Trip to dog show fulfills Georgia girl's dream
This story is so sweet it made me cry when I read it. Savannah and her family will be at the show the weekend of December 2, but it won't be televised until early February. I hope they show her on TV then. I would love to see an interview with her. Too bad that her dog Kimo isn't going with them. It seems like he deserves to be there, too.
Savannah is, thankfully, cancer-free now. That's just amazing. Who knows? With her love for dogs and dog shows, maybe she will grow up to show dogs. I love it when dreams come true.
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Leslea Colquitt / Special
Savannah Colquitt got her Labrador-hound mix, Kimo, as a reward for getting through her chemotherapy treatment. Now she's off to the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship dog show.
PET DISH / SANDRA ECKSTEIN, seckstein@ajc.com
Trip to dog show fulfills Georgia girl's dream
Published on: 11/25/07
More than 50 dogs from Georgia are scheduled to head to California this week for the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship dog show Saturday and Dec. 2. And they'll have a very special guest from Georgia joining them — Savannah Colquitt of Thomasville.
Savannah, 9, was diagnosed in August 2006 with a malignant, mixed-germ brain cell tumor. The social workers at her hospital put the family in touch with Dreams Come True, a group that grants wishes to severely ill children in northern Florida and southern Georgia.
Savannah Colquitt got her Labrador-hound mix, Kimo, as a reward for getting through her chemotherapy treatment. Now she's off to the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship dog show.
For Savannah, who underwent six cycles of chemotherapy, brain surgery last December and cranio-spinal radiation, the decision was easy. She wanted to go to a dog show. But not just any dog show. She wanted to go to the AKC/Eukanuba show in Long Beach, Calif.
"She just loves dogs and she loves watching this dog show, she watches it all the time on Animal Planet," said Leslea Colquitt, Savannah's mom. "She said she didn't want to go to a dog show, she wanted to go to that dog show."
So Dreams Come True contacted the American Kennel Club and Eukanuba, the show sponsors, and asked for their help. Now Savannah, her mom, dad JD and sister Alexis, 4, are headed west on Friday for five days and four nights. Savannah will get a behind-the-scenes look at the event, VIP show seats, dinner with AKC officials and has even been invited to the after-show parties, although because those start at midnight, Leslea Colquitt said they probably will pass.
The show is one of the biggest in dogdom thanks to large prize money and repeated showings on Animal Planet. This year's competition will air Feb. 2 on Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel. The best in show winner takes home $50,000, while others can win up to $15,000. Most dog shows award only ribbons or token prizes, but the AKC/Eukanuba show quickly grew in prestige thanks to $225,000 in total prize money.
"It's the only show that has any kind of big money attached to it," said Kathleen Steen, an AKC judge from Alpharetta who will be judging the working group this year, her third trip to the event.
All the dogs showing at the event must be champions, and the prize money ensures that most of the top dogs in the country come. The show had 2,444 dogs signed up to compete, as well as 470 competing in the AKC Agility Invitational and 95 in the AKC National Obedience Invitational, according to Daisy Okas with the AKC. They've also added the Eukanuba World Challenge this year, with dogs from 40 countries competing for a $10,000 prize.
The show also has a Meet the Breeds event where members from the AKC breed clubs set up booths spotlighting their type of dog. Savannah will be judging the booths, which Leslea Colquitt said also has her very excited.
But one dog that won't be at the event is the puppy the Colquitt family adopted after finding out Savannah had cancer.
"She's loved dogs since she was itty bitty, and she always begged us for a dog but we just didn't have the room," said her mom. "But we promised her if she got through her chemo, we'd get her a dog."
They'd planned on a little dog because they live in an apartment, but a co-worker had found three puppies, so they agreed to adopt one.
The Labrador-hound mix tops out at about 80 pounds, but Savannah, who in March was declared cancer free, just loves him, Leslea Colquitt said. And her name for him? Kimo.
"She spells it different, but it means chemo," Leslea said. "We half jokingly say he's the worst thing that came out of the cancer."
