This is how you ruin your future show dog.
The full video shows a fearful puppy literally go airborne to avoid being handled by the judge. What happened next? The terrified puppy was forced to endure an abbreviated exam — and then brought back the next day to have her developing brain get flooded with even more stress hormones.
Duh.
You cannot force terror away — in humans or dogs.
I was also reminded by the weekend that a professional handler’s real job is not showing dogs — it is sales. They sell themselves to owners.
To be clear — most professional handlers are not rotten eggs. Not at all. And we all have off days or make mistakes that create learning opportunities. One bad behavior or experience does not make someone a rotten egg. But a consistent pattern of rotten egg behavior should be noted — and I do, which is likely no surprise 🤷🏼♀️
I watched a consistent, long-time rotten egg — one I saw scolded by a judge for his rough treatment of dogs — sell his services to someone who did not want to hear my red flag warning ⚠️ 🚩 Owner-handlers who do not understand their own super power and advantage are especially easy prey for the predatory practices of the rotten eggs.
The Berner Peeps also got scolded repeatedly by a handler who was — unfortunately for him — grooming white poodles directly across from us — on dirt. Sometimes the blow dryers kicked up a cloud of dust and his resulting glares reminded me of Sister Marie when I was in sixth grade and talked too much in class 😂
I love dog shows for so many reasons — including because they consistently challenge and shape my moral compass, remind me how not to behave in Life with Dogs (and just plain Life), and let me have big fun with my dogs and my friends.
Capella also LOVES dog shows.
She had a great weekend. She was Best of Breed one of the days, Select another, Best of Breed Owner-handled two days, and got an Owner-handled Group Two yesterday. Best of all, she had so much fun. Capella loves everything about dogs shows — the people, the grooming, hanging out on the table, the treats, etc.
The only thing about shows that Capella doesn’t love is photos 🤷🏼♀️🤨
Starry G had a good time as well. My goal was make sure the dog show was fun for her — and it was. It helps that she loves everyone 🩷
Starry G
She was Reserve one day and that was nice but again, the real goal was to ensure that she had a good experience — and she did ⭐️
Shouldn’t that be the goal of everyone who brings or sends a puppy to a dog show?
Happy Monday ❤️
