[airplane]

Originally Posted by canana

THANK YOU so much for this info! Now that my wedding stuff is all done, I am seriously considering giving it a try to show Scottie (and maybe Casie)!

When you say your local kennel club, did you find that through the CKC.ca site? I have no idea where to start. I only see local dog trainers..but that's not really the same thing as conformation classes.

What dog shampoo are you using right now? I've been meaning to invest in something better - I hear Chris Christensen is great! For now, I'm still using Earthbath on them. And where do you buy your satin cream and moutashe drying powder from? I've seen my breeder apply the cream when they were prepping for their shows. But forgot to ask where they buy it from.

Wow - the wagon wheeler looks so cool! I will look into that too.

I will look into dogshow.ca as well. Again thank you so much for all this info! It would be super cool to show together in the ring one day!

Originally Posted by canana

Are you entering any more upcoming competitions? There's a chance for Canadians to win a trip to Amsterdam for a dog show in 2018!

How do you know if the events have an altered class? I couldn't find this info on dogshow.ca

Part 1 (Needed to do this in parts cause I exceeded the character limit. Lol)

Through the CKC.ca site you can look up clubs under the recognized clubs section. Some have websites and some don’t. Plus some of the websites haven’t been updated for along time. Another thing to check is for a facebook page for those clubs. The facebook pages might show if they’re putting on classes and when and where, etc. One I’ve come across right now is the FVDF home website. They have their handling classes for 2017 and 2018 posted on their website. They’re a little ways away in Abbotsford though. But definitely checkout the other clubs that may be closer to you, even if you can just only find them on facebook. I’d imagine the classes are for everyone and not just for club members. But maybe contact them to find out for sure and see if you can get a spot. Even just contacting through facebook works good cause you know they’re gonna get it instead of some email that’s hardly ever checked. I just found another one – www.lowermainlanddogfanciersofbc.com They got November classes and I’d imagine after Christmas they’ll have 2018 dates posted. Beyond that there may be somebody putting on handling classes that’s not affiliated with a club. But you’d have to ask around to find out. Once you get in touch with someone from a club in the area, they’ll probably know what’s going on with classes being offered throughout Vancouver and the surrounding area. But I initially just try to find what’s being put on by the clubs.

If you find you’re struggling to find classes to attend, just private message me and I will find out for sure what’s being offered by whom and where and all that stuff, and I’ll let you know.

For shampoo and conditioner, I’m currently using coat handler. I really like it. The shampoo is a clarifying shampoo. Some people recommend using a clarifying shampoo every third bath or so. Other people use it for every bath. I find it works good for Maezie’s coat using a clarifying shampoo for every bath. I’ve tried other shampoos and didn’t like how they left her coat. I found the show shampoo from Vellus left her coat too soft. Earthbath just didn’t work very good for her coat either. For the moment I’m just sticking with solely using the clarifying shampoo until maybe I can find a good moisturizing shampoo that will leave her coat in good condition. Once I find that, then maybe I’ll start clarifying every third bath or so like how many people recommend. But honestly I’m having no issues right now just sticking with the clarifying shampoo. I dilute it 15 parts water to 1 part shampoo in a mixing bottle.

Coat handler can be purchased at dog shows. I see it being sold at many shows. Besides that, you pretty much gotta order it through the internet. It’s a brand that you just can’t find at regular pet stores and it seems nobody can order it in. It’s tough to find in Canada besides seeing it at dog shows. I had ordered it online before from www.cherrybrook.com

Satin cream by Vellus I had purchased from Canada’s distributor, which is K9 Grooming Supplies, The Art of Canine E-commerce Vellus is another brand that I have to get off the internet. I don’t come across it at dog shows here in western Canada, and you just won’t ever find it anywhere besides the internet. Even the specialty boutique type stores don’t seem to carry it. The satin cream is probably my most favourite product. It’s great for wrapping the coat, and even if I’m not wrapping I’ll often put it on the coat, especially the ends of the coat and up on the part line. It dries soft and leaves the coat looking hydrated and healthy and protected in a way. It is after all a cream product. You don’t need to put gobs of it on, so it does seem to last a long time. For shows I just put it on the part line. But after the show I can put it on the topknot and it will break down the hairspray. So I don’t have to worry about giving a bath and washing out the hairspray right away. So that’s another nice thing about the product.

Another Vellus product which I really like is the static stabilizer spray. It’s a light conditioning spray that is ideal for doing brushing and also can be used as a finishing spray for shows. I had actually found that I wasn’t losing as much hair when brushing since using this spray. Maybe that’s just in my head but it definitely seems like I’m not losing near as much hair when brushing.

Vellus has a clarifying shampoo. I have it and I like it. Not as much as coat handler but I definitely have no issues using it. The vellus conditioner also is really good. But I wouldn’t recommend the show shampoo from Vellus. That type of shampoo was horrible. It just left her coat in a tangled mess of super soft hair.

The drying powder is a product I’m very glad I stumbled across. When you use it and then brush out the excess, it leaves the facial hair on the yorkie looking amazing. It makes the moustache hair look so much better being completely dry, and the hair just blends in so much better with the rest of the hair on the face. I just use it right before going in the ring. I wish I had come across this product before. I suspect that it is perhaps used for the show yorkies that you see pictures of in magazines or online or wherever. Somehow they are getting the facial hair completely dry, and using a drying powder seems like an easy way to do that. I got it from www.pawmarks.com An odd thing about that website is that I have to be on my cellular data to open it. For some reason when I’m on wifi that website won’t open.

I also get my show bows from pawmarks. They have bows specifically for yorkies – they’re the red ones with the flared out ends. I just got the large size red coloured ones though. I looked at the sizes of the bows and figured the yorkie ones were too wide for Maezie’s head. I had looked at pictures of show yorkies with a bow on their head, and then picked out pictures where I thought the bow was perfectly sized meaning its not too large or too small, but was just a nice size and fit the head and gave a good look. And then I would look at the eyes in relation to the bow as a gauge of size. Then I would measure the space between Maezie’s eyes (or midpoint of eye to midpoint of other eye) or however you want to do it to get a certain size of bow. And from that I would know what size to get. I hope that makes sense. Scottie might be able to wear both the large size and the yorkie sized ones and look good with both. I think he’s a bit bigger than Maezie. If you do order bows from pawmarks, just know that azalea is not red.It looks red but it’s actually hot pink colour. lol

You’re gonna need a show lead. You can find them being sold at dog shows. There are many different types and made out of different materials. Ideally I think a person would try different ones out and see what you like. I just have a basic nylon adjustable loop lead that I’m currently using. I believe it’s right around 4 feet long. Also, I believe black and brown are the preferred colours for yorkies. I got mine online from www.cherrybrook.com

To me, moving a dog on a lead in the ring is the most enjoyable part of showing. A really odd thing happens when the dog is gaiting really well. I can actually feel it on the lead. It’s bizarre. If I had to explain it, it feels like the end of the lead is sitting cushioned softly in a cloud and is just floating very smoothly. I thought maybe it was just in my head but other people have told me that they can feel it too. And apparently you get better feeling with a leather lead, but I’m just going with a cheap lead cause I’m already spending so much on gas for travelling and hotels and stuff.