I have just returned from my first trip abroad, while it was exciting –and being only 14yrs after I convinced mum I was mature enough to travel alone it presented a few hiccups along the way. Learning that I was under age to enter Canada alone, that I shouldn’t upset immigration officers even if they do ring mum at 3.00am (Melbourne time) and of course how to change terminals and read timetables. With 4 change overs in 3 countries- I was a seasoned traveller by the trip home  

I landed in Toronto at 10pm due to immigration problems and after many phone calls back to Oz and to my hostess I finally met up with Christina and her daughter Nikki they drove a SVU (I’m a Ford lover) and as rare as they are here, they are very, very common in Canada as I soon learnt.

We arrived at Linda and Link's place in Eldorado, Ontario at 12.00am, after discussing all my troubles to get there and some Aussie questions I was off to bed at 2.am. Linda and Link's is the home of Baby Blue Neapolitan Mastiffs, AKC Champions, CKC Champions, CFC Champions, CMA and CD Champions. Being woken up at 12.pm I was one cross lady as I hadn’t had full beauty sleep and I realized how bad jetlag really was. I had a few days to recover before my first set of dog shows, which gave me a chance to see new born puppies and some of Linda’s Neo’s- Freddie, Barbie, Madrid and Candy up close .

Thursday I washed Barbie, the female that I was showing in the weekend shows, and blow dried her. Very weird experience blow drying a neo. Friday, Linda, Link and I went to Peterborough show on the Friday to say g’day to people and tell me how their shows work. I met Linda’s handler, Dianne and Thomas Curly ,they soon taught me a lot of useful handling and grooming tips throughout the month. Went home and got ready for the show but this time I had thousands of butterflies hehe. We had 1hour of travelling as we showed at 9.00am. They have a timetable for when each breed goes on not like Oz. Once in the ring my butterflies left, and I settled down into my own routine.

Every weekend consist of 4 shows. I had chosen to stay with the professional handlers in their caravan which was set up to hold dogs as no one had dog trailers and no one knew what they were. The dogs that were under my care (but there were many more in the van) and that I had to groom and make sure they were at the rings were 2 Norwegian Elkhounds, 2 Samoyeds, 2 Neapolitan Mastiffs, 1 Labrador, 1 Siberian Husky, 3 Black Russian Terries and 1 Bouvier Des Flandres.

Next weekend was Woodstock for 3 regular shows, plus 4 rare breed shows as well as 3 specialties shows. Can you possibly fit any more shows in over 3 days? I went with Tomas and Dianne Curly, professional handlers that have been in the sport for over 20 years. We took with us Bouvier, 2 Standard Schnauzers, 3 Pekinese, 1 Wire Dachshund, 1 toy Poodle, 1 Miniature Poodle and 3 Norwegian Elkhounds and 3 Black Russians Terriers although we had some high and lows in the ring -the high was when Dianne and I left Tom and us girls went shopping-funny where you can pull up extra energy from at important time like that.   

Limestone Kennel Club (26, 27, 28, 29 July) was my last lot of shows and my most successful. I groomed two Samoyed’s all weekend and on the Sunday I took the 12months old male in the specialty’s sweepstakes. I had my division to go in and won. All the winners of their division had to go in for overall sweepstakes winner and I won. I beat about 20-25 Samoyed’s and I had one of the youngest contestants. I had competed in the junior handlers and there are 6 divisions and I was in ‘intermediate novice’. The winners of all the divisions compete against each other to get the ‘best overall junior handler.’ I had one the best overall handler and it was a big thing for me as there were about 30 handlers entered.

One of my most memorable part’s of this whole trip was when Linda and I saw a kennel block on a near by property on fire. Although  there was RSPCA workers and 5 fire trucks we were the only people that didn’t hesitate to jump into pens and pull dogs out. As you could image, most dogs put under those conditions are scared and quite aggressive, but that was the last thing on my mind. Although we saved over 25 dogs, sadly a litter died as well as 2 older dogs.

Canada country side is very very green and lush everywhere. There are a lot of lakes and dams around and in every one of these waters ways you can spot a beaver hut. Everywhere you looked you could see an Eagle circling something, as long as it wasn’t me or the puppies I was happy. Canada doesn’t include tax on items on the shelf but they add it on at the register, so I would always have the correct money out and then I would go to pay for it and it wouldn’t be enough grrrr. They also make you pack your own grocery’s in bags, they says it’s because of the low prices, sure it was. While shopping for your grocery’s you could learn French as everything has to have both French and English on it. It’s great but confusing. 16 lanes in one direction of hwy in the city is something I don’t think I could ever get used to seeing-I am glad I am too young to drive on it!! Poutine is a Canadian food and it is deep fried chips with gravy and cheese melted over the top. I had this disgustingly fatty food quite a lot within the month.

Shops are the same, quality of objects are the same, people are the same…Oz and Canada are real similar that’s probably why I enjoyed my visit so well. For me to go over by myself to understand and learn about handling was the best experience I could ever get and I'd push a lot more youngsters to do it.