The Abilene Kennel Club is hosting its annual dog show at the Expo Center.
Seven hundred plus dogs come here to showcase their talents, but the task is getting these dogs ready.
“Well, conditioning early on and then the coat care, the maintenance, and strength-building exercising, and things like that, said breed owner Reggie Turner. “Then training the dog, and then getting them in the ring ready to perform.”
Many different breeds attend this dog show.
Some dogs have been here before, and some it’s their first time.
They have in common that they start from a very young age.
“That process starts from the minute they are born you want dogs that are bred intentionally,” said breeder, owner, and handler Ashlee Calggett. “To be successful, you have to get a dog that has a perservation breeder who has produced them and looked out for them their whole life. You want to socialize, you have to take the puppy out because this environment is so different from what dogs are really used to: loud noises, lots of people. You work on training them to show what is called being stacked, you put their feet in a four-point stack, so it starts from the beginning, and you take them to shows,” Calggett said.
With many breeds here, some require different types of grooming.
That doesn’t mean that each breed is not challenging to maintain, but some have fancier haircuts that they have to keep up to be breed standard.
“All of us bathe the dogs at least once a week, brush them out, do the whole thing, put the scissors to them to keep the coat in minimal distress,” said breeder, owner, handler Kim Ventura. “It’s very lenty and pick up any piece of grass or bird that’s out there, so it’s every day you’ve got to brush them, check them for mats, and just really stay on top of it.”
When these dogs are not being worked on or shown, they have very boujee kennels with fans where they can nap.
This ensures that these dogs are ready to shine when it’s lights, camera, action.
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