showing my dog?

Question

My english buldog is 14 months old, and I think to take him to dogs shows. Does anyone have any information how to do it? Is he too old? Do we have to take any classes to prepare him?

Answer 1

Find a Handling Class in your area and go. Otherwise, you will be a laughing stock.

Answer 2

First he is not too old.
Dog shows have different classes which are graded by sex,age and previous awards gained.
I dont know where you are writing from but I used to show one of my dogs in the U.K. where there was a regular magazine called Dog World.In this was listed all the impending shows and an address/phone no to contact for application forms.There should be an equivalent where you are.Either way Dog Shows are publicized a few weeks in advance.
Before you show your dog I should stress that you cannot show a dog which has been spayed or neutered -it makes it ineligible.and he must be registered with the appropriate Kennel Club under his pedigree name which is what you will use on the entry form
You may also wish to compare your dog with the breed standard which you will readily find on a Bulldog internet site and against which your dog will be judged in the ring as well as being compared with other competitors.
No,there are no special classes needed to prepare a dog for a show.However,your dog needs to be well adjusted and socialized with other dogs and of a friendly disposition when he is examined by the judge.He will have to accept being looked at closely by a stranger and not react when the judge looks into his mouth or around his "bits and pieces"!
He will need to "stand" and move nicely on the lead either doing a circuit in the ring or three sides of a triangle (whichever the judge calls for).and that is something you can practice.
Finally the best advice I can give you is to go along to a show first without your dog and observe what is required and how it is done.
There is a art to it to the extent that many top dogs are shown not by their owners but by professional handlers.
You will make many new friends doing this absorbing activity.
Its great fun and the very best of luck

Answer 3

No he is certainly not to old. Find your nearest handling classes and/or hirer a professional to handle him for you. go to http://www.akc.org and read up on dog shows and make sure he is breed standard.Contact your dogs breeder ant ask questions. Have him professionally trained for confirmation or what ever you want to show him in. If you haven't already find a club of your breed or an all breed club. Attend specialty shows, meetings ect. I am just now getting in to showing my self and I have just found a breeder that wants me to show their German Shepherd Dogs. I have already joined the Pikes Peak German Shepherd Dog Club and began the confirmation classes. If you have any more questions you can e-mail me. I am already having fun and I have not yet actually showed in a real dog show yet. I hope you have lot of fun. And let me know how things work out for you and your hopefully future show dog. Also attend some shows in person to exhibit your breed and talk to other handlers and breeders and exhibitors that may have experience. I am going to the Feb. show in Denver to watch with the breeder and we are bringing one of her beautiful German Shepherds. I hope things work out and once again let me know how it works out ASAP!!!!!! Good luck.

Answer 4

Call your dog's breeder! If you dog is show quality then your breeder is your best resource. If your dog is worth showing she will be more than happy to help you.

Contact your local Kennel Club, they are your best source of information for upcoming shows and training/handling classes.

Also, go to the AKC website and read up on dog shows.

Visit as many shows as you can, watch what's going on, talk to the people there.

He's certainly not too old, I have finished a couple of dogs that I didn't start showing until they were 7 and 8 years old. When my male went to the US for his American Championship he was almost 7. I've known dogs that finished at 10 and 11 years of age, but they were quality dogs and in excellent condition.

Have fun and remember not to take it TOO seriously. Even if you lose you still get to keep the dog :-)

Answer 5

During the "off season" almost every community that has a dog club will host a "fun match", and I would suppose you could even enter your cat in many of them. They are a wonderful place to meet others that show dogs and great training opportunity for both you and your dog.

Answer 6

Yes there are classes you can take to prepare him. Go to the ack website and you will find show info there. He's not too old, they have classes for different ages. Also, maybe go without your dog to a few shows to see what they are looking for and to see what kind of show you want to do such as conformation, agaility, etc...

Answer 7

Visit some shows without your dog and ask lots of questions to the handlers showing English Bullys. It's best to have a mentor when starting.Good luck!

Answer 8

You need to take classes and learn how to be a handler. The dog also has to be breed standard or he cannot be shown.

Answer 9

Welcome to the world of showing dogs!
I am so happy to greet you to the world of showing dogs. I am terribly excited and humbled that you have chosen to read this page, and hope that if you are new to dog shows, then this page can be of help to you.
The world of the dog showing is an interesting place to be. You can be a complete new person in the dog world and still able to compete with some of the top in the “business” and win. For most of us, however, showing dogs is not a business, but our true love and hobby in life.

You may only want to show your dog once a year, or at the other extreme, every weekend. Whatever the case, you will be welcomed to the dog show scene.

On behalf of Bluegrace Portuguese Water Dogs, can I welcome each and every one of you who want to learn more about showing dogs.

There is a lot you will need to learn, but there are many people who will be able to help you. You will learn over time that like any part of society there are some absolutely wonderful people in the dog world, and then there are some others. Hopefully, we can help guide you to those people who are going to make you a success in the dog show scene, regardless of what your definition of success is.


What you will need to do first:

Join the formal association for the dog show scene in your country. Be wary of some organizations who are not the real thing. There is only one legitimate organization in each country.
Attend some dog shows. Take a chair, a hat, and a drink, and sit near the ring side and observe.
Talk to as many people as possible (hint: best not to talk to people as they are preparing their dogs as their minds are keenly focused on the task ahead)
Get books. For a listing of those books currently in my library, and which I highly recommend, click here
Visit web sites and join email groups – in essence you need to network yourself as well as possible, even before you get your first dog. You can do an amazing amount of research through the internet which will cost you nothing more than your time and internet access.
Then after all of that….. think about buying your first show dog.


Another tip
Please be wary – you can pay as much for a good dog as what you can for an ordinary dog. Some breeders appear to be “great”, but when you dig a little more, you’ll find that they just happen to have the funds to advertise than most.

Mentoring
You want to meet with someone who is prepared to mentor you. Everyone needs at least one mentor. You may want to even join the dogmentor email list, specifically set up for this purpose.

Cost
It does cost money to enter every dog show. This may range from $5 to $50 depending on which country you are in. Then there are the expenses involved in traveling to those shows and getting your dog ready.

Do I have to breed?
You may want to show dogs but not breed those dogs. This is very common, and becoming more and more popular as people realize that breeding dogs comes with a lot of responsibilities and is not necessarily an easy thing to do. Breeding dogs well also requires a large financial investment, which in the vast majority of cases, breeders do not even coming close to recouping the losses. I discourage anyone from breeding who is not serious about doing it well. For more information on breeding click here.
Here’s a few more tips to get you going:


sometimes dogs that aren’t great still win in the show ring. It is best for you to buy from someone who is prepared to sell you a very good puppy, whose dogs win under a wide range of judges.
learn the difference between a nice looking dog, and a good breed representative – these can be very, very different.
network extensively
if you commit to buying a dog from someone and then buy one from someone else, you will definitely create a poor name for yourself
it takes time and work to become good in the show ring. Have patience and work hard.
Please if you need any additional help, let me know and I will see if I can help you meet some other experienced people in the show ring. I, for one, will never forget that once I was a novice to the show world, so am more than happy to help others. On another note, we can never stop learning. If you haven't started by now, make this day the official start to a program of life long learning.

I know you probably have plenty more questions. Over the next few weeks I will endeavour to answer them in the form of additional pages. That way you don't have to solely rely on my time to provide you with help. In the interim, please feel free to email me.

Best Wishes.


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Just added:

For the basics of handling your dog in the show ring, click here.

The dog world attracts a broad range of people. Some of them you will find fabulous. A few of them, you will want to avoid. Here's a page on what I've found through my experiences.

Where to from here?

Jane's dogs
The email list to learn how to show dogs
Feeding your show dog
The basics about showing dogs
Handling your dog in the ring
Some basics about breeding dogs
Where to buy a dog from
Bluegrace Home Page


There are more links on this page to follow for more information.

Answer 10

http://www.edoglovers.com/showing/default.asp
this should help and answer all your questions