Okay, a couple more pics before the 'Official' pics come in.

Oscar followed by Roxi

And in case you missed it, please remember that while some dogs do love to show, most if not all, would rather be at home in the air conditioning or curled up in front of the fireplace or have a little 'Mini' dog curled up beside their head. Our dogs are working dogs, but also confirmed home-bodies. I believe they are the pinnacle of thousands of years of breeding and bonding. In other words, they have been bred to be companions and to help us in our labors. We aren't capitalizing on any ingrained instinct other than their love as a pack animal. They want US to be happy. We have bred intelligence and a gentle soul into these dogs we call Mastiffs. Dogs like Trojan breeze through shows without it bothering him at all, but I promise you he was happier chasing that deer the other day. For Chocolate it is harder. She will enter a ring for Jennifer although she really just wants to crawl up into Grampa Bob's lap.

So, when you see all these pictures of the show dogs, please don't think that I don't value the dogs who are not being shown. I love them all. From Ace who lived such a short time but affected me so profoundly to Satch and Boomer who may be the luckiest dogs on the planet. I just see the 'work' of the show dogs as a sacrifice that should be honored. When I see an owner or a handler get angry at a judge, or snap a dogs lead, it angers me. They have forgotten it is about the dogs, not the people. I KNOW they have forgetten why the dogs are allowing themselves to be there at all. I think Gary knows. He may correct Os, but he also remembers why Os, a 200+ pound dog ALLOWS himself to be shown.