Conformation

Once we got the basic obedience commands consistent I was ready to start conformation training. One of the instructors at the school thought Vixen was way too hyper and I was too inexperienced to start conformation training yet.  I can be rather stubborn so I signed up for conformation classes anyway and, yes, Vixen did want to play with the other dogs in line instead of standing still and pretty for the judges. We continued anyway.

Entering the grounds of the dog show was like walking into a whole new world.  There were dogs of every shape and size, many of whom I’d never seen before.  There were tents everywhere offering all things dog related: grooming supplies, treats of all kinds, toys, breed related jewelry, art, clothing… you name it, if you can put a dog on it, it’s for sale by these vendors.  There is, of course, the popular food vendor selling everything from funnel cakes and deep fried candy bars to chicken salad sandwiches.

One room or section of the show grounds is packed full of dogs in crates, standing on tables and peering out of x-pens. Strange contraptions and hair dryers buzzed with the barking and talking while people worked feverishly combing and cutting coats; putting ears in these strange sock looking things; trimming nails. Every so often we’d have to jump out of the way as a dog and handler came rushing by.

At our first show we saw this strange little dog with no fur save the tufts of white, cotton like hair sticking up on his head and around his feet.  Also with this breed was the same dog covered with the cotton like hair and looking like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. We were so curious as to what this was that we approached one of the tables where this curious little dog was and asked what kind of dog it was.  

The gentleman wheeled on us, glared and yelled, “Get away!  She’s about to go in the ring!” 

“Ohhhh kayyyyy”  I said as we backed away slowly, now afraid to turn our back on the little man.

We retreated to the safety of the border terrier community and found out from them that it is a Chinese Crested.  They come in two varieties, hairless and “powder puff”.  Some of these little oddities have won “Ugliest Dog” contests, but the dogs at this show were regal and adorable.

We learned quickly that it’s just not safe to approach people inside the ring areas and reserved our “meet the dogs” questions for those who seemed to be relaxing and in no hurry to be anywhere.  Approaching a handler who is in the middle of grooming, heading to the ring or otherwise occupied is not wise. A good eye for body language helps to identify those who don’t mind questions and people petting the beloved show dog. 

It’s important to always be cognizant of where your dog is and what she’s doing, even though you are tethered to each other by a mere twelve inch leash. I was standing, watching the dogs in the ring and felt a tug on the leash. I turned to see Vixen on her back legs, little body stretched as far as she could go straining to smell the Great Dane’s arse directly in front of her.  Thankfully, she hadn’t actually used the Dane’s legs to support herself for this endeavor.