I took Torque and Teddy to the French Bulldog National Specialty show in Louisville last week. We had a wonderful time, caught up with our Frenchie friends, competed in Rally, Obedience, and Agility, met new people, admired hundreds of gorgeous dogs, drank a little too much, slept a little too little, made some new friends, learned even more about Frenchies, donated some money to the Club at the raffles, helped a little bit at the Chicago French Bulldog rescue booth, spent a little bit too much, enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

If you ever have the opportunity to go to your breed’s national specialty show – do it! Here at the shop we’ve recently met a woman with a Samoyed puppy. She was debating whether to go – even though her boy is being shown in conformation, she’s not doing it and he’s not ready for any other type of competition. At our urging, she did go – and had a wonderful time. Most people never have other chances to meet people who share their love for their breed.

You might wonder what you’d have in common with those people – after all, dog shows have a cliche reputation of beings snooty, or cliquish, or not for us regular folk. Contrary to what the movies would have us believe (it’s really not like Best In Show), most dog people are terrific; willing to share what they know and meet fellow “fanciers.” We finally get to see, live and in person, the people we’ve been “facebook friends” with for years.

If it’s within driving distance — go!