In January 2013 I entered Eve in the Lank O Lakes Kennel club dog show, which is held right here in St. Paul, MN.  With only being 10 minutes away from the show site I offered our home as a place to stay for others coming in from out of town.  Kim, Adam and Lenny all took me up on the offer bringing Snip and GoGo along with them as well.  We also had planned a football game watching party for Saturday evening, since the Vikings were to play (yes, I found my small 19in TV and we all squished around it).  Alex started a bonfire in the backyard, which I know Lenny really enjoyed.

I went into this show not expecting anything but to have fun.  I had gotten used to the judges telling me that Eve needed to “mature”, i.e. she was too small and skinny.  I had never had a basset that didn’t like to eat, usually basset owners have the oppostite problem, they like food a little too much!  Eve was giving me a new challenge and we decided after the St. Cloud show that we would pick a food that was higher in calories and fat and then stick to it.  She would either eat when the food was there or she wouldn’t have to wait for the next meal.  We had tried this many times before and she was the master of eating just enough to get by but not enough to gain weight.  I sent Alex to the store and he came back with a bag of BilJac.  I had never tried that brand of food before but figured we’d give it a shot.  We put a bowl down and she ate the entire bowl!  I figured it was just the excitement of having something different but she proved me wrong, continuing to eat to this day.

Saturday we got there bright and early for our morning ring time.  Eve was feeling good and full of herself.  She gaited beautifully and stacked equally as nice.  She also kept her head up and tail up as we were going around the ring.  When the judge pointed at me for Winners bitch I was surprised and shocked, but also very proud.  She showed her heart out and was enjoying her time in the ring.  We went back into the ring for breed and I really didn’t think we’d beat George for BOW…I mean George had taken BOW at St. Cloud for a major.  When the judge came down the line and pointed to me for BOW, my heart fluttered and I was beyond proud and excited.  We DID it!  So Eve got her 3 point major that day and I was floating on cloud nine!