# shows



## TheButtercup (Mar 3, 2005)

meh. don't know if this topic really belongs in this category, but i am not very decisive today...

went to a dog show today in cleveland. what an eye opener! some people were astoundingly nice and friendly, some were, well, not. even after they showed, they showed no interest in even accepting a compliment... but anyway. LOL. the maltese were VERY cute. they all seemed very young, too. one group of handlers were especially hard to watch, as one man was just awful with his dog. constantly yelling at him/her to "stop it!" and grabbing him/her's nose to yell at him/her. it was so hard to watch. i kept gasping, thinking he was going to snap the dog's neck at any moment. and the ****** won some blue ribbons, too. it was very clear that the dog had NO interest in showing today, too, LOL. some others, were just lovely. i approached one woman who had a lovely little girl who showed very well. she told me she was really in it for the fun, and she isn't one of "the crazy ones", as she lets her dogs play and walk on carpet...LOLOL. 

and the shopping! oye, i got in a little trouble there... but i DID break down and buy a Chris Christensen pin brush. AND i got to meet him, lol. i told him his products were all the rage on a couple of the message boards i go to, and he seemed sincerely thankful for the compliments, and was very happy to answer questions and stuff like that









overall, good times. i loved the old english sheepies, the rotties, and the danes. but the maltese, just stunning









ann marie and the "so my mommy DIDN'T trade me in, after all..." buttercup


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## Pippinsmom (Nov 29, 2004)

It is pretty sad how some people let the showing go to their head. It stops being about the dogs and having fun, and intead has more to do with the overinflated egos of some of their humans. I'm glad you were able to enjoy yourself, meet some nice people and melt the credit cards.


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## k/c mom (Oct 9, 2004)

Wow, the show experience sounds like fun. I'd love to go to one some day. I can imagine, though, how awful it was to see the Malty treated like that.... Grrrrr

Thanks for sharing . . .


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## msmagnolia (Sep 8, 2004)

I haven't been to a dog show in years. We went to our first one when we were looking for Jolie. We were not sure between Westies and Bichons and went to the dogs show so that we could talk to breeders and handlers. It is really a great way of getting to see the breed standard. We got so hooked that we went for several years after that. It is a great time to buy dog "stuff". My experience was that the majority of the people were friendly and helpful. It's too bad when you meet the dog folks who aren't so nice. It seems to be a different world, that's for sure!


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## TheButtercup (Mar 3, 2005)

on a GOOD note, i did talk to a wonderful japanese chin handler. she was just so friendly and very helpful with all my million questions. she and i chatted about how horrible some people are, lol, but also how nice a lot of them are. the shopping was good, it was nice to see some different items out there, but i was disappointed in the bow selection. i only found one vendor with bows, and she only had about 20, all of which were wayyyyy too huge for a buttercup---even a unicorn buttercup!

ann marie and the "i'm no show dog, i'm a------"BUTTERCUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

There are a lot of nice people out there showing Maltese too. I encourage everyone to check out the shows in your area.


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## Sylphide and Shrek's Mom (Dec 4, 2004)

Last year a fight broke out between two handlers at a show I was attending, very near to where I was standing chatting with some lovely people who were showing their rare terrier breed (can't remember which one). One of the handlers had a huge OE sheep dog, and the other was trying to shove them out of the way. I must say that some of those folks are unfriendly, rude and anti-social...they take themselves just a little too seriously.









I was very disturbed by the treatment of a lovely little Maltese by his handler, a teenaged girl. She held him and handled him like an object, not a wonderful little living being. She never once petted him, acknowledged him, or gave him any loving praise.







Worst of all, she put him on top of several cages, by himself, and walked off leaving him up there, unsupervised.







With all of the commotion and all those dogs, anything could happen! I was terrified that he'd be distracted and fall, or attacked, or shoved around. **sigh*...some people just shouldn't have dogs. The year before that, I saw a handler being very rough with a little Shih Tzu while in the ring, yanking him up by the hair of his topknot







(he was just a puppy and not cooperating). I think that unfortunately, for some folks involved in showing dogs, it's all about the power, control, and potential for prestige, and not about the love of their dogs.


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## maltx3 (Dec 23, 2004)

> Last year a fight broke out between two handlers at a show I was attending, very near to where I was standing chatting with some lovely people who were showing their rare terrier breed (can't remember which one). One of the handlers had a huge OE sheep dog, and the other was trying to shove them out of the way. I must say that some of those folks are unfriendly, rude and anti-social...they take themselves just a little too seriously.
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I know what you mean, I went to a show last year (in Toronto) and saw a lot of poor dogs being handled poorly...not Maltese but other breeds. I too found some people very friendly and eager to answer questions, but others very snobby, making me feel that I was bothering them and wasting their time...this was after they had finished showing. They made me feel terrible, and the whole thing put me off, and I decided right then and there I would have nothing more to do with going to shows. It disburbs me that this is what our champion dogs have to go through to earn points. It's okay if they are well handled, but who polices this?


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## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

> > Last year a fight broke out between two handlers at a show I was attending, very near to where I was standing chatting with some lovely people who were showing their rare terrier breed (can't remember which one). One of the handlers had a huge OE sheep dog, and the other was trying to shove them out of the way. I must say that some of those folks are unfriendly, rude and anti-social...they take themselves just a little too seriously.
> >
> > I was very disturbed by the treatment of a lovely little Maltese by his handler, a teenaged girl. She held him and handled him like an object, not a wonderful little living being. She never once petted him, acknowledged him, or gave him any loving praise.  Worst of all, she put him on top of several cages, by himself, and walked off leaving him up there, unsupervised. :smpullhair: With all of the commotion and all those dogs, anything could happen! I was terrified that he'd be distracted and fall, or attacked, or shoved around. **sigh*...some people just shouldn't have dogs. The year before that, I saw a handler being very rough with a little Shih Tzu while in the ring, yanking him up by the hair of his topknot :smmadder: (he was just a puppy and not cooperating). I think that unfortunately, for some folks involved in showing dogs, it's all about the power, control, and potential for prestige, and not about the love of their dogs.
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## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

Sorry my post didn't attach.

Please do not judge everyone who shows by the few jerks you saw. We probably would not want to be around them either. 
Most dogs in the show ring are treated like royalty by their owner and/or handler. They live in the home as a family member, enjoy the pampering, and the showing. 
I'm sorry you had to experience this on your first time to a show, and I can't say you won't see some of this in the future. But, this is not the norm. Please do not generalize and judge the sport of showing by a few bad examples. That would like me saying I'm not going to a high school football game again because one coach acted like a jerk.


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## Sylphide and Shrek's Mom (Dec 4, 2004)

> Sorry my post didn't attach.
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> Please do not judge everyone who shows by the few jerks you saw. We probably would not want to be around them either.
> Most dogs in the show ring are treated like royalty by their owner and/or handler. They live in the home as a family member, enjoy the pampering, and the showing.
> I'm sorry you had to experience this on your first time to a show, and I can't say you won't see some of this in the future. But, this is not the norm. Please do not generalize and judge the sport of showing by a few bad examples. That would like me saying I'm not going to a high school football game again because one coach acted like a jerk.[/B]


Happy B, if you were referring to me in the post, that wasn't my first show. Those were examples from two different shows. I have yet to go to a show in which I haven't seen at least one disturbing example of treatment of the dogs and other people.

My post wasn't generalizing, in fact, my examples are very specific. Note that when I make my other observations, I say "some", not all.


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## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

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No, I was not responding to you, but the post underneath. When I went to send my post, I got a message "web site not responding", and only your part of the post was put on the site. That is why I added what I did when I saw it.
Again, I'm sorry that you have had those type experiences with shows and people who show.


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

I've been to shows in Charleston SC, Savannah, & Atlanta and fortunately, have not seen any of the dogs mistreated. One of the toy breeders was not handling her dogs as affectionately as I would, but everyone treated 'em pretty good. At a really big show south of Atlanta last year, my husband brought his Italian Greyhound--beautiful dog from a good kennel in South GA, & talk about a people-magnate, anyway, we walked by a group of really big dogs and this unfriendly uppity woman sneered at us and said "excuse me, excuse me"! Apparently we got too close to her dogs! That is about the only bad experience I have had and it was good for my husband cuz he thought everyone just loved Baxter! In another topic/thread (don't know all the terminology yet) I talked about a show we just went to in Savannah where I talked to a lady at one of the vendor booths who was showing Malts. When it came time for the Malts to be shown, I was standing under the tent (rainey ugly day) and she asked me if I could hold one of her dogs while she went in the ring. I thought my heart would stop. Beautiful little dog, a wiggle-worm, but beautiful and very much UNLIKE my baby, Tanner. Oh well. I love going to the shows, most of the people are just so nice and friendly. Got into a conversation with one lady about doing rescues and volunteering to transport, etc., something I had never thought about but IF I can ever retire, I hope to do.


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## dolcevita (Aug 3, 2005)

How do you find out when and where the shows are being held? I'd love to attend one sometime. You don't really get to see much with those national televised shows.


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## Ladysmom (Oct 19, 2004)

> How do you find out when and where the shows are being held? I'd love to attend one sometime. You don't really get to see much with those national televised shows.[/B]


You can check here for shows in your area.

http://www.infodog.com/


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## k/c mom (Oct 9, 2004)

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Thanks for the link, Marj. 

Do any of you know which type of shows are the ones that judge on conformation? There is one called: AC Match Sanctioned A, Conformation. Is this the only one we would want to attend... the type we are talking about that the Maltese are judged in, etc. ? Do Maltese generally come to the Obedience shows?


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

We have mostly had good experiences at shows. We try to stay near the rings with toy dogs. I don't like being run over by handlers with giant dogs (it's happened). I have seen one Malt handler being very rough while grooming her dog. The little Malt kept throwing up liquidy foamy stuff and she just jerked him around like scolding him for throwing up. I just try to stay away for people like that. They make showing seem like an evil thing.







I'm perfectly aware all show handlers aren't like that, there are bad people and good in any sport or situation.


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## Brinkley & Neyland's Mom (Jun 14, 2004)

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Thanks for that link!!!
I found some spring shows in TN that will have maltese!


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## Pippinsmom (Nov 29, 2004)

You can actually do a show search on the AKC site...it will pull up all the conformation shows in your state. All you have to do is go onto www.akc.org, click on events and then "events and awards search". You can then pick by state or type of show...but on infodog you kind of have to scroll thru all of the shows to find what you are looking for.


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## k/c mom (Oct 9, 2004)

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Traci, where did you find that there would be Maltese at the show... I must be missing something !?!


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## Brinkley & Neyland's Mom (Jun 14, 2004)

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Thanks for that link!!!
I found some spring shows in TN that will have maltese!








[/B][/QUOTE]

Traci, where did you find that there would be Maltese at the show... I must be missing something !?!
[/B][/QUOTE]

I went to... 
*Show information
*Search Panels (at top of Show info screen)
*Clicked on the "toy" button with the pug on it and scrolled down until I found Maltese.










PS: Anyone able to tell me what it costs to get into one of these dog shows or where to find a schedule of times as it gets closer etc?


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## Pippinsmom (Nov 29, 2004)

Usually they post the judging program about 2 weeks before the show - if it's a smaller show it may be free to get into, sometimes they charge for parking. If there is a charge, it will probably be no more than around $5 bucks, larger shows it can cost more. The one we showed at this past weekend was a larger show, it was $5 to get in and I think my dad paid $13 to park the car in the parking garage. 

You will not be able to tell the breed counts (ie if there are any maltese in the show) until the show closes...if you are looking at shows in the spring, you may be looking at past breed counts. I am entering shows at the end of January, I have no way of knowing what the entries will be until after January 11th (when the show closes), usually it takes about a week and the superintendant will post the breakdown (ie breed counts) and then a week or two before the show they publish the actual judging program with ring assignments.


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## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

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Traci, where did you find that there would be Maltese at the show... I must be missing something !?!
[/B][/QUOTE]

I went to... 
*Show information
*Search Panels (at top of Show info screen)
*Clicked on the "toy" button with the pug on it and scrolled down until I found Maltese.










PS: Anyone able to tell me what it costs to get into one of these dog shows or where to find a schedule of times as it gets closer etc?
[/B][/QUOTE]


There is no way to tell whether a particular breed will be there. It depends on who sends in entries, which are due three weeks before show date (if I remember correctly). If it's the Franklin and Murphesboro shows in Tennessee, then it's pretty likely there will be some very nice Maltese there. Those are both nice shows, and I would encourage you to check them out, if you can.
Even when we get the premium list with the number of entries, which is mailed to those entering prior to show date, we don't know how many dogs will actually show up. Sometime, people enter more than one show. Also, if a dog finishes its championship at another show, the breeder may pull it from that show. Another factor is if a dog needs a major win, and there aren't enough entries to have one. Then, the breeder might decide to keep their do out, as it wouldn't help them toward a championship if there were not enough entries. Then, you have these people who decide where they will show based on who else is there. I've actually seen a breeder walk up, check out the other entries, and walk out, not picking up her numbers for competition.
There is a minimal charge for attending--usually around three to five dollars. Those who have entries get in free. We do pay a fee to park our motorhome and use the electricity and water, but that is still very reasonable.


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## Brinkley & Neyland's Mom (Jun 14, 2004)

It was the Franklin and Nashville area shows that I was looking at.
That would be fun to go to...I think my kids would enjoy it too-for all the breeds, not just maltese.
My daughter and I watch the dog shows on Animal Planet most Saturday mornings!








While there, are you able to walk around and mingle with the dogs and owner/handlers?
Who was it a few posts back that got to HOLD someone's dog? What luck!!!????









Thanks for the info!!!


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## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

> It was the Franklin and Nashville area shows that I was looking at.
> That would be fun to go to...I think my kids would enjoy it too-for all the breeds, not just maltese.
> My daughter and I watch the dog shows on Animal Planet most Saturday mornings!
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I think you will find that the Maltese people who show in these areas are some of the nicest people. They will be happy to talk with you.


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