# Only 2 Maltese at AKC Eukanuba Championship



## LynnToole (Jan 15, 2006)

I had a great time at the dog show. So much to look at and so many fantastic dogs, friendly people, and lots of vendors. We also watched some the agility competition and juniors showing their dogs.

I anxiously awaited the Maltese competition and was so surprised that only two maltese were being shown. They were so absolutely adorable though, Cash and Tommy from Ragtak and Bhe Jei. Cash had the proudest walk I have ever seen, what a cutie. I did overhear a few people talking and they were saying that the others stayed away because they thought the judging would not be fair. Not sure what that was about or even if it was a valid comment.

And then I went upstairs to the booths at Meet the Breed and got to see so many different breeds of dogs, except there was no one representing the Maltese, they weren't even listed. Hmmm....... wonder what is going on, hard to believe with such a popular breed. Is there some big Maltese competition in another part of the country?

Maybe some of you have some answers as to the almost non-existence of the Maltese at this show.


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## Tina (Aug 6, 2006)

Its really hard to show Maltese. The number of people showing Maltese since I started has really dwindled.
It is a lot of dedication and persistance to get the coat to the floor and then keep a dog like Tommy in full coat. It takes Tara 4 hours to get Tommy ready for the ring, from start to finish. 
The comment about the judge just might be true. If Tara knows the judge well it could go in her favor. Been there have seen it done. Everyone knows that dog showing has its political side, right???








JMO
Tina


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## Tanner's Mom (May 27, 2005)

I can't answer your question, but I know how disappointed you must have been. I've gone to shows where there were supposed to be many Malts and none showed up. Well at least there were a lot of vendors, and isn't it fun to see all the different breeds?


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## Tina (Aug 6, 2006)

You went to the Eukanuba Dog Show, right?? You do know it is invitation only? The top 25 dogs of each breed is invited to come. I believe someone we know was invited?? At least you had fun and got to see all the vendors. That is always exciting.
Tina


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## LynnToole (Jan 15, 2006)

Tina, Yes, the one that will be televised live tonight on Animal Planet, from Long Beach, CA. I just attented the morning and early afternoon session, not the part that will be televised tonight. Do you know Tommy's handler? I admit that I am so out of this loop and don't know much about showing dogs at all. Was someone from Spoiled Maltese invited to this show?

I did have a great time even without seeing many maltese. It was a really nice crowd. I sat next to one owner/handler of another breed who told me all about her life and and philosophy of breeding and was quite impressed. I also sat next to the wife of an agility contestant and we had such a pleasant conversation. It was nice to meet people from from other parts of the country. 

I asked both of the maltese handlers if I could take a picture after they were done showing and they both kindly and proudly held their maltese so I could get a nice picture. I will say again that I have never seen a cuter walker than Cash, such a personality. Both of the maltese were just beautiful, don't know how you can select just one of them to win.


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## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

> You went to the Eukanuba Dog Show, right?? You do know it is invitation only? The top 25 dogs of each breed is invited to come. I believe someone we know was invited?? At least you had fun and got to see all the vendors. That is always exciting.
> Tina
> 
> 
> ...



Funny Lady (who won Westminister last year) is in Illinois this weekend. There were nine females entered there today, three males, and two specials. My Secret's sister got her second major, and one of our Andy's sons got the points for males. Funny Lady was Best of Breed. I know that Dian had another of the dogs who was invited to Eukanuba, but she is also in Illinois, and the dog who was invited is at home growning more coat as he finished his championship so young that he is not ready to special. In fact, those who are successfully specialed are usually at least two years old. I know when my Weaver received his invitation to Eukanuba, I had already given him a haircut.
When we had the #1 Westie, we chose to skip this show also. It just wasn't as important to us as some of the others.


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

Having had the #1 Lhasa Apso on more than 1 occasion, the end of the year is when you are really vying for points to keep your dog #1. You'll go where you know you can get the most points -- either breed points, if you're going for #1 in breed or group points if you're going for #1 in group. Or in most cases both.

At year end, everyone picks their shows very, very carefully and goes where you know that the judge really likes your dog.

To go to the show in Long Beach, I would have had to be pretty sure that I could win group in order to attend. It's very pretigous, but often is not the show to keep your dog in the #1 ranking if the points are already close. There would probably not have been enough Lhasas to help me in breed points, so I would only have been looking at the points from a group win or placement.

For example, when Gambler (who was #1 Lhasa 4 years in a row) was out, most of the other Lhasas would have stayed away because they KNEW he would win unless it was a judge that really didn't like my style of Lhasa in which case I wouldn't have been at that show anyway. Otherwise, few other Lhasa breeders would have been brave enough (or stupid enough) to try to beat Gambler at this type of event.

Points are everything in the show world and yes, it's very, very, very (can't add enough verys) political. The advertising on the dog, the ranking of the dog, the dog himself, the handler, the judge, everything goes into the political aspect of the sport -- and remember, it is a sport and takes a lot of money to have a dog ranked at the top of the breed much less the group. The more money you can spend, the better your chances because you can pay for more advertising, the best handler and you can fly your dog to the show that has the best judge for him. For example, Gambler may have shown in Atlanta on Friday, Los Angeles on Saturday and Dallas on Sunday near year end just to get the wins that would give him the points to stay #1. That's a lot of expense in flying him and his handler, plus, the handler cannot work his normal string of dogs so you have to pay extra.

Now that I have my 2 Maltese that are both only PET quality, I'm not as involved in the shows but I still have a lot of very good friends in the show ring.

Tara (who shows Tommy) is the daughter of Vicki Abott (you may have one of her books on Maltese). Vicki is now a judge, but was the top Maltese handler for about 20 years. The entire time that Tara was growing up, Vicki was breeding and showing Maltese, so Tara really grew up in the sport and is very, very well known by the judges. She's the best at grooming and handling a Maltese, but then again, she's been doing it all her life. If you don't have Vicki's book, you may want to get it. It has a lot of picture of Tara with the dogs while she was growning up.

