Pets.ca - Pet forum for dogs cats and humans 

-->

Stark's first show picture!

LavenderRott
July 25th, 2010, 08:51 PM
His first "official" picture!

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j250/LilacDragon/Shows/ScannedPhoto.jpg

I swear getting this taken was more nerve wracking then actually showing him!

krdahmer
July 25th, 2010, 08:52 PM
He's beautiful...look at how he shines in the sunlight! :flirt:

luckypenny
July 25th, 2010, 08:53 PM
Stark is such a handsome fella :flirt:!

What made the picture taking so stressful?

Rgeurts
July 25th, 2010, 09:00 PM
What a handsome boy!! His coat is gorgeous :lovestruck:

hazelrunpack
July 25th, 2010, 09:15 PM
Lovely picture, LR!!! He's such a handsome dude! :flirt:

And congrats to both of you on the wins! :highfive:

Dee-O-Gee
July 25th, 2010, 09:39 PM
Oh Wow! He looks absolutely stunning LR!

Great Job Stark! :clap::clap:

Tundra_Queen
July 26th, 2010, 01:00 AM
what a beautiful dog he is!!

chico2
July 26th, 2010, 07:57 AM
LR,he looks great and congrats on the win:dog::thumbs up

LavenderRott
July 26th, 2010, 09:15 AM
Stark is such a handsome fella :flirt:!

What made the picture taking so stressful?

Gah! He is a 11 month old male puppy and I wanted him to stand still and look lovely! Stand still isn't his favorite thing!

Thank you all! He is a wonderful boy and very lovely. I never in a million years dreamed that I would ever have a picture like this to hang on my wall. That is ME! And MY dog!! To say that I am thrilled would not begin to express my feelings!

BrownEyedGirl
July 26th, 2010, 09:28 AM
What a beautiful pic.

DoubleRR
July 26th, 2010, 10:28 AM
He looks fantastic!

Goldfields
July 26th, 2010, 10:37 AM
Best of Winners no less, congratulations! He looks like a Champion in the making. Will you campaign him totally yourself? In Australia most people handle their own dogs and I think if I'd had to let a pro handler take over I would have given up showing. The thrill is doing it yourself I think. Wish they took photo's here. Have you been showing long, Sandi?

LavenderRott
July 26th, 2010, 12:01 PM
Best of Winners no less, congratulations! He looks like a Champion in the making. Will you campaign him totally yourself? In Australia most people handle their own dogs and I think if I'd had to let a pro handler take over I would have given up showing. The thrill is doing it yourself I think. Wish they took photo's here. Have you been showing long, Sandi?

Here in the U.S., showing can get pretty political. Having a professional handle your dog will certainly get you a title quicker. A good handler knows how to minimize or completely hide faults so they can title dogs that maybe shouldn't really be titled.

No. This is my dream dog. Any titles this boy gets, we will get together. Show pictures will always be the two of us together. This picture was taken at our third show - our second show weekend.

14+kitties
July 26th, 2010, 12:07 PM
Congrats LR. He is a gorgeous pup!!

Dog Dancer
July 26th, 2010, 04:04 PM
I think it's a great picture of you both. Of course Stark is a champ in the making - he's a stunner! Here's to many more pics together filling up several walls.

Goldfields
July 26th, 2010, 08:08 PM
I think my sister was quoted $1000 many many years ago to have a pro handler title her Doberman for her, and I was told by a pro handler that my first home bred ACD would get her title, but as you said, a lot faster if he handled her. Both my sister and I handled our own dogs. It was only when showing a team of dogs that I'd have to rope friends in to handle, and that might be sheltie girls who'd won their classes and had to compete against each other for the challenge, or my two red cattle dogs against each other for Best of Breed. What annoyed me there was the judges who assumed that the dog I, as owner of them, chose to handle, must be the one I'd like them to put up, when with the shelties it might be that I was handling the one that I thought needed me on the end of the lead to give them confidence. As for hiding faults, that's over-rated. A good judge knows all the tricks exhibitors might try. I just show the dog as is. Good luck, and just go in thinking that your dog is the best one on the showground, that works for me.:D
By the way, he has a beautiful outline and I love that neck and head, but for future photo's try to get the hind feet back a tiny bit so you have a nice vertical line to his hock. I know it's hard when they're young. It could be worse, he could be a Kelpie.:laughing: A friend who breeds those told me once it is a miracle if you can get one to stand still for 5 minutes.

luckypenny
July 26th, 2010, 08:40 PM
Gah! He is a 11 month old male puppy and I wanted him to stand still and look lovely! Stand still isn't his favorite thing!


