It was the 8th of Aug 1991 when I first stepped into the show ring with my own GSD. Eifionydd show in Porthmadog always fell on a Thursday and Blade was 6 Months and 1 day. I had waited what seemed like a lifetime for him, I'd read the books, I'd watched the judging, I'd been to Ring Craft to learn the craft of showing, I'd done the Obedience instructor's course ... and now here I was, finally in the ring with my GSD, my Blade. He was just 6 months old and in MPD, I remember now that my mouth was so dry I could hardly speak ... and my hands were shaking like a leaf. Blade was leggy, hocky, out of proportion and had an overshot jaw ... but to me he was perfect. (The jaw by the way was correct at 8 weeks and again had corrected itself by the time he was 18 months.) On the day Blade was second under breed specialist Frank Crossley, he said "he just needed to fill his frame, " and I was hooked.
As soon as I got home I rang his breeder, Carol White, she was overjoyed for me and as I chatted with her Blade ripped up his first precious rosette. I was gutted, but I managed to glue it back together! What? Blue? I want red he said, and my god he went on to red, lots and lots of red. That awkward, large, ungainly 6 month old pup would change the path of my life forever. By 18 months old he was taking BOB's under breed judges and all-rounders .. and to be honest Blade fulfilled my dreams as he just got better as he got older.
Knowing what I know now I would never have gone to this kennel to buy this dog, but bloody hell I'm glad that I did. Blade got my foot in over the door of breed showing, through him I met Nikki's breeder and Blanik was soon to begin. Blade won obedience competitions here and in Ireland, we tampered with tracking (Or man trailing as it's now called) we did Schutzhund, we played at agility and regularly got called up for Welsh TV acting work. Blade may have lacked the huge coat of some of the show dogs, but his presence and attitude coupled with his super movement always got him noticed. Much to the outrage of some, at open shows he became hard to beat!
My first GSD, Laecor Mikhail, Blade, won Best of Breeds, Obedience Competitions, Best In Shows and Qualified for Crufts, but more than anything he won my heart and proved to me that this was the only breed for me.
