dog show

If you have thought that you might like to get into dogs, but have not yet purchased your first one, allow us to give you a word of advice.  There are so many wonderful breeds, each with its own particular charm, that I’m sure you can find just the right breed for you.  However, decide on one whose size and temperament fit into your life.  Don’t get a Great Dane if you live in a tiny apartment, and don’t get a tiny dog if a high-pitched bark grates on your nerves.

Once you have decided which breed you want, please do some studying about what is right and what is wrong for a dog of that particular breed.  Read a book on your chosen breed, go to shows, watch the judging, talk to the breeders.  Be sure you don’t buy a dog which has a disqualification for his breed and, you will be ever so much happier in the show game if you at least start out with a dog which has no serious faults.  I cannot tell you here what the disqualifications or faults are, as there are more than one hundred breeds for you to choose from and each breed has its own particular faults.

When you are ready to buy, go to a reliable breeder and tell him that you intend to show.  A sincere breeder would not sell you an inferior animal if he knows it is to be shown.  Many people when they are buying a dog ask for “just a pet,” thinking they will get the animal cheaper. 

A good breeder wants his stock shown and does not want to be embarrassed by having a dog of his breeding with a serious fault show up at a show, and by the same token he does not want to sell a top dog to someone who will never show it, as for all practical purposes the dog would be lost to the show and breeding world.  He would rather sell you a good dog for less money if you promised it would be shown.  If he is a big breeder, he cannot possibly get all the dogs he raises to the shows under his own name, and he is always looking for someone to come along who is interested in showing.  He will not give the dog away, because experience has taught him that the dog receives better care if he has been purchased and he has a much better chance of actually getting into the show ring when the new owner has paid something for the dog.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Letting a dog get over-heated, as the owner is awaiting to show his dog ringside, is one of the big mistakes the novice exhibitor makes when he is attending a dog show.  He is never aware of it until it has been pointed out to him, and then it may be too late.  There have been novice exhibitors that stand at the ringside for an hour waiting to go into the ring, and in their efforts to keep the dog clean and dry they won’t allow the animal to curl up under a chair or in his own shadow, and before you know it the dog’s tongue is hanging out a mile.  He is panting and getting very restless, and by the time he goes into the ring, the poor dog “has had it.”  Notice the old-timers and the professionals in this respect.  Unless it is a cool day or at an indoor show, you will never see them standing in the hot sun with a dog about to go into the ring.  Just remember that in no breed is the expression of the dog enhanced when he is panting.

Now let’s get back to the big day.  You are ready to go to your first show.  Let us assume you have chosen one fairly close to home and will be starting out early the morning of the show.  You will have given the dog a bath either the day before or, with some breeds, a few days before the show.  Many exhibitors believe a very recent bath takes the natural oils and sheen out of the coat and makes it appear dull.  This is particularly true of black dogs.  Of course a white dog will have to be bathed just before a show in order to have him really clean.  Remember you may not have the best dog in the show, but you can always have the cleanest!  Nothing discourages a judge more in his examination of a dog than to have to touch or smell a dirty dog.  Incidentally, if you are showing a flat coated dog, pin a large towel around him after his bath and notice how it helps to lay the coat.

The night before the show you should get together all of the things you are taking with you.  While you are still a novice it won’t hurt to make out a written list and check it before you leave.  If the show is an outdoor one, regardless of weather reports or how the morning looks to you, take along a raincoat and rubbers or boots.  The show goes on regardless of the weather.  Even though the judging will be under a tent, you will have to go from either the benching tent or your car to the judging tent, and you may have to do it during rain.  If your dog is too big to pick up and carry under your raincoat, it would help if you took along something to throw over him on his way to the judging ring.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Assuming that you have entered your dog for a show, let’s hope you have investigated carefully, and that your dog has no disqualifications.  In certain breeds the Standard of the Breed (by which all judges are supposed to judge) lists certain faults as complete disqualifications.  In all breeds, cryptorchidism (male with no testicles) or monorchidism (males with one testicle) is cause for disqualification.  In some breeds an undershot mouth (under jaw protruding) will disqualify.  In some breeds an excess of the color white will disqualify.  As well as having no disqualification, it would be well if your dog had no faults listed as serious in the Standard of the Breed.  These are the reasons why you should so strongly know your breed before you buy the dog and before you start to show him.

It is also wise (almost necessary) that you have had your dog inoculated by a competent veterinarian, not only against distemper and hepatitis, but for any other diseases for which vaccines are available at the time you are ready to show.

One very necessary subject that you must learn something about but which I will not go into in this book is trimming.  Since practically every breed is trimmed differently - and of course some require no trimming - it is necessary that you know exactly what is done for your particular breed.

If you have studied your breed as carefully as you should have, you will begin to see that trimming may help conceal certain faults in your dog, or it may be used to emphasize his good points.  Watch other people in your breed trim their dogs.  Beg, if you must, permission to visit them when they are trimming.  If you own a long-haired but flat-coated dog, such as a Cocker or Setter, who is just a shade wide in the shoulders, you could be of much help with a very judicious use of thinning shears.  By removing some hair from underneath without interfering with the top hair, you will improve your dog at this faulty spot.  If your breed should be well-chiseled between the eyes, a few hairs plucked out with the fingers or stripping knife may help him a great deal.  The better you know your breed, the better you. will be able to trim your dog for the show ring.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Here is a typical rule pertaining to dog shows: Rules Applying to Registrations and Dog Shows states that dogs must be on their benches during the advertised hours of the show.  The reason for this rule is that if the dogs were not benched, the spectator who pays admission to the show would not be able to see the dog he is most interested in.  If each exhibitor copied the other and absented his dog from the bench, soon there would be no dogs on the benches at all. 

This rule works the biggest hardship on handlers because of the great number of dogs they take to shows, but they, too, must obey this rule else it would not be fair to the one-dog exhibitor.  His dog might be more tired from being benched than the handler’s when the two dogs met in the show ring.

Warnings, of course, are given offenders, but occasionally you run into a person who will not heed a warning.  If the offense is repeated, the individual is fined and the notice of such fine is printed in the Gazette. The fine is usually $25 for each offense (of the benching rule), with subsequent infractions dealt with in more severe manner.  In fairness to all, the rule must be obeyed. 

Here is another example of a rule: Section 9-B states that a dog’s color or marking may not be changed by the use of any substance.  Would you as a beginner consider it fair if one of your competitors, with great knowledge and ability, changed the markings on his dog from poor to good by the use of applied color and won over your dog whose markings were excellent without the artificial change?  A busy judge in a poor light may not notice the artificial change, and his placement would not be fair. 

In the past this rule was difficult to enforce, but there have been changes and now under this rule the judge shares the responsibility of altered color and since the penalties are high you will find practically no artificial changes being made today.  Years ago it was not uncommon to see a dog’s marking completely altered by the use of stove blackening or mascara.  The experienced “painter” had an unfair advantage over the novice in those days, but by the application of proper rules, this practice has been eliminated.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!