Loving him enough to let him go...

The title could suggest some melodramatic post about Phil or maybe even Henry.  Don't worry.  It's not that kind of post.

I have mentioned before that our dog, Cotton is a show dog.  And I have also mentioned that some people believe I have been holding him back from reaching his show dog potential.

Well, I have decided to set my pride aside and give Cotton the chance to reach his full potential.

This weekend, Cotton will be in another show.  This time, the breeder will be running him around in a circle (a skill I obviously can't perfect).  At Cotton's last show, he won his class and was beat out for Best Dog (in the Brittany group) by a dog that had a nationally known professional handler.  And here I thought it was a DOG SHOW.  I guess it isn't only the dogs that are on display.

(insert blow to my self esteem)

In order to get Cotton ready for someone else to show him, we have had to take him to his Show Dog class so that someone else can work with him and run him around.  Henry came too (obviously) and had a good time watching all the dogs run around.  He looked on with a peculiar fascination like, "What exactly is going on here?"

{It was crazy hair day at daycare that day.  

You should see what his hair looked like when I pick him up}

We will explain it to you when you're older, buddy.

Even sitting that far away, we were still distracting Cotton (according to the breeder).  Next time we will just drop him off and go to dinner I guess.

Tonight starts the preparation for Cotton's show.  Think beauty pageant for dogs.  We have to bath him tonight so he can get groomed tomorrow.  Grooming will include shaving his neck, trimming his ears, and cutting off his whiskers.  Makes him look weird and cute all at the same time.  Then Friday night, he gets a bath with whitening shampoo and then we have to use a blow dryer to dry him.  Curiously enough, he is usually VERY well behaved while getting his hair dried.  I think he likes being pampered.

Wish him luck!!!  I will be that stage mom, looking on nervously from the audience.