The Art of showing dogs? Well it takes alot of time, work, money, dog food, money, grooming, money, traveling, money, and training, money. And of course running a business and raising four kids in their teens and pre teens. I, Robert Canine started out with a German Shepherd Dog, that was given to me by a friend?, of mine. He was showing in obedience shows and so I got interested. After getting the first title on my "Tammy's Misty Mistake", I found that she was from poor breeding and the comments that I got at the shows about the size and breeding of my dog, I decided to go into really pure bread German Shepherds. Not back yard breeding.

I started buying puppies and showing them, to give them experience for future rewards. (You do not make money, showing dogs, unless you are a professional). I had the opportunity to get a Champion German Shephard for my breeding purposes. He was co-owned by myself and Bill Burgraff, who is now a judge. "Alko,and a bitch that I owned had some puppies that I kept to show and sold the rest to others. Well my wife was also interested in showing, so we started breeding, "Shetland Sheepdogs", and Shirley also started obedience with one of her Shelties called, "Katy", which is a long story. Plus taking care of all the kids at home and at the shows. At one time we had 30 dogs on hand.

In the spring we had alot of litters and one of my German Shepherds had 12 puppies. Well we went to shows every weekend all over the mid-west. Sometimes 3 day shows. We showed our dogs in the conformation ring and I showed "Misty" in the obedience ring and Shirley showed her, "Katy" also.

We lived in a pick-up camper while on the road with the dogs and kids. We then got a trailer, so that we would have more room. At one time we belonged to the following dog clubs: The Obedience Club, The German Shepherd Dog Club, the Kennel Club, The Shetland Sheepdog club. I at one time was the President of the German Shepherd dog club and newsletter editor under a ghost name, "Robert k-9". lol

We used to train many dogs with the obedience club. We showed all year long in Iowa and all surrounding states, almost every weekend and sometime three day weekends. Weather did not make any difference sometimes. You had to work your obedience dog or bitch under any conditions. I have many a story on showing dogs and obedience shows, but there is not enough time and room on this site.

My German Shepherd Dog, "Tammy's Misty Mistake, (Misty)", earned her CD, CDX, and UTILITY title. She earned her last two titles in one year, which not many have done, and I would not recommend it to anyone else. In 1967, she was ranked 9th in the United States in high scores. She died of Cancer of the blood, about one year after receiving her titles. That was a heart breaker.

Champion Alko Von Ala Haus (Alko), won many Best of Breeds and sired many a litter and finally died from heat stroke in his shaded run at home. That Iowa heat will kill anyone.

Champion Merrylon's Merrit O'Marjoy (Teddy Bear)won many Best of Breeds and sired many a litter.

I will be adding more pictures of our dogs as we go along.