Well that's a pretty catty remark from someone who thinks that the Gundoggy world is full of lovely people. So what's Betsy then? A fat lumpy couch potato? And Pongo, and Obi, and Benson and all the other show line dogs on the forum? So what are the owners of all those dogs thinking now about your remark? I'm sure you didn't mean it quite like that, and we do indeed know you are a lovely person. But it's easy done, isn't it?
Anyway, the ringcraft class was a bit strange, but very interesting! I have never been to a dog club thing before. I've only been to training classes. This was a class run by volunteers, and a £3 fee that covered the cost of the village hall and a cup of tea for everyone. Everyone was very lovely, and helpful, and I was made very welcome. I got Betsy out of the car, and she was VERY excited, but nothing like what Charlie would have been like at 6 months. I got her in, and sort of settled on a mat. Then one of the volunteers said 'we usually start off with a show pace round all together'. At that point, I had to say that I didn't really know what that was so we'd just watch. Quite a good job really, as it took me another 10 minutes to get Betsy to calm down a bit, and all the dogs trotting round didn't help much! Then, Betsy's brother, Binky arrived! They both went nuts. I'm glad to say Betsy was less nuts than Binky. Binky is a full on teenage chocolate male and, believe me, they know how to do nuts. Betsy settled down a bit after that. We were invited up to show off our show stack, which we can't do yet. But I got some tips on training it. Then we saw whether Betsy would stand still to have her teeth examined - no, she will not. I got some tips on that too! And could she stand still while a judge inspected her? Nope, but she can wiggle and mouth hands really well! After that, Betsy got to do her triangle trot (that's a show thing that I learned about), and an up and down. She was ok with those because she can more or less walk and trot on her lead ok (but watching Betsy's breeder with Binky later made me realise that Betsy needs to be a lot more stylish about it than she is so I'll have to work on it). I learned quite a bit, but there isn't a lot of training as such. It's more all about the dog being able to do these things in a hall full of other dogs, and having lots and lots of strangers being pretend judges for you - so you can actually get your dog to stand still while someone looks at their teeth and stuff like that. Anyway, step one - we used all the helpful strangers for 'don't jump up at the judge' training. Which was very helpful indeed! It was really nice seeing Betsy's breeder, who was really very nice and said she was very impressed by Betsy's behaviour, which I was very pleased about. Mind, she had a teenage chocolate male with her, and I so know what that feels like after Charlie! She also said that Betsy was looking good, and her gait and the way she moved were very good, and we both hoped for a bit more upwards growth yet! Binky is really lovely and he is going to his first show next month! So I'm ever so behind. Anyway, Betsy's breeder said she'd help me find a small show that wouldn't be so terrifying to enter, so we might have a go yet! Binky is not a titch! He is a normal sized Labrador, and looks like a right muscly bruiser already at 6 months! Much like Charlie did. Betsy's breeder told me I have to remember Betsy is a girl and is not going to be the same! The breeder also said Betsy was 'out of coat' which means she has loads of undercoat and not enough top coat - apparently this is a thing when they moult. I looked really, really hard at Betsy's coat, and Binky's coat, and although I could see Binky's coat looked good, I couldn't really see what was wrong with Betsy's. So I'll have to study that some more.
Of course I didn't mean it like that, didn't even occur to me to think like that. I was talking only of Charlie who is full of character. I love all Labradors and it doesn't matter to me if they are show or working, though I will admit to being very sorry for the ones that are encouraged to be fat for showing. I feel quite upset that you should think that of me My GSP was shown by her breeder and that is when I discovered that people could be mean in the show world. It is nothing against the dogs but against the owners.
@Stacia - I think you are lovely, and said that you are lovely and know you didn't mean it like that. All the people I met tonight showing their dogs were lovely too. The fat show dog thing is a thing. It's the fault of the judges, and the kennel club needs to sack them. Although, really, the kennel club probably needs to prioritise sacking GSD judges over the Labrador judges. If Betsy goes into a show ring, she'll go in at her fighting weight and if we don't do well because of that, so be it. There is that - if everyone refused to enter fat dogs then the judges couldn't choose a fat one. So, get into the ring with your slim dogs.
