Dog Showing - Page 1

Hey Everyone!

There is a dog show coming to my area and I was thinking about showing my female. There a few questions I have. First my girl is perfect to me however she got in a scuffle with a female and the tip of her ear was ripped and the vet had to stitch it up so now her ear is a marred can my girl still be shown or will they disqualify her for that. I will attach a picture. Also neither she nor I have ever participated in a show she is three years old so I would enter her in the "dogs with no titles" category should I still just give it a try? Here is a link to her pedigree: http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/480324.html Just give me your honest thoughts! Thanks

 If you want to do it, and especially if you can keep any results in perspective and not let a negative ruin your life, sure, do it. The ear will certainly be noted and you should simply say that the ear was injured. Having a good time, learning something perhaps, should be the goal. In the end, who cares what someone says about your dog? You will continue to love it the same as you always have I suspect. IF you are going to do it, make sure the dog is proper weight, and if you can get someone to help show you how to stack the dog and how to run with the dog, even better. If it is an AKC show, the requirements and what they will be looking for will be different than if it is a German style conformation show.

Good luck.

You say you have never done any showing?  Have you trained your girl and is she ring ready? a judge will be very upset (some judges will yell at you) if your dog is not ring ready.  I would suggest that you get her ring ready before you show her.

Jessica
GSDBrisko@aol.com

If you are interested in German conformation I say Go for it!  I don't know so much about AKC conformation.  I'm thinking they would gate her for the ear.  In German conformation the judge will ask you about it.  Your girl looks a little heavy in the pic so you will want to cut her back on feed and increase her exercise to make sure she is fit. 

What we mean by ring ready is, can you get her to trot out in front of you pulling on the lead and driving hard to pull you along?  You need to be in good shape to show her like this or have someone else do it for you.  I chose to let someone else show my girl and it worked out well.  The dog will be looking for you, ignoring the person on the other end of the leash and show nicely this way.  I agonized over my choice until I saw how awesome my girl looked moving around the ring.  If you can get someone to run in front of you with say a ball, teasing your dog and you run along behind giving the command "trot" you will accomplish this.  I also used a long line and had my girl trot around me in a large circle counter clockwise while I said 'trot".  I would correct her with a snap on the lead if she galloped instead.  It seemed to help her understand what I wanted from her so that when someone else was running with her she could hear me giving the command and comply.

You also need to teach her to stack and stay put.  I used treats to reward her so now my dog will hold a pose for me even if I walk away.  She needs to know that when you place her and say "stack" she isn't to move.  She also needs to be used to someone running their hands over her and letting you open her mouth so the judge can see her teeth.  Have your friends or better yet, strangers (to the dog) come up when you have her stacked and run their hands down her back and you show them her teeth.  Have them open her mouth and view the teeth themselves too.  Some judges will do this rather than have you do it.   I told my girl to "smile" to get her to cooperate with the teeth exam.  She really doesn't like having her mouth messed with but learned to smile for a treat. 

If you choose to have someone else show her for you, you will need to be close by when the judge is looking her over in case he asks any questions which in your case he will be wanting to know about that ear.  Plus you want to be up close to hear what he has to say about your dog and where he places her with the other dogs.

I would recommend you have someone take a picture of her stacked and post it on here asking for a critique.  You will get an idea what to expect to hear from the judge when you are in the ring.  Just ask for an honest critique and don't let your feelings get hurt and don't let a bad one discourage you.  Most who will respond will do their best to give you what you need to hear, good and bad. 

Go for it, enjoy yourself and good luck!
Deb

What type of show is it?  I assume an SV type show since you're talking about the "open class" (24mos, no title).

I show my male in UKC (we are showing 4 times this weekend!).  Last show he was in he was beat by a female that was missing a little piece of her ear.  I think it was also from a scuffle.  And actually the bitch won best in show and then reserve best in show for the second show!

I would say, go for it!  You could always bring along the vet receipt from the injury.  It may not matter, may not be accepted, but you can still have fun.

I saw a male dog with no hair on his tail in the working class at the North American Sieger Show once.