Hope this provides a little more insight as to the reason that there were only 2 Maltese at today's show.


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## Ladysmom (Oct 19, 2004)

Thanks, Lacie's Mom, for sharing your expertise with us and giving us a behind-the-scenes peek at showing.


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## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

> Having had the #1 Lhasa Apso on more than 1 occasion, the end of the year is when you are really vying for points to keep your dog #1. You'll go where you know you can get the most points -- either breed points, if you're going for #1 in breed or group points if you're going for #1 in group. Or in most cases both.
> 
> At year end, everyone picks their shows very, very carefully and goes where you know that the judge really likes your dog.
> 
> ...



We had three times the points of the #2 Westie, and we still skipped this show. We were interested in breaking the all time record for specialty wins (which we did), and we went after the breed wins at Westminister the two years we showed there (and won breed). 
I think the Eukanuba show has a lot of hype to it, and there is money there for the owner/handler, but it just wasn't that important to us.


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## puppymom (Jun 13, 2005)

Thanks for all the "inside scoop" Faye and Lacies Mom. There is so much about dog shows that I, as a pet owner don't know. 

Can one of you explain what it means to "special"? I understand the Champion part but not what "special" means. 

Vicki Abotts book was the first Maltese book I got before I got Ty and I found it VERY helpful.


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

Specialing is when a dog is shown after it's championship. It accumulates breed points to hopefully become one of the top ranking maltese.


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## puppymom (Jun 13, 2005)

Thanks!!! I thought Champion was "end of the line"


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## saltymalty (Sep 14, 2004)

What a wonderful thread this is! Thank you all for the information...my knowledge of the show world is extremely limited, and this information has really helped to better my understanding.


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## LynnToole (Jan 15, 2006)

Thank you to all who have replied to my post. I've learned a lot and enjoyed your insight into the world of showing dogs. Along with puppymom, my first book on maltese was the one by Vicki Abbot. I pulled it off the shelf and started thumbing through it and found a section on "Showing your Maltese". It'll be fun to read it again.


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

The holidays not only slow entries down, but often the judge has put so n so's dog up several times so the others go to another show. Also, traveling across country is expensive and time consuming unless there is a very good possibility your dog will win. So even though it's invitational those champions might find a show closer or better odds.


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## Furbaby's Mommie (Jul 10, 2004)

I love seeing Tommy show, but I was disappointed not to see more too. Interesting learning how it works. Thanks for the thread.



I thought the judge almost ignored Tommy. Like either she wasn't interested in Malts, or found something about him she didn't like. ??







I always want to see all the toys, so I'm glad they showed all of them on the TV show. They don't usually. I love seeing all of them except that poor Pek that can't walk. I've never been a Chi fan, but that black longhair Chi is so darling.







It would be so much more fun to see a whole class of each of them. Wish they didn't just show the groups on TV!


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## LynnToole (Jan 15, 2006)

Frosty's Mom, You are right, it is so much fun to see a whole class of each breed. Even though you can see that I was disappointed in the maltese turnout, I loved looking at all of the other breeds. It was so cute to see all the bull dogs lounging in the ring with their icepacks on waiting to walk around the ring. And the little doxies, pugs, and all the others, really they are all winners.


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

Yes, even when I was showing and "specialing" a top winning Lhasa, I enjoyed the classes (the breed showing) the most because you get to see so many more dogs of the same breed. Usually the puppy classes are the best -- the puppies are so cute when they're just starting their show career and really don't know what's going on yet.

They're all very, very cute. Next time, just go to a normal show in your area and you'll see so many more Maltese than at these highly touted special types of shows.

Yes - Sari (the group judge) doesn't like Tommy (or Tara) very much. She and Vicki never really did well together either. It's all about politics in this case -- not about the dog.


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## starry (Sep 4, 2006)

> I love seeing Tommy show, but I was disappointed not to see more too. Interesting learning how it works. Thanks for the thread.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I got that exact feeling soon as I watched that part of the show also!!!!
I was soo looking forward to more interaction and there was hardly anytime given for the guys narating to even comment!

Thanks Lacie's mom for explaining what we felt.
Poor Tara all that way (so much grooming) for nothing.







And that sweet little peek.








I also heard other maltese showers decided not to go bc of the judge.
Boy am I learning.
Lacie's mom...I have a Lhasa!!!She hates me now bc I have to give her eyedrops,







you know they don't forgive..)


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## ctymom (May 29, 2006)

I think I saw this on tv around midnight the other night. I watched the toy group and saw one Maltese before falling asleep. LOL The announcers were talking about how the Maltese are such high maintenance and their coats are so hard to keep up. The Malt had such beautiful hair! I would LOVE to have Moxie like that but of course I couldnt. hehe I have a hard enough time brushing my daughters long curly hair!


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## MissMelanie (Feb 13, 2006)

> Yes, even when I was showing and "specialing" a top winning Lhasa, I enjoyed the classes (the breed showing) the most because you get to see so many more dogs of the same breed. Usually the puppy classes are the best -- the puppies are so cute when they're just starting their show career and really don't know what's going on yet.
> 
> They're all very, very cute. Next time, just go to a normal show in your area and you'll see so many more Maltese than at these highly touted special types of shows.
> 
> ...


 Are the reason I am 99.9 I would NEVER EVER enter one of my dogs in a Show. That all is BS, if it's a sport, you win by playing, NOT politics. SHAME on those ADULTS.

Thank you for sharing what you know with us. Also thank you Brit and Faye.

Yes, I am in dream land.
Melanie
[/B]


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