September was a very memorable month for those of us here at Keahi!  We were invited to hit the road with a friend of ours to have the opportunity to show outside of our regular area.  What a welcome opportunity that was!  Its always nice to see what is showing outside of your regular show area and meet new people!  

Our first day out in Farmington Utah was a good start to our trip with Keegan taking Select Dog in a nice group of Specials.

Day 2 from Farmington started off very well with Miss Gypsy taking to the ring for her first 'real' show.   She was such a happy girl in the ring, the tail never stopped wagging and the smile shined the whole time.  She was awarded a 4-6 Month Beginner Puppy Group 2 in a very competitive group of 11 puppies!  Such an exciting moment for us and a wonderful way to start her show career!

Day 2 wasn't done with Gypsy's success, not by a long shot!  To our extreme surprise and honor Keegan went on to win his, and our, FIRST Best Of Breed!  From a very lovely selection of Siberians, Judge William Shelton found our young man and saw him shine.  I could not have been more proud of my boy in any moment to this point.  My heart still beams to reflect on this moment.  This boy is one in a million to me, and it's amazing to have that recognized.

The rest of the trip was filled with wonderful memories with great friends and good people.  Not to mention fun dogs!  Though the success in the ring didn't carry through the rest of the trip I wouldn't trade any of it for anything.  

Upon our return home we found the temps to be favorable to hit the trails and start our fall training.  We will be focusing on building a more competitive 6 dog team this season with Harvest, Mason, Keegan, Weaver, Denali, and Rogue.  We still have a few more turns in the show ring coming up, but we'll be transitioning into harness sports as the temperatures continue to be favorable.  We are looking forward to everything the next month has to offer!

A while ago, while perusing  Facebook, I came across a post from an acquaintance bemusing their recent experiences in showing their Siberians in AKC conformation.  To read their post was very disheartening to see how so many newcomers perceive the welcome from what are supposed to be some of our breed's mentoring members.   Of course, their experience has not been a pleasant one.  But as I read and really let it sink in, I realized I could not fault their post.  To be entirely honest, our experience has not been too different from theirs.  People lurking in the shadows just waiting for a slip, a mistake, a mispost, a misquote, ready to pounce and spread it around like wildfire.  In our limited experience in showing we have come to find there seem to be far too many mean spirited people who seem to revel in causing turmoil in the world.  Set on complaining behind people's backs rather than working to make a change.  Why is this?

Unfortunately, many feel this kind of behavior is very counter productive.  It does very little to help your breed or your sport grow in a positive way.  So what is the point?   What is there to gain from this kind of behavior?  I can't find any justification behind nasty rumor milling and spreading dangerous falsehoods when we should have the same goals in mind.  Those goals should be mentoring newcomers into the breed to carry on a positive, healthy, sound future for your breed.  Newcomers who will carry on a sport or activity your dogs compete in that you love so much.  Turning newcomers away because you don't like who their friends were, how they got started, things years in the past that they have learned from, doesn't serve any real purpose.  Especially when so much of what has happened since was a direct result of you turning your back on a newcomer looking for guidance all those years ago-  When someone comes looking for guidance, give it.  If you can't pass them on to someone who can. Don't leave these people twisting in the wind and get upset when people that are deemed unworthy pick them up, dust them off, and put them on a path that they can choose to follow or not.

At the end of the day what you do with your dogs is what really matters-  Let the dogs to the barking and keep the rest to yourself.