But I understand that it's hard to get a top breeder to sell you a show puppy if you aren't a proven owner/handler.
It's really hard. (This is why there was a ten-year lull between when we started showing Shelties and when we actually started doing some winning.) We learned a
lot during those ten years, but it was a long slog for sure (and I suspect that, if it hadn't been for my getting involved in Juniors, we would have given up on the conformation game entirely). Of course, Shelties aren't an easy breed - you can be sold a very promising show puppy that goes "off" and becomes a pet. There just aren't any guarantees.
At the same time, I can sympathize with the breeders... when you get a really nice puppy you aren't going to be eager to give it away, especially to someone who's just starting out. The dropout/burnout rate in dog shows is very high, and yes, it's hard to just turn over the conditioning/management of that promising puppy to someone just starting out. It takes a lot of trust.
I was lucky that Mark's breeders trusted my mom and I enough to let him be ours. He finished young, loved to show, and they didn't plan to special him, so a second career as a juniors dog was a good fit. I was even luckier that they gave us full control over his stud career (they certainly didn't have to let us use him), and it was by buying back his daughters that we were able to establish the family of dogs we have now. But by 1999, when it all fell into place for Mark to come home with me, my mother and I had been knocking around the Sheltie rings (and proving our determination) for a decade.
