While showing my Golden Retrievers, I always enjoyed the outdoor Spring shows. Beautiful sunny weather, just designed to make those golden coats gleam. Our favourite show was held in a park next to a river. So there we are, on the gentle slope down to the docks and the water, dogs on tables, combing and fluffing like mad, when the #1 dog in our breed slips past his owner, and takes a flying leap into the river. (They are calling for the next class...ours) "Duncan" is doing the dog paddle. After bodily hauling him out of the water, we all descend on him with towels and blow dryers. Five minutes later he's in the ring, and takes Best of Breed, still damp, and unrepentant. Next time he can swim all the way to England. Or maybe I should have let my own dog swim, and see if it helped his chances any. But with my luck, he'd come back with a pickerel in his mouth. It's what I get for all that retrieving training.
Of course, there are "snooty", or rude people, too. But thankfully they are the minority. Still, they have on occasion inadvertently provided a few chuckles. While it is perfectly "legal" to show a female in heat, there are courtesies which an owner or handler follows not only for the safety of their own dog, but for the hard working owners and agents of the males who can smell a bitch in season, from their own doorstep, 60 miles away. One of the first books on showing that I read, was by a well known handler who was showing a German Short Haired Pointer, and had him ready by the ring entrance, as his class was called. Unfortunately, a loud and impervious woman who was gossiping busily to her friend, had a female in raging heat, and was causing a traffic block at the ring, as every male dog did an about face, to find the femme fatale. In response to a polite request to move, the woman snapped "I paid my entry fee, and I can stand where I want." This was followed by the handler's male dog becoming rather familiar with her female. When she finally clued in that there was something going on at the end of the lead, the handler smiled sweetly and said "And you'll pay $600 for his stud fee."
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