I've been to a couple of National Dog Shows when they've been held in Wellington, but I never stopped to think about all the work that goes into training a dog for the ring/dog show experience. Reading about your training is very interesting! My mum has friends who breed and show Standard Poodles, and Siberian Huskies before that. The wife warned her "tell Sophie not to get involved in the show world because the people are nasty." Apparently one of her poodles had its hair clipped (sabotage!) at a show when the breeder had her back turned. All this in little old NZ!
Goodness! Is everyone going to say I'm nasty if I get involved in showing? Ok, this is my training thread, no more comments about show people being nasty please. I'm not nasty, and no-one I met last night was nasty.
I'm the same. I admit that I hadn't thought about the training that goes into it at all, and I suppose, without taking the time to consider, I thought it was just about the dogs standing around looking pretty. It's going to be great to hear about Betsy's journey and be educated a bit more about it. It sounds like Betsy was a little superstar behaviourally. The rest is just training. Just. Hehe. Oh, and growing. Come on, Betsy, you can do it!
The training isn't really anything complicated - but to be honest it is very necessary for an excitable young Labrador! There is no way Betsy can stand still so a judge could look in her mouth and run his hands over her! She can't even not jump up! So she'd be a perfect disgrace in a show ring right now. Looking back on things, I did do more work with Charlie about not jumping up. I had him behind barriers in the kitchen and did a lot of C&T for people walking up to him. I haven't done that with Betsy. I think the reason I haven't done it is because I don't really believe that I 'trained' Charlie not to jump up. I think he just grew up and could no longer be bothered! I know that's not really true, and so I'll have to buckle down with Betsy and get some manners training done!
Training for the show ring is training So I would be interested in reading all the aspects of Betsy's training. The breeder of another of my GSPs trained them to 'stand' in the show stance from the word go it seems, when I had her had 8 weeks she could do it. I never did show her but if I said "do a show puppy" (even when she was old) she would go into that stance
Yes, I have heard that some people use a show stance like a sort of trick to distract a dog - as though it's a default behaviour. Betsy's default behaviour is a sit! Which I've very much reinforced. Slightly regret that now, because everytime someone came up to her, and I stopped her jumping up, she sat down! When I just want her to stand still! Dratted sit. It's really overrated as a behaviour! Next puppy I'll train a stand still as a default. Much more useful.
My 'obedience' trainer, has always taught me that 'stand' is more useful I forget why, will ask him this afternoon.
I never underestimate the training that goes into standing for examination Whether it be for showing or obedience, I have noticed that labs find it particularly "challenging" I do get a little envious of friends at training that have dogs that couldn't care less if a human walked up to them. Ella, along with the other labs of course, tends to think more along the lines of "ooh ooh are are you coming over here, ooh please say hello, ooh you are saying hello, ooh I'll jump all over you now"  oh dear
I am quite friendly with original breeder of Benson's sire. She is very interested in Benson, not because he as potential to show, I don't think he has, and the breeder would probably concur.. He is one of the pups of a much loved stud dog that she had. So we have kept in touch. His dad won a few shows, and one of Benson's uncles was actually BOB at crufts. I really enjoy the insight have gained into showing labradors, and interestingly the focus on conformation and health, maybe she is just an exception I don't know. Ringcraft is fascinating, and I imagine it is very good training for dogs. She (breeder) teaches a stacked stand gently at a very, very young age, and rarely do I see photos of her dogs sitting. If it was one thing I had taught early, it was Benson to stand, any attempt now ends in rolling around and grunting in delight! Luckily we have very patient vets!
Next puppy I am going to teach to stand, too. Poppy had to stand for a mini-conformation show, it was such a bother never having taught her in the first place!
Agree, people put way too much emphasis on the sit..... We have heavily favoured the 'down' or 'drop' over sitting and it's now Obi's default more so than a sit. Really good for greeting kids and time at cafes etc.
Betsy and I are off on a girly mini break! (Charlie is at home with OH - eating sausages as OH discovered it was British sausage week ). We are spending two days at Winter clicker camp. We are only doing two days, because the other days are on a shoot, and that would be far too much for little Betsy right now (plus I have to get back to work!). As it is, we'll be hanging around a lot, watching the older dogs work. But still should be good fun. We have booked the log cabin again, and we are very snug - it's bloomin' freezing outside! Betsy settling down in the log cabin - she had to be in a crate last time because she chewed wood! But more reliable now... betsy log cabin by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr
Oh look at that face! You are going to have so much fun...bloomin freezing yesterday at training though!
