Bliss Like Snoutvark

[summer_jackel]

Yesterday, kynekh_amagire, eclipsegryph and I, accompanied by the parfait and the aardcollie, went to a dog show, and very much fun was had. Kyn will be an excellent show accomplice, and I am being a very evil and enabling influence on her in the area of puppies.

We didn't get there early enough to see the breed judging, but watching the group/best in show competition was fun. Yes, this is a bizarre undertaking, and you may tease me about 'Best in Show' all you like; I deserve it. However, after witnessing this event, I am more comfortable, more scared and more excited about taking part.

We will probably flail, but I am planning on entering my first show next month. I fully expect hilarity and, well, chaos to ensue. These people are, for the most part, not exactly my crowd. Add my awkward first-timerness and my freshly purple hair and, well, hey, I'll at least be entertaining. Still, having seen at least a little of the competition, I am freshly confident in my dogs, if not to win then at least to hold their own. And who knows. They're nice dogs, my little blue ones.

My merle fluffballs were calm and well behaved, despite the fact that Coba's tiny little brain is apparently so aswim in testosterone that he cannot walk straight. Having to be re-taught where leg lifting is vehemently forbidden is not exactly unusual, although it sure is annoying. Deciding to go all stiff-legged and hackle-y when a Newfoundland got too close, all 150+, oily-coated pounds of him, is something my tiny housefox is never going to live down. Ever.

Seeing all those dogs is such a thrill, and there were some really incredible animals there (although don't get me started about the German Shepherds. WTF are you thinking, people?!) I am completely in love with Borzoi, and I am seriously considering bringing up my next wolf-child with a Borzoi pup in about 3-4 years.

For now, I am very happy with my pack exactly as it is. Jez is calm and mellow, older and slower than I had realized she'd become in the wake of Pryderi's swift decline. She loves the pup, and he uses her as a pillow regularly. I'm glad she isn't grieving too badly. Rogue is a happy and understated alpha. Chaos may eventually grow into his snout; he shows flashes of noble colliehood for whole 15-second stretches at a time and it's very exciting. Coba is...well...an adolescent male. What can you do? Other than, well, show him.

Comments

[dollbunny.livejournal.com]

What's wrong with German sheps?

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Nothing at all, as long as you stick with lines that have never, ever been near an AKC show ring. The GSD standard has been recently misread to encourage a dog whose stance is so sloped that his butt is waaaaay below his withers and his hocks are practically flat on the ground. Fen's and Pryde's looked something like that when their low backs had failed almost critically from age, only not as extreme.

The little show GSDs actually wobble when they walk. Why would anyone do this? Well, unforgivable stupidity is the only real answer, but how they got there is that a slight slope to the quarters does give the dog a nice elastic spring, useful for backing livestock to change its direction or stopping a person as in police dogs. Emphasize slight. If your dog can't walk when it's three and that isn't a fluke, breeders are Doing Something Very Wrong.

problem illustrated: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images14/GermanShepherdDSC02563.JPG

This is a saner show stance in a similar breed (Belgian Tervuren): http://www.shumakerhills.com/pictures/Bach2R.jpg

[chiere.livejournal.com]

I have a problem with the AKC anyway, and GSDs are a very good reason why. Mine stems from owning Aussies YEARS before the AKC even thought about looking at them,....

[dollbunny.livejournal.com]

Ohmygod that poor dog!! How would you think that's ok or even aesthetically pleasing?!?

Some of the things people breed into their dogs scare me. Like pugs and shitzus who can't breathe cause of collapsed tracheas.

I prefer a dog who can romp and play with me in full comfort.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

I am really not into any dog that cannot breathe or, you know, take walks. Kind of defeats the whole purpose. Still, there are many kinds of people who are not me and have very different needs and aesthetics. So I cringe when I see anything too bracchycephalic to have functional breathing or legs so short the belly and/or sheath touches the ground when walking, but I accept that there are people in the world for whom this is the best possible dog. I can grudgingly accept that, for instance, a dachshund's ability to go to earth was/is a valuable enough trait to counterbalance the problems those (absent) legs bring. We who are involved with the ongoing domestication of wolves must, I think, each find our own ethical boundaries and opinions around aesthetics, type, utility and health.

Mine is a &^%$#! herding dog that not only can't herd anything but can't walk. There's no historical precedence for that, either. It's just pure modern stupidity. I have no tolerance. There are still good GSD lines...I say scrap the show lines and start over again.

[archteryx.livejournal.com]

Wow. Coba actually decided to challenge a Newfoundland? Talk about your eyes being bigger then your brain...

Not sure what the next comment meant, though. Who wasn't going to live down Coba's moment of, er, brute bravery/brute stupidity?

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Brute adolescence, more like. ;)

As dog challenges went, this one was quite genteel and subtle. I didn't miss it, though.

[kynekh-amagire.livejournal.com]

I almost fell off the curb laughing. I see why small dogs get away with murder.

[archteryx.livejournal.com]

Helps that it was a Newf. Basically they're amphibious tanks; all muscle and heavy waterproof armored fur, and very slow to anger. You'd really have to TRY to get your average Newf seriously pissed.

And from what Summer said, Coba wasn't really trying. Just standing up and going "Lookat what hot stuff I am!" in the manner of teenagers everywhere and the Newf probably just grumped "Kids..." and trotted on. :)

[kynekh-amagire.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, as misbehavior goes, it was very, very slight. And a Newf is probably the giant breed least likely to respond to (or, indeed, notice) the genteel challenge of a hormone-drenched little Sheltie.

It was, nevertheless, really really funny, in a way that it probably wouldn't have been if Coba was, say, a Malamute. Or an Akita. Or anything capable of mauling, for example, a normal-sized tennis ball. :D

[archteryx.livejournal.com]

It was rather reminiscent of my mother's little yorkie/poodle mix puppy play-challenging her neighbor's big male Golden Retriever.

He didn't growl or raise his hackles or any of it. He just turned his back on her and put his head up, indiciating that Cricket was quite beneath his dignity. :> My mother just about fell over laughing.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

awwww. That was always Pryde's reaction to Skeeter, the Parson Russel terrier, when Skeeter got all fierce on him. He'd just sort of politely ignore it. Little dogs: can't play with them, can't eat them. What do you do?

[bloolark.livejournal.com]

Crow once got all bristly at a seven year old intact male doberman who was sniffing at his beloved puppy.

Every single person there fell over laughing. I can completely imagine poor Coba doing a similar thing. Fluffy dogs, they get no respect!

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's precious.

Coba says, "No! I am FIERCE. I am an intact male, didn't you know. I pwn newfies. They quail in terror of my fierce."

I say that certain fluffy dogs might get respect if and only if they decide that their muzzles are not too slender and delicate to pick up a standard size tennis ball.

[kynekh-amagire.livejournal.com]

So I should clear my calendar for Pleasanton on the 18th? Looks like there was a decent turnout of shelt last year: http://www.infodog.com/RESULTS/brdrsl.htm?evno=2008016301&bno=69200

God I love Infodog.

I always snicker a bit at the AKC border collies. It's a little too easy to imagine a freshly coiffed AKC BC looking down its (strong, tapering slightly to the nose) muzzle at a flock of sheep and saying "Have them washed and sent to my suite."

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

18th, baby. It's gonna happen.

"Have them washed and sent to my suite"---->ahahahahahahaha! There is SO furry porn in that, you know.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I think that this looks like a bigger show than yesterday. Coba and I will probably have our collective butts handed to us on a plate. Still...why not?

[kynekh-amagire.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Looks like there's an Irish Wolfhound specialty at the fairgrounds on Friday, my other day off this week. Oooooh.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

ooooooooooooh wolfhounds. Nice! I don't have Friday off, too bad.

[chiere.livejournal.com]

I used to show! Here's my tip; make sure your clothes contrast with the dog! I made the mistake of showing a black tri Aussie while I was wearing a black linen suit. The judge told me he couldn't see the dog!

Also, I've seen handlers with creative hair colors; blue mohawks, fire engine red bobs, so you shud be good there. (I just redid my purple too, =-D)

And, BORZOI!!!!! I've wanted one for a loooong time!!!

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

heee! That's a good tip! I am planning on showing my blue merles wearing black slacks or skirt and a gray blouse---so I have contrast and color coordination. I probably think about these things too much. ;)

I love love love sighthounds, but I got a collie instead this time around because I'm kinda into a dog that actually wants to and will obey me now and then (heh) and if I didn't, I would get another wolf. The more I think about it, though, the more I like the idea of bringing up borzoi and wolf pups about a year apart, like I did with Coba and Chaos. Wolf and wolfhound are very similar in many ways (sighthounds, with huskies, are genetically closest to wild wolves) and would play beautifully. And it would still leave me with only one dog-aggressive dog to worry about, which is why I've opted for single-wolfedness.

[fuzzytoedcollie.livejournal.com]

Aardcollie.

That name has so much win in it! Yay!

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

heee! He really earned it. I mean, with a snout like that...