Does anyone compete with their dog?

[Greyhorses]

If so, what do you do and how do you get into it?

I recently attended a dog show with my friend and loved watching. I had to sell my horse and miss the competing and showing aspect and miss having something to train and work towards.

I was thinking of getting into dog showing, but where to start? Do you have to join a club or just turn up? What does it generally involve?

I currently own 2 GSD, neither or which are show quality. I would have to look into a third dog (a GSD or a belgian groenendal as I love these!)

If not, maybe I need to find another activity to fill my time as I am bored of having nothing to work towards
I have also thought about agility but I am not sure if you require a border collie for this

Yes, me!

I show my cocker in breed classes, great fun and made lots of friends. I would recommend finding a ring craft class near you, go and have a look and ask lots of questions. Take your GSD's with you so that you can have a practise with them, a good ring craft society should be able to put you in touch with good breeders of the breed of your choice, and with experienced exhibitors in your chosen breed. Make sure that your society use force free training methods too. It's very addictive (time consuming too) but great fun. You could go and enter fun dog shows too to help you get a feel for showing as well.

I also do agility, not competing yet but we are measured and ready to go when he gets his brain into gear and takes his nose off the floor! Again great fun, lovely way to keep fit and bind with your dog.

GSDs should be good for agility...or obedience.

Have a google for local training clubs, that's probably the easiest way. You don't need to be in a club, but it will make it easier to start from scratch.

For breed showing...you need to find a breeder who shows, tell them that's what you want the dog for and ringcraft classes would be a good idea.

Haha I'm sorry but for some reason I thought your op was going to say you have races against DDog or see who can eat their food the fastest. I'm not well today, think I best go lie down.

Hi! Thanks for your reply.

Neither of my current dogs are show quality (as much as I love them!)

I love my GSD but I am not sure if I would need to go down the route of a show line specifically.

Do the 'rarer' breeds tend to do better than the more common ones?

Obviously the dog would be a much loved family pet first off.

Maybe I should try agility first before I commit

If you're getting a puppy with the intention of showing and there's a working/pet/showing split like with GSDs then yes you'll need to get one from show lines as it really is all about having the right look.

For agility or obedience it can be any dog at all.

I have no idea whether rarer breeds do better...I suspect so if they're really rare, but in theory you don't automatically get best in breed just by being the only one there.

A number if my friends show rare breeds, yes they get placed at open level unless there's a glaring fault with the dog but at champ level the dog should only get placed if they meet the breed standard. Doesn't always work that way!

I dabble in showing with a couple of mine and it's great fun!!

The best way to get started is to find your local ringcraft club and go along. It's a good idea to go without a dog at first (or go along with a dog and just watch) to get a feel for the trainers, as with any training club. It's a great way to learn how to correctly stand your dog, how to move them properly and get the dogs used to being gone over by strangers.

I can also heartily recommend this book, it's a great introduction to showing.

Even if your current dogs aren't really show quality you can still have a go with them just to get a feel for showing. Plenty of people start with dogs that are never going to be champions before looking for a puppy specifically to show.

If the breed has a substantial difference between working and show types (which GSDs do, I think the split is much less pronounced in BSDs) then you would really need to go for the show type.

Rarer breeds do tend to have smaller class sizes so in theory it's easier to get placed than in a very full class but judges also don't have to give out placings if they feel no dogs in the class warrant it. It's not something I've seen judges do often but it does happen. Smaller shows tend to only have a limited number of breeds with their own classes and the rest go into the mixed AVNSC (any variety not separately classified) classes which can be tougher than showing against your own breed.

Thanks to all of you!

I am specifically looking into the Belgian shepherd groenendal, but breeders are difficult to come by! I am not sure I would go for a show line GSD as I don't really like the extreme sloping back, mine have a slight slope as working line but nothing as pronounced as the show lines.

patterkiller you aren't the only one I pictured loudest bark and who can cock their leg the highest competitions

I went Greyhound racing once. The muzzle was uncomfortable, the trap was cramped and the hare too fast even for the Greyhounds. They beat me by miles.

Patter, that's just what I thought! Literally laughing out loud at your suggestions.

in the horsey world this would be a normal question...maybe the dog world is too different for me

I wondered what you were competing with your dog for? DH's affection!

I've done a bit of showing with my Affenpinschers and a bit of agility, including competitions. They were rubbish at both but I think we all preferred the agility. Running around and laughing is much more fun in our opinion. With GSDs you could also think about competitive obedience - not a snowballs chance for us!