Went to the show yesterday and had fun as well as learned some things. Too bad there were only 3 standards entered and although 2 minis were entered, only 1 was at the show. No minis ended up being shown since the handler of the mini was also showing her toys, and the
classes were at the same time. Wonder how often that happens? They did have a nice toy competition with quality entries. Our Dbrazzil took WB on Saturday (2 photos posted in Showing.)
The catalogs sold out on Saturday so I missed out on that. Really like to get a catalog to see the dogs entered, their breedings, owners, handlers, etc. Guess that's another reason to go the first day of the show, if at all possible.
My friend is a Golden Breeder and had one of her females entered. I watched her girl being groomed and saw all the preparation that goes into getting her ready. But even though goldens have a long beautiful coat and require a good amount of grooming, their preparation is not nearly as detailed and lengthy as poodle grooming. At ringside we looked at the other entries and evaluated their good and not so good qualities (all out of earshot of others, of course, since you don't know if it's the owner or friend standing next to you!) Toplines, frontlines, tail carriage, movement, expression ...
I used to buy the program books....and take a pencil and mark stuff in the margins...not only who took 1st, 2nd and 3rd, but who did YOU like. Then analyze why your dog didn't win and the other one did win. You start to see what the judges are looking for. Do this on a couple different non-sporting dogs. You really can't go do this for the working dogs or hounds....but it helps to analyze other dogs as well. It keeps you well rounded in your dog knowledge.
P2P, why is that? Help me understand.
Finally, at the vendor's booths I looked at shears and tried them out in my hand. Whew, they can be expensive, but good quality maybe pays off in the long run. Didn't buy any though! Still looking ;-) Also, prices can vary quite a bit from booth to booth. That's why it would behoove you to have an idea ahead of time how much essentials usually run. Nice to be able to see and feel the items and cut out the shipping.
It was the last show for the superintendent of this show, and announcements were made saying they had equipment for sale at a reduced price. I asked about the Obedience equipment (complete set of 3 jumps, wooden, freshly painted they said). It was $400. Not sure if that would have been a good price or not. But being wood, they couldn't be left outdoors in the elements. And I'm thinking I could get by with some homemade equipment made of PVC pipe or something, especially starting out.
All in all, a good day of observing and learning. Each show you bring away something else. Now, if I can just retain them all!
