Chuckles From The Show Ring
Sometimes I think getting into the ring is the hard part, and the showing is a breeze. I have learned not to store my show "bait" (baked and dried pieces of liver) in yogurt containers. Because at one show, having arrived late, I ripped off the top of a container I grabbed out of the fridge at the last minute, and came up with ...a handful of blueberry yogurt. Which the dog very thoughtfully licked off for me. But it's very hard stuff to hold in your hand or your lips while stacking or running around the ring.
When I have managed to get to the ring intact, I breathe a sigh of relief. Until someone walks by with a precocious terrier on his show lead, and for some reason known only to it, the dog dashes over, and jumps up under my calf length skirt to lean adoringly against my legs. The owner is frantically trying to get him out without getting too "familiar", the judge is waiting patiently, and my dog is looking at me with wounded eyes that say "you never let me do that". I would rather a run in my pantyhose, than run into the ring without my dog. Because he has chewed through his leash while we were standing there. Very quietly and without fanfare, my 90 lb. stud dog has snacked on his very thin, very expensive show lead, and is now standing there, leashless. Our class is being called, and my equipment is at the other end of the building. Thank heavens for pockets in skirts, where I had stuffed his regular leash. I hope he got indigestion.
The last and final laugh, has to be on those people who cheat by altering their dog in some manner. I was frankly "floored", when a groomer friend, and former exhibitor of Bichon Frise, told me about things like shoe polish to blacken noses, and fake hairpieces to fluff out the top knot of Poodles or Bichons. Of course, as I became more familiar with the dogs I showed against regularly, you could often see that things were not quite as they were the last time. With Golden Retrievers, it is not unheard of for people to take a steeped tea bag to darken a light patch on the coat, or to even out the colour overall. But not everyone gets away with these shenanigans. In a CKC article that
Latest Articles