February 4 and 5, 1989
Cow Palace
San Francisco, CA
This photo was taken at the Bench at the Cow Palace.
I don't know who the kids are.
They came by to visit with Chessie.
Pat Cook with Zebadee
That show was the Golden Gate Kennel Dog Show, the massive two day benched show in Daly City at the Cow Palace. This was truly a dream come true for me to show there with a great dog, even a "pit bull." I had been going to this show as a spectator ever since my parents would let me go alone, which was probably around eighth grade. They would drive me there, drop me off, I would spend the whole day there and then I would call at the end of the day and they would pick me up. Eventually I rode the bus there and once I even drove the car once I had my license!
I benched with Pat Cook with her dog training company, Companion Dog Training. There were several dogs there in the same bench.
The big news of the weekend was that Chessie was the only dog who qualified in her class and she won first place! Every other dog did not qualify for one little reason or another and there also was a huge storm that weekend and many dogs could make it through the mountains into CA. I remember Pat Cook just staring at me outside the ring in disbelief as we figured out what was happening. Not only were we in first, but it was with a pit bull. Now this was around 1985 and there were many things going on the try to ban pit bulls from the state.
Other dogs from Pat's group did well also. It was a memorable weekend.
