Doozer was bought as Wilhelm's show dog. HA HA! Wilhelm's show dog turned into MY show dog! I worked with him, trained him, and took him into the ring! We, of course, thought Doozer was an awesome dog so we just knew that Doozer would finish his Championship quickly and out of the puppy classes! Well, we were wrong. LOL! Doozer kind of started with a whimper. He placed 2nd or 3rd more often than I can remember. When we took him to his first Saint Bernard Nationals (a huge show where there are only Saint Bernards) he didn't even place in his puppy class. He got his first point towards his Championship in early June 2003 at almost a year old. The next day, he won again! I don't think he won again for 6 months or more after that. He really matured very slowly. He picked up single points here and there and his breeder finally took him to California for a show and he got his first major there plus won Best Bred-By Exhibitor. At his next Nationals, from the Bred-By class again, they placed 2nd for most of the week. 6 months later - 1 month before he turned 5-years-old - Doozer finished with a huge 5 point major in Kansas. Yeah! Now his real adventure could begin! We decided to campaign him as a Champion and hope that we could place him as one of the Top 20 Saints in the country! We entered him at the next local show as a Champion... and he got dumped both days <sigh>. WHAT??!! How could this happen?? Just because it took us almost 4-1/2-years to finish his Championship didn't mean he was ugly!! Or did it? .... Naw... couldn't be. We kept at it and slowly he built up the points needed to be invited to the Saint Bernard Club of America Top Twenty event in 2008 (calculated from events June 2007 - May 2008)! He also was invited to the AKC/Eukanuba for finishing in their Top 25 in 2008 (calculated from events October 2007 - October 2008). And he finished as the Number 13 Saint Bernard in the country for January - December 2008 (according to the Canine Chronicle). See! We knew he could do it!!
Doozer's breeder took him to the 2008 Nationals where he was shown in the Best of Breed class (making all the cuts at all the pre-shows; and the first cut at the Nationals itself) and also the Top 20 event.
I took him to California in December of 2008 where it was a thrill and an honor to show him in the AKC/Eukanuba! Although he didn't win at any of the "big" events we didn't care. He was there because he had been invited to be there!
Along the way, we also finished his UKC Championship (placing in the Group 3 times including a Group 1!). Doozer finished in a tie for #3 Saint Bernard in UKC in 2007. And we completed his IABCA (or International) Championship (placing there in the Group as well).
In 2009, after we had accomplished more than we ever expected or dreamed, we retired Doozer, and the next phase of his life began... Obedience, Rally, and couch potatoe!!
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