:laughing:

Any titles this boy gets, we will get together.

:thumbs up You've worked for them together, you deserve them together! :goodvibes:

growler~GateKeeper
July 31st, 2010, 12:54 AM
Gorgeous pic of a gorgeous boy :cloud9:

Congrats to both of you on your best of winners :thumbs up

Love4himies
July 31st, 2010, 08:44 AM
Oh how beautiful Stark is :cloud9::lovestruck: .

Is Best of Winners the same as Best in Show?

LavenderRott
July 31st, 2010, 09:30 AM
Oh how beautiful Stark is :cloud9::lovestruck: .

Is Best of Winners the same as Best in Show?


Bless your heart!!! I WISH!

At a show - first they judge the dogs, often divided by age, to find the best dog. Then they judge the bitches the same way. Then they compare the dogs to the bitches to come up with the Best of Breed. Now - if there is a dog (or bitch) there that already has it's Championship - it is called a Special. The Best of the Specials goes against the Best of Winners (between the dogs and bitches) to get Best of Breed. Stark lost Best of Breed to a Special.

After you win Best of Breed - you go to the group ring. You have to win Group in order to compete for Best in Show.

Goldfields
July 31st, 2010, 10:51 AM
It might be fairer here, Sandi, as judges supposedly don't know which dogs are champions, our champions just compete in their age classes. I say supposedly but if it's on the second day of a show weekend they just might have seen a catalogue on the Saturday night, or of course they know whose dogs are titled by seeing them go through at other shows anyway. There is always that big excitement when a dog gets there. We have to get 100 points for the title to be awarded and it can't be awarded to any puppy under 12 months of age. They consider them to be too immature.

LavenderRott
July 31st, 2010, 01:12 PM
Points here are different. You have to get 15 points to get a Championship and you can get a Ch. on a pup. BUT - you have to get three "Majors" under 3 different judges. Number of points awarded are based on number of dogs (or bitches - it is different for each) being shown at that particular show. Majors are 3 or 4 points.

Stark beat 2 dogs to get his point. He also beat the Winner's bitch. Had the Winner's Bitch gotten 2 points for beating all of the other bitches - Stark would have gotten that 2nd point also - Best of Winner's gets the most points.

In order for Stark to get a 3 point Major - there has to be 8 dogs entered in the breed. To get a 4 point Major - 13 dogs and to get a 5 point Major - 22 dogs entered. This is JUST dogs - the bitches are judged separately and their points are a little different.

Point schedules also differ from breed to breed.

Goldfields
July 31st, 2010, 08:25 PM
It's very interesting, I didn't know that about point schedules differing from breed to breed. Do you ever have the disappointment there of not enough entries to make up a major? When I first started showing it was very hard to find competition, then showing boomed and even before I retired the first ACD I bred and retained it wasn't unusual to be seeing entries of 30 cattle dogs. Numbers have dropped right off again now though , worse luck.

LavenderRott
July 31st, 2010, 08:41 PM
Point schedules are based on number of dogs of that breed that are registered. Makes perfect sense. The number one breed registered by AKC is the Golden Retriever (or the Labrador - can't remember which as I am not a fan of either) and their registration numbers are usually double that of the number two breed.

The Boxer is the 6th most popular breed registered by AKC right now - their point schedule is as follows

Dogs -

2 dogs - 1 point
12 dogs - 2 points
21 dogs - 3 points
26 dogs - 4 points
35 dogs - 5 points.

Bitches -

3 - 1 point
14 - 2 points
25 - 3 points
31 - 4 points
42 - 5 points

There were 72 Boxers entered the day that Stark got his point.

Majors are hard to come by. That is the whole point of them. You really have to work for those points - your title wouldn't mean much if you just went out and beat the same bunch of dogs every weekend.

Goldfields
July 31st, 2010, 09:47 PM
Wonder what entry is needed for an Australian Cattle Dog to gain a Major there, not that it matters, it depends how popular the breed is when you are showing. I don't know what pleased me more, Best of Breeds, or Group or In Show awards where Perkins could be placed over other breeds as well. Quite a feat for a cattle dog, which at best is not glamorous like a Sheltie, Collie, OES, or a great mover like a GSD, and especially nice to win with a red speckled ACD, not the colour of choice with a lot of judges. I think I did plenty of hard work to gain points for mine, we showed in 3 States, I showed a team of 5 or more(2 ACDs, the rest Shelties), so tell me about hard work. :D