Along came Armani
The fall of 2008 was going well for The Wallace Dogs. We went to the NBDCA World Championships and managed to get 3 dogs thru the semifinals, missing the finals by just a few seconds. The downside was we did not make the finals. The upside was we held our own against some of the best dogs in the country for 3 days. Paula was unable to make the trip up for the pointing side of things due to scheduling conflicts, however I was returning the following weekend for the Flushing Worlds as I had be asked by some of the players that could not make it if I was run there dogs for them. That is an honor not to be taken lightly in this venue and I felt privileged that this had been bestowed on me. Paula and I loaded up on Thursday and headed north to test our skills yet again in Iowa.
It is not uncommon for folks that attend these events to bring not only the dogs they are competing with along, but any puppies they may have at the time as well. They do this because some of these events will keep you away from home for a few days and it is easier to just have them along for the ride. Paula and I have known Duane Buster and his daughter Stephanie for several years now. They like us are dog lovers and just all around good folks although they talk kind of funny being from Iowa. As fate would have it, I will call it fate as that is the best term I can use without getting in trouble with Paula, they had a litter of German Short Hairs with them at the time we attended this event. Now we are not dog poor at all, at the time we had 5 dogs we were competing with and none of them were over 5 years old. The last thing I thought I would be bringing home from Iowa was another dog. I knew Paula was partial to puppy’s heck who isn’t? But what I didn’t know is how fast my trip was going to change in 10 minutes. Yes you read it right 10 minutes! I had gone out to run Mercedes and when I got back and opened the door of my truck there he was piled up in my back seat like he belonged there! He raised his head long enough to look at me then sighed and went back to sleep. My comment of “what is that? And where did you get it?” was only answered with isn’t he cute? I pretty much knew in my mind at that point I was doomed, but in typical man fashion I was determined to fight it. I was going to win this time no matter what it took! We had all the dogs we needed and the last thing I wanted was another puppy.
Paula spent the rest of the weekend babysitting is what she called it at the time. She had decided that since she was babysitting she had to have something to call him, and Armani it was to be just for the weekend of course. For the next 3 days every time I looked over she either had him with her or was over at the Busters truck getting him out. My feelings of winning this one ever fading each time she did. As Sunday came and it was time to go home, I was hoping it would be a clean getaway, fortunately for me it was not and Armani happily took his place in the trailer with Riggs and Mercedes.
Armani came home with us and went to K&L in February of 2009 to get his training going. He is a big dog and throws a stylish point and has a willingness to please about him. We competed Armani in a couple trials in March finishing 2nd and 4th respectively in the Amateur Division of the UFTA he was competing against dogs over twice his age and doing very well. Armani has been out this summer with the other dogs and each time he goes out he just keeps getting better. He will go back to K&L for his final training in a couple of weeks and then we will add him to our truck this fall getting him qualified for both divisions for the UFTA Nationals in February.
Thanks to the Busters for providing us with a great dog to add to our box. We look forward to seeing you in the fall.
Come on big man lets show them what a young dog can do.
Armani's accomplishments
Finished 4th NBDCA Puppy of the Year 2009
Finished 4th and 5th 2009 NBDCA Players Championships in the Puppy class
2010 NBDCA Invitational 1st place in Puppy pointing his first Super Major win!
Qualified for the 2010 UFTA Nationals in both Tog Gun and Amatuer.
Qualified for the 2009 NBDCA Nationals in both Top Gun and Puppy classes
NBDCA Silver Champion at under 2 years of age!
