Forest Hill

Hey Everyone! I have a white female spoo puppy who is 5 months old. We are attending our first show Jan 9th for a 4-6 month puppy class. Her hair has grown nicely and she is doing well with her stacking and gaiting. I wondering if there are any tips from some seasoned show people to help me along the way. Or if there is anyone near Maryland kind enough to mentor me. The breeder I got my puppy from is in PA 3 hours away and she does mostly UKC with her dogs, but all of her dogs are from AKC champion lines. I would love to do AKC and that's where I am starting, but from what I have heard AKC can be hard to get into. I'm willing to give it a try, but it would be helpful to have someone at some of the shows to give me pointers. I am a dog groomer and I have grown a dog into a continental before, so that doesn't really scare me. It;s mostly the finishing touches I need help with. I also really want to go all natural with the grooming (other than the oblivious trimming and bands), but do I need to use chalk? hairspray? to have any chance at winning? Please any advice or info would be very helpful.

Poodle Lover

Welcome to the forum Forest Hill.

I just sent you a PM.

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Julia

waltersmom

Hi and welcome ForestHill. I showed Lhasa's for years but never poodles, but both have coats that are a big part of your showing, My biggest tip that I can share with you is to always go to the shows with having fun in mind, especially since you are going to start your baby in puppy class. when you are nervous and up tight your baby will be too so make yourself relax and have fun and give lots of praise and treats after being in the ring. Winning in Puppy class is not important, what your baby takes home from the experience is. When in the ring let the fact that you believe you have the most perfect poodle puppy ever show on your face for the judge to see. Good luck and have fun!!!

neVar

Agreed with the above,

Remember to have fun, remember to keep it positive.

Practice- and if you can fin a handling class- a lot of kennel clubs have them
It is worth finding a handler to learn from them if your breeder is not close enough to help out

Do you have to spray? Ummmm no. If your not going to spray i'd personally stick closer to a HCC clip. however you need to have one heck of a nice dog to stand out against those who are sprayed up. and you are stacking the odds against yourself by not doing so (unless your inUKC which does not allow spraying) Chalking isn't as needed in poodles

outwest

Forest Hill, there is a show section on the forum and many of the show people mostly check that forum. You might get more comments there. I have shown AKC with another breed, but never with a poodle. I am thinking about showing my boy AKC, but out here it is about 90% handlers in the poodles. I think where you are there are more owner handlers, which is great. I know there are people here who show both UKC and AKC, using UKC for more practice plus UKC is inexpensive and there aren't any handlers allowed. Where I live it seems all the poodles are sprayed in AKC, but with a puppy that won't be important.

Wish I could say my boy has plenty of coat! LOL. He is 7 months old and could use a WHOLE lot more. We tried a UKC show to see how he'd do and unfortunately, he was not thrilled about having strangers go over him, so we are trying a conformation class starting this week. I'll make a decision about AKC in a month or two. A lot of successful showing is in the attitude of the dog as much as in their looks. If she has the attitude, she can win. My little apricot won in UKC easily because of the 'it' factor more than that she has perfect conformation. Don't underestimate the 'it' factor! Jazz, my other poodle, is gorgeous with great conformation and nice movement. He may not have that attitude factor. We'll see if conformation class helps bring it out.

Welcome to the forum!