Pippen Takes Hot Springs
I am so beyond excited to write this post. This past weekend (September 27-28, 2024), Pippen had his debut show weekend at 8 months old. When you show an 8 month old puppy, you hope the puppy has a good time and gets experience. You don’t have any expectations.
We all took a long (10-day) trip to Arkansas to see family, celebrate some birthdays, and go to the Natural State Golden Retriever Club Specialties in Hot Springs. I am a founding member of NSGRC, so I thought, “why not take Pippen for some experience and to support the club?”
But First, The Beginning
Now, I’ve known since before he was born that Pippen’s litter would be special. His dad is Teague – a dog I love – and his mom is a stunning first cousin to Eevee.
Then I brought Pippen home and was blown away. He trots everywhere he goes and he is very balanced with correct proportions. And he has a gorgeous head/expression if I do say so myself. Basically, I knew he was special, but sometimes it’s hard to be objective about your own dogs. I didn’t totally trust myself about his quality, even though I had several knowledgeable people tell me what a beautiful puppy he is.
And as I’ve said before, he has a phenomenal temperament. I really do feel lucky that Hillary and Kristin let me be their second show home.
Pippen is Off to Hot Springs
Anyway, off to the show we go, and right off the bat Pippen wins Best in Specialty Sweepstakes! People were just buzzing about him outside the ring. It was a great feeling!
However, that feeling was quickly followed by adrenaline. As we waited to take our picture with the Sweeps judge, people started yelling my name from across the room. Beginner puppy didn’t take as long as I thought, so we had to sprint back to the ring so that we didn’t miss Pippen’s class. Whoops!
We made it to the ring and Pippen took Winners Dog under breeder judge Bruce McLean for a 4-point major! And Best Puppy in Specialty! This kind of thing does not happen to anyone often, much less me.
NSGRC Day Two!
The morning of day two in Hot Springs dawned and we headed back to the show site. We started out the day by going Best Puppy again under breeder judge Patrice Loves. I think she seriously considered him in the Winners ring – even pulling him out with the eventual WD and Reserve WD.
In the afternoon show, I did a better job handling him than in the morning show and some of his morning excitement had worn off. I could tell that the judge liked him, so when we went back in for Winners, I made extra sure to move him at the right speed. Pippen is really great at going just the right speed for him, so if he goes too fast, it’s because of me.
This puppy is just such a natural show dog and he’s really hard to fault when comparing to the breed standard. When he got Winners Dog the day before, I was genuinely surprised. When he got Winners Dog on Saturday afternoon (spoiler alert), I was much less surprised, but equally as honored. Yes, Pippen was WD AGAIN for his second 4-point major on Saturday afternoon under esteemed judge Eugene Blake. But wait… there’s more!
He was also awarded Best of Winners and Best Puppy in Specialty under Mr. Blake. I am still a bit floored that my precious little “Pipperoni Pizza” went into his debut show weekend and came out with two 4-point specialty majors and went 3/3 Best Puppy. It still feels a bit surreal.
