Operation Leroy

So what the heck is this operation I speak of and what am I so busy doing?

When you look up the definition of “operation” you will find many meanings. However, I am referring to the meaning “a planned activity involving many people performing various activities. 

Getting Leroy back into the ring is an operation with many different levels and I am in the process of getting some of them done now.

1. Repairing Leroy’s coat. After our last show it was kindly pointed out to me that Leroy’s coat has seen better days. The problem? We were not drying Leroy’s coat  all the way after his bath, which caused his undercoat to become damaged. The day I got back from Florida I brushed out must of his undercoat. So now we are starting from scratch. I am bathing Leroy once a week and completely drying him, a process that takes well over 2 hours.

2. I am saving up money to buy a new dog dryer. My dryer is 15 years old and just isn’t cutting it anymore. Time to make an investment.

3. I am planning out our show year. While we won’t be showing every weekend, I need to have a game plan. I need to figure out what shows may work best for us. Showing Leroy as a champion is a whole new ball game and there isn’t much room for error. We’ll soon find out if we can hang with the big dogs.
I’m watching the shows that are taking place now, seeing who is out there and who is winning.
Let me tell you, there are a lot of very nice specials out there. More than I would like to compete against and I am tryng to stay positive. 

4. Health Clearances. I am still in the process of getting these all done and finalized on Leroy. Most of the big ones are done like his hips, elbows and heart. I will go more in depth about health clearances in another post because I feel the importance of health clearances deserves it’s own post.

5. Conditioning. Not the conditioning that goes on after shampooing, I mean getting Leroy in shape.
Exercising him. Building stamina and muscle. Less couch laying and more exercise.

6. Advertising. While this is certainly not necessary when showing your dog, it certainly couldn’t hurt to have Leroy’s picture featured in a show magazine. We are amateurs, Leroy is brown, we need all the help we can get. However, putting a full color ad in a magazine takes money and lots of it, so we will just have to see if we can fit that into our budget. 

7. Money. Boy oh boy if only I was rich this would be a lot easier! I have picked up extra hours at my day job to help pay for Leroy’s showing expenses and his new dog dryer. I don’t like it, but it has to be done. 

I am hoping that this is just the beginning of “Operation Leroy.” There is so much to do and learn and I am really looking forward to sharing this adventure with all of you and to show you the sport of dog showing.
We don’t know if we have what it takes but we are willing to give it our all, and when I say we I am talking about our team. It’s not just my husband and I, there are other people involved too, like our breeder, our handler, family and friends. They are all giving us their support and each helping in their own way. We have a whole lot of “believers” behind us!

I had our first show all planned out for March, however refer to #3.  I am not sure if the Operation will be where we need to be,or how we need to be,  in order to be competitive. It’s a risk, but then again I would like to think of myself as a risk taker. Alright, I’ll just say it…….I have no idea what we are going to do! I need another 30 days to think about it! (I hope my handler isn’t reading).

So there you have it. The beginning of Operation Leroy. Let’s just see where we can take this Operation.