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The first time I laid eyes on Bentley, he was 4 months old and came into my grooming shop for show grooming. I groomed another 4 month old Giant Schnauzer for this same man about 6 months before so I asked him where Cisco was? He said that Cisco was too much dog for him and his wife and kids so they returned him to the breeder and she sent him Bentley(He called him eddie).
Bentley was an absolute joy to groom,,,,stood there on the table like a dream and let me do whatever I wanted with him. The kind of dog that is on every groomers wish list...LOL...after that initial grooming I never saw him again until the day I recieved a phone call 4 1/2 months later from the humane society director
(whose poodle I groom) asked me what I knew about Giant Schnauzer? WELL....I told her I would be there in 5 minutes to get him(not really knowing if it was the same dog or not...but there was a high probability because there are only one or 2 in the area).
I BROKE ALL LAND SPEED RECORDS GETTING TO THE FACILITY!!!I asked to see the papers the guy had filled out relinquishing all rights to the dog and she made a copy of them for me for my records...yes it was the same dog..although the man gave a false first name and phone #...she hadn't entered him in the facility books yet so technically he wasn't there..soooooo I went to go get my rescue.
Expecting to see a nearly one year old bulky male giant schnauzer...I was really heartsick when I was enthusiastically greeted by a 51 lb ematiated matted, stinky, bag of bones.Needless to say, I was so mad I was crying and this dog on the end of my lead was licking the tears as fast as they were coming out of my eyes.
Bentley was so emaciated you could see evey bone in his head...you could actually stick your fist in the holes behind his shoulder blades. But despite everything this dog went through, his attitude was one of pure happiness and puppy antics. I took him to the van which I left with the back door up and a crate door open. when we got to the van he immediatly jumped in and layed down as if he was saying I'm where I belong.
First place I took him was to the grooming shop. Gave him a good haircut brushed out his furnishings and gave him 3 BATHS (took that many to get the smell off of him) Found his tatoo # on the inside of his leg and copied the #'s down. He was drinking water like there was no tomorrow and after walking him found out that he had diarhea so bad that it was shooting a 3 ft stream out behind him. SOOOOOOO off to the vets we go!!!!!
At the vets he was a perfect gentleman... first thing on the agenda was the microchip...then the physical and blood work,stool checks...come to find out that he had hook worms so bad it took three rounds of wormer,enteritis drugs,yogurt and buttermilk...and a month to get the diarhea under control. he stayed at a friends kennel(I didn't want to put my male wire with a adult intact male right then)...needless to say the vet bills were astounding...but thats ok...he finally started putting on a bit of weight.
Since I knew the kennel he came from I called them with his tatoo number and they told me exactly who he was and who the sire and dam were and then gave me his litter number.....I then turned around and called AKC and they told me he had not been permanently registered. So I then called the breeder who sent me a duplicate blue slip(which she got from AKC)and had him permanently registered in my name....(WHEW!!!!!)
The rescue started in may of that year....by july we had a few more weight fluctuations. I took the wires to the Tampa shows as I do every year in july(mainly to visit my sisters family) but to show too.My neice was showing one of my toy poodles in juniors that year when we had some free time so we walked over to the giant schnauzer ring to observe the judging...I mentioned to her that I had just rescued one and that I was thinking about showing him if I could get his health and weight back up to normal(if there wasn't any permanent damage done)...but that with my male wirehair(a bit testy with other males) I was also contemplating sending him back to the breeder.
Well my lovely niece Tricia told her dad about him and both of them came to the show grounds to look at the GS ring. Tricia was trying her hardest to talk her dad into getting him. They talked to some owners with GS's there to find out the pro's and cons of the breed (he does alot of research before he does anything...LOL)Then he came to me to talk to me about getting him....GEEZ!!!! I JUST KNEW MY SISTER WOULD KILL ME!!!!!!
They have a male afghan hound that they have had for years and they have white carpet throughout the house(I know...I know...I wouldn't buy a house with white carpet either!!!...LOL)I told them that they had to convince Jean before I would do anything...and believe me I tried every way I could to talk them out of it.....But they were determined!!!! A month later they approached me to get the dog...Jean still had reservations about it but caved in under pressure.
I told them I had only 2 stipulations to put on him and that was my name stayed on his papers as co-owner and that if he got his weight up and stayed in shape coat wise that I would show him. They thought that was reasonable enough so now to get him to tampa.
They met me half way to pick him up....but when they saw him were totally apalled that anyone could let a dog get into that kind of state....They took him back home with them and took him back to the vets for more bloodwork and stool samples....seems like we didn't get all the hooks cleared up so he was in for another round of wormings.
He started to slowly put on weight,and with several trips down to tampa for me ,his coat was coming into shape.....By January I entered him in the tampa cluster of dog shows....he was still quite a bit underweight ...but he was just a year old so I figured the judges could be a bit forgiving.His first weekend out in the ring was a challenge for me...I had a male GWP and a male GS to show....It had stormed the night before the show and the grounds were so muddy..it was sucking the shoes off your feet!!!I also had the luck the first day to show these 2 males almost at the same time(I wasn't laughing at the time).Off to the rings the 3 of us went!!!!
By the time I got all 3 of us to the wirehair ring my shoes were caked in mud and I had a GS footprint on my red skirt(both dogs were only 12 months old at the time and very excited).I had to get someone at ringside to hold Bentley while I showed Tucker(Thanks evelyn for your patience) because this boy was being a definate handful. He did not want me to get out of his site,and wanted to run with Tucker and I in the ring.Tucker took winners dog and best of winners.....soooo off to the GS ring!!!
By the time I made it to the GS ring I had 3 more muddy foot prints on my nice red suit (GRRRRRRRR) and now had to find someone to hold Tucker while I tried to get the mud off of Bentlys rear where he had sat down at the wire ring(AAAGGHHH)
Needless to say I was a bit of a basket case by then. When Bentley entered the ring it was like he knew his job...he was the perfect gentleman. Well I can't say that about the wirehair on the outside of the ring that was "singing" to me!!!howling, talking.....etc. Mrs. Forsyth was a bit miffed with the wire....I apologized and she went on to give Bentley Winners and best of winners for his first 2 points.
Bentley went on to get all of his single points in one weekend ..because the majors kept breaking. But that was ok with us the ribbons said it all...he was on his way!!!
There was one more pic from that week end but I looked so bad I decided against putting it up.....LOL...Needless to say the whole family was proud of their dog. Now comes the hard part.....THE MAJORS!!!! and FINDING THEM!!!!
In the meantime I took him to grooming competitions where we did very well...we did part of the Georgia show circuit and most of the time he was either the only giant entered or there was only one or two there and everyone needed majors....so off to louisville we went!
Well the first trip to louisville was a disaster( to say the least)he played rodeo in the ring...bucking and jumping ( I think we disgusted one judge really bad...LOL)After that fiasco I entered him in a few more shows for the experience (we took breed with no competition).so now the only thing to do was wait for the july cluster back in Tampa.
In July the majors kept breaking(we were counting dogs ringside for four days)he took breed that weekend too(with competition)
It wasn't until the following January in Tampa that we found our majors...Bentley took it the first day(cross over from the females who had the major)
