[salazark]

Originally Posted by gemy

Well a great big congrats to you!! It is quite an honour for a breeder to place a show potential pup with a buyer. Obedience work is just great for these little ones, and can be challenging too! How wonderful that you have come along in this arena. Have you competed with Sadie yet in obedience?

But back to the conformation world: A book I found quite helpfull in understanding dog structure is called " An eye for a Dog" Illustrated Guide to Judging Purebred Dogs.

By Robert E Cole - Publisher is DogWise. If you haven't found the dogwise website yet it's worth a look. Lots of good books, videos, etc.

Good video is DogSteps by RAchel. dang can't remember last name. Amazing moving pics of dogs and shows dogs with altered gaits etc.

If you have some local shows - go to as many as you can. Lots of folks are friendly but ask your questions after ring time. Try to take notes on handlers you see in the terrier ring that you think do a good job of showing off their entry. One way that is a good practise is you go in the ring (when empty and not in use) just with yourself and a show lead dangling from your left hand. Now walk the show patterns. The go around, the down and back, and a Triangle. Keep your steps smooth, the lead hanging straight down, learn how to make a left hand turn, a right hand, a circle around, all the time looking to see the lead stays steady and straight, your elbow into your body. Keep your steps even and smooth. Buy a good supportive pair of shoes for showing, that will cushion your feet, from all that concrete and hard floors you are likely to be on. Once this is all smooth, practise same patterns, but this time on the go around - pretend the judge is at center ring, and look up and over to the judge 3x, once as you enter his/her field of vision, once at midpoint of his vision, and once as you exit his field of vision. Now practise all this, and add in varying your walking speed, practise looking down to your dog, up and ahead to where you are going, and of course to the judge.
There are a few standard rules - Never interfere with another dog in the ring - watch and know where your dog is at all times - watch where you are going.


If you have a digicam that can be so useful in self training. You can video yourself walking and stacking your new pup.

You sound so excited and happy all the best in your new sport/hobby. Post pics of your new pup. Everyone here will be more than happy to help with questions and suggestions.

Thank you so much Gail! I really am excited and honored that Valerie is trusting this little guy with me! I will look into the book and video. While I'm waiting I've just been trying to read and learn. I have been to a couple of shows just for fun but that was before this came up. At one show I happened to sit by a girl that seemed to really know her stuff and she talked me through the whole show and I learned so much. One of the books I'm reading suggested putting a set of keys on the end of your lead for weight and practicing like that. They said to practice having the right amount of slack in the lead and folding it up one handed. I would think that the keys would work well for the practice you were talking about also. My goodness - there are so many things to think about. Valerie and I talked about starting by showing him in the puppy class just to get me some experience while there is no pressure. She said she would attend shows with me and guide me. I think I'll see if I can go to some shows with her before the puppy and I are ready for the ring. I can gopher for her and learn.

I haven't competed with Sadie. She's a year and a half old. We've taken the basic obedience courses. She's just now finishing up her second set of agility classes. We absolutely love agility and it lets her use her youthful energy positively. I'm now planning on working our way back around to more controlled classes. It would be really cool if she could compete in either agility or obedience so we could all go to shows together. That was my one hesitation. I want a puppy to enhance her life not take me away from her. At five pounds I'm not sure how competitive Sadie could be at agility but I know she loves it. There's a video on my profile page of Sadie on the downsized aglilty equipment I made for her. That was back when she first started. I really need to get out and update it when the weather is better. If everything works out, eventually I'd like for Sadie to be a therapy dog. But we have plenty of time for that. My children are grown and my dog - and soon to be dogs - are my life!

Karen