showing conformation or showing fashion ?

windem bang · showing conformation or showing fashion ?

It's a blue moon when I send a post in to this part of the forum ! Laughing

First of all I would like to apologise to Claire - I have not forgotten our deal that if you trialed your dog then I would show mine. You kept your part of the deal and I will show Buck. I offer as an excuse that Buck has had some bad luck since the early spring. He had a bad cut on one hind foot and just about as soon as that healed up he was back at the vets for a bad glass cut on his other hind foot ! He had and still has some sort of ear infection that despite vet treatments ,has him shaking his head in an irritated manner - I suspect this will not clear up until much colder weather. There is a certain pond that I will be keeping him out of next summer, I think he picked up the ear infection from its water.

I will show Buck but meanwhile you will just have to accept my apologies for my not already having showed him.........Sorry Claire.

I was talking to a show person very recently which is why I sent this post in - she has given up on showing as she says it isn't about conformation it is about current fashion. Knowing no better I assumed she meant which judges were chosen but it was deeper than that ,she was talking about the dogs themselves .

I have no axe to grind in this , I really don't care who's dogs are currently fashionable in the ring and whos dogs are not.

Do fashions matter ?

Bill T.

BritAnnie

I think that could be true. A long time ago when we were showing Cockers, we bought a beautiful Tricolour from Maureen Horley(Churlton). She was within standard when she became adult but was at the top end for a bitch. At the time when we got her as a baby puppy the ones that were being shown were mostly around that height, but when she matured they had dropped, and in our and Maureen's opinions many were below standard. Pepper did quite a lot of winning at open level as she was a stunning looker, but not so much at Champ level where the fashion had started to appear earlier. Nowadays the size has gone up a bit - I haven't shown Cockers since 1989 but do watch them in the ring. The dogs particularly seem to have got back their substance but some of the bitches still look tiny. So, in Cockers anyway there was a fashion. At one time if you didn't have Bitcon lines you got nowhere.(Moray now part owns a top winning Vizsla)

Marjolein

I also think it's about fashion nowadays:

BritAnnie

That is ONE reason I always wear trousers! I hope someone told that poor woman Wink

Dave A

countrygirl

I think it is propley right to a digree. My bitches at the moment are within the standard but only just size wise(at the lower end) and are dwarfed in the ring, now I know one has a bad coat but for the life of me cant see the problem with the other one(but then im propley kennel blind) who is often beaten by hackney moving dogs.

I too will be doing very few more shows, having docked dogs I am restricted and in 2012 two shows within a reasonable travelling distance are droping cc.

We have suffered hugh drops in numbers being shown, but I think dog showing in general has also it costs twice as much as it did when I started 20 years ago and as I now work part time I can no longer justify spending that sort of money for a couple of miunites in the ring, Id rather do a working test of for the same amount of money have a training lesson with a profesional.

As with all breeds people come and go, different people look for different things lets hope the hpr's dont go down the lab/springer route.

Sorry if ive gone off subject.

Caz

windem bang

Loved the pic Marjolein ! Shocked

Bill t

munstyman

Now you won't be showing Buck in a kilt will you Bill Question

We wouldn't want you to be removed from the ring for showing with a `limp' Laughing

Peter

Dave A

And would he stick to tradition ? Embarassed

windem bang

I'd play safe and wear nice white frilly ones ! Laughing

Bill T.

Lisa

Claire

No need to apologise Bill Smile

Ghilliegumdrop

Cocker Spaniels, according to my copy of the KC breed standards, should be;

Height approx 15 1/2 - 16 inches dogs, 15 - 15 1/2 inches bitches.
Weight approx 28 - 32 lbs.

I bet there is nothing being shown at the moment that is anything like that or if it is it's very rare. Cockers today seem more like the Springers of a few years ago.

BritAnnie

My Pepper would have fine under those measurements (she was 30lbs and 15 1/4 inches at the shoulder) but they dropped down in size considerably in the early 80's so she could sometimes look like a horse!