‘Dog Showing’ Category
Here are the things to take along which are considered necessities: the identification card and dog show ticket, a water pan (although you can always use the cardboard ones supplied by feed companies at most shows), a sponge and towel, a bench collar and bench chain or wire bench crate, a show lead, and finally, a comb and brush. If you use a tack crate (a crate with drawers), these very useful and necessary articles may be permanently stored in the drawers and will always be ready to go. If you do not use a tack crate, you will probably “latch on” to an old brief case or small overnight bag which will accompany you to shows, and these things can be stored in it and will always be ready to go.
Here are some things you can also take along if you wish: trimming tools, a bucket (if your water…
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Good advice for people who want to show their dog is to watch the good handlers in your breed. It is also wise of you to know your breed well. Here is one very good reason why this is important: A novice watches a good handler show a dog. He sees the handler place his hand on the dog’s rump, between the hipbones and the tail set. The handler makes sure the judge has seen him do this. The judge looks at the same spot on the other dogs in the class and gives the first prize to the handler of whom we’re speaking. The novice, if he doesn’t know why the handler acted as he did, mimics the handler when he shows his dog but with disastrous results. Why? The novice did not know he was pointing out a fault in his dog whereas the handler was pointing out…
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So finally you and your dog are ready to leave for the show with all of your equipment ready in the car. You should perhaps place a cover on the upholstery and some newspapers on the floor of the car if your dog has not been car broken. Don’t feed him or give him any water in the morning before the trip if he isn’t car broken. Incidentally, car breaking is something you can do long before you start to show a dog. Start when he is a puppy, with short rides daily. He will soon love it, and you will have no further trouble. Some dogs are wonderful riders and never have to be car-broken; Others never quite get used to riding. You are lucky if your dog is a natural rider.
Now is a good time to mention a few helpful hints about staying overnight with your dog when…
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Type: You will hear references to the “type” of a dog. This is a rather difficult expression to explain to a novice because first the novice must know that there are different types within a breed.
It is only after you know your breed thoroughly that you begin to realize that these different types exist. Also, to different people the word has different meanings. With some people, type means size or shape of body. They will say, “I do not like his type, he is too small and racy.” Here they are referring to size, and when they say “racy” they mean shape of body.
Usually a racy dog is one who is slight for the breed in question and also, in addition to being slight, the dog may have a top line which slopes rather more than usual for that breed. Then, again, you will hear, “I do not…
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Get: Around dogs the word “get” means offspring, children, or progeny. Special non-regular classes are sometimes offered at specialty shows called Stud Dog Class or Brood Bitch Class. The stud dog (or brood bitch) is entered in the class “to be shown with two of his “get”, the get only to count.
To explain this: three dogs are brought into the ring; one is the sire or stud dog, the other two are his get; or one is the brood bitch and the other two are her get. Since the two get need not be under a year old the word puppies is not used. They need not be male, so the word dog is not used. Get is the correct word. Incidentally, in the judging of either the Stud Dog or Brood Bitch Class only the two get are judged.
Pace: A pace is a gait or manner of…
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Professional handlers win many dog shows, and very frequently. How is that so? But just consider it a moment. They work at their jobs all day, every day, not just at weekend shows, as do most of the people who complain about how much winning is done by the professionals. There are hundreds of professional handlers who has gone from early-morning breakfast until nine or ten at night without any food because he or she was too busy to stop.
Yes, they really work at their jobs. Allow me to make you a prediction: given an equally good dog on which you spend as much time as do the professionals, and when you learn how to show a dog as well, you will win just as often as they do. Many a time you will see the top professional handlers placed last in a good class, with an amateur in…
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