Dog Shows ~ Guest Post by Jen from My Brown Newfies

I was first introduced to the dog show world about 20 years ago when my sister decided to show her brown Newfoundland named Zeus.

At that time I really wasn't very interested. I thought dog shows were for crazy, rich people.
Little did I know that 16 years later I would become one of those crazy dog show people, minus the rich part.

When we first started showing Sherman I wanted to do it myself, I wanted to groom him and show him.
So that is how we started.

To be honest I had no idea what really goes into showing.

We had attended a few conformation classes, which are basically classes that teach you and the dog how to show.

We had done fine at classes but as soon as I entered the ring at the show my hands got all sweaty, and heart was beating a million times a minute.

Sherman and I continued to practice but I soon realized that I just was not cut out to be a handler, so I turned to a professional.

When the handler took over you could see the difference and I could just lay back and enjoy the show.

As time went on and I got to learn more about the show world I was glad in my decision to hire a professional handler. I had learned that just like many things in the world today, politics plays a huge roll in the dog show world and that is just not my thing.

After 2 years of showing Sherman, he earned his championship title and I was couldn't of been more proud.

A lot of times people ask us if we are in it for money and I have to laugh each time.
We do not make any money showing the boys. It is quite the opposite.
We show for the shear enjoyment of the sport, and to bond with our Newfs.
We will never make back the money that we sunk into showing for, handler fees, show entries,
grooming products, high quality food and supplements, gas to get to the shows, parking fees..etc.

Well....I shouldn't say  never...after all one of them may win Westminster one day:)

Our plans for 2011 are to hopefully show Leroy to his championship and I am considering taking Sherman back in the ring myself to earn his Grand Champion title. Grand Champion is a new title that the AKC came up with last year for dogs that are already champions. It's a way to keep champions showing.

Thanks to Pam and Oskar for asking us to write a guest post on dog showing, there is so much more I could of said about the sport but that would takes pages!

*We'd like to thank Jen of My Brown Newfies for giving us a glimpse into the life of a show dog & owner!