Dog show. Day 3. FINALLY

The Greeters

Well yesterday was the LAST day of the marathon.  Elroy went for Meet the Breed and met his adoring public.  He sat on the grooming table, licked faces, took treats and posed for photos. 

And when his time was up, he was READY to go.  He came home and we ALL crashed for the afternoon.  Dog shows are tiring business.  And after spending time there, I have made my own observations about them.  The  humans who come to dog shows represent their OWN variety of breeds...

 You have the owner handlers.  These are like my human.  They don't or haven't yet bred any dogs - but they just like getting out with their dogs and showing them for fun.  They still get excited by ANY ribbon they get and they still keep them all.  Then a step above that is the owner handler who HAS bred dogs.  I guess we can call them breeders.  These are the folks who like to get out with their dogs and basically are showing the efforts of their breeding.  They still like getting the points and finishing champions, but they really aim for the bigger ribbons.  Mind you - I guess EVERYBODY aims for the REALLY big ribbons.  Some of these folks go to shows quite frequently.  They are the people who have stamina.  And they know the drill well.  They know the judges.  And which judges they like.  And judges they don't like.  And they know which judges will like their dogs and which ones would sooner give the ribbon to a cat than give it to them.  Let's face it.  Judges began like my human once upon a time (owning a certain breed), then went on to becoming breeders  and they eventually became judges.  And of course, even though they have to learn about ALL the breeds, they are going to have the most knowledge about the breeds they owned.  Makes sense.  And breeds they have never seen much of - well you have to have a pretty special dog to get a placement from that judge.  Trust me - there is a formula to winning at dog shows.   I'm still waiting for them to institute a congeniality prize.  And THEN we have the PROFESSIONAL handler.  These guys really KNOW how to show a dog.  They can take a not-so-perfect dog look like a million bucks.  They've got the moves. And talk about set-up.  These guys sometimes even have color coordinated crates for the dogs in their care.  They are the dog show roadies.  They travel with dogs - often REALLY long distances.  I would love to see the miles (air and land) those guys cover in the course of a year.  Looks kinda like fun - mind you, I bet NOT every dog they are asked to show is cute and fun like the dogs in THIS house.  

Besides the people showing, we have the club members who spend hours organizing, setting up and  tearing down the show site.  Then there is the secretary who has a horrid, thankless job setting up all the entries and organizing times and schedules.  You couldn't pay ME enough to deal with all the crazy dog people. 

And we also have the public.  The people who come out to watch, to root for their favorite breed, visit a breeder or maybe because they are looking to get a dog.  Those looking to get a dog like to go to things like Meet the Breed - to check out the options.  The one question that my human was asked most frequently with both me and Elroy: " Do they shed much?"  I'm thinking because lots of "designer dogs" advertise "non-shedding."  But the other big question was about activity level - and that's a critical one to think about.  Certain breeds (like us herding breeds) DO have energy and DO need exercise. More than perhaps a bulldog.  So humans need to consider that when choosing a breed - or you'll have one unhappy dog and ultimately one unhappy owner!

But despite ALL the different breeds of humans at the show - they all DO have one thing in common.  Their love of dogs.  And whether you went home with a BIG ribbon or a little one, or maybe none at all, you won't love your dog any less.  And honestly, we dogs don't REALLY care about the ribbons.  We just like hanging with you.  And at the end of the day, that's REALLY what it's all about.


Have a good one!