Tate - Under Construction
The reason this page has stayed under construction for so long is because it is painful for
me to re-live what happened to my first "homegrown" show dog. I assure however that I
will put this to pen. My hope is that you as past customers and/or future customers will
understand why I feel crate training gives comfort of security to both you and your dog.

Now after many many months of the above paragraph, I may be able to write to you about
Tate. If you read the previous tab concerning Tazz and Cagney, then you will then know
that they produced my first show dog. She was a flashy fawn bitch and her name was
Tate. At the time I thought I would name them all T-names. Obviously that has changed
and I'm using a different method. Anyway, Tate, Cagney, and Tazz along with my Aussie
(Tina), and two Italian Greyhounds were living happily. I had bred Tazz and Cagney
unknowingly as a future avid show dog person. This was back in 1995! I didn't even own
Cagney yet, but met a friend whose father was President of the Tarheel Boxer Club. So we
bred and I had a great litter considering what I had to work with on my side!

As I was placing the puppies (yes I placed an ad in the paper and everything); a couple
came to see me because the ad I placed had the kennel name Champion EWO bloodline.
If you don't know EWO stands for, it's Earl W. Overstreed. One of the best exhibitors and
breeders of this time. He showed CH Heldebrand's Jet Breaker who won the 1990
American Boxer Club National Specialty. If you look back on my dogs, they will all go
back to these dogs. As I was saying, because this couple had seen the EWO in the paper,
they were somewhat shocked that someone with this bloodline would have a litter listed
in the paper. Crap, I didn't know any better! So they came to see me and talk to me. Not
about purchasing one of my pups, but about what I was interested in as far as showing a
dog. I had to answer honestly, I didn't know. I knew that -- well, I knew nothing. This  
couple showed me pictures of their dogs, they picked Tate out as the "pick," which I had
already done, then left. I have never heard from them to this day.

There went the bug. It was there, and I if you know me, I don't give up easily. I placed
those pups, and kept Tate. I learned that I didn't need to place ads in newspapers if I
would go to shows and get into that arena. WOW, I just didn't know. So, as time went on,
Tate grew into a really beautiful bitch. I was interested in showing the couple that visited
me said the local club was the Piedmont Kennel Club and I could take "Conformation
Classes," there for me and for Tate. When Tate was about a year old, Hank Richardson
(president of Tarheel Boxer Club) decided he was getting out of the dog business. I had in
the past told Hank that I LOVED Cagney, and if he was to ever place him, to please let me
know. Well, that time came when Hank had decided he didn't want to run in this rat race
any more. That's when I ended up paying a King's Ransom for Cagney -- and he was
worth every penny. My mother and I brought a freshly bathed, extremely shedding, 80
pound Boxer in the back seat of a 1990 Corolla in which Cagney had probably never even
been on a car ride. He stood in the back seat the entire time! My mother sat back there
with him to try to calm him, but it was hair, slobber, standing, unrelaxed nervousness --
and that was my MOM!!!!!!

I asked Hank about showing Cagney, and he didn't seem to think that Cagney had what
it would take because of his size. He was 80 pounds and the going weight was about 70
pounds. Hank told me to take both Tate and Cagney to Earl Overstreet at a show and
show him the dogs and see what his opinion was, then go from there.

Back to Tate - She had a fault with her bite and her upper lip would get caught on her
bottom k-9 tooth. I had to be able to hide this in the ring. So after taking conformation
classes with both Cagney and Tate and prepared myself as best I could for that day.

In December I went to the Winston-Salem shows that occur each year the first weekend of
December. It was cold and unbelievably blistery for North Carolina. We get cold, but man!
While at that show I was taking pictures of Boxers and trying my best without being
prejudice how the dogs in the ring looked. After that show, I had definitely been bit. I
continued working with Cagney and Tate with a determination of at least trying.

The first show I went to was in Greenville, SC. My mother rode with me to the show. I had
both Tate, Cagney, my mom and my new diet that didn't allow bread on board! Crazy. We
left about 6:00 a.m. because Boxers are always shown early and drove the Palmetto
Complex in Greenville. When I drove up I was shocked to see there were no vans, no other
dogs, no -- well anything. I drove up to the front and asked a complex employee about the
dog show and she said that she thought it was NEXT WEEKEND!!! Could I get off on a
better start. I had followed the directions and made it to the site in exact timing and now I
still had to drive home and back the next weekend. Thank goodness my mom was still up
for it!!!!

I took my dogs to the show the next weekend. Cagney drug me around the ring as any
first time exhibitor should be drug, and Tate was just easy Tate. She fed off my nervous
energy. Neither placed and that was fine. We had shows in Raleigh that were coming up
soon and we would knew we would do better each time. We had to pay our dues.