Tierce went to the Victoria City Kennel Club sanction match this weekend. We got best of breed! We got a Group Second! Sounds great, except when you find out that Tierce was A) the only Shiba and B) one of two dogs entered in the Non-Sporting category. We did have some good talk with the other person, a lady who was starting to show her Keeshond by herself instead of using a handler. We ended up exchanging names and addresses and maybe we'll see each other again at the shows :)Tierce kept on crabbing when he was moving for the judge. For those of you not crazy enough to hang around at dog beauty contests, "crabbing" means that his front end and his back end are out of kilter when he's trotting. This looks hideous and is a sure-fire losing proposition in the ring. The thing is, when Tierce is interested in something, he is perfectly straight. It's when he wants to go somewhere that I am not going or when he wants to avoid something i.e. a leash, getting too close to my feet that he says, "I may not be able to move my head away from you, but I sure as hell am gonna move my body!" I'm going to ask my show handling instructor on tips to avoid this.
However, this was not entirely wasted. Tierce got a chance to be in a show-like atmosphere and got examined by a stranger. He did very well for not having a lot of experience and I'm going to work really hard on his trotting and down-and-back for next time.
The ugly world of dog-show-snobbery reared its scaly head today. I heard stories of cattiness, the turning of the backs, etc. People, if you show, why the fuck do you do this??? Even if you don't give an inch in the ring, it doesn't mean that you can't be half-decent to people whose only crime is that they don't belong to your clique. So what if the dog is your competition - he's also a member of your breed and don't you want more people who love and respect your breed to spread the good word about them? Grow up. And get a life - maybe the person you snub today ends up leaving the show, thinking that it isn't worth getting involved because you were a complete fucking bitch to them - never mind your dog.
3 comments:
I hope this doesn't make you want to stop showing. Any chance you'll be going to the Campbell River show this summer? I'd love to talk to someone who isn't a complete snob for once. Katja Weber from Akashima was nice, but the woman from Sunojo... not so much.
I may well be up in CR this summer :) Hope so, anyway.
I've talked with Katja - we had a very nice conversation at the NKC show last year about her Shikoku and their similarities and differences from Shibas.
It's a pity that you didn't hit it off with Sunojo; I've always found them to be a really good resource about Shibas. Can't win 'em all, I guess!
I'm still interested in showing Tierce - we can take on the dog show peoples!!! But it is a very competitive and sometimes BITCHY world. Not something I want to focus my efforts toward, but I respect its importance in getting a dog evaluated by someone other than its doting handler :)
I think the person I met from Sunojo was just a show handler - and a snobby one at that. She had no interest in talking to me at all. I have also sent a couple emails to Sunojo and got a reply to the first one, but after I indicated that I wouldn't be able to get into Shibas for a few years, I didn't ever hear back.
I have exchanged a few emails with Katja now, and talked to her at the CR show once or twice now. She has always been very kind to me, even when she was busy preparing at the show.
I wouldn't mind doing some casual showing sometime in the future. Unfortunately, that won't happen for a few years yet. University keeps me busy.
In any case, I look forward to seeing you around this summer. :)
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