Tag Archives: dog shows

National Specialty dog shows are for everybody!

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louisvillelogoI took Torque and Teddy to the French Bulldog National Specialty show in Louisville last week. We had a wonderful time, caught up with our Frenchie friends, competed in Rally, Obedience, and Agility, met new people, admired hundreds of gorgeous dogs, drank a little too much, slept a little too little, made some new friends, learned even more about Frenchies, donated some money to the Club at the raffles, helped a little bit at the Chicago French Bulldog rescue booth, spent a little bit too much, enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

If you ever have the opportunity to go to your breed’s national specialty show – do it! Here at the shop we’ve recently met a woman with a Samoyed puppy. She was debating whether to go – even though her boy is being shown in conformation, she’s not doing it and he’s not ready for any other type of competition. At our urging, she did go – and had a wonderful time. Most people never have other chances to meet people who share their love for their breed.

You might wonder what you’d have in common with those people – after all, dog shows have a cliche reputation of beings snooty, or cliquish, or not for us regular folk. Contrary to what the movies would have us believe (it’s really not like Best In Show), most dog people are terrific; willing to share what they know and meet fellow “fanciers.” We finally get to see, live and in person, the people we’ve been “facebook friends” with for years.

If it’s within driving distance — go!

Who’s a pretty puppy?

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TorqueI didn’t buy Torque as a show dog – the beauty show kind of show, also known as conformation. As a little baby puppy, his nose was too long, his legs were too long, etc. I know it seems kind of weird to consider any French Bulldog having too long a nose, but he did. That was fine – I wanted a strong, healthy Frenchie to do “stuff” with – obedience, rally, agility, etc. Because I love Frenchies and because I love doing all this stuff with my dog.

He’s grown up to be a very handsome guy – he grew into his too-long muzzle. So his breeder and I are thinking about showing him in conformation. It’s not a world I’m particularly comfortable with. I’m not really a competitive person. The “stuff” that I do – it’s me and my dog teaming up to complete exercises we’ve practiced and, hopefully, we measure up against the rules for the competition. We’re not trying to beat other teams – just do the best we can and try to qualify.

There are people who aspire to the top echelon of the dog sports and who are competitive. I’ve got no problem with that – it’s just not for us. If a qualifying score is 170 out of 200 (obedience) and we score 175, I’m okay with that. Maybe not thrilled, but okay. Perfection would be nice and it is something we train for – but if it doesn’t happen, it’s okay. I still get to take home the best dog in the world – mine.

The conformation world is totally different. You compete directly against other dogs to be named, in one judge’s subjective opinion, the one who comes closest to the Breed Standard. Every breed club writes its own standard – all are readily available to read on the American Kennel Club website. (http://www.AKC.org)

And no matter how gorgeous you think your dog is – that judge, on that day, may or may not agree with you.

Just because it’s not my “thing” doesn’t mean I don’t support the idea of conformation. It’s important to recognize the dogs who epitomize the best of each and every breed. Ideally, it ensures the continuation of the best of the breeds we love – both in health and personality. My love for dogs started by going to dog shows, talking to dog people, learning about these amazing animals who share our lives. So maybe you’ll see Torque in the show ring. A new adventure may be starting!

Not too big, not too little, just right!

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kissabletedWhen we were kids our mom would take us to the International Kennel Club show every year. It was one of the biggest dog shows in the country and one of the only ones where the dogs were “benched” – which meant that the dogs and their owners/handlers, whenever they weren’t actually showing, stayed in an assigned spot most of the day and the public could wander around, look at the dogs, talk to the people, and really learn about the world of dog shows.

We loved it. We’d spend hours admiring the dogs and asking a billion questions of the owners. (Another highlight was real fudge from one of the vendors.) And, as it turns out, years later, one of the wonderful dog owners who’d spent time telling us all about her Brussels Griffons, had become a Griffie friend – and we hadn’t realized the connection.

When I was a little girl my favorite breeds to admire (before we had a dog of our own) were Irish Wolfhounds and Bull Mastiffs. And Great Danes. And Scottish Deerhounds. These giant breeds just drew me like no others. As I learned more about dogs, and after we got our first Boston Terrier when I was nine years old, I realized it wasn’t to be – our house is small, our yard is small, and perhaps most importantly – we’re small people.

Even if we had a big enough house, a decent-sized yard, and the giant breeds didn’t break your heart with their unfairly-short life spans, I know now I’ll never own one. The what-ifs would haunt me. If something happened, there’s no way I could lift a 100 plus pound dog to get it to emergency care. There’s no way that I could control an animal that size if it “took off” on me during a walk. And even the best-trained dogs can have their moments.

I have found my perfect breed and I always intend to have at least one French Bulldog (or more!) by my side. They’re the right size and the right temperament for me. And, when I need to, or want to, I can lift and carry them. And squeeze them and hug them and cuddle them. Even if they don’t much like it.

One pair of matching bookends, different as night and day

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kissabletedThe big story in the dog world this week is the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. While not really relevant to most of our lives, it is a lot of fun to watch to see the different breeds and cheer on our favorites.

When we were little girls, our mother would take us to the local Chicago equivalent – the International Kennel Club Dog Show every year. We would spend hours going up and down the benching aisles (benched shows require the dogs and people to stay all day and have assigned “seating” for them), talking to the people, getting to meet the dogs, learning about dogs. And Mom bought us a hot dog, lemonade, and fudge for lunch.

This year a New York Times photographer had a different kind of assignment for the show – take pictures of dogs and their owners. The Times has turned it into a “match the dog/owner” quiz here. We did okay – a few seemed unlikely pairs to us, but we’re not sure we look much like our dogs, either!