Personal Narrative: My Life As A Dog

It was my eleventh birthday. I was competing in my first regional dog show at the Greensboro Coliseum and hadn’t expected to win anything. Remarkably, the day before I had secured a promising second place ribbon. That had been my first time in the show ring and I was happy just not to have walked out in shame. It was only the Junior Competition which is much more about practice for the adult ring than about the quality of the dogs. But to me, it was an exciting mix of every breed of dog imaginable and a group of true dog lovers. Everywhere I looked there were dogs being groomed, dogs yapping at other dogs, and owners and handlers hurriedly checking schedules and completing last minute details. Rikki Tikki Tavi, my black, white, and tan long-coat Chihuahua was my first show dog and the sweetest little guy. He always loved to cuddle me and would get so excited to see me that he would hyperventilate. I never planned to attend, let alone compete, in dog shows. I hadn’t even owned a dog before! So when my Great-aunt Margaret …show more content…
By the look on Rikki’s face I could see he would give it his all and believed in me. I wasn’t so confident. We took our place in between the whippet and a beautiful golden long-coat dachshund called Moonbeam, and as I knelt down on the plastic padded concrete, I thought of all the other juniors in the ring with me. I knew most of the other juniors grew up at dog shows. Their parents raised, trained, and showed dogs, so they were familiar with all aspects of the show dog world. I, on the other hand, was a novice at this. Dog showing was an unfamiliar world. The rules, lingo, posturing and grooming were all foreign to me. Just seeing the dozens of people and hundreds of dogs was both overwhelming and exhilarating. Man, was I out of my league! My attention shifted back to the present as the judge spoke to us for the first