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My name is Kara Althoff. I am 11 years old and I love the Shiloh Shepherd. My mom breeds and trains Shiloh shepherds. She has been showing them for 9 years. At first, I was not old enough to travel with her to the shows. This year my mom has allowed me to travel to all the shows with her, and I am now the one that goes into the show ring with our puppies.
I have two male puppies that I show. Our dog Skye had a litter and my mom got these puppies from two of her co-ownerships with them. Luke is our smooth dual boy. He is almost 6 months old. He is very calm and sweet. Max is our big plush gray sable male; he is goofy and licks everyone. People call him “Baby Huey”. He is almost 8 months old. I have always wanted to show the dogs but I couldn’t until I got older. Now that I am older, I can show them. When I first went into the show ring I felt a great freedom doing it by myself, without my mother telling me anything, at the same time, I was nervous because there were all grown ups and professional handlers that I was facing. My first show was in Harrisburg at the Pawsibilities show. Suzy Graham, a professional handler helped me learn how to turn the dogs, move them and stack them. Thank-you Suzy. I came in second with Max in my class. It was really exciting to win my first ribbon. The Shiloh people came up after I came out of the ring and told me what a good job I did with Max. That made me feel very good, and made me want to show again. I then went to the Punxsutawney show. I really liked staying in the hotels. This is the first place that I have ever won trophies and big rosette ribbons. When I got home, I showed them to everyone. I won three trophies, 6 rosettes and 4 bookmarks. They are all hanging on my wall and displayed on my desk. Everyone at that show was helpful and kind to me. I learned a lot from everyone. When I get older, I hope that I can become a professional handler and work with other Shiloh’s or other breeds as well as my own dogs. For now, I am having fun with Max and Luke and everyone at the shows. I want to thank everyone for helping me, encouraging me and being so kind to me. I love the Shiloh people and their dogs.
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information and photographs ©2006-2008 Becky Althoff, Catoctin Shilohs
graphics & design layout ©2006-2008 Jacki Wilde, Creative Office Solutions
updated: March 10, 2008