[Harley_chik]

First I think I died and went to poodle heaven, lol! I went to visit a nearby breeder and her girls. (It's not likely that I will get my pup from her b/c she doesn't have any litters planned any time soon. She did put me in contact w/ another breeder though.) There were at least 6 drop dead gorgeous white Standard Poodles. Needless to say, I'm in love now (if I wasn't already). I spent a little over an hour talking w/ her about her girls, other dogs she had bred, some tips on what to look for as far as testing and pedigrees. I saw her grooming room, which would make any groomer green w/ envy. Oh, and there were Poodle pics covering every square inch of wall space. Most were show pics, but some were just professional pics of her first pet poodles. The mom of several of the Poodles and I really hit it off. She pushed her way to the front and eventually fell asleep at my feet. The rest were sweet too and while I couldn't possibly remember all their names, they definately had their own unique personalities. There was one young show dog and she is from a different kennel. You could see differences in her mannerisms, it was funny. The rest all deferred to their mom but she didn't (I suppose b/c it wasn't her mom). I went ga-ga over her show coat, it was so plush and pristinely white.

Then I ran into Petsmart. There were two Great Danes, of course they were HUGE. However, there were also two other dogs that were just as tall; an Afghan Hound and a Boxer. It was my first time to see an Afghan in person and he was gorgeous. (They are one of my "someday" breeds.) I didn't realize they were so tall though.

 

[plumcrazy]

Wow! Sounds like a great day!!! My daughter and I attended our first ever AKC dog show here in Bismarck this summer... There was a beautiful afghan hound there and the owner was soooo nice and allowed us to pet and ask questions and take pictures! lol!! She probably thought, "What HICKS!!"

Conversely, there was a borzoi owner there who seemed very cold and not interested in talking with us - the borzoi were beautiful, but the owner wasn't very nice... A couple of months after that, we were attending a family wedding in Colorado and apparently there was a dog show in town - a lady was staying at our hotel with THREE borzoi (I never know if the plural of borzoi is borzois...?) Anyway - SHE was awesome and let us canoodle with her dogs who were so well behaved and beautiful! Even my husband, who loves OUR dogs, but never seems too interested in other breeds exclaimed that they were beautiful and interesting dogs!

I love meeting different breeds and speaking with knowlegeable individuals about their chosen dogs - usually they are very passionate and articulate about why they love their dogs (except for that borzoi lady at the show... maybe she was just shy??)

 

[PonkiPoodles]

Oh.... how I'd love to be surrounded with dogs :rofl:
Wait until you see the Irish wolfhounds and deerhounds.... they are gigantic! I saw a woman at a recent akc show showing her deerhound.
She probably could have saddled him and rode him home.... he was enormous! But he was oh soooo sweet!

This pic is kinda what she looked like next to him:

Just think how many miniature you could feed with the food this dog consumes in a day....LOL

 

[bigpoodleperson]

Sounds like a Great day!! I love the look of afgans, but i dont think i could ever own one. I LOVE salukis also, but i think our personalities (hounds) dont mix. I SO very very very much want a wolfhound someday! I had a client a couple years ago that had 2 wolfhound brothers. I saw them from puppies to big boys. They moved away, but those boys made me fall in love with the breed. It is very far down the road, but i want one (a fawn male).

 

[thestars]

I agree, Afghans are gorgeous. I went to a Texas show and they had several adults (showing) and several puppies (not showing) One Bitch took BIS 2 or 3 times out of 4 shows total.

 

[roxy25]

HC i am glad you had a great day ! I think it is so fun to see breeds you have not really met in person.