When we first saw Spencer in the flesh as a 4 month old huge boned, plush coated puppy, we were absolutely thrilled with him. He was exactly what we had always hoped that we would get from his mother, Haley. Although not overly angulated (by US Specialty ring Standards) he was the what the standard describes in breed type and efficient movement.

Spencer's first major competition was at the NW Futurity/Maturity in 1993. At 10 months
old he was a handsome and smooth moving. Although it was apparent that he was still going through some awkward teenage stages, he easily won his large Junior Dog Class, our first 1st placing animal bred and owned by us at a U.S. Futurity. This was just the beginning of many "Firsts" for us!! :-)

We soon realized that it would be nearly impossible for us to do this dog's show career justice, as the amount of money needed to campaign a potential top winning animal was not in our budget. It was decided that we try to find a co-owner. Luckily for us, Scott Yergin knew of a person that would be interested in this dog. Hank Fujita (through Ann Mesdag) purchased a co-ownership in Spencer and agreed to finance his career, in September of 1993. Spencer was shown at the Canadian Nationals that year and was 1st Canadian Bred dog (at 13 1/2 months old) under Mr. Dave Rinke. His next stop was the 1993 US Nationals after which he was to go to Hawaii, Hank's Home. Upon entering the ring, we were just another dog in the ring. By the time the Open Dog class was over, Spencer had become a crowd favorite and an unknown 17 month old dog became "that 3rd Open Dog" that everyone was talking about. Spencer's trip to Hawaii postponed.

By this time, being the kind of dog he is, Spencer had developed a very strong bond with me. Of course the feeling was entirely mutual. Due to the fact that there were many more shows in the SE of the US and that Scott Yergin was based in Georgia, Hank decided that Spencer go to live with Scott and his wife Loren. In December of 1993, Spencer and I flew to Florida to 2 Specialty Shows. Spencer accumulated his 2nd Major Reserve (Peggy Lee) and his first Major (J. Don Jones) 

He was not shown again until March of 1994, where he quickly accumulated more points. In May of 1994 he had picked up all but a single point and it was decided that he come home to us to get him ready for his Canadian campaign. Needless to say, we were worried when we got him back as he had blown his coat in a big way. We put him back on our INFLIGHT COAT FORMULA, and his coat came right back in. He was shown at the GSDC of Oregon under Mr. Budd Drew where he not only got the last point he needed, but a BIG 5 POINTER in stiff NW competition. This was extremely satisfying to us as we had been given the gears by a number of the "locals" that Spencer was considered to be less than show quality to them! Next we went off to the Alberta Triangle Specialties and Maturity. Spencer accumulated 2 BIG 5 point wins, as well as, BEST IN MATURITY.

He stayed with us until I flew out to the 1994 Canadian Nationals. This Nationals made ALL the threats of Spencer being sent to Hawaii prematurely, all the sleeping in chairs and scrimping and saving to afford what I was told was not in Hank's Budget for showing Spencer, worth it. Spencer was awarded 1994 CAN. MATURITY VICTOR by Kathleen Steen on the Thursday and Chosen BEST OF BREED & Can. Grand Victor*, by Mary Vurma. (*This title was removed due to an technicality in an entry error. The error was caused by my inexperience in dealing with people and going against my own best judgement, since they had SO much more experience than I---this is the real truth, not what may be recorded in the history books).

Spencer went with Scott and Loren back to Georgia to be further conditioned for the 1994
US Nationals. The 1994 US Nationals saw us get our FIRST U.S. SELECT title as Spencer was awarded a prestigious SELECT #3 title by Mr. Ed Barritt, at the tender age of 27 1/2 months old, (with the exception of the Winners dog, the youngest Select that year). After the Nationals, the paperwork was completed and we signed off our ownership interest in Spencer, although we still retained breeding rights to him.

In March of 1995, I was asked to continue as Spencer's Canine Motivator and attended a few more shows with him. At this point, the fact that I continued with working with the new owners was mostly because I loved and missed the dog terribly, even though he lived only 4 hours away with the new co-owner, Ann Mesdag. Spencer finally went to be conditioned again with Scott Yergin.

Spencer was awarded the Highest Honor available to German Shepherd Dogs in AKC competition when he was awarded 1995 GSDCA Nationals BEST OF BREED & GRAND VICTOR by Dr. Carmen Battaglia. 

This was one of the happiest days to that point of Inflight German Shepherds.