Thoughts On Campaigning Show Dogs...

[RallyValley]

I think for some rarer breeds it is quite necessary to campaign your dog and get people thinking about the breed, reading about it ect.

[Heidii]

I new a particular dog in the all breeds ring that did ALOT of winning and it too was advertised in all the magazines......however it was never entered under specility judges/shows, even international specility judges as in most cases it would be asked to leave the ring!

In the end you cant stop people advertising and you cant stop judges chosing based on professional handlers/dogs they have seen in magazines...all its going to mean in the future is that as the years go by dog shows will fade away

Edited February 2, 2010 by Heidii

[kezziahgsd]

When I got my first Champ Judging licence, first appointment was Interstate which was great - a totally new lot of dogs to Judge. My second appointment was in Melbourne and as it was the Group I had shown in for years I knew most of the dogs.

At that time there was a particular long coated dog doing the majority of BIG winning and like a lot of others had often thought there must be ones to beat him so I went into the ring sure I 'd find something to challenge this dog. Oh boy, he was gorgous and went BIG again! Even years later when I had lots more judging experience he was still one of the best of that breed I went over. Had a few say later that I followed the trend but that boy deserved his win.

Excellent post Pebbles! A great reminder to doubters, that the majority of our top winning dogs are actually great representatives of their breed and more often than not deserve their winners status.

[helen]

You know what they say - don't stress about things you can't change (my word of wisdom for the day LOL).

With your judges training it is a great opportunity to learn. Had Chazer along to a few training nights last year. Was great to see the judges learn, and to see enthusiasm. One judge picked things that were different about Chazer thinking initially they were bad because they were different, but then someone advised that the things were required under the standard, so I reckon use your training to learn, learn what is correct not 'the same as' like these judges were, talk to your fellow students and go with that

And guess what, an add changes nothing about a dog, and probably most people in the breed can work out what they like without any advertising, wins etc

Edited February 2, 2010 by helen

[hilaryo]

But I still believe that a good owner / handler with a very good dog has a chance, but it does take some doing if you are not a 'face'. I've recently seen some lovely newbies with nice dogs, take out some great fringes :-)

fifi

Totally agree Fifi.

Despite judges that put up faces or that are just plain ignorant of your breed, a good dog will often shine! Happily there decent and honest judges out there that will put up the best dog in their opinion even with a newbie on the end of the lead.

I think sometimes the problem is just plain lack of knowledge and also lack of an "eye" for a dog. I also believe, judges that may be judging your group "hounds" but their first group is "toys" is more likely (IMHO) to put up a dog that can't move to save itself, than perhaps a "gundog" judge judging the same group.

A generalisation of course :D

Edited February 3, 2010 by hilaryo