Companion Dog Show - What goes on?

[HeatherAda]

Thinking of going to a local one on Sunday to enter a puppy class with my 7month old pup. I've spoken to the organiser who is very friendly and it seems very relaxed and just about enjoying yourself. Perfect!

So... if we go, what will we have to do? Sort of thought I should go and watch as a spectator but seeing as it seems a chilled event I really want to go and give it a try with Darcy. No idea what to expect though. Can anyone help?

Thinking of entering 6-12 Month Puppy and then poss Best Rescue and Prettiest Bitch

. Might just stick to the puppy class if the others look a bit too fancy.

Just to add, we are going to dog training and have just finished the basic puppy obedience stuff.

 

[Tinkerbee]

At any of the ones we went to, all we did was, walk around ring as group/in a line, then individual look over by judge and individual walk/run round ring

 

[Cop-Pop]

All the ones round here have been taken over by the 'Cruft's Brigade' and are full of back biting, bitching and an obscene amount of grooming. At my local one last year the best family dog was one by a show dog that lived in a cage/kennel in the breeders garden...

 

[HeatherAda]

Oh. that doesn't sound great... I hope this one is a bit more down to earth. One way to find out I suppose.

And thanks Tinkerbee. That helps

 

[Thistle]

We have a local companion dog show that is great fun and very friendly.

 

[HeatherAda]

Great. That's what I'm hoping for.

 

[severnmiles]

[ QUOTE ]
Great. That's what I'm hoping for.

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Don't let pro's put you off anyway. We were showing last Monday (bank holiday) and there were several pro handlers e.t.c one of the whippets had been to Crufts and Nero still won - beating them so just go along and have some fun

 

[MurphysMinder]

It really annoys me when people do that. I judged at an exemption show (now called companion shows) some years ago and a woman brought in a beautiful min poodle, and proceeded to tell me how many wins it had had at ch show level.

Luckily there was an equally lovely retriever, whose owner was a novice, which I put 1st. The woman with the poodle was not amused, but really why did she need to show it at that level - pure pot hunting.

 

[CorvusCorax]

ARGH! You just re-awakened a repressed memory...I judged my first breed match when I was about 22 and placed a very nice bitch with novice owner/handlers first in her round and ended up giving her reserve best in match.

The owner of the bitch she beat (been in the game for about 100 years, many different breeds) marched up to me afterwards and asked me why I had placed the novice bitch first.
I said "I didn't like your bitch's movement as much as the other bitch" (I didn't!) and she proceeded to list her own bitch's breeding and working qualifications, how she had placed by German judges and ended with "You'll never hand out CCs! (Challenge Certificates). I had to resist the urge to say "Good, because I don't want to deal with bitter old bints like you!"

It was a match. Not even a proper show. Ignore people like this, because it is attention they so desperately crave above all else.

 

[HeatherAda]

MurphysMinder and Hacking_Hack you both just made me laugh! Woohoo for the novices. Oh and well done to Nero too... bet that was satisfying.

I'm going purely for the fun of it. Something new I can do with the pup and another way to socialise her and get her exposed to a new situation. However if someone is declared as a prettier bitch can I object ?!?!

A woman from my training club is into showing and has very kindly offered to look after us while we're there. Should be a really good day.