Besides Obedience trials which are this month, and agility which I suspect will also finish this month, is the final Barbados Kennel Club’s All Breeds Championship Dog Show.<\/p>\n
In my opinion, doing well in dog shows, involves having a dog which is a good breed specimen, and which is well trained to gait and stack.<\/p>\n
Also a handler who has the knowledge to gait the dog at the best speed and also minimise its faults as best as possible to the judge.<\/p>\n
And speaking of the judge, judging can also be regarded as very subjective as what might appear to be a “good” head to one judge might appear “coarse” or too massive to another judge.<\/p>\n
And judges do have their preferred breeds, even all rounders. With a specialist judge, it might benefit the handler of the particular breed or not. For instance, if a judge likes Giant Schnauzers and he sees one come in the ring chances are that he will watch out for that dog. He might, if he is a specialist judge of Giant Schnauzers, also be more critical than an all rounder as he would also probably be more aware of any faults.<\/p>\n
For those serious competitors, preparation work must be done before the show. In my case, as I have a coated breed where grooming is very important. I will be looking at combing out and trimming their coats. And I will probably shampoo them next week. Shampooing their coats just before a show, I have found, makes the coats a bit soft.<\/p>\n
Some serious competitors take their dogs swimming, I have heard of some using a threadmill and I know of someone who sends his dog off on bicycling road work with someone. My Bouviers get exercise from my grounds and also I will take them walking. But I agree my exercising them would not be as challenging for them as some of the other methods.<\/p>\n
For competitors who need encouragement and stimulation, see what very well trained dogs can do, even among distractions. <\/p>\n