before ring time to keep him happier, found a place for us to stand in the sun while waiting to keep him warmer than I did on Saturday, stopped thinking about every step I needed to execute in the ring and decided to just do it, and I shifted my focus from me to Logan once in ring. The last part made a biggest difference. It finally dawned on me that Logan and I are team, and that I hadn't been a very good team mate to him. I'd been too focused on me doing things right rather than focusing my attention on helping him look his best. Stella had given me great feedback on Saturday night once I'd settled down. She's a really good coach. We went over pictures and she pointed out several things I could improve on. My goal on Sunday was to bring home a point and make Stella proud of us. It was my last chance in the ring. No more do overs. I will say that that was the first time that I've felt that Logan and I were finally having fun in the ring together. He definitely was. I could see it and that made me happy.


  • @jengosmonkey - You did great, know that "messing up" is part of the learning process in the ring.... remembering that you are one with the dog and that there is no one else there. Making it fun not only for Logan but for you too... it is a lesson we all learn when being in the ring the first many times. And we all have taking you "under our wing" and that fact that you have even wanted to try is the most important thing. But we learn by our mistakes and I can tell you that when I first started showing I was a MESS! Always remember that when you are tense your dog feels that and becomes tense also.... they read this from you right through the lead. But it all comes with time..... again you have done great in a very, very short time! Very proud of you and Logan!


  • Thank you @tanza. One of my favorite pictures from this weekend is one that my wife took. It includes hippie me, you, Stella and CeCe. Kinda cool being able to hang out with three of THE best west coast breeders. πŸ‘Š 😁 πŸ‘


  • @jengosmonkey can we all see it, Greg?


  • This was a fun moment on Saturday...

    In the Midst of West Coast Royalty  (Medium).jpg


  • @jengosmonkey who's who? (other than you)


  • @jengosmonkey said in Logan Has a Trainee...:

    that was the first time that I've felt that Logan and I were finally having fun in the ring together. He definitely was. I could see it and that made me happy.

    That means you are getting there ! After all - it is only one idiot's opinion of your dog / handling on that day and at that time. The BOB will always go home with you - YOU know that ! Teamwork - its great.

    Now you need a puppy from your girl and then you can really create a team and show your socks off. But wear easy clothes. That rig looks as if it would be a vast distraction.

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