Last week, approximately 400 Newfoundland Dogs descended upon the town of Frankenmuth, MI for the annual big show. It is a week packed with events to showcase all of the wonderful traits of my favorite breed. There is so much to see and do and I’d like to highlight some of the special and unique events that occur in addition to the conformation ring packed with beautiful Newfoundlands.

The beginning of the week is dedicated to the working events which include the Draft Test as well as Competition Obedience and Rally Obedience. Winn and I participated in all three this year so we were very busy!

The first event of the week is the Draft Test. We were up bright and early Monday morning. I packed the wagon with her crate, a chair, weights for her cart and miscellaneous other things I thought we would need. Winn pulled her cart and I pulled the wagon down to the test area to join the other teams checking in and lining up their gear.

We started training about two months ago. I didn’t expect to pass (we didn’t), but with every test or trial we enter, I always learn new things for the next time. This was the first test for me and I did learn a lot. In training, I focused primarily on maneuvering, which we did really well, but there are a lot of details that are included in a passing score that we learned while we worked our way through the exercises. The judges were very supportive and gave me lots of feedback. Hopefully with our next test we will be closer to getting that Draft Dog title!

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The fun part of entering these events is the camaraderie we develop with the other people that are also there. I had just as much fun (maybe more because it was less stressful) cheering for their success as I did participating. One of our friends entered with a team (two Newfies harnessed together). She didn’t pass either, but she gave it a valiant effort and of course I loved seeing another brown team. She was first and we were last, creating brown newfie book ends for this test.

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The very first group to hit the conformation ring are beginner puppies. Puppies 4-6 months old bounding around the ring with pure puppy glee are my favorite. I don’t think there is much else to say except PUPPIES!

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The final event in the obedience ring is Team Obedience. Take it from me, trying to get through the Obedience exercises with one dog is very challenging, Team Obedience includes four dogs and their handlers. Completing all of the exercises perfectly with all of teams takes a special kind of training. I love watching this and everyone gave it their very best effort. You never know what will happen, even with the very best trained dog and we’ve all learned to go out there and have fun. What will be, will be.

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Junior handlers have their own competition within the show. Juniors are the future of all sports, and they participate in many events throughout the week side by side with all of the other handlers and their dogs. I saw them in the obedience ring and the conformation ring as well as lending a helping hand to other handlers as they were preparing for their own events. There was a pool party, a scavenger hunt and other fun activities for them during their downtime. I enjoyed seeing them coming and going and was especially excited to see them all in the big ring for their Junior Handler event.

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As you can see, there is lot going on throughout the week. I need several posts to cover it all, so you can look forward to reading about the Rescue Parade, the Living Legends celebration, Brace class, Stud class and so much more!