The Other Side of The Canine Chasm

The Other Side of The Canine Chasm is wonderful, actually. I have two fantastic dogs and a huge network of other Dog People that I can rely on for support. None of us think we are better than anyone else. I learned so much about dog training, showing, grooming, health, and care over the last three years. The journey didn’t end when I began considering myself a Dog Person. It had just begun.

Sticking the Landing on The Other Side

As I said before, the 2018 National Specialty put me firmly on the Dog People side of The Canine Chasm. However, I didn’t consider myself to really be a part of the Dog World until that National Specialty. I suffered from imposter syndrome relating to my achievements in the Dog World, despite how hard I worked. I still felt like I didn’t know enough to be considered a Dog Person by other Dog People. This was delusional of course – the Dog World isn’t an exclusive club – and there is nothing wrong with being a Pet Person. They welcome you to the Dog Side. All you need to do is train your dog. Training is the path to the Dog Side.

That week, I learned a lot about Golden Retrievers, met a lot of wonderful people, and had a ton of fun. I couldn’t wait to get back to training! Rocket finished his Rally Excellent (RE) and Beginner Novice Obedience (BN) titles later that year. Rally Master (RM) was next on our training agenda. Master required ten qualifying scores instead of the normal three. We finished Rally Master and the Rally Advanced Excellent (RAE) title (10 qualifying scores in Advanced B and Excellent B at the same 10 trials) the following April (2019). I am extremely proud of our accomplishments together and I love that dog to pieces.

Back to the Future

Anyway, we had put down a deposit for another puppy with our reputable breeder in 2016 – about 8 months after bringing Rocket home. He was so wonderful – even through our early mistakes – that I couldn’t wait to get another Golden. You thought I was going to get a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, right? Well… About that… I think my husband secretly knew that I would fall in love with the breed the moment the first puppy was in my arms. There’s nothing wrong with PWCs and I still love them, but there’s just nothing quite like a Golden Retriever.

Life happened and postponed the second puppy. More life and more postponement. And some more. Finally, for my birthday in early 2019, my husband wrote in my card that we could get another puppy. Ecstatic doesn’t quite cover how I felt! I’m pretty sure I cried. The second puppy was finally happening after almost 3 years. The funny thing was that I was already plotting with our breeder for that second puppy. She had told me about a very special litter that she was planning and said that I needed a puppy from that litter.

Dreams of The Other Side

Our second puppy was born in February of 2019. There were only three in the litter, shattering my dreams. With only three, there was no way that one of them was coming home with us, right? Especially when there were two other show homes getting a puppy from the litter. Yep, we were going to be a show home too. Well, our breeder insisted that one of these very special puppies go home with us. Even though I knew her for almost 4 years, her kindness still amazed me. I will never be able to thank her enough for this dog.

In April 2019, I made an 11-hour drive to my parents’ house. We picked her up the next day and I drove her home the next. My husband’s only condition for getting her was that he got to name her. Welcome home Eevee. Yep. After the Pokémon.

My girl. My precious. The future of my dog hobby.

Welcome Home My Precious

Even though I said previously that I wanted a show dog, doing Rally with Rocket hooked me on performance. I asked for the puppy that would be the best Obedience dog. If she turned out to be show quality, then great! I was looking for a confident, intelligent, focused puppy with a lot of drive and personality. Eevee is EVERYTHING I asked for and more. She was hell on wheels as a puppy – quickly earning the nickname “Eevee Kneevee”. I couldn’t get enough of that sassy ball of fluff! She was a typical Golden puppy: always 90-to-nothing when she was awake, then she’d pass out for a few hours and get right back at it.

She wanted everything in her mouth: shoes, socks, leaves, grass, us, toys, etc. If you didn’t know, Golden puppies are often called “land sharks” because they explore the world with their mouths – it’s part of being Retrievers. Those puppy teeth are SHARP. Thankfully, she was also very easy to crate train. To this day, she will sprint full out to get into her crate on command.

Rocket loved her. He literally zoomed around the yard for about 20 minutes the day I brought her home. He was wonderful with her, and it wasn’t long until she was bossing him around.

Becoming a S.T.A.R.

We determined not to repeat our mistakes with Eevee regarding socialization and training, so she started puppy class at 10 weeks old. This puppy class was an AKC S.T.A.R. (Socialization, Training, Activity, Responsibility) puppy class taught by balanced trainers that allowed corrections. They are also responsible Golden Retriever breeders that have been breeding, training, and showing for almost 40 years. Basically, they know how to train dogs. Eevee was of course the star of S.T.A.R. puppy class (#humblebrag). Her confidence, drive, intelligence, and willingness to please made her a very quick study.

Eevee never went to puppy play time, didn’t greet other dogs on-leash, didn’t meet every human she saw, and guess what? She’s happier because of it. Eevee got the structure, discipline, and tools needed to thrive as a dog in a human world. We followed up S.T.A.R. puppy class with Canine Good Citizen class and she passed the test at just over 5 months old. She achieved her Trick Dog Novice (TKN) title a few weeks before and so already had six letters after her registered name.

Possibly the most important thing is that she could walk on a leash around both other people and other dogs without pulling until she choked herself. I’m not saying she was perfect, but she could generally walk on a leash pretty well. Training a puppy with real Dog People was wildly different than training a puppy with internet certified trainers masquerading as Dog People.

I Still Didn’t Know What I Didn’t Know

I started taking Eevee to conformation classes when she was about four and half months old. Even though I considered myself to be on the Dog People side of The Chasm already, I had NO idea how to show a dog in conformation. I showed up to the first class with my treats and my fancy show lead (what Dog People call leashes) with her skinny chain collar on backwards. I was embarrassed, but quickly realized that everyone starts somewhere. If experience were required, no one would be able to do anything.

Anyway, the first class started out pretty awful, but ended up going well thanks to my extremely smart puppy. She figured things out faster than I did, I think. She was very wiggly during the judge’s exam, but what Golden puppy isn’t? We learned that she loved to gait (trot around the ring smoothly), learned about her structural strengths and weaknesses, ring procedure and etiquette, how to show her teeth to the judge, etc. She makes everything fun, really.

Eeveelution of The Other Side

After a couple of classes, we went to our first Beginner Puppy (BPUP) show. Beginner Puppy shows are for 4-6 month old puppies to introduce them to the wonderful chaos that is a dog show. We only competed in one BPUP show, but Eevee won Best of Breed Puppy over two other Golden puppies. It was exhilarating to win! She went on to beat a super cute Brittany in the Puppy Sporting Group. Then it was on to the Best Puppy in Show competition! She did not win Best Puppy in Show, but we still had an absolute blast. I wish now that we had gone to more BPUP shows.

Her Beginner Puppy career may have ended as soon as it began, but her show career did not. Stay tuned for stories from dog